Software Alternatives & Reviews

qtile VS Xfce

Compare qtile VS Xfce and see what are their differences

qtile logo qtile

Qtile is a full-featured, hackable tiling window manager written in Python.

Xfce logo Xfce

Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.
  • qtile Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-14
  • Xfce Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-04

qtile videos

Obscure Window Manager Project - Qtile

More videos:

  • Review - I tried Qtile (a tiling window manager written in python)
  • Review - Qtile review

Xfce videos

Fully functional? - Xfce 4.14 First Impressions

More videos:

  • Review - Debian 10 XFCE Review
  • Review - Xfce Desktop Overview

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to qtile and Xfce)
Window Manager
58 58%
42% 42
Linux
22 22%
78% 78
Operating Systems
0 0%
100% 100
Utilities
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare qtile and Xfce

qtile Reviews

Top 13 Best Tiling Window Managers For Linux In 2022
Custom layouts, commands, and widgets are simple to create in Qtile. It may also be remotely scripted to create workspaces, update status bar widgets, and manipulate windows, among other things. It comes with extensive documentation in case you have any questions.
Source: www.hubtech.org
13 Best Tiling Window Managers for Linux
Qtile features easy to write custom layouts, commands, and widgets. It can also be scripted remotely in order to set up workspaces, update status bar widgets, manipulate windows, etc. It has comprehensive documentation in case you need clarification along the way.
Source: www.tecmint.com

Xfce Reviews

9 Best Linux Desktop Environments to Use in 2023
XFCE is compatible with a wide range of Linux distros. Xfce does not offer sophisticated modifications, yet it is the most performance-oriented desktop environment. It’s a compact desktop environment with a comprehensive user interface. XFCE can be installed on a variety of UNIX systems. It has been reported to compile on Ubuntu, NetBSD, Solaris, Cygwin, OpenBSD, and macOS...
Source: geekflare.com
The 8 Best Ubuntu Desktop Environments (22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux)
Cinnamon desktop is another fork of the GNOME desktop. It has a rather conservative design and is similar to Xfce. It is uncomplicated to learn and from this reason might be a good choice for someone who is new to Linux.
Source: linuxconfig.org
Top 10 Best Desktop Environments in 2020
Lightweight and Low-resource can be considered the same, but in this case, there’s a difference. XFCE is a lightweight desktop environment even with a whole lot of built-in customizations and UI perks. LXDE, on the other hand, is a DE that is built to be as low-resource as possible. You certainly can add animations, but they need to be downloaded separately.
The 12 Best Linux Desktop Environments
At first look, Xfce looks a bit older and boring, but we assure you that your mindset will change after unpacking it because it is one of the best Linux lightweight desktop environments available. Xfce is becoming one of the most reliable choices, but it has a comparatively small team for development that results in late updates. Nowadays, many users think that Xfce is an...
Source: linuxhint.com
The Best Desktop Environments For Linux (We Tested Them So That You Don’t Have To)
Xfce is light on resources but proves to provide a feature-rich user experience. If you need a performance-centric desktop environment without needing advanced customizations, Xfce is a great choice to go with.
Source: itsfoss.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Xfce should be more popular than qtile. It has been mentiond 19 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

qtile mentions (6)

  • Qtile Logs in to a Blank Screen
    Yes, all the dependencies listed in qtile.org are installed. Source: 10 months ago
  • docs.qtile.org down? Any information to be found?
    I think yesterday qtile.org itself seemed to be working properly. Now it is also offline. Source: 10 months ago
  • New to Linux and qtile, need help.
    Try python -m py_compile ~/.config/qtile/config.py first. You can find this from https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Qtile#Installation which you should be using as your main resource along with qtile.org. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Free/Total Disk Space Widget?
    I was just curious if there is a Qtile widget that would show how much space I have left on my SSD. I looked through the Qtile widgets on qtile.org and couldn't seem to find anything like this which is actually kind of odd to me. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Issue with installing Qtile?
    I possess followed installation guide from‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎­the qtile.org. Error occurs when I type command startx. https://preview.redd.it/6x0qri1b4n361.png?width=801&format=png&auto=webp&s=bee71e4eb593c08b56f9fd07b30e9c9eca6fd00f. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Xfce mentions (19)

  • distro hopping
    Pick up your Desktop Environment based on your computer's specs, NOT on your visual preferences. (HINT: XFCE consumes way less system resources than GNOME and KDE). Source: 5 months ago
  • Lightweight dev tools.
    It’s a bit of an interesting challenge and has forced me to re-examine some of my tool usage. I started by a minimal install of Debian “bookworm” with the XFCE Desktop Environment which chews through much fewer resources than the default GNOME 43 based environment (although more than LXDE - but there still has to be room for aesthetics). - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • I Still Use Windows 95 (archived, 2008)
    Luckily you can get an efficient, clean Desktop Environment that works well and is actively developed: Xfce ( https://xfce.org/ ) I think you will like it. It has a very early-2000's feel IMO. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • best lightweight linux distro for old laptop and gaming
    Well, it depends. It was better experience than FreeBSD 7.2 that's for sure. :) It was running Xorg with https://i3wm.org, a web-server, XMPP-server, PostgreSQL, few bots and dovecot / postfix (e-mail server). It was doing fine routing internet for 2PCs and a WiFi router for 10 years until its HDD died. For gaming... erm... I was able to play something like Theme Hospital or Syndicate Wars in dosbox. You have to... Source: almost 1 year ago
  • Only one of the four XFCE4's desktop/workspace got hung and now I can't use wallpaper
    Another resource for help might be xfce.org. It's a low traffic site, but responsive. Source: about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing qtile and Xfce, you can also consider the following products

i3 - A dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.

KDE Plasma Desktop - Plasma Workspaces is the umbrella term for all graphical environments provided by KDE.

bspwm - A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

LXDE - Why will you like it? Less resource needs. You can use it on your less-pricey embedded board or salvaged computer. Component-based design. Don't want something in LXDE, or you don't want to use LXDE but only part of it?

dwm - dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts. All of the layouts can be applied dynamically, optimising the environment for the application in use and the task performed.

LXQt - The LXQt team is proud to announce the release of qtermwidget and qterminal, both in version 0. 8. 0. Read more..