Software Alternatives & Reviews

Rainmeter VS Xfce

Compare Rainmeter VS Xfce and see what are their differences

Rainmeter logo Rainmeter

Rainmeter is a desktop customization platform.

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.
  • Rainmeter Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-16
  • Xfce Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-04

Rainmeter videos

Rainmeter - A Free and Open Source Customization Tool for Windows (Overview & Demo)

More videos:

  • Review - Rainmeter Desktop Customization 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 Rainmeter and Xfce)
Monitoring Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Linux
0 0%
100% 100
Device Management
100 100%
0% 0
Operating Systems
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Rainmeter and Xfce. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

Rainmeter Reviews

5 Best Alternatives to Wallpaper Engine in 2022
Rainmeter is an open-source, free desktop customization tool for Windows. It is popular for the wide range of options it offers to its users. It has a user-friendly interface and lets you add your personal touch to the desktop wallpapers.

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 Rainmeter. 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.

Rainmeter mentions (6)

  • Persona 3 FEMC Rainmeter Wallpaper
    I decided, to make it easy, I'd add all the files needed into a compact Google Drive for you to Download everything needed ready made. Before you download what is inside the google drive, you need rainmeter to download this set. Source: 11 months ago
  • Rainmeter site download
    No issues here either opening rainmeter.net. As u/SaberAkiyama mentioned, the the GitHub site. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Heavily customised Windows 10
    Use Rainmeter "Mond" skin (Mond Skin; Rainmeter Site), just look up some rainmeter tutorials on youtube, it can get pretty confusing. Source: over 2 years ago
  • I would love the ability to pin widgets to the desktop - Here's my concept.
    I guess http://rainmeter.net will have to step up their game. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • [BotW] [OC] Added a bit more to my BOTW setup (thank you u/xeterios for telling me on how to add glow to the text and u/DiDgr8 for the wallpaper)
    Rainmeter.net and wallpaper engine can be found on steam for somewhere around 4-8 dollars depending where you live. Source: almost 3 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: 6 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 / 12 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: about 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 Rainmeter and Xfce, you can also consider the following products

Conky - Latest commit 262a292 on Dec 7, 2017 brndnmtthws Add missing build dep. Conky is a free, light-weight system monitor for X, that displays any kind of information on your desktop.

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

Bginfo - This fully-configurable program automatically generates desktop backgrounds that include important information about the system.

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

Desktop Info - This little application displays system information on your desktop in a similar way to some other...

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?