Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

rootbar VS wf-shell

Compare rootbar VS wf-shell and see what are their differences

rootbar logo rootbar

Root Bar is a bar for wlroots based wayland compositors such as sway and was designed to address the lack of good bars for wayland.

wf-shell logo wf-shell

wf-shell is a repository which contains the various components needed to built a fully functional DE based around wayfire. Currently it has only a GTK-based panel and background client.
  • rootbar Landing page
    Landing page //
    2025-09-16
Not present

rootbar features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

wf-shell features and specs

  • Wayland Compositor
    WF-Shell is built to function seamlessly with the Wayfire compositor, providing a fully integrated Wayland experience that offers smoother graphics and better performance compared to X11-based alternatives.
  • Customizable
    WF-Shell allows users to extensively customize their desktop environment through various plugins and configuration options, which can be tailored to meet different user preferences and needs.
  • Lightweight
    Designed to be resource-efficient, WF-Shell minimizes the consumption of system resources, making it suitable for low-end hardware and offering a fast and responsive user experience.
  • Modern Design
    It provides a modern and visually appealing desktop environment with features like dynamic window effects and animations powered by Wayfire's 3D capabilities.

Possible disadvantages of wf-shell

  • Limited Application Support
    As a relatively new system centered around Wayland, some applications might not be fully compatible or may require workarounds compared to traditional X11 environments.
  • Smaller Community
    WF-Shell, being part of a smaller ecosystem, may have less community support and fewer resources available compared to more established desktop environments, making troubleshooting potentially more challenging.
  • Learning Curve
    Users coming from more traditional desktop environments might find the learning curve steep, as they need to adapt to new concepts and tools inherent to a Wayland-based system.
  • Plugin Dependency
    While its customization is a strength, WF-Shell's reliance on plugins for additional features might lead to stability issues or increased complexity when managing configurations.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to rootbar and wf-shell)
App Launcher
27 27%
73% 73
Productivity
27 27%
73% 73
Note Taking
27 27%
73% 73
LMS
50 50%
50% 50

User comments

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing rootbar and wf-shell, you can also consider the following products

Yambar - Modular status panel for X11 and Wayland, inspired by polybar.

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nwg-panel - Nwg-panel is a GTK3-based panel for sway and Hyprland Wayland compositors. The panel is equipped with a graphical configuration program that frees the user from the need to manually edit configuration files.

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xfce-panel - Xfce componet to switch between opened windows, launch applications, switch workspaces and menu plugins to browse applications or directories.

Waybar - Highly customizable Wayland bar for Sway and Wlroots based compositors. :v: :tada: - GitHub - Alexays/Waybar: Highly customizable Wayland bar for Sway and Wlroots based compositors.