Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Wayfire VS Labwc

Compare Wayfire VS Labwc and see what are their differences

Wayfire logo Wayfire

Wayland compositor with 3d effects.

Labwc logo Labwc

Labwc stands for Lab Wayland Compositor, where lab can mean any of the following:
  • Wayfire Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-19
  • Labwc Landing page
    Landing page //
    2025-03-03

Wayfire features and specs

  • Customizability
    Wayfire offers a high degree of customizability with plugins, allowing users to modify and extend the functionality of the window manager to fit their personal workflow and preferences.
  • Modern Compositor
    Being based on Wayland, Wayfire benefits from modern graphical capabilities and is well-suited for contemporary hardware, with support for efficient rendering and better security features compared to X-based systems.
  • Dynamic Effects
    Wayfire includes a variety of built-in effects and animations, providing users with an aesthetically pleasing environment that can be tailored or disabled as needed.
  • Lightweight
    Wayfire is designed to be lightweight, offering fast performance with minimal resource usage which can improve speed and responsiveness, especially on older hardware.
  • Active Development
    It is actively maintained with continuous updates and improvements, ensuring that users have access to the latest features and security patches.

Possible disadvantages of Wayfire

  • Wayland-Specific
    As a Wayland compositor, it might not yet support all X11 applications natively, possibly requiring compatibility layers like XWayland, which can introduce complexity or limitations.
  • Limited Support
    Compared to more mainstream window managers, there may be less community and documentation support for troubleshooting and user assistance.
  • Plugin Dependency
    While plugins provide flexibility, the heavy reliance on them can lead to compatibility issues or instability if not managed properly, especially for users who want a simple setup.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may encounter a learning curve, especially if they are unfamiliar with Wayland or the plugin-based architecture, requiring time to fully leverage its capabilities.
  • Desktop Environment Integration
    Wayfire's integration with specific desktop environments may be less seamless compared to other managers designed with broader DE support, limiting its appeal for users who prefer tight DE integration.

Labwc features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Wayfire videos

GNOME 3.36: macOS-like apps with KAWAII BLUR ..on Wayfire :p

More videos:

  • Review - Wayfire: Wayfire config manager + wf-panel
  • Review - Micro Review 2/2 Rayban Wayfire

Labwc videos

labwc release video 0.6.0

More videos:

  • Review - Even More Wayland Compositors! LabWC & DWL

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Wayfire and Labwc)
Linux
73 73%
27% 27
Window Manager
68 68%
32% 32
Desktop Environments
100 100%
0% 0
Utilities
47 47%
53% 53

User comments

Share your experience with using Wayfire and Labwc. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Wayfire seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 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.

Wayfire mentions (2)

  • Cant change the system GTK theme/icons
    So im trying to change my GTK theme/icons (on Wayfire) I tryed changing them using LXAppearance and it "changes" in LXappearance until I close it then they goes back to default (no other application changes themes/icons). Source: over 3 years ago
  • [Wayfire] System locks up when trying to build wf-shell
    Im trying to build/install Wayfire (on Debian Testing, using Openbox) using wf-install and I cant seem to get past building wf-shell (i have also tried building using wf-shell instructions, same result),. Source: over 3 years ago

Labwc mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Labwc yet. Tracking of Labwc recommendations started around Mar 2025.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Wayfire and Labwc, you can also consider the following products

Hyprland - Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor that doesn't sacrifice on its looks. - GitHub - vaxerski/Hyprland: Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor that doesn't sacrifice on ...

Openbox - Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.

Waybox - An openbox clone on Wayland (WIP).

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

Sway - Sway is a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager, but for Wayland instead of X11.

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