Software Alternatives & Reviews

Wayfire VS Xfce

Compare Wayfire VS Xfce and see what are their differences

Wayfire logo Wayfire

Wayland compositor with 3d effects.

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.
  • Wayfire Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-19
  • Xfce Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-04

Wayfire

Categories
  • Linux
  • Window Manager
  • Desktop Environments
  • Operating Systems
Website github.com

Xfce

Categories
  • Linux
  • Operating Systems
  • Desktop Environments
  • Linux Distribution
Website xfce.org

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

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 Wayfire and Xfce)
Linux
15 15%
85% 85
Window Manager
29 29%
71% 71
Operating Systems
13 13%
87% 87
Desktop Environments
16 16%
84% 84

User comments

Share your experience with using Wayfire and Xfce. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

Wayfire Reviews

We have no reviews of Wayfire yet.
Be the first one to post

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 Wayfire. 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.

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 2 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 2 years ago

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 / 8 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: 12 months 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 Wayfire 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.

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?

Unity8 - Mir compositor with Wayland apps support.

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

UKUI - UKUI is a lightweight desktop environment based on pluggable framework for Linux and other Unix-like Distributions.