Software Alternatives & Reviews

Xmonad VS Sway

Compare Xmonad VS Sway and see what are their differences

Xmonad

xmonad is a dynamically tiling X11 window manager that is written and configured in Haskell.

Sway

Sway is a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager, but for Wayland instead of X11.
  • Xmonad Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-01
  • Sway Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-20

Xmonad

Categories
  • Window Manager
  • Linux
  • Utilities
  • Open Source
Website xmonad.org  
Details $

Sway

Categories
  • Health And Fitness
  • Meditation
  • Sleep
  • Window Manager
Website swaywm.org  
Details $

Xmonad videos

Xmonad Review

More videos:

  • Review - Hacking on Xmonad - GridSelect, ToggleStruts, ToggleBorders
  • Review - Obscure Window Manager Project - Xmonad

Sway videos

Sway beats Powerpoint for these 4 reasons (Microsoft Office 365).

More videos:

  • Review - VOD REVIEW: IS FAZE SWAY BEING COACHED 🎮 BY FAZE BIZZLE WORTH IT? (Full Game)
  • Review - Microsoft Sway Hands On Review!
  • Review - Sway by Mitchell Bubble
  • Tutorial - SWAY HOUSE TOUR FORTNITE

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Xmonad and Sway)
Window Manager
52 52%
48% 48
Health And Fitness
0 0%
100% 100
Linux
60 60%
40% 40
Meditation
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Xmonad and Sway. 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 Xmonad and Sway

Xmonad Reviews

Top 13 Best Tiling Window Managers For Linux In 2022
XMonad is a dynamic tiling X11 window manager that allows you to automate window finding and alignment. It may be customised with its own extension library, which includes choices for status bars and window decorations. It’s also simple to set up, stable, and minimal.
Source: www.hubtech.org
13 Best Tiling Window Managers for Linux
spectrwm is a small, dynamic, xmonad, and dwm-inspired reparenting and tiling window manager built for X11 to be fast, compact, and concise. It was created with the aim of solving the issues of xmonad and dwm face.
Source: www.tecmint.com
5 Great Tiling Window Managers for Linux
Xmonad is a tiling window manager written in Haskell. Like most (if not all) window managers, it comes with no frills or window decorations. The keyboard shortcuts are top notch. It works out-of-the-box and is very user friendly. On top of all that, Xmonad sports a fairly big extension library (which can add on even more functionality).

Sway Reviews

Top 13 Best Tiling Window Managers For Linux In 2022
Sway is a tiling Wayland i3-compatible window manager that dynamically arranges app windows to rationally maximise desktop space. It is free, open-source, and lightweight. By default, it arranges windows in a grid and supports practically all of the i3 commands.
Source: www.hubtech.org
13 Best Tiling Window Managers for Linux
Sway is a free, open-source, and lightweight tiling Wayland i3-compatible window manager that automatically arranges app windows to logically maximize desktop space. It arranges windows into a grid by default and supports almost all the commands included in i3.
Source: www.tecmint.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Sway should be more popular than Xmonad. It has been mentiond 52 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.

Xmonad mentions (14)

  • [Media] shrs: a shell that is configurable and extensible in rust
    Hey everyone 👋 ! I'm currently working on a rust library for building and configuring your own shell! It's inspired by projects like xmonad and penrose where the configuration of the program is done in code. This means that for example, instead of using Bash's arcane syntax for configuring the prompt, it can be configured instead using a rust builder pattern! The project itself is still at a very young stage, so... Source: 10 months ago
  • What LaTeX setup do you use?
    There are a few other things I could mention, but there are more like side issues, and not relevant to my actual LaTeX setup. First and foremost—and thus perhaps noteworthy after all—is bibliography management with arxiv-citation (see here for more words). This is integrated very well with the XMonad window manager, which makes it even more of a joy to use. Source: 12 months ago
  • How to map arrows keys to CapsLock+(h,i,j,k) shortcuts in i3
    Another way to do it (and works on Linux and other platforms) is with XMonad, defining Caps Lock as a layer key. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Can ISTP like abstract things and theories?
    I tried it once, it was alright. https://xmonad.org/ But I prefer to build my own. Source: over 1 year ago
  • What exactly is a tiling window manager?
    Here is another tiling wm with screenshots: Https://xmonad.org/. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

Sway mentions (52)

  • "We understand" ;)
    This is partially why I use tools like i3 (/ sway). I like the tool; it works extremely well for me; the design has stayed the same for 20 years; there's no profit motive to come along and fuck everything up. It just works. It is boring in the best way possible. Source: 3 months ago
  • Framework 13 with AMD Ryzen 7040 Series Makes for a Great Linux Laptop
    I've tested using i3 but never fully got into it. But my plan for the F13 is to try out Hyprland[0] and perhaps Sway[1]. [0] https://hyprland.org/ [1] https://swaywm.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Rethinking Window Management in Gnome
    Sway does all those things very well: https://swaywm.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Just ran Sway on openSUSE. Complete noob. I need help.
    Read the manual on https://swaywm.org/. There are tons of youtube videos showcasing basic configuration and usage. This is extremely basic stuff you need to do yourself. Source: 9 months ago
  • Thinking about doing distro hop after half a year any recommendations?
    While both the Pop Shell and Material shell extensions offer very easy access to window tiling on GNOME, they're not as powerful as the likes of Sway or Hyprland. Source: 9 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Xmonad and Sway, you can also consider the following products

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

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.

Pacifica - Stress and anxiety relief through beautiful CBT tools

awesome - A dynamic window manager for the X Window System developed in the C and Lua programming languages.

bspwm - A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

Synctuition Meditation Program - Synctuition Meditation Program is a world’s most leading meditation app that comes with brand new 3D sounds that enhance the quality of sleep significantly.