Seelen UI alternatives for Windows 11 and 10

Seelen UI is a whole desktop environment for Windows 10 and 11: a tiling window manager, a toolbar, a dock, an app launcher, its own Alt+Tab and wallpapers - free and open source under AGPL-3.0. That much in one app is its strength. It is also why people look elsewhere when they want only one part of it, or a part that works differently.

So the alternatives below are grouped by the part of Seelen UI they replace. Every one runs on Windows - lists that mix in Linux shells don't help here.

We make lumabar, one of the bars below - read our take on it with that in mind. Where another tool fits better, we say so.

At a glance

Licenses, releases and stars were read from each project's GitHub page on 11 October 2026. Stars are a rough sign of how many people use and follow a project, not of quality.

If you want the tiling: GlazeWM or komorebi

GlazeWM is a free tiling window manager inspired by i3, for Windows and macOS. Its installer offers Zebar, from the same team, as the status bar - tick the box and you get a matched pair, close to what Seelen's tiling and toolbar give you together.

komorebi is the other established tiling manager for Windows. Its author calls it educational source software: free for personal use, with a paid individual license for using it at work. If you tile for a living, budget for that.

If you want the bar: Zebar, YASB or lumabar

Zebar builds taskbars, desktop widgets and popups that you customize, and pairs naturally with GlazeWM. YASB is a highly configurable status bar written in Python under the MIT license, with ready-made widgets for GlazeWM and komorebi workspaces, so it sits well next to a tiling manager.

lumabar is the bar for people who don't tile: one dock at the top or bottom with your apps and 80+ live widgets - Claude and ChatGPT limits, revenue, GitHub, mail, weather - set up by clicking and dragging rather than in a config file. It doesn't manage windows at all. The full side-by-side is in lumabar vs Seelen UI.

If you want the dock: MyDockFinder

MyDockFinder recreates the Mac: a magnifying dock, a Finder-style top bar and a Launchpad, sold for a few dollars on Steam. If Seelen's dock is the part you liked and a macOS look is the goal, it is the closest fit - see lumabar vs MyDockFinder for how it differs from a widget dock.

If you want a different shell altogether: Cairo Desktop or Start11

Cairo Desktop is a free, open-source desktop environment for Windows under Apache-2.0, with its own programs menu, taskbar and folder stacks. Start11, from Stardock, replaces the Start menu with several styles and adds taskbar options; it is paid, as a subscription or a permanent license, with a free trial.

If you want to keep the Windows taskbar, changed

• Windhawk - a marketplace of community mods for the taskbar, Start and other parts of Windows. Free, GPL-3.0.
• ExplorerPatcher - brings back the Windows 10 taskbar and Start menu on Windows 11. Free, GPL-2.0.
• TranslucentTB - makes the taskbar translucent or transparent, nothing more. Free, GPL-3.0.

And if it's only the taskbar's position that bothers you, Windows 11 can move it to the top again - see how to move the taskbar to the top.

If you want widgets on the desktop: Rainmeter

Rainmeter is the long-standing free way to put widgets on the Windows desktop, built from skins you download and edit. If you like the widgets but not the setup, here is a Rainmeter alternative without config files.

Pairs that work

• GlazeWM + Zebar - same team, offered together in the installer.
• komorebi or GlazeWM + YASB - YASB ships workspace widgets for both.
• Seelen UI's tiling + another bar - switch Seelen's toolbar and dock off and keep the window manager.