Linux status bars and panels: Waybar, Polybar and more
Tiling window managers do not come with a panel, so you add a status bar: workspaces, clock, battery, network, audio and a tray. Waybar is the usual choice on Wayland compositors such as Hyprland and Sway; Polybar plays the same role on X11 window managers like i3 and bspwm.
Beyond those two, the options trade features for weight. HyprPanel is an all-in-one panel for Hyprland with dashboards and notifications; Ironbar, gBar and nwg-panel are GTK-based; yambar and lemonbar are minimal; tint2 is the classic Openbox panel. Bars built into full desktop shells are listed with dotfiles and widgets instead.
10 entries · each pinned to an exact upstream version · updated
All 10 entries, compared
Filter in the catalogue →| Setup | Works with | Difficulty | What it changes | Maintenance | Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 PolybarFast, modular status bar for X11 window managers. | Works with: Any desktop (X11) | Moderate | Changes: 1 package | Quiet | Stars: 15k |
 WaybarHighly customizable status bar for Sway, Hyprland and other wlroots compositors. | Works with: Any desktop (Wayland) | Moderate | Changes: 1 package | Active | Stars: 12k |
 Polybar ThemesLarge collection of ready-made Polybar styles and launchers. | Works with: Any desktop (X11) | Advanced | Changes: own installer | Active | Stars: 6.3k |
 lemonbarFeatherweight bar that renders text piped through stdin. | Works with: Any desktop (X11) | Advanced | Changes: 1 package | Quiet | Stars: 1.7k |
| IronbarGTK4 bar for wlroots compositors written in Rust, styled with CSS. | Works with: Any desktop (Wayland) | Moderate | Changes: 1 package | Active | Stars: 1.5k |
| Works with: Any desktop (Wayland) | Moderate | Changes: 1 package | Active | Stars: 781 | |
 gBarLightweight status bar for Wayland written in C++ with GTK. | Works with: Hyprland (Wayland) | Advanced | Changes: 1 package | Quiet | Stars: 540 |
 yambarModular, low-resource status panel for X11 and Wayland. | Works with: Any desktop (Wayland & X11) | Advanced | Changes: 1 package | Quiet | Stars: 295 |
 tint2Lightweight panel and taskbar, a classic companion to Openbox. | Works with: Openbox (X11) | Moderate | Changes: 1 package | Quiet | Stars: 294 |
 HyprPanelAll-in-one panel for Hyprland with dashboards, notifications and a settings dialog. | Works with: Hyprland (Wayland) | Advanced | Changes: 1 package | Archived upstream | Stars: 2.2k |
Avoid or migrate
These still install, but their projects have stopped. Pick a maintained alternative for a new setup.
How to choose
- Match the display server: Wayland bars do not run on X11 and the other way round.
- Pick by config format: Waybar uses JSON and CSS, Polybar an INI file, lemonbar reads text from a script.
- Compositor-specific bars like HyprPanel offer more, but only on that compositor.
Questions
Waybar or Polybar?
Waybar for Wayland compositors (Hyprland, Sway, river…), Polybar for X11 window managers (i3, bspwm, Openbox…). They fill the same role on different display servers.
Does Waybar work on GNOME?
No. Waybar needs a compositor with the layer-shell protocol, which GNOME Shell does not provide. GNOME users change the panel with extensions such as Dash to Panel.
Why is my bar empty or missing icons?
Most bars use a Nerd Font or icon font for their symbols. Install the font named in the setup’s instructions, then restart the bar.