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SPECIFICTION
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bemenu vs Quicksilver

bemenu

github.com

Quicksilver

qsapp.com

Side by side

FigurebemenuQuicksilver
Price fromFreeFree
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source——
macOSYesYes
LinuxYes—
Plans published11
Spec score · App Launcher Software8.4 (#8)7.2 (#31)
Spec score · App launchers8.4 (#10)7.2 (#30)
Spec score · App Launchers8.3 (#12)7.2 (#30)
CustomizationEnvironment variables can set options, choose a backend, select renderer paths, and override rendering scale.Quicksilver offers more than 10 interfaces with color theming.

Plans

bemenu

  • bemenuFree

bemenu pricing →

Quicksilver

  • FreeFree

Quicksilver pricing →

In their own words

bemenu

bemenu is a dynamic menu library and client program inspired by dmenu. It provides the bemenu and bemenu-run clients, with build targets for curses, X11, and Wayland backends. Users can configure environment variables for options, backend selection, renderer paths, and rendering scale. The project documents default keyboard bindings and an optional Vim-style mode enabled with --binding vim. Wayland use depends on a compositor implementing the wlr-layer-shell protocol, typically a wlroots-based compositor. Clipboard pasting uses wl-paste and xclip at runtime, in that order. Building requires a C compiler, and scdoc is needed to generate the man page. The project also documents macOS build steps using Homebrew prerequisites and a build-osx.sh flow; its provided Nix expression installs only the curses backend. The client program and sources other than the library and bindings use GNU GPLv3 or later, while the library and bindings use GNU LGPLv3 or later. The project lists pinentry-bemenu as an integration. bemenu is free and open source, with no paid plans or usage limits stated.

Visit github.com

Quicksilver

Quicksilver has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.

Visit qsapp.com