Desktop Widgets vs Duckboard

Desktop Widgets is a marketplace of desktop mini-apps for trading, research, monitoring, and automation. Its site describes widgets being installed in one click and running natively across Windows, macOS, and Linux, while also promoting a Windows runtime and saying macOS and Linux are coming soon. Traders, operators, researchers, and developers are named as intended users who can combine mini-apps into an always-on workstation. Developers can make TypeScript widgets with @desktopwidgets/sdk, using Claude, GPT, or another model; the listed build and publishing tools include an MCP server, REST API, and CLI. Uploads are pending review, and automatic publication through signing is planned for Phase 3. The runtime is described as sandboxed by default, with gate-enforced capabilities. The Free Trial costs 0.00 USD for 7 days and includes all 31 widgets and themes and customization, with three device activations and no credit card required. Professional is $34.99, paid once purchase; Enterprise is $149.99, paid once purchase. Both paid plans include one year of updates, then optional paid maintenance renewals for further updates.

Duckboard is a desktop app for turning selected website sections into live, interactive widgets arranged in dashboards. Users can capture parts of websites or build custom widgets with HTML or embed code. Its preset library contains more than 1,900 options, with examples for YouTube, X, weather and productivity tools. The site also shows dashboard examples for morning, learning, building and finance workflows, and describes the app as private by design. Downloads are available for macOS and Windows: Mac support covers Apple silicon chips M1, M2, M3, M4 or newer, as well as Intel-based Macs; the Windows download is for 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 PCs. The download page says the app is free to download and requires no sign-up or credit card. The Free plan includes one dashboard, up to three widgets and email support. Extended is a one-time upgrade costing $29 as a one-time purchase, with one dashboard, unlimited widgets and email support.