Duckboard vs Eww
Duckboard
duckboard.proEww
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Duckboard | Eww |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Desktop Widget Software | 8.0 (#4) | 7.6 (#13) |
| Integrations | The site names YouTube, X, weather, and productivity tools as examples for its presets. | The documentation gives examples of using xprop to track the focused desktop and playerctl to monitor the currently playing song. |
| Purpose | Duckboard turns selected parts of websites into live desktop widgets arranged in dashboards. | Eww is a standalone widget system written in Rust for creating custom widgets in any window manager. |
Plans
In their own words
Duckboard
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.
Eww
Eww is a free, MIT-licensed widget system for Linux. It lets you build desktop widgets that work with any window manager, without depending on that manager. You define widget structure, window geometry, behavior, state, and data in the Yuck language. Styling uses CSS or SCSS through GTK’s CSS engine, whose web-CSS support is incomplete for some animations and layout properties. Built-in variables can expose CPU, RAM, disk, battery, network, and time information. Polling variables rerun shell scripts repeatedly, while listening variables update when script output produces a new line. Available widgets include labels, buttons, images, inputs, progress displays, calendars, graphs, tooltips, overlays, stacks, and layout containers. Documentation shows xprop and playerctl integrations. Separate build commands cover X11 and Wayland. Building requires Rust, Cargo, GTK3, Pango, Cairo, and GLib. Window arguments remain constant after opening.