This is a list of software that provides an alternative graphical user interface for Microsoft Windows operating systems. The technical term for this interface is a shell. Windows' standard user interface is the Windows shell; Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1x have a different shell, called Program Manager. The programs in this list do not restyle the Windows shell, but replace it; therefore, they look and function differently, and have different configuration options.
| Shell | Software license | Windows versions | Development status | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1x | 9x | 2000 | XP | Vista | 7 | 8 | 10 | |||
| Blackbox | GPL | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Active |
| BumpTop | Apache License | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Discontinued |
| Cairo Shell | Apache License | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Active[1] |
| Calmira | GPL | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| Emerge Desktop | GPL | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Discontinued[2] |
| KDE Plasma Workspaces | GPL | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Discontinued on Windows[3] |
| LDE(X) | GPL | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Discontinued[4] |
| LiteStep | GPL | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Stalled[5] |
| Packard Bell Navigator | Proprietary | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| ReactOS Explorer | GPL | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Active[6][7][8] |
| TabWorks | Proprietary | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| Talisman Desktop | Trialware | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Stalled[9][10] |