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This is the list of some of the best Lightweight applications available in Linux . I hope you like it . Please give your feedback in comments .





Browsers :



Abaco A multi-page graphical web browser

A multi-page graphical web browser Arora A cross platform web browser built using Qt and WebKit

A cross platform web browser built using Qt and WebKit Chromium The open-source project behind Google Chrome

The open-source project behind Google Chrome Conkeror A highly programmable web browser based on Mozilla XULRunner

A highly programmable web browser based on Mozilla XULRunner Dillo A small, fast graphical web browser built on FLTK

A small, fast graphical web browser built on FLTK Elinks An advanced and well-established feature-rich text mode web browser

An advanced and well-established feature-rich text mode web browser Hv3 A minimalist web browser based on tkhtml3

A minimalist web browser based on tkhtml3 Kazehakase GTK+ web browser that uses the Gecko rendering engine

GTK+ web browser that uses the Gecko rendering engine Links A text WWW browser, similar to Lynx

A text WWW browser, similar to Lynx Midori is a lightweight web browser based on Gtk and WebKit. It passes the ACID3 test

is a lightweight web browser based on Gtk and WebKit. It passes the ACID3 test Netsurf has its own rendering engine, is written in C and is extremely lightweight.

has its own rendering engine, is written in C and is extremely lightweight. rekonq rekonq is a KDE browser based on Webkit. Its code is based on Nokia QtDemoBrowser, just like Arora.

rekonq is a KDE browser based on Webkit. Its code is based on Nokia QtDemoBrowser, just like Arora. Surf is another lightweight WebKit-based browser, which follows the “Suck less philosophy” . Which means, the software is even more lightweight (basically, the browser itself is a single C source file).

is another lightweight WebKit-based browser, which follows the “Suck less philosophy” . Which means, the software is even more lightweight (basically, the browser itself is a single C source file). Uzbl “web interface tools which adhere to the unix philosophy.”

“web interface tools which adhere to the unix philosophy.” vimprobable Vimprobable is a WWW browser that behaves like the Vimperator plugin available for Mozilla Firefox. It is based on the WebKit engine (using GTK bindings)

Vimprobable is a WWW browser that behaves like the Vimperator plugin available for Mozilla Firefox. It is based on the WebKit engine (using GTK bindings) Xombrero xombrero is a minimalist web browser with sophisticated security features designed-in.





Email Clients :

Alpine is another powerful, and user-friendly text-based mail and news client.

is another powerful, and user-friendly text-based mail and news client. Mutt is a small but very powerful text-based mail client.

is a small but very powerful text-based mail client. Sylpheed is a simple, lightweight but featureful, and easy-to-use GTK based e-mail client

is a simple, lightweight but featureful, and easy-to-use GTK based e-mail client Claws is a user-friendly, lightweight, and fast GTK based email client.

is a user-friendly, lightweight, and fast GTK based email client. Sup is yet another powerful, text-based mail client; it is still under development.





Instant Messengers :

Bitlbee is a way to use other IM to your IRC client .

is a way to use other IM to your IRC client . Centerim is a curses based fork of Centericq which supports several protocols.

is a curses based fork of Centericq which supports several protocols. Emesene is a Python/GTK+ instant messenger for the Windows Live Messenger network.

is a Python/GTK+ instant messenger for the Windows Live Messenger network. Finch is a curses based version of Pidgin. (as pointed by Laurence Becker, Finch is not very lightweight application)

(as pointed by Laurence Becker, Finch is not very lightweight application) Pidgin is a multiprotocol instant messenger. (as pointed by Laurence Becker, Pidgin is not very lightweight application)





IRC :

Conspire Lightweight, simple, and powerfull.

Lightweight, simple, and powerfull. Irssi is a modular text mode IRC client with Perl scripting.

is a modular text mode IRC client with Perl scripting. II Ultimate lightweight, literally `tail -f` the convo and `echo` back your replies.

Ultimate lightweight, literally `tail -f` the convo and `echo` back your replies. ircfs is a file system interface to irc written in Limbo

is a file system interface to irc written in Limbo LostIRC is a simple IRC client.

is a simple IRC client. ScrollZ is an advanced IRC client based on ircII.

is an advanced IRC client based on ircII. WeeChat is a fast, light & extensible curses-based IRC client.

is a fast, light & extensible curses-based IRC client. Xchat is a GTK+ X client with Perl and Python scripting support.

is a GTK+ X client with Perl and Python scripting support. pcw is a frontend for ii that opens a new terminal for each channel (depends on srw by default)





Torrent Clients :

Deluge User-friendly BitTorrent client written in Python and wrapped with PyGTK

User-friendly BitTorrent client written in Python and wrapped with PyGTK qBittorrent The closest open source (GNU GPL v2 license) equivalent to µtorrent

The closest open source (GNU GPL v2 license) equivalent to µtorrent rTorrent Simple and lightweight ncurses BitTorrent client

Simple and lightweight ncurses BitTorrent client Transmission Simple and easy-to-use BitTorrent client with (GTK+) GUI and CLI front-ends

Simple and easy-to-use BitTorrent client with (GTK+) GUI and CLI front-ends Aria2 An advanced, lightweight CLI download manager that supports many protocols including bittorrent and metalink





Audio Players :

Ario is very feature-rich GTK2 client for mpd, inspired by Rhythmbox

is very feature-rich GTK2 client for mpd, inspired by Rhythmbox C* Music Player is a very feature-rich ncurses-based music player.

is a very feature-rich ncurses-based music player. cplay is a curses front-end for various audio players.

is a curses front-end for various audio players. Goggles Music Manager is a music collection manager and player that automatically categorizes your music, supports gapless playback, features easy tag editing, and internet radio support.

is a music collection manager and player that automatically categorizes your music, supports gapless playback, features easy tag editing, and internet radio support. MOC(Music On Console) is an ncurses console audio player with support for the MP3, Ogg, and WAV formats.

is an ncurses console audio player with support for the MP3, Ogg, and WAV formats. ncmpc is a curses client for mpd.

is a curses client for mpd. Pragha is a GTK+ music manager that was a fork of Consonance Music Manager.

is a GTK+ music manager that was a fork of Consonance Music Manager. QmpdClient is Qt4 based mpd client.

is Qt4 based mpd client. Sonata is an elegant GTK+ music client for mpd.

is an elegant GTK+ music client for mpd. mpg123 A fast free MP3 console audio player for Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Hpux and near all other UNIX systems. Also decodes mp1 and mp2 files.





Video Players :

Gnome-Mplayer is a simple GTK-based GUI for mplayer without heavy Gnome dependencies

is a simple GTK-based GUI for mplayer without heavy Gnome dependencies Totem

Mplayer

SMPlayer is a complete frontend for mplayer.





Image Editors :

mtPaint is a graphic editing program geared towards creating indexed palette images and pixel art.





Image Viewers :

Feh is a fast, lightweight image viewer that uses imlib2 .

is a fast, lightweight image viewer that uses imlib2 . GPicView is a simple and fast image viewer for X. Made by the developers of LXDE

is a simple and fast image viewer for X. Made by the developers of LXDE GQview is an image browser that features single click access to view images and move around the directory tree.

is an image browser that features single click access to view images and move around the directory tree. Geeqie is a lightweight image browser and viewer (fork of GQview), with additional functionality like RAW files view.

is a lightweight image browser and viewer (fork of GQview), with additional functionality like RAW files view. Mirage is a fast and simple GTK+ image viewer.

is a fast and simple GTK+ image viewer. Ristretto is a fast and lightweight picture-viewer for the Xfce desktop environment.

is a fast and lightweight picture-viewer for the Xfce desktop environment. QIV (Quick Image Viewer) is a very small and fast gdk/Imlib image viewer.

(Quick Image Viewer) is a very small and fast gdk/Imlib image viewer. Viewnior Viewnior is a simple, fast image viewer with a minimalistic GTK2 interface.

Viewnior is a simple, fast image viewer with a minimalistic GTK2 interface. Xv is a shareware program written by John Bradley to display and modify digital images under the X Window System.





Calendars :

Calcurse is a curses calendar and scheduling system.

is a curses calendar and scheduling system. Remind is a highly sophisticated text-based calendaring and notification system.

is a highly sophisticated text-based calendaring and notification system. Wyrd is an curses front-end to Remind.

is an curses front-end to Remind. wxRemind is a Python text and graphical frontend to Remind.





PDF Tools:

apvlv is a lightweight PDF viewer with VIM key bindings.

is a lightweight PDF viewer with VIM key bindings. ePDFView is a free lightweight PDF document viewer using Poppler and GTK+ libraries.

is a free lightweight PDF document viewer using Poppler and GTK+ libraries. MuPDF is a lightweight PDF viewer and toolkit written in portable C. It is one of the lightest available.

is a lightweight PDF viewer and toolkit written in portable C. It is one of the lightest available. Xpdf is a viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

is a viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files. zathura is another lightweight PDF viewer similar to apvlv, only lighter





Text Editors:

Acme a minimalist and flexible programming environment by Rob Pike.

a minimalist and flexible programming environment by Rob Pike. Beaver is an Early AdVanced EditoR.

is an Early AdVanced EditoR. Geany is a text editor using the GTK+ 2 toolkit with basic features of an integrated development environment.

is a text editor using the GTK+ 2 toolkit with basic features of an integrated development environment. Leafpad is a notepad clone for GTK+ 2.x that emphasizes simplicity.

is a notepad clone for GTK+ 2.x that emphasizes simplicity. medit is intended to be a useful programming and around-programming text editor.

is intended to be a useful programming and around-programming text editor. Mousepad is a simple text editor for Xfce based on Leafpad.

is a simple text editor for Xfce based on Leafpad. nano is an easy-to-use text editor, with on-screen key binding information, based on pine’s pico editor.

is an easy-to-use text editor, with on-screen key binding information, based on pine’s pico editor. PyRoom is a great distractionless PyGTK text editor, a clone of the infamous WriteRoom

is a great distractionless PyGTK text editor, a clone of the infamous WriteRoom Sam a graphical text editor by Rob Pike (still used by Ken Thompson and others).

a graphical text editor by Rob Pike (still used by Ken Thompson and others). Vi, Vim, gVim, the classic vi text editor.





Word Processors:

Abiword is a full-featured word processor, there is also an even lighter version in the AUR, Abiword-light.

is a full-featured word processor, there is also an even lighter version in the AUR, Abiword-light. txt2tags is a dead-simple, KISS-compliant lightweight, human-readable markup language to produce rich format content out of plain text files

is a dead-simple, KISS-compliant lightweight, human-readable markup language to produce rich format content out of plain text files WordGrinder a word processor for processing words .





Todo List Managers:

Todo.txt manages your Todo list from the command line.





File Managers:

emelFM2 is file manager that implements the popular two-pane design.

is file manager that implements the popular two-pane design. Midnight Commander is a console-based, dual-paned, file manager.

is a console-based, dual-paned, file manager. PCManFM is a lightweight file manager which features tabbed browsing and can optionally manage the desktop background.

is a lightweight file manager which features tabbed browsing and can optionally manage the desktop background. Ranger is a console based file manager with vi bindings, customizability, and lots of features.

is a console based file manager with vi bindings, customizability, and lots of features. ROX is a small and fast file manager which can optionally manage the desktop background and panels.

is a small and fast file manager which can optionally manage the desktop background and panels. Thunar is fast and responsive with a good start up time and directory load time.

is fast and responsive with a good start up time and directory load time. Vifm is a ncurses based two-pane file manager with vi like keybindings.

is a ncurses based two-pane file manager with vi like keybindings. Xfe X File Explorer (Xfe) is an MS-Explorer or Commander like file manager for X.





GUI Compression Tools:

Squeeze is a modern and advanced archive manager.

is a modern and advanced archive manager. Xarchive is a GTK+ 2 front-end for various command line archiving tools.

is a GTK+ 2 front-end for various command line archiving tools. Xarchiver is a lightweight desktop independent archive manager built with GTK+ 2.





CD/DVD Burning Tools:

recorder is a graphical frontend of cdrkit/cdrtools, cdrdao, mkisofs and growisofs.





Login managers:

CDM provides an ultra-minimalistic, yet full-featured login manager written in bash.

provides an ultra-minimalistic, yet full-featured login manager written in bash. SLiM provides a lightweight and elegant graphical login solution.

provides a lightweight and elegant graphical login solution. Qingy is ultralight and very configurable graphical login independent on X Windows.





Monitors:

Conky is a lightweight, scriptable system monitor.

is a lightweight, scriptable system monitor. htop is a simple, ncurses interactive process viewer.





Panels:

BMPanel (BitMap Panel) is a lightweight, NETWM compliant panel for the X11 system.

(BitMap Panel) is a lightweight, NETWM compliant panel for the X11 system. fbpanel is a lightweight, NETWM compliant desktop panel.

is a lightweight, NETWM compliant desktop panel. LXPanel is a lightweight X11 desktop panel (part of LXDE).

is a lightweight X11 desktop panel (part of LXDE). PyPanel is a lightweight panel/taskbar written in Python and C (HOWTO).

is a lightweight panel/taskbar written in Python and C (HOWTO). Tint is a simple panel/taskbar intentionally made for openbox3, but should also work with other window managers (HOWTO).

is a simple panel/taskbar intentionally made for openbox3, but should also work with other window managers (HOWTO). pancake is a highly configurable, modular panel for X.





Terminals:

Lilyterm is a light and easy to use libvte based X Terminal Emulator.

is a light and easy to use libvte based X Terminal Emulator. ROXTerm is a tabbed, VTE-based terminal emulator with a small footprint.

is a tabbed, VTE-based terminal emulator with a small footprint. urxvt is a highly extendable unicode enabled rxvt-clone terminal emulator featuring tabbing, url launching, quake-style dropdown, pseudo-transparency, and is extensible with perl.

is a highly extendable unicode enabled rxvt-clone terminal emulator featuring tabbing, url launching, quake-style dropdown, pseudo-transparency, and is extensible with perl. Sakura is a terminal emulator based on GTK+ and VTE.

is a terminal emulator based on GTK+ and VTE. xterm is a terminal emulator for the X Window System.

is a terminal emulator for the X Window System. xvt xvt is an X terminal-emulator that is designed to be more or less compatible with xterm while using much less swap space.

xvt is an X terminal-emulator that is designed to be more or less compatible with xterm while using much less swap space. st st is a simple terminal implementation for X.





Trays:

Docker is a docking application which acts as a system tray.

is a docking application which acts as a system tray. Stalonetray is a stand-alone system tray.

is a stand-alone system tray. Trayer swallows GTK+ 1.2/2.x application docklets, and KDE docklets.





Window managers:

Awesome is a floating and tiling window manager initially based on a dwm code rewriting.

is a floating and tiling window manager initially based on a dwm code rewriting. Dwm is an extra light dynamic window manager which is configured by directly editing the source(which itself is less than 2000 SLOC).

is an extra light dynamic window manager which is configured by directly editing the source(which itself is less than 2000 SLOC). Enlightenment a very lightweight and extremely beautiful WM .

Evilwm is a minimalist floating window manager with an installed size of only 0.07 MB.

is a minimalist floating window manager with an installed size of only 0.07 MB. Fluxbox is a lightweight and highly configurable window manager.

is a lightweight and highly configurable window manager. FVWM is a lightweight, flexible and highly-configurable Window Manager.

is a lightweight, flexible and highly-configurable Window Manager. i3 i3 is a manual tiling window manager which places client into containers.Containers can be stacked (like wmii) or tabbed (like ion3). i3 also supports floating windows.

i3 is a manual tiling window manager which places client into containers.Containers can be stacked (like wmii) or tabbed (like ion3). i3 also supports floating windows. Musca is a very lightweight window manager which has features from dwm and ratpoison. Uses about 350-400KB of memory.

is a very lightweight window manager which has features from dwm and ratpoison. Uses about 350-400KB of memory. Openbox is another lightweight and highly configurable window manager.

is another lightweight and highly configurable window manager. PekWM is small and easily configurable window manager.

is small and easily configurable window manager. Ratpoison is a keyboard-oriented, customizable lightweight window manager, modelled after GNU Screen.

is a keyboard-oriented, customizable lightweight window manager, modelled after GNU Screen. Scrotwm is a small dynamic tiling window manager for X11. It is written in C and configured with a text configuration file.

is a small dynamic tiling window manager for X11. It is written in C and configured with a text configuration file. Subtle is a semi-automatic tiling window manager with a strong focus on easy but customizable handling and look and feel.

is a semi-automatic tiling window manager with a strong focus on easy but customizable handling and look and feel. TinyWM is a tiny window manager that was created as an exercise in minimalism, and it is also helpful in learning some of the very basics of creating a window manager. It is around 50 lines of C, and there is a Python version using python-xlib.

is a tiny window manager that was created as an exercise in minimalism, and it is also helpful in learning some of the very basics of creating a window manager. It is around 50 lines of C, and there is a Python version using python-xlib. Twm is a classic, customizable and very lightweight window manager; possibly the first designed for X11.

is a classic, customizable and very lightweight window manager; possibly the first designed for X11. Window Maker is an elegant, fast and usable OpenStep implementation.

is an elegant, fast and usable OpenStep implementation. Xfce is a desktop environment much lighter but similar to GNOME. It includes the xfwm4 window manager.

is a desktop environment much lighter but similar to GNOME. It includes the xfwm4 window manager. Xmonad is a tiling window manager for X, written and configured in Haskell.

is a tiling window manager for X, written and configured in Haskell. Wmfs (Window Manager From Scratch) is a lightweight and highly configurable tiling window manager for X.

Help me to improve this list by specifying if I missed something . Please give your feedback in comments . This list was orginally posted at Arch Linux . I have fixed the few links and I am sharing it here with you guys .

Contributors :

MercurialAlchemist damn_right TheAntiRudin KimTjik Jaqui drad