Free Wallpaper Engine Alternatives

The Wallpaper Engine has helped tens of thousands of people replace their boring static screen pictures with a stunning collection of lively, animated wallpaper and moving backgrounds. Be that as it may, Wallpaper Engine is paid-for, making it less attractive if you’re looking for a free option. Fortunately, there are tons of free Wallpaper Engine alternatives.

If you’re looking for free Wallpaper Engine alternatives, you’re in the right place. This article will point you to the best Wallpaper Engine alternatives that won’t cost you a dime.

Free Wallpaper Engine Alternatives

If you’ve used Wallpaper Engine, you might never settle for the standard, static computer desktop wallpapers again. This software adds life to your desktop by giving you unlimited animated images. It also allows you to design, download, and share the animated wallpaper you created with the platform with friends.

Better still, Wallpaper Engine does not restrict you to one moving wallpaper. You can create a wallpaper playlist and run each at a specific interval.

Though Wallpaper Engine stands out for its features, two aspects might push you to look for an alternative. First, it costs $3.99. Second, it is only compatible with Windows and Android operating systems. It does not work on Mac and Linux, which means you’ll have to find one of the alternatives out there (including one listed below) if you run these operating systems.

The section below discusses eight free wallpaper software programs you can use instead of Wallpaper Engine.

1. ScreenPlay

Unlike Wallpaper Engine, which only supports the Windows operating system, ScreenPlay supports multiple platforms. It supports both Windows and Mac, allowing you to use similar backgrounds if you run the two operating systems simultaneously.

With ScreenPlay, you have diverse choices for your desktop background. You can choose inbuilt animated wallpapers or widgets. Alternatively, you can create sharable custom wallpapers.

Another option is you can switch from light to dark mode. This can be handy for preserving your battery and reducing eye strain.

Apart from offering stunning backgrounds, ScreenPlay also supports a community of builders. Here you can engage with other ScreenPlay users and exchange background ideas. And if you run into a problem, the community is the place to go for solutions.

2. Rainmeter

Rainmeter stands out for its user-friendly interface and the flexibility it gives its users. It offers many desktop widgets or skins that you can customize to suit your preferences. These skins feature functionalities such as an audio player, weather widget, desktop clock, system monitor, and application launcher.

Also, you can download and install ready-made skins that don’t need customization. The integration of the Rainmeter community also allows users to share their creations, giving you more wallpaper choices.

Rainmeter only takes a little of your hardware space. At most, it uses 35 MBs of RAM. So you won’t experience lags when playing games or carrying out other activities. The only downside is it only supports the Windows operating system.

3. Walloop

Walloop is home to creative designers and features over 1,000 4k wallpapers, HD live backgrounds, and home screen backgrounds for Windows devices. They’re made by designers from different countries. This diversity allows you to find thousands of themes for wallpapers, all in the same category.

If you like using multiple wallpapers, you can create a playlist slideshow of your favorite wallpapers. This way, your screen color motion, color, and design will change after a specific period. Also, you can use two wallpapers simultaneously—one for your lock screen and the other for your home screen.

When using Walloop, you never have to worry about your battery. The wallpapers are designed to consume as little energy as possible.

4. Lively Wallpaper

Lively Wallpaper is a feature-rich, easy-to-use wallpaper software that adds life to your Windows desktop with its in-built wallpapers. Although it does not house a wide collection of wallpapers, the existing ones are highly customizable. You can add effects to match your style and preferences.

Also, Lively allows you to create your wallpapers with no limitations. You can convert files of any format into your wallpaper, including HTML, MKV, GIF, and MPV files. The process of converting these files into wallpapers is painless. Your wallpaper will be created by simply dragging and dropping the file into Lively.

The wallpapers don’t impact your device’s performance. When you’re not using the screen, they mute to ensure your battery lasts longer. Also, the playback stops when running resource-intensive software to prevent lags.

The only downside of this software is it uses a white screen, which can cause eye strain.

5. Variety Wallpaper Changer

Are you looking for a slim cross-platform wallpaper that won’t overpower your low-memory device? Variety Wallpaper Changer could be the solution because it’s lightweight and supports Windows, Linux, and Ubuntu. It’s also uncluttered and focuses on using colorful yet simple wallpapers. You can also use your local images as wallpapers.

Not only that but also you can download stock images and set them as wallpaper. This is because Variety Wallpaper Changer integrates with copyright-free image platforms such as Unsplash and Flickr. When downloading photos, you can specify the qualities to ensure you get an image that meets wallpaper standards.

Changing your wallpapers on Variety Wallpaper Changer won’t take much of your time. You can choose a playlist of your wallpapers and program it to change at rotating intervals from Settings.

6. Dynamic Themes

Dynamic Themes is an ad-free cross-platform Microsoft product. It’s designed to update your Window lock screen and desktop wallpaper with spotlights. The update happens automatically every day at a specific time.

Dynamic Themes’ user interface is simple and resembles Window’s settings. This gives you a sense of familiarity when using the application. You can preview the daily spotlight and download it for future use. Also, you can synchronize your spotlight across your devices. This makes the app stand out from the regular Windows Spotlight.

7. Wallpaper Manager

Wallpaper Manager is another free Wallpaper Engine alternative popular for supporting multiscreen wallpapers. It allows you to use different wallpapers for each monitor. Also, it has three cycle modes for each wallpaper and displays the time left until the next cycle.

You can optimize the appearance of the wallpapers from your settings. For example, you can choose different placement methods to ensure the wallpaper fits well on the screen. Also, you can display effects such as mirroring, flipping, or margins.

The best part is, Wallpaper Manager allows you to create a folder of your favorite JPEGs photos and use them as your background.

Though Wallpaper Manager is a great wallpaper application, it has several limitations. First, it is only available for Windows. Second, it focuses more on image wallpapers and not animated ones.

8. Minimalist Wallpapers

Do you like working on uncluttered backgrounds? You’ll find Minimalist Wallpapers a useful resource for neutral colors and sleek lines wallpapers. With over 1,000 wallpaper collections, you’ll have a variety of wallpapers to add calm and style to your desktop.

In addition to static wallpapers, the application has live wallpapers to make your background more interactive. When you find a wallpaper that you’d like to reuse or share, you can add it to your favorites.

The other unique feature of Minimalist Wallpapers is a dark theme. This makes the wallpapers suitable for watching or playing games.

Make Your Background a Vibrant Masterpiece

As you can see from the above list, Wallpaper Engine is not the only option for wallpapers. There are free alternatives that provide unlimited static and live wallpapers. Most of them allow you to show creativity and style by customizing and creating your wallpapers. You only have to download the applications and explore the wallpapers.

Have you used any of the above Wallpaper Engine alternatives? How was your experience? Let us know in the comment section below.