Side by side

Cygwin vs Q4Wine

Both stand on windows compatibility layers. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Cygwin

Free plan Windows

Choose Cygwin if you want a customizable collection of Unix-style tools on Windows or need to port Unix programs. Look elsewhere if you need to run native Linux applications without rebuilding them, or need macOS or Linux support.

Visit Cygwin

Q4Wine

Free plan LinuxMac

Q4Wine provides prefix, process, and configuration management in a free graphical interface. Its Mac package gap, obsolete AppDB browser, and limited support are worth considering first.

Visit Q4Wine

The facts

	Cygwin	Q4Wine
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	Windows	Linux, Mac
Lowest paid plan	Free or on request	Free or on request
Plans published	1	1
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	cygwin.com	q4wine.brezblock.org.ua
On windows compatibility layers	#7 of 26	#11 of 26

Cygwin: what it does well

Includes thousands of GNU, BSD, and other packages.
Provides tools, headers, and libraries for Windows application development.
Supports bash, tcsh, and zsh shells.
Setup supports automated installs and local repositories without internet access.
Setup verifies signed metadata and checks package hashes.

What to know first

Available for Windows only; macOS and Linux are unsupported.
Native Linux applications must be rebuilt from source to run with Cygwin.
Only minimal base packages are installed by default.

Q4Wine: what it does well

Manages Wine prefixes and installed applications
Supports multiple Wine versions at once
Can back up and restore prefixes
Exports application icons as .desktop files
Free and published under GNU GPL V3

What to know first

Stable Mac OS X packages are unavailable
AppDB browser is obsolete and disabled by default
Saved log history can reduce performance
Author does not provide support

Alternatives to Cygwin Alternatives to Q4Wine The whole list