Windhawk alternative for a glass Windows 11 taskbar
Ask how to get a glass, translucent or transparent taskbar on Windows 11 and you are sent to Windhawk mods or TranslucentTB. Glassline gives you the whole look in one app: a menu bar at the top and a dock at the bottom, made of glass that takes the colour of your wallpaper, ready the moment it is installed.
What Windhawk and its styler mods do
Windhawk is a free, open-source program from Ramen Software that installs mods: small programs that each change one part of Windows or of another app. The glass looks people share come from three mods by the same developer, each with themes contributed by its users:
- Windows 11 Taskbar Styler, 1,034,353 users.
- Windows 11 Start Menu Styler, 942,407 users.
- Windows 11 Notification Center Styler, 583,388 users.
The Taskbar Styler comes with more than 30 themes, among them TranslucentTaskbar, WindowGlass, FrostedAcrylic and several Liquid Glass ones, and you can write your own styles for any part of the taskbar. 7+ Taskbar Tweaker is by the same developer; its own page says it works with the old taskbar of Windows 11 version 23H2 and older.
Is Windhawk safe?
Windhawk is open source, under the GPL-3.0 licence on GitHub, and every mod in its catalogue is published as source code you can read before you install it. A new mod is reviewed on GitHub before it joins the catalogue, first by an automated reviewer and then by a person.
To do its work, Windhawk loads its engine into almost every program that runs on your PC. It leaves out critical system processes and some well-known games whose anti-cheat objects to it. Its documentation says that the more programs are targeted, the higher the risk of incompatibilities or instability, and that antivirus software can conflict with it.
Glassline works another way. It runs as its own app, installed and updated by the Microsoft Store, and loads no code into Explorer or any other program.
What happens when Windows updates
The styler mods restyle the pieces inside the Windows taskbar, so when an update changes those pieces, a theme needs an update from its author. The Taskbar Styler's own changelog shows it: version 1.5 (11 July 2025) fixed a crash with some themes in new Windows 11 builds, and version 1.9 (28 August 2026) updated most themes with compatibility fixes for the latest Windows 11 update.
Glassline draws its own menu bar and dock, so a change inside the Windows taskbar does not reach them. Its updates come from the Microsoft Store by themselves.
Translucent taskbar and dock in Glassline
The menu bar and the dock are glass from the first moment, tinted by your wallpaper. In Settings, under Appearance, Glass sets how much of what is behind shows through the menu bar, the dock, panels and menus: Recommended, Medium, or Glassy for the most transparent taskbar of the three. Reduce transparency, on the Accessibility page, makes the glass almost solid.
Quit or uninstall Glassline and the Windows taskbar and Start menu are back exactly as they were.
Glassline next to Windhawk
| Glassline | Windhawk | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Its own app: a menu bar and a dock that take the place of the taskbar. Nothing is loaded into Explorer or other programs | Loads its engine into almost every running program; each mod changes the programs it names |
| What you set up | Install it from the Microsoft Store and it is ready. The rest is in one Settings window and changes while you watch | Install Windhawk, add mods, then pick a theme or write styles in each mod's settings |
| After a Windows update | The menu bar and dock are Glassline's own, so changes inside the taskbar do not reach them | A mod or theme can need an update from its author |
| Glass | Built in, in three levels: Recommended, Medium and Glassy | Themes of the styler mods, such as TranslucentTaskbar and WindowGlass |
| Bar at the top | Menu bar with the app in front and its menus, in the colour of a maximized window | Taskbar on top for Windows 11 moves the taskbar there |
| Dock | Magnification, stacks for folders, unread counts, progress on icons, running dots | Themes such as DockLike give the taskbar a dock's shape; Taskbar Dock Animation makes icons grow under the pointer |
| Search | Search on the Windows key: apps, files, settings, web addresses, sums, and instant file search with Everything | Windows Search, restyled by the Start Menu Styler |
| Price | $9.99 once on the Microsoft Store | Free |
TranslucentTB and Rainmeter
TranslucentTB is a free, open-source app that makes the Windows taskbar clear, acrylic or opaque, in a tint you choose. It changes how the Windows taskbar looks. Glassline replaces the taskbar with a glass menu bar and dock of its own, with Search, Control Center, your calendar and the weather built in.
Rainmeter is free, open-source desktop customization: skins and widgets that sit on your desktop, such as clocks, meters and launchers. Glassline takes care of the taskbar and the Start menu, and leaves your desktop to you.
Try it right now
The home page is a working Glassline: move over its dock, click its menu bar, open Search and Control Center. What you see there is what you get on your desktop.
$9.99 once. No subscription, no account, no ads, and every update is free.
More comparisons
Glassline as a Seelen UI alternative, Glassline as a MyDockFinder alternative, and Glassline next to the other taskbar alternatives for Windows 11. For the whole Mac look, read how to make Windows 11 look like macOS. To get the Windows taskbar back at any time, see Support.
Windhawk, its mods, TranslucentTB and Rainmeter belong to their own developers and have no connection to Glassline. What this page says about them was checked against windhawk.net, Windhawk's pages on GitHub, ramensoftware.com, TranslucentTB's GitHub page and rainmeter.net on 14 October 2026.