// Comparison
ViPad vs Fences
Two ways to tidy a Windows desktop. One of them is mine, so here's the honest version.
Posted 9 August 2026 · Fences 6 features checked the same day
If you've searched for a free alternative to Fences, you've probably found a lot of pages that are really just adverts. This one is written by the bloke who makes the free option, which you should factor in — so I've tried to be specific about where Fences is genuinely better, because you'll find out within ten minutes anyway and I'd rather you heard it here.
The short version
Both put labelled groups on your desktop, both pull in the icons you already have, and both let you get the underlying mess out of sight. Fences does more. ViPad is free, open source, under a megabyte, and runs on versions of Windows Fences 6 has left behind.
| Fences 6 | ViPad | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Paid, from around $10 — trial available | Free, open source |
| Windows versions | 10 and 11 | 11, 10, 8 and 7 |
| Labelled groups on the desktop | Yes | Yes |
| Import the icons you already have | Yes | Yes — one right-click, re-runnable |
| Get the underlying icons out of sight | Yes — fade, roll-up | Yes — Hide Desktop |
| Blur / transparency | Yes | Yes — Windows 10 and 11 |
| Rules that sort new files automatically | Yes | No |
| Double-click the desktop to roll everything away | Yes | No |
| Mirror a folder onto the desktop | Yes — folder portals | No |
| Works as one consolidated launcher | Not really — it's regions on the desktop | Yes — one pad with tabs, if you prefer |
| Download size | Tens of megabytes | Under one |
When to buy Fences
If you want the desktop to organise itself, buy Fences. Its automation rules are the thing ViPad has no answer to at all — you set up a rule saying screenshots go here and installers go there, and from then on your desktop sorts itself as files land on it. That's a genuinely different quality of life from moving things by hand, and it's the main reason Fences costs money and is worth it.
Same goes for rolling every fence away with a double-click on the desktop, and folder portals — mirroring a folder so its contents appear on the desktop without moving anything. Stardock have been refining this for well over a decade and it shows. If any of those three are why you're reading this, ViPad will disappoint you, and I'd rather say so now.
When ViPad is the right answer
You want a tidy desktop and you don't want to pay for one. The core job — labelled areas on your wallpaper, everything you already have swept into them with one right-click, the original icons hidden — ViPad does, free, and it looks the part on Windows 11 with real acrylic blur.
You're on Windows 7 or 8. Fences 6 targets Windows 10 and 11. ViPad still runs on 7 and 8, and it will keep running on them, because that's rather the point of this whole website.
You'd rather have one panel than a scattered desktop. This is the real difference in shape. Fences arranges regions across your wallpaper. ViPad does that too — but it will also work as a single pad with named tabs that holds everything, which is closer to a launcher than a desktop organiser. If what you actually wanted was one place for your stuff rather than tidier sprawl, that's a setting rather than a different program.
You like knowing what's on your machine. It's under a megabyte, there's no account, no telemetry, no licence server, and the source is on GitHub. If I get bored and wander off, the code is still there and someone else can pick it up.
What about Nimi Places?
The other name that comes up in this search. Nimi Places is free, it's good, and it's closer to Fences in shape than ViPad is — containers that mirror real folders, with its own look. Worth a try if folder portals were the feature you wanted and you didn't want to pay for them. It's a different program by a different person and I've no stake in which you choose.
Honestly?
If you can spend the tenner and you want rules and portals, Fences is the better product and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. If you want a clean desktop for nothing, on an older Windows, from something small enough to read the source of — that's ViPad, and it's free forever because I've never charged for any of this and I'm not about to start.
Free, no sign-up, no bundled extras. Direct link to the installer if you'd rather skip a step.