Rainmeter: free desktop widgets and skins for Windows
Rainmeter puts customizable skins, like hardware meters and audio visualizers, on your Windows desktop. Its site says it has been free and open source since 2001.
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What it is
Rainmeter puts small information panels, called skins, on your Windows desktop. Its site says it "allows you to display customizable skins on your desktop, from hardware usage meters to fully functional audio visualizers". Its docs call it "a free, open-source application for Windows PCs" and "a platform that enables skins to run on the desktop". Think of small widgets on your desktop. It is not an AI tool.
Is it free?
Yes. The Rainmeter home page says it "has been open source software distributed free of charge under the terms of the GNU GPL v2 license since February 2001". The GitHub README says it is "free and fully open source". We saw no price, ads or account on the pages we read.
What it does and does not do
- The docs say each skin is a separate window you can drag around the desktop, and Rainmeter can run any number of skins at once, even from different sources.
- It comes with a few simple starter skins. Most of the choice is in community-made skins that you install yourself. The site has a Discover page that points to places to find them.
- The docs say that if you only want to download skins and use them as they are, you need no technical skill. Changing a skin's look usually means editing labelled text lines near the top of its file. Writing your own skins needs a simple configuration language that the docs compare to HTML or JavaScript.
- The docs also list what it does not do: it does not change your Windows visual style or taskbar, it is not a window manager, and it does not replace other apps that a skin talks to.
How to get it
- Open rainmeter.net. The site's download section showed release 4.5.28, dated 12 October 2026, for Windows 7 or above, with a mirror link.
- The site says it runs on Windows 7 through Windows 11 and uses "very little hardware resources". We did not test that.
- For first steps, use the official Getting Started guide. We did not find the exact install and skin-loading steps on the pages we read, so follow that guide.
What to watch out for
- Community skins are not made by Rainmeter. The docs say each skin's code is open and can be read and changed in any text editor. Skins differ in what they do. Get skins from sources you trust, and check what a skin does before you install it. That advice is ours, not the project's.
- No one-click makeover. The docs say you usually cannot download someone's finished desktop in one click, because most setups also use other programs, icons and wallpapers.
- Windows only. We saw no Mac or Linux version.
Privacy and data
- The README's privacy policy says: "Rainmeter transmits no data to other networked systems by default. Skins installed by the user may transmit data - for example, to fetch weather or RSS feeds - but only as configured by that skin." That is the project's statement. We did not test it.
- So a weather skin, for example, will contact a weather service. Check each skin you add.
- The README also thanks SignPath Foundation for the code-signing certificate.
India
- We saw no region limit and no price. We did not test downloads from India.
Frequently asked questions
Is Rainmeter free?
Yes. It is open source under the GPL v2, per its site.
Does it slow my PC?
The site says it uses very little hardware resources. We did not measure it.
Does it change my taskbar or Start menu?
No. The docs say it cannot change the taskbar, Start button, desktop icons or File Explorer.
Sources: Home, Getting Started, GitHub. Checked 18 October 2026.
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