Linux gaming used to be a raw-FPS story: get the frames, ignore everything else. As more players move to Wayland-first distros, the missing piece isn’t frames anymore. It’s overlays: FPS counters, chat popups, screenshots, and shader tweaks that quietly worked on X11 and now need Wayland-native rewrites. Here are the eight desktop apps we run on our own Wayland gaming rigs.
What to look for in a Wayland-friendly overlay app
- Native Wayland support, not an XWayland fallback
- Vulkan-first architecture (most Wayland game translations go through Vulkan)
- Configurable position so the overlay doesn’t sit under a UI element
- CPU cost you can measure and cap
- Works on both Nvidia and AMD Wayland sessions
- Ships in mainline distro repos or Flatpak, so you’re not chasing PPAs
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Starting price/mo | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MangoHud | FPS and frametime overlay | Yes | Free | Configurable via a plain text file |
| vkBasalt | Post-process shaders | Yes | Free | Wayland-safe injection layer |
| OBS Studio | Screen recording on Wayland | Yes | Free | Native PipeWire capture |
| GameMode | Performance mode toggle | Yes | Free | Auto-activates on launch |
| Discord | Voice with an overlay that works | Yes | $10 | New Wayland overlay ships in the beta channel |
| OverlayScrobbler | Now-playing overlay | Yes | Free | Reads MPRIS media keys |
| Flameshot | Quick screenshots | Yes | Free | Instant edit tools before saving |
| Heroic Games Launcher | Epic and GOG on Wayland | Yes | Free | Bundles MangoHud toggle |
| Lutris | Wine and native game launcher | Yes | Free | Community install recipes for every store |
Why Wayland breaks the old overlay stack
X11 let any app draw on top of any other app, which is why FPS counters, streaming overlays, and screenshots all worked without much effort. Wayland scraps that model for security reasons: an app can only draw on its own surface, and cross-app compositing goes through a compositor plugin or a compositor-level API.
The result is that classic overlays and screen tools have to rewrite themselves for Wayland-native protocols like wlr-screencopy, xdg-desktop-portal, and Vulkan layer injection. The apps below either did that rewrite or ship a Vulkan-based approach that Wayland accepts natively.
The apps
1. MangoHud — Best for FPS and frametime overlay
MangoHud is the Linux equivalent of the RivaTuner overlay Windows gamers know. It reports FPS, frametime, GPU temperature, CPU load, and memory pressure as a customisable overlay drawn by a Vulkan layer. Because it’s a Vulkan layer, it works on Wayland out of the box.
Where it falls short: OpenGL games need an extra environment variable to enable the overlay. Vulkan and DXVK-translated games just work.
Pricing:
- Free: Open-source, MIT-licensed
- Paid: None
Platforms: Linux
Download: MangoHud on GitHub
Bottom line: The single most useful overlay on Linux, Wayland or not.
2. vkBasalt — Best for post-process shaders
vkBasalt is a Vulkan post-process layer that adds sharpening, SMAA, CAS, and colour grading to any Vulkan game. It ships as a Vulkan layer, so Wayland treats it exactly like the game itself and there’s no cross-app drawing.
Where it falls short: Config lives in a plain text file. There’s no GUI for the picky.
Pricing:
- Free: Open-source
- Paid: None
Platforms: Linux
Download: vkBasalt on GitHub
Bottom line: The way to get ReShade-style effects on a Wayland session.
3. OBS Studio — Best for screen recording on Wayland
OBS Studio shipped native PipeWire capture in the last major update, which is the piece Wayland needed. Wayland sessions can now record game windows through the desktop portal without falling back to XWayland.
Where it falls short: Nvidia Wayland users still hit occasional glitches with hardware encoding. Software x264 is the fallback.
Pricing:
- Free: Open-source
- Paid: None
Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS
Download: OBS Studio
Bottom line: The only serious Wayland recorder right now.
4. GameMode — Best for performance mode
GameMode is a small daemon that flips CPU governor, GPU power profile, and process priority when a supported game launches. Steam has an option to run every game through it, and Lutris and Heroic Games Launcher both integrate the toggle.
Where it falls short: No overlay of its own. Pair it with MangoHud to see the effect.
Pricing:
- Free: Open-source
- Paid: None
Platforms: Linux
Download: GameMode on GitHub
Bottom line: Set it once, forget it. Free FPS for one command.
5. Discord — Best for voice with a working overlay
Discord on Linux only recently shipped a Wayland-compatible in-game overlay via a Vulkan layer. That’s a big deal: the X11-era overlay used cross-app drawing, and Wayland users have been squinting at their alt-tabbed Discord for years.
Where it falls short: The Wayland overlay ships in the beta channel first. Stable Discord catches up a few releases later.
Pricing:
- Free: Everything a small server needs
- Paid: Nitro at $10/mo for HD streams and higher upload limits
Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS
Download: Discord for Linux
Bottom line: Update to the beta channel if you want the overlay back.
6. OverlayScrobbler — Best for a now-playing overlay
OverlayScrobbler reads MPRIS media keys and shows a small overlay for whatever’s playing in your music app. It uses the same Vulkan layer approach as MangoHud, so it draws inside the game window on Wayland.
Where it falls short: No album art in the overlay yet. Text only.
Pricing:
- Free: Open-source
- Paid: None
Platforms: Linux
Download: OverlayScrobbler on GitHub
Bottom line: The small quality-of-life overlay that fills the gap of the old Rainmeter widgets.
7. Flameshot — Best for quick screenshots
Flameshot ships a Wayland-safe screenshot flow using the xdg-desktop-portal. Snap a region, edit it in place with arrows and text, and it lands on your clipboard or your Imgur account.
Where it falls short: Some KDE Wayland sessions still show a permission dialog on every capture. GNOME and wlroots-based sessions are cleaner.
Pricing:
- Free: Open-source
- Paid: None
Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS
Download: Flameshot
Bottom line: The best FOSS screenshot tool on any platform.
8. Heroic Games Launcher — Best for Epic and GOG on Wayland
Heroic Games Launcher installs and runs Epic and GOG games through Wine on Linux. Every game gets a per-title MangoHud toggle, a GameMode toggle, and a vkBasalt toggle, so your overlay stack is one click per game.
Where it falls short: Community-maintained. Big Epic launcher changes can break Heroic for a few days.
Pricing:
- Free: Open-source
- Paid: None
Platforms: Linux
Download: Heroic Games Launcher
Bottom line: The friendliest way to run Epic and GOG games on Wayland.
9. Lutris — Best for wrangling everything else
Lutris is the Wine-and-native launcher that handles Battle.net, Origin, Ubisoft Connect, and pretty much anything else that isn’t Steam. Community install recipes handle Wine version, DXVK, and required tweaks in one click, and each game gets its own overlay toggles.
Where it falls short: Install recipes rot. Expect the occasional “recipe out of date” message and check the community for a fresh one.
Pricing:
- Free: Open-source
- Paid: None
Platforms: Linux
Download: Lutris
Bottom line: The last-mile launcher that makes Wayland gaming feel complete.
How to pick the right one
- If you want FPS and frametimes on screen: MangoHud.
- If you want shader effects on top: vkBasalt.
- If you want to record gameplay: OBS Studio.
- If you want free FPS with no config: GameMode.
- If you want the Discord overlay back: switch to the Discord beta channel.
- If you want screenshots that just work: Flameshot.
- If you play Epic or GOG games: Heroic Games Launcher.
- If you play Battle.net, Origin, or Ubisoft games: Lutris.
Most Wayland gamers end up with MangoHud, GameMode, and OBS Studio installed at all times, plus Heroic or Lutris depending on where their library lives.
FAQ
Does the MangoHud overlay work on Wayland?
Yes. MangoHud is a Vulkan layer, and Vulkan layers work identically on X11 and Wayland. You don’t need XWayland to see the overlay.
Why do some overlays break on Wayland?
Wayland doesn’t let apps draw across other apps’ windows by default. Overlays that used X11’s global drawing model have to be rewritten to use Vulkan layers, xdg-desktop-portal, or compositor-specific extensions.
Can I record games with OBS on a Wayland session?
Yes, using the PipeWire capture source. That path uses xdg-desktop-portal, so the first capture asks for permission, and subsequent recordings just work.
Which distros ship these tools by default?
Bazzite, Nobara, and CachyOS all ship MangoHud, GameMode, and OBS with PipeWire capture out of the box. Fedora and Ubuntu need a one-command install per tool.
Is Wayland ready for gaming?
For Vulkan and DXVK-translated games, Wayland is stable and fast on both Nvidia and AMD. Legacy OpenGL games work but sometimes need XWayland. The overlay ecosystem is the last piece to fully catch up.