i3 couples with desktop environments rather nicely. I've used it with KDE and MATE, and others have used it successfully with XFCE.

My success with it with KDE was a little mixed, but I also didn't make any effort to resolve the little issues. With MATE though, it works flawlessly with no downsides or really any config needed. It's fantastic.

Here is how I set it up with MATE: https://www.mattgreer.org/articles/mate-and-i3/