Comparison of X window managers

This article compares variety of different X window managers. For an introduction to the topic, see X Window System.

General information
Name Type Language Initial release Latest release License Memory (MB)[1]
Version Date
9wm Stacking C 1994 1.4.2[2] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-01-19 MIT 0.4
aewm Stacking C 1.3.12[3] Edit this on Wikidata 2007-12-27 MIT
awesome Dynamic C, Lua 2007-09-18 4.3[4] Edit this on Wikidata 2019-01-28 GPL-2.0-or-later 9
Berry Stacking C 2018-08-24 2019-09-21 MIT
Blackbox Stacking C++ 0.77[5] Edit this on Wikidata 2021-05-12 MIT 3
bspwm Tiling C 2013-04-23 0.9.10[6] Edit this on Wikidata 2020-08-02 BSD-2-clause[7]
Compiz Compositing C (OpenGL) 2006 0.9.14.2[8] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-08-22 MIT
cwm Stacking C 2004-07-10 3[9] Edit this on Wikidata 2005-08-28 ISC
dwm Dynamic C 2006-07-14 6.4[10] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-10-04 MIT 1
Enlightenment Compositing C 1997 0.25.4[11] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-09-15 BSD-2-clause
evilwm[12] Stacking C 2000 1.3.1[13] Edit this on Wikidata 2021-07-30 aewm/9wm[14]
EXWM Tiling Emacs Lisp 0.27[15][16] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-11-10 GPL-3.0-or-later
Fluxbox Stacking C++ 2001-09-12 1.3.7[17] Edit this on Wikidata 2015-02-08 MIT 16
FLWM Stacking C++ (FLTK) 1998 1.02[18] Edit this on Wikidata 2006-06-30 GPL-2.0-or-later
FVWM Dynamic C 1993-06-01 3-1.0.4[19] Edit this on Wikidata 2021-07-20 GPL 4
herbstluftwm Dynamic C++ 2011-10-02 BSD-2-clause
i3 Dynamic C 2009-03-15 4.22[20] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-01-02 BSD-3-clause 3
IceWM Stacking C++ 1997 3.3.4[21] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-05-03 LGPL-2.0-only 4.5
Ion Tiling C, Lua 2000 3-20090110[22] Edit this on Wikidata 2009-01-10 LGPL-2.1-only[lower-alpha 1]
JWM Stacking C 2003 2.4.2[23] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-05-28 MIT 3
KWin (KDE) Compositing C++ (Qt) 5.24.3[24] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-03-08 GPL 41
Matchbox Stacking C 2007-04-13 1.2.2[25] Edit this on Wikidata 2016-12-05 GPL-2.0-or-later
Metacity (GNOME 2) Compositing C, C++ (GTK+) 2002-10 3.46.0[26] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-10-03 GPL-2.0-or-later
Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo) Compositing C (Clutter) 2011-04 44.0[27] Edit this on Wikidata 2023-03-19 GPL-2.0-or-later 18.6
Motif Window Manager (mwm) Stacking C 1989 2.3.8[28] Edit this on Wikidata 2017-12-05 LGPL-2.1-or-later
Openbox Stacking C 2002-09-18 3.6.1[29] Edit this on Wikidata 2015-07-01 GPL-2.0-or-later 7
PekWM Stacking C++ GPL-2.0-or-later 5.3
PlayWM Stacking C GPL
Qtile Dynamic Python 2008-08-31 0.22.1[30] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-09-22 MIT 2
Ratpoison Tiling C 2000-12-04 1.4.9[31] Edit this on Wikidata 2017-04-04 GPL-2.0-or-later 1
Sawfish Stacking Lisp, C 2000-01-01 1.13.0[32] Edit this on Wikidata 2021-12-24 GPL-2.0-or-later 3.1
SithWM Stacking C 1.2.3[33] Edit this on Wikidata 2008-04-25 GPL
spectrwm Dynamic C 3.4.1[34] Edit this on Wikidata 2020-06-25 ISC
steamcompmgr Compositing C[35] 2013 BSD-2-clause[36]
StumpWM Tiling Common Lisp 22.11[37] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-11-27 GPL-2.0-or-later
twm Stacking C 1987 1.0.12[38][39] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-04-02 MIT-open-group
MIT-CMU
XFree86-1.0		 1.2
Ultrix Window Manager (uwm) Stacking C 1985 Similar to BSD licenses
Window Maker Stacking C 1997 0.95.9[40] Edit this on Wikidata 2020-04-04 GPL-2.0-or-later 7
Wingo Dynamic Go WTFPL
WMFS Tiling C 201003[41] Edit this on Wikidata 2010-03-28 BSD-3-clause
wmii Dynamic C 2005-06-01 3.9.2[42] Edit this on Wikidata 2010-06-10 MIT
Xfwm (Xfce) Compositing C, C++ (GTK+) 1996 4.18[43] Edit this on Wikidata 2022-12-15 GPL, LGPL 70
xmonad Dynamic Haskell 2007-03-06 BSD-3-clause 2
Name Type Language Initial release Latest release License Memory (MB)
Version Date
  1. LGPL-2.1-only with naming restrictions on modified versions.

Features
Name Configurable titlebar buttons Graphical configuration Hotkeys ICCCM/EWMH compliant Panel for window switching Tabbed windows Themeable
9wm No No No Yes No No
aewm No No No Yes Yes No No
awesome Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Berry No Yes[lower-alpha 1] Yes[lower-alpha 2] No No No Yes
Blackbox No Depends[lower-alpha 3] Depends[lower-alpha 4] Yes[lower-alpha 5] Yes No Yes
bspwm No No Yes[lower-alpha 6] Partial No No No
Compiz Yes Yes Yes Yes Depends[lower-alpha 3] Yes Yes
cwm no titlebar buttons No Yes No No Yes
dwm no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No Yes
Enlightenment Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
evilwm[12] no titlebar buttons No Yes Partial[12] No No Yes
EXWM No No Yes Partial No Depends Yes
Fluxbox Yes Depends[lower-alpha 3] Yes Yes[45] Yes Yes Yes
FLWM No Yes No[lower-alpha 7] No No
FVWM Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes[46] Depends[lower-alpha 3][47][48]
herbstluftwm no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
i3 no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
IceWM Yes Depends[lower-alpha 3] Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Ion no titlebar buttons No Yes No Yes Yes
JWM Yes Depends[lower-alpha 3] Yes EWMH Yes No Yes
KWin (KDE) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Matchbox EWMH compliance No No Yes
Metacity (GNOME) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo) Yes Yes Yes Yes Gnome Shell No Yes
mwm (Motif Window Manager) No No Yes No[lower-alpha 8]
Openbox Yes Depends[lower-alpha 3] Yes Yes Depends[lower-alpha 3] No Yes
PekWM Yes No Yes Partial No Yes Yes
PlayWM Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Qtile Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ratpoison No No Yes No No No No
Sawfish Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes primitive Yes
SithWM no titlebar buttons No Yes No No Yes
spectrwm no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No No solid colors
steamcompmgr No No Yes No No No
StumpWM No No Yes No No No No
twm Yes No Yes Yes No solid colors
uwm
Window Maker No Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes
Wingo Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
WMFS Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
wmii Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Xfwm (Xfce) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
xmonad Yes No Yes Yes / ? Depends[lower-alpha 3] Yes Yes
Name Configurable titlebar buttons Graphical configuration Hotkeys ICCCM/EWMH compliant Panel for window switching Tabbed windows Themeable
  1. Via CLI client.
  2. Via CLI client and third party (e.g. sxhkd).
  3. Via third party.
  4. With bbkeys.
  5. Through 0.65 / from 0.70.[44]
  6. With sxhkd.
  7. There is a window list menu.
  8. Can change colours.

See also

References
  1. "A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops". l3net - a layer 3 networking blog. 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  2. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  3. "aewm". Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  4. "Release 4.3". 28 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  5. "Release 0.77". 12 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  6. "Release 0.9.10". 2 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  7. "bspwm License". GitHub. 2 November 2021.
  8. "Compiz 0.9.14.2 released". 22 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  9. "cwm". Archived from the original on 8 June 2015.
  10. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  11. "Enlightenment 0.25.4 Release". 15 September 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  12. "evilwm - standards support". evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.
  13. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  14. "evilwm.txt".
  15. "Release 0.27". 10 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  16. "Exwm version 0.27". 11 November 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  17. "Fluxbox 1.3.7 - Bam! Zero Bugs!!11!". 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022.
  18. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  19. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  20. Michael Stapelberg (2 January 2023). "i3 v4.22 released". Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  21. "Release icewm-3.3.4". 3 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  22. "The Ion window manager (2000-2009)". Archived from the original on 20 March 2022.
  23. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  24. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  25. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  26. "Index of /sources/metacity/3.46/". Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  27. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  28. "Motif 2.3.8 Source Code". 5 December 2017.
  29. "Openbox:Changelog".
  30. "Release 0.22.1". 22 September 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  31. Jeremie Courreges-Anglas (4 April 2017). "ratpoison-1.4.9 has been released". Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  32. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  33. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  34. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  35. "steamos-compositor debian source package". /steamos-compositor-1.35/src/steamcompmgr.c.
  36. "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package". /usr/share/doc/steamos-compositor/copyright. License: BSD-2-clause
  37. "Release 22.11". 27 November 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  38. "[ANNOUNCE] twm 1.0.12". 2 April 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  39. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  40. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  41. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  42. Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
  43. "News – Xfce 4.18 released – Xfce".
  44. "NetWM - Blackbox". Archived from the original on 2007-10-01. Retrieved 2008-03-29. Blackbox releases up to and including version 0.65.0 follow the ICCCM standard, while 0.70 and later follow EWMH.
  45. "Tables".
  46. FvwmTabs Archived 2009-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
  47. Fvwm Themes
  48. FVWM-Crystal
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