Comparison Of X Window Managers

Short description: None

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]
Name	Type	Language	Initial release	Version	Date	License	Memory (MB)^[1]
9wm	Stacking	C	1994			MIT	0.4
Stacking	C				MIT
awesome	Dynamic	C, Lua	2007-09-18			GPL-2.0-or-later	9
Berry^{[citation needed]}	Stacking	C	2018-08-24		2019-09-21	MIT
Blackbox	Stacking	C++				MIT	3
Tiling	C	2013-04-23			BSD-2-clause^[2]
Compiz	Compositing	C (OpenGL)	2006			MIT
cwm	Stacking	C	2004-07-10			ISC
dwm	Dynamic	C	2006-07-14			MIT	1
Enlightenment	Compositing	C	1997			BSD-2-clause
evilwm^[3]	Stacking	C	2000			aewm/9wm^[4]
EXWM^{[citation needed]}	Tiling	Emacs Lisp				GPL-3.0-or-later
Fluxbox	Stacking	C++	2001-09-12			MIT	16
FLWM	Stacking	C++ (FLTK)	1998			GPL-2.0-or-later
FVWM	Dynamic	C	1993-06-01			GPL	4
herbstluftwm	Dynamic	C++	2011-10-02			BSD-2-clause
i3	Dynamic	C	2009-03-15			BSD-3-clause	3
IceWM	Stacking	C++	1997			LGPL-2.0-only	4.5
Ion	Tiling	C, Lua	2000			LGPL-2.1-only^{[lower-alpha 1]}
JWM	Stacking	C	2003			MIT	3
KWin (KDE)	Compositing	C++ (Qt)				GPL	41
Matchbox	Stacking	C	2007-04-13			GPL-2.0-or-later
Metacity (GNOME 2)	Compositing	C, C++ (GTK+)	2002-10			GPL-2.0-or-later
Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo)	Compositing	C (Clutter)	2011-04			GPL-2.0-or-later	18.6
Motif Window Manager (mwm)	Stacking	C	1989			LGPL-2.1-or-later
Openbox	Stacking	C	2002-09-18			GPL-2.0-or-later	7
PekWM	Stacking	C++				GPL-2.0-or-later	5.3
Stacking	C				GPL
Qtile	Dynamic	Python	2008-08-31			MIT	2
Ratpoison	Tiling	C	2000-12-04			GPL-2.0-or-later	1
Sawfish	Stacking	Lisp, C	2000-01-01			GPL-2.0-or-later	3.1
SithWM	Stacking	C				GPL
Dynamic	C				ISC
steamcompmgr^{[citation needed]}	Compositing	C^[5]	2013			BSD-2-clause^[6]
StumpWM	Tiling	Common Lisp				GPL-2.0-or-later
twm	Stacking	C	1987			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			GPL-2.0-or-later	7
Wingo^{[citation needed]}	Dynamic	Go				WTFPL
WMFS^{[citation needed]}	Tiling	C				BSD-3-clause
wmii	Dynamic	C	2005-06-01			MIT
Xfwm (Xfce)	Compositing	C, C++ (GTK+)	1996			GPL, LGPL	70
xmonad	Dynamic	Haskell	2007-03-06			BSD-3-clause	2
Name	Type	Language	Initial release	Latest release		License	Memory (MB)
Name	Type	Language	Initial release	Version	Date	License	Memory (MB)

↑ 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
No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
awesome	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Berry^{[citation needed]}	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
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^[3]	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes	Partial^[3]	No	No	Yes
EXWM^{[citation needed]}	No	No	Yes	Partial	No	Depends	Yes
Fluxbox	Yes	Depends^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Yes	Yes^[8]	Yes	Yes	Yes
FLWM		No	Yes		No^{[lower-alpha 7]}	No	No
FVWM	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[9]	Depends^{[lower-alpha 3]}^[10]^[11]
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
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
no titlebar buttons	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	solid colors
steamcompmgr^{[citation needed]}	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^{[citation needed]}	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
WMFS^{[citation needed]}	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

↑ Via CLI client.
↑ Via CLI client and third party (e.g. sxhkd).
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 ^3.7 ^3.8 Via third party.
↑ With bbkeys.
↑ Through 0.65 / from 0.70.^[7]
↑ With sxhkd.
↑ There is a window list menu.
↑ Can change colours.

References

↑ "A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops" (in en-US). l3net - a layer 3 networking blog. 2013-03-17. https://l3net.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/a-memory-comparison-of-light-linux-desktops/.
↑ "bspwm License". 2 November 2021. https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm/blob/master/LICENSE.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 "evilwm - standards support". http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/standards.shtml. "evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard."
↑ "evilwm.txt". https://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/doc/evilwm.txt.
↑ "steamos-compositor debian source package". /steamos-compositor-1.35/src/steamcompmgr.c. https://repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-compositor/steamos-compositor_1.35.tar.xz.
↑ "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package". /usr/share/doc/steamos-compositor/copyright. https://repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-compositor/steamos-compositor_1.35+bsos1_amd64.deb. "License: BSD-2-clause"
↑ "NetWM - Blackbox". http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/NetWM. "Blackbox releases up to and including version 0.65.0 follow the ICCCM standard, while 0.70 and later follow EWMH."
↑ "Tables". http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs/ewmh-support.html.
↑ FvwmTabs
↑ Fvwm Themes
↑ FVWM-Crystal

External links

Comparison of extensible window managers compares window managers "extensible" by user scripts, like Sawfish, xmonad, etc.
The Comprehensive List of Window Managers for Unix

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[5] LGPL-2.1-only with naming restrictions on modified versions.

[8] Via CLI client.

[9] Via CLI client and third party (e.g. sxhkd).

[thirdparty-10] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 ^3.7 ^3.8 Via third party.

[11] With bbkeys.

[13] Through 0.65 / from 0.70.^[7]

[14] With sxhkd.

[16] There is a window list menu.

[20] Can change colours.

[1] "A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops" (in en-US). l3net - a layer 3 networking blog. 2013-03-17. https://l3net.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/a-memory-comparison-of-light-linux-desktops/.

[2] "bspwm License". 2 November 2021. https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm/blob/master/LICENSE.

[evilwm-ssup-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 "evilwm - standards support". http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/standards.shtml. "evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard."

[4] "evilwm.txt". https://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/doc/evilwm.txt.

[6] "steamos-compositor debian source package". /steamos-compositor-1.35/src/steamcompmgr.c. https://repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-compositor/steamos-compositor_1.35.tar.xz.

[7] "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package". /usr/share/doc/steamos-compositor/copyright. https://repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-compositor/steamos-compositor_1.35+bsos1_amd64.deb. "License: BSD-2-clause"

[12] "NetWM - Blackbox". http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/NetWM. "Blackbox releases up to and including version 0.65.0 follow the ICCCM standard, while 0.70 and later follow EWMH."

[15] "Tables". http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs/ewmh-support.html.

[17] FvwmTabs

[18] Fvwm Themes

[19] FVWM-Crystal

Comparison Of X Window Managers

Contents

General information

Features

See also

References

External links