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
aewm	Stacking	C	1999			MIT
awesome	Dynamic	C, Lua	2007-09-18			GPL-2.0-or-later	9
Berry	Stacking	C	2018-08-24	0.1.12	2022-10-24	MIT
Blackbox	Stacking	C++	1997			MIT	3
bspwm	Tiling	C	2013-04-23			BSD-2-clause^[2]
Compiz	Compositing	C (OpenGL)	2006			MIT
CTWM	Stacking	C	1992	4.1.0	2023-03-26	MIT
cwm	Stacking	C	2004-07-10			ISC	8
dkwm	Dynamic	C	2019-12-01	1.9-1	2023-06-18	MIT/X
dwm	Dynamic	C	2006-07-14			MIT	1
Enlightenment	Compositing	C	1997			BSD-2-clause
Enlightenment 16^[3]	Compositing	C	2009-06-03	1.0.30	2024-08-10
evilwm^[4]	Stacking	C	2000	1.4.3^[5]	2024-03-09	aewm/9wm^[6]
EXWM	Tiling	Emacs Lisp	2018	0.32^[7]	2024-10-05	GPL-3.0-or-later
Fluxbox	Stacking	C++	2001-09-12			MIT	16
FLWM	Stacking	C++ (FLTK)	1998			GPL-2.0-or-later
FVWM	Stacking	C	1993-06-01			GPL-2.0-or-later^[8]	4
herbstluftwm	Dynamic	C++	2011-10-02	0.9.5	2022-07-30	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	Final	2009-01-10	LGPL-2.1-only^{[lower-alpha 1]}
JWM	Stacking	C	2003	2.4.5^[9]	2024-10-05	MIT	3
KWin (KDE)	Compositing	C++ (Qt)	2002			GPL	41
LeftWM	Tiling	Rust	2019	0.5.3	2024-10-20	MIT
Matchbox	Stacking	C	2007-04-13	1.2.3^[10]	2023-03-15	GPL-2.0-or-later
Metacity (GNOME 2/LiMo)	Compositing	C, C++ (GTK+)	2002-10			GPL-2.0-or-later
Moksha (E17)	Compositing	C	2015-08-11	0.4.1^[11]	2023-07-23
Motif Window Manager (mwm)	Stacking	C	1989			LGPL-2.1-or-later
Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo)	Compositing	C (Clutter)	2011-04			GPL-2.0-or-later	18.6
Openbox	Stacking	C	2002-09-18			GPL-2.0-or-later	7
PekWM	Stacking	C++	2009			GPL-2.0-or-later	5.3
PlayWM	Stacking	C	2013-31-01	Final	2013-02-10	GPL
Qtile	Dynamic	Python	2008-08-31			MIT	2
Ragnar	Tiling	C	2023-05-15	1.5.0	2024-08-17	GPL
Ratpoison	Tiling	C	2000-12-04	1.4.9	2017-04-03	GPL-2.0-or-later	1
Sawfish	Stacking	Lisp, C	2000-01-01			GPL-2.0-or-later	3.1
SithWM	Stacking	C	2007			GPL
spectrwm	Dynamic	C	2012-02-07	3.6.0^[12]		ISC
steamcompmgr	Compositing	C^[13]	2013			BSD-2-clause^[14]
StumpWM	Tiling	Common Lisp	2017-01-12	23.11^[15]		GPL-2.0-or-later
sxwm	Dynamic	C	2025	1.6^[16]	2025-06-26	GPL-3.0-or-later^[17]
twm	Stacking	C	1987			MIT-open-group MIT-CMU XFree86-1.0	1.2
Ultrix Window Manager (uwm)	Stacking	C	1985	Final^[18]	1988-10-27	Similar to BSD licenses
Window Maker	Stacking	C	1997			GPL-2.0-or-later	7
Wingo	Dynamic	Go	2012	Final	2018	WTFPL
wmii	Dynamic	C	2005-06-01			MIT
Xfwm (Xfce)	Compositing	C, C++ (GTK+)	1996	4.19^[19]	2024-11-01	GPL, LGPL	70
xmonad	Dynamic	Haskell	2007-03-06			BSD-3-clause	2
worm	Dynamic	Nim	2021-12-12	0.3.3	2024-03-30	MIT
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
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
CTWM	Yes			Partial	Yes		Yes
cwm	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes		No	No	Yes
dkwm
dwm	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes		Yes	No	Yes
Enlightenment	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
evilwm^[4]	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes	Partial^[4]	No	No	Yes
EXWM^{[citation needed]}	No	No	Yes	Partial	No	Depends	Yes
Fluxbox	Yes	Depends^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Yes	Yes^[21]	Yes	Yes	Yes
FLWM		No	Yes		No^{[lower-alpha 7]}	No	No
FVWM	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[22]	Depends^{[lower-alpha 3]}^[23]^[24]
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	Yes	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
LeftWM
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
Moody
Motif Window Manager (mwm)	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
Ragnar
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
No	No	Yes		No	No	No
StumpWM	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
sxwm	No	No	Yes		Yes	No	Yes
twm	Yes	No	Yes		Yes	No	solid colors
uwm
Window Maker	No	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	Yes	Yes
Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
wmii	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Xfwm (Xfce)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
xmonad	Yes	No	Yes	Yes / ?	Depends^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Yes	Yes
worm
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.^[20]
↑ 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.
↑ "Enlightenment E16". https://www.enlightenment.org/e16.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 "evilwm - standards support". http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/standards.shtml. "evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard."
↑ "Index of /evilwm/dl". https://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/dl/.
↑ "evilwm.txt". https://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/doc/evilwm.txt.
↑ "Releases · emacs-exwm/exwm" (in en). https://github.com/emacs-exwm/exwm/releases.
↑ "fvwm3/COPYING at main". 3 March 2018. https://github.com/fvwmorg/fvwm3/blob/6000175467fada5d5329f2ecf9e1c0b99937b3ce/COPYING.
↑ "Releases · joewing/jwm" (in en). https://github.com/joewing/jwm/releases.
↑ "matchbox-window-manager - Matchbox Window Manager v1". https://git.yoctoproject.org/matchbox-window-manager/.
↑ "Releases · JeffHoogland/moksha" (in en). https://github.com/JeffHoogland/moksha/releases.
↑ "Releases · conformal/spectrwm" (in en). https://github.com/conformal/spectrwm/releases.
↑ "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"
↑ "Releases · stumpwm/stumpwm" (in en). https://github.com/stumpwm/stumpwm/releases.
↑ "Release sxwm v1.6". 26 June 2025. https://github.com/uint23/sxwm/releases/tag/v1.6.
↑ "sxwm Commit 8701f8d". 6 June 2025. https://github.com/uint23/sxwm/commit/8701f8dc9bfd2c4faa697a3f55f5c90ca90bcf38.
↑ "wm/uwm - The NetBSD Packages Collection". https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/pkgsrc/current/pkgsrc/wm/uwm/index.html.
↑ "xfce:xfwm4:start [Xfce Docs"]. https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/start#latest_release.
↑ "NetWM - Blackbox". https://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". https://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

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison of X window managers. Read more

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

[21] Via CLI client.

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

[thirdparty-23] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 ^3.7 ^3.8 Via third party.

[24] With bbkeys.

[26] Through 0.65 / from 0.70.^[20]

[27] With sxhkd.

[29] There is a window list menu.

[33] 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.

[3] "Enlightenment E16". https://www.enlightenment.org/e16.

[evilwm-ssup-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 "evilwm - standards support". http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/standards.shtml. "evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard."

[5] "Index of /evilwm/dl". https://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/dl/.

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

[7] "Releases · emacs-exwm/exwm" (in en). https://github.com/emacs-exwm/exwm/releases.

[8] "fvwm3/COPYING at main". 3 March 2018. https://github.com/fvwmorg/fvwm3/blob/6000175467fada5d5329f2ecf9e1c0b99937b3ce/COPYING.

[10] "Releases · joewing/jwm" (in en). https://github.com/joewing/jwm/releases.

[11] "matchbox-window-manager - Matchbox Window Manager v1". https://git.yoctoproject.org/matchbox-window-manager/.

[12] "Releases · JeffHoogland/moksha" (in en). https://github.com/JeffHoogland/moksha/releases.

[13] "Releases · conformal/spectrwm" (in en). https://github.com/conformal/spectrwm/releases.

[14] "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.

[15] "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"

[16] "Releases · stumpwm/stumpwm" (in en). https://github.com/stumpwm/stumpwm/releases.

[17] "Release sxwm v1.6". 26 June 2025. https://github.com/uint23/sxwm/releases/tag/v1.6.

[18] "sxwm Commit 8701f8d". 6 June 2025. https://github.com/uint23/sxwm/commit/8701f8dc9bfd2c4faa697a3f55f5c90ca90bcf38.

[19] "wm/uwm - The NetBSD Packages Collection". https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/pkgsrc/current/pkgsrc/wm/uwm/index.html.

[20] "xfce:xfwm4:start [Xfce Docs"]. https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/start#latest_release.

[25] "NetWM - Blackbox". https://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."

[28] "Tables". https://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs/ewmh-support.html.

[30] FvwmTabs

[31] Fvwm Themes

[32] FVWM-Crystal

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[lower-alpha 1]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[lower-alpha 4]

[lower-alpha 5]

[lower-alpha 6]

[21]

[lower-alpha 7]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[lower-alpha 8]

[20]

Comparison of X window managers

Topic: Software

Contents

General information

Features

See also

References

External links