This article compares variety of different X window managers. For an introduction to the topic, see X Window System.
Name | Type | Language | Initial release | Latest release | License | Memory (MB) [1] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Version | Date | ||||||
9wm | Stacking | C | 1994 | 1.4.2 [2] | 2022-01-19 | MIT | 0.4 |
aewm[ citation needed] | Stacking | C | 1.3.12 [3] | 2007-12-27 | MIT | ||
awesome | Dynamic | C, Lua | 2007-09-18 | 4.3 [4] | 2019-01-28 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 9 |
Berry[ citation needed] | Stacking | C | 2018-08-24 | 2019-09-21 | MIT | ||
Blackbox | Stacking | C++ | 0.77 [5] | 2021-05-12 | MIT | 3 | |
bspwm[ citation needed] | Tiling | C | 2013-04-23 | 0.9.10 [6] | 2020-08-02 | BSD-2-clause [7] | |
Compiz | Compositing | C ( OpenGL) | 2006 | 0.9.14.2 [8] | 2022-08-22 | MIT | |
CTWM | Stacking | C | 1992 | 4.1.0 | 2023-03-26 | MIT | |
cwm | Stacking | C | 2004-07-10 | 3 [9] | 2005-08-28 | ISC | 8 |
dkwm | Dynamic | C | 2019-12-01 | 1.9-1 | 2023-06-18 | MIT/X | |
dwm | Dynamic | C | 2006-07-14 | 6.5 [10] | 2024-03-19 | MIT | 1 |
Enlightenment | Compositing | C | 1997 | 0.26.0 [11] | 2023-12-23 | BSD-2-clause | |
evilwm [12] | Stacking | C | 2000 | 1.3.1 [13] | 2021-07-30 | aewm/9wm [14] | |
EXWM[ citation needed] | Tiling | Emacs Lisp | 0.30 [15] | 2024-05-24 | GPL-3.0-or-later | ||
Fluxbox | Stacking | C++ | 2001-09-12 | 1.3.7 [16] | 2015-02-08 | MIT | 16 |
FLWM | Stacking | C++ ( FLTK) | 1998 | 1.02 [17] | 2006-06-30 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
FVWM | Dynamic | C | 1993-06-01 | 3-1.1.0 [18] | 2024-03-30 | GPL | 4 |
herbstluftwm | Dynamic | C++ | 2011-10-02 | BSD-2-clause | |||
i3 | Dynamic | C | 2009-03-15 | 4.23 [19] | 2023-10-29 | BSD-3-clause | 3 |
IceWM | Stacking | C++ | 1997 | 3.5.1 [20] | 2024-06-06 | LGPL-2.0-only | 4.5 |
Ion | Tiling | C, Lua | 2000 | LGPL-2.1-only [a] | |||
JWM | Stacking | C | 2003 | 2.4.3 [21] | 2022-10-22 | MIT | 3 |
KWin ( KDE) | Compositing | C++ ( Qt) | 6.0.5 [22] | 2024-05-21 | GPL | 41 | |
LeftWM | Tiling | Rust | 2019 | 0.5.1 | 2023-11-16 | MIT | |
Matchbox | Stacking | C | 2007-04-13 | 1.2.2 [23] | 2016-12-05 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
Metacity (GNOME 2) | Compositing | C, C++ ( GTK+) | 2002-10 | 3.50.0 [24] | 2023-09-23 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo) | Compositing | C ( Clutter) | 2011-04 | 46.2 [25] | 2024-05-25 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 18.6 |
Motif Window Manager (mwm) | Stacking | C | 1989 | 2.3.8 [26] | 2017-12-05 | LGPL-2.1-or-later | |
Openbox | Stacking | C | 2002-09-18 | 3.6.1 [27] | 2015-07-01 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 7 |
PekWM | Stacking | C++ | 0.3.0 [28] | 2023-01-23 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 5.3 | |
PlayWM[ citation needed] | Stacking | C | GPL | ||||
Qtile | Dynamic | Python | 2008-08-31 | 0.26.0 [29] | 2024-05-21 | MIT | 2 |
Ragnar | Tiling | C | 2023-05-15 | 1.3.0 | 2023-06-12 | GPL | |
Ratpoison | Tiling | C | 2000-12-04 | 1.4.9 [30] | 2017-04-04 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 1 |
Sawfish | Stacking | Lisp, C | 2000-01-01 | 1.13.0 [31] | 2021-12-24 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 3.1 |
SithWM | Stacking | C | 1.2.3 [32] | 2008-04-25 | GPL | ||
spectrwm[ citation needed] | Dynamic | C | 3.5.1 [33] | 2023-11-25 | ISC | ||
steamcompmgr[ citation needed] | Compositing | C [34] | 2013 | BSD-2-clause [35] | |||
StumpWM | Tiling | Common Lisp | 23.11 [36] | 2023-11-26 | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||
twm | Stacking | C | 1987 | 1.0.12 [37] [38] | 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 | 0.96.0 [39] | 2023-08-05 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 7 |
Wingo[ citation needed] | Dynamic | Go | WTFPL | ||||
WMFS[ citation needed] | Tiling | C | 201003 [40] | 2010-03-28 | BSD-3-clause | ||
wmii | Dynamic | C | 2005-06-01 | 3.9.2 [41] | 2010-06-10 | MIT | |
Xfwm (Xfce) | Compositing | C, C++ ( GTK+) | 1996 | 4.18 [42] | 2022-12-15 | GPL, LGPL | 70 |
xmonad | Dynamic | Haskell | 2007-03-06 | 0.18.0 [43] | 2024-02-03 | BSD-3-clause | 2 |
worm | Dynamic | Nim | 2021-12-12 | 0.32 | 2023-2-3 | MIT | |
Name | Type | Language | Initial release | Latest release | License | Memory (MB) | |
Version | Date |
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[ citation needed] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
awesome | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Berry[ citation needed] | No | Yes [a] | Yes [b] | No | No | No | Yes |
Blackbox | No | Depends [c] | Depends [d] | Yes [e] | Yes | No | Yes |
bspwm[ citation needed] | No | No | Yes [f] | Partial | No | No | No |
Compiz | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Depends [c] | 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 [12] | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Partial [12] | No | No | Yes |
EXWM[ citation needed] | No | No | Yes | Partial | No | Depends | Yes |
Fluxbox | Yes | Depends [c] | Yes | Yes [45] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
FLWM | No | Yes | No [g] | No | No | ||
FVWM | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [46] | Depends [c] [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 [c] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Ion | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
JWM | Yes | Depends [c] | 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 |
Motif Window Manager (mwm) | No | No | Yes | No [h] | |||
Openbox | Yes | Depends [c] | Yes | Yes | Depends [c] | No | Yes |
PekWM | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Yes |
PlayWM[ citation needed] | 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 | |
spectrwm[ citation needed] | 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 | No | Yes |
xmonad | Yes | No | Yes | Yes / ? | Depends [c] | Yes | Yes |
worm | |||||||
Name | Configurable titlebar buttons | Graphical configuration | Hotkeys | ICCCM/ EWMH compliant | Panel for window switching | Tabbed windows | Themeable |
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evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.
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License: BSD-2-clause
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Blackbox releases up to and including version 0.65.0 follow the ICCCM standard, while 0.70 and later follow EWMH.