Comparison of X window managers

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

Name Language License Type Configurable titlebar buttons Graphical configuration Hotkeys ICCCM/EWMH compliant Panel for window switching Tabbed windows Themeable Memory (MB)[1] Initial Release Latest Stable Release
2bwm C Stacking No Yes Yes
9wm C MIT Stacking No No No Yes No No 0.4 1994
aewm C MIT Stacking No No No Yes Yes No No
awesome C, Lua GPL Dynamic Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes 9 2007-09-18
Berry C MIT Stacking No via CLI client via CLI client and third party (e.g. sxhkd) No No No Yes 2018-08-24 2019-09-21
Blackbox C++ MIT Stacking No third-party with bbkeys through 0.65 / from 0.70[2] Yes No Yes 3
bspwm C BSD[3] Tiling No No with sxhkd Partial No No No 2013-04-23
Compiz C (OpenGL) MIT Compositing Yes Yes Yes Yes third-party Yes Yes 2006 2016-11-11
cwm C ISC Stacking no titlebar buttons No Yes No No Yes 2004-07-10
dwm C MIT Dynamic no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No Yes 1 2006-07-14
Enlightenment C BSD Compositing Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 1997 2019-08[4]
evilwm C MIT[5] Stacking no titlebar buttons No Yes Partial[6] No No Yes No
EXWM Emacs Lisp GPL Tiling No No Yes Partial No No Yes
Fluxbox C++ MIT Stacking Yes third-party Yes Yes[7] Yes Yes Yes 16 2001-09-12 2015-02-08
FLWM C++ (FLTK) GPL Stacking No Yes There is a window list menu No No 1998
FVWM C GPL Dynamic Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes[8] third-party[9][10] 4 1993-06-01
i3 C BSD Dynamic no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No Yes Yes 3 2009-03-15
IceWM C++ LGPL Stacking Yes third-party Yes Yes Yes No Yes 4.5 1997 2019-03-27
Ion C, Lua LGPL with naming restrictions on modified versions Tiling no titlebar buttons No Yes No Yes Yes 2000 2009-01-10
JWM C MIT (Formerly GPL) Stacking Yes third-party Yes EWMH Yes No Yes 3 2003
KWin (KDE) C++ (Qt) GPL Compositing Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 41 2019-01
Matchbox C GPL Stacking EWMH compliance No No Yes 2007-04-13
Metacity (GNOME) C, C++ (GTK+) GPL Compositing Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 2002-10 2016-09
Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo) C (Clutter) GPL Compositing Yes Yes Yes Yes Gnome Shell No Yes 18.6 2011-04 2018-09
mwm (Motif Window Manager) C The Open Group Public License Stacking No No Yes can change colours 1989
Openbox C GPL Stacking Yes third-party Yes Yes third-party No Yes 7 2002-09-18
PekWM C++ GPL Stacking Yes No Yes Partial No Yes Yes 5.3
PlayWM C GPL Stacking Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Ratpoison C GPL Tiling No No Yes No No No No 1 2000-12-04
Sawfish Lisp, C GPL Stacking Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes primitive Yes 3.1 2000-01-01
sithWM C GPL Stacking no titlebar buttons No Yes No No Yes
spectrwm C ISC Dynamic no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No No solid colors
steamcompmgr C [11] BSD-2-clause [12] Compositing No No Yes No No No 2013
StumpWM Common Lisp GPL Tiling No No Yes No No No No
twm C MIT Stacking Yes No Yes Yes No solid colors 1.2 1987
WMFS C BSD Tiling Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Window Maker C GPL Stacking No Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes 7 1997 2017-03-11
Wingo Go WTFPL Dynamic Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes
wmii C MIT Dynamic Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes 2005-06-01
Xfwm (Xfce) C, C++ (GTK+) GPL, LGPL Compositing Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 70 1996 2019-08-12
xmonad Haskell BSD Dynamic Yes No Yes Yes / ? third-party Yes Yes 2 2007-03-06
uwm C Similar to BSD license Stacking 1985
Name Language License Type Configurable titlebar buttons Graphical configuration Hotkeys ICCCM/EWMH compliant Panel for window switching Tabbed windows Themeable Memory (MB) Initial release Last Stable Release
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

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. "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.
  3. "bspwm License".
  4. https://git.enlightenment.org/core/enlightenment.git
  5. README in EvilWM distribution
  6. "evilwm - standards support". evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.
  7. http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs/ewmh-support.html
  8. FvwmTabs Archived 2009-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Fvwm Themes
  10. FVWM-Crystal
  11. "steamos-compositor debian source package". /steamos-compositor-1.35/src/steamcompmgr.c.
  12. "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package". /usr/share/doc/steamos-compositor/copyright. License: BSD-2-clause
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