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]  2022-01-19 MIT 0.4
aewm 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 Stacking C 2018-08-24 2019-09-21 MIT
Blackbox Stacking C++ 0.77[5]  2021-05-12 MIT 3
bspwm Tiling C 2013-04-23 0.9.10[6]  2020-08-02 BSD-2-Clause[7]
Compiz Compositing C (OpenGL) 2006 0.9.14.1[8]  2019-11-28 MIT
cwm Stacking C 2004-07-10 3[9]  2005-08-28 ISC
dwm Dynamic C 2006-07-14 6.3[10]  2022-01-07 MIT 1
Enlightenment Compositing C 1997 0.25.3[11]  2022-02-10 BSD-2-Clause
evilwm[12] Stacking C 2000 1.3.1[13]  2021-07-30 aewm/9wm[14]
EXWM Tiling Emacs Lisp 0.26[15]  2021-11-13 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 3-1.0.4[18]  2021-07-20 GPL 4
i3 Dynamic C 2009-03-15 4.20.1[19]  2021-11-03 BSD-3-Clause 3
IceWM Stacking C++ 1997 2.9.6[20]  2022-02-23 LGPL-2.0-only 4.5
Ion Tiling C, Lua 2000 3-20090110[21]  2009-01-10 LGPL-2.1-only[lower-alpha 1]
JWM Stacking C 2003 2.4.1[22]  2022-02-26 MIT 3
KWin (KDE) Compositing C++ (Qt) 5.24.3[23]  2022-03-08 GPL 41
Matchbox Stacking C 2007-04-13 1.2.2[24]  2016-12-05 GPL-2.0-or-later
Metacity (GNOME) Compositing C, C++ (GTK+) 2002-10 3.44.0[25]  2022-03-19 GPL-2.0-or-later
Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo) Compositing C (Clutter) 2011-04 42.0[26][27]  2022-03-12 GPL-2.0-or-later 18.6
mwm (Motif Window Manager) Stacking C 1989 2.3.8[28]  2017-12-05 LGPL-2.1-or-later
Openbox Stacking C 2002-09-18 3.6.1[29]  2015-07-01 GPL-2.0-or-later 7
PekWM Stacking C++ 0.2.1[30]  2021-12-03 GPL-2.0-or-later 5.3
PlayWM Stacking C GPL
Qtile Dynamic Python 2008-08-31 0.21.0[31]  2022-03-23 MIT 2
Ratpoison Tiling C 2000-12-04 1.4.9[32]  2017-04-04 GPL-2.0-or-later 1
Sawfish Stacking Lisp, C 2000-01-01 1.13.0[33]  2021-12-24 GPL-2.0-or-later 3.1
SithWM Stacking C 1.2.3[34]  2008-04-25 GPL
spectrwm Dynamic C 3.4.1[35]  2020-06-25 ISC
steamcompmgr Compositing C[36] 2013 BSD-2-clause[37]
StumpWM Tiling Common Lisp 20.11[38][39]  2020-11-27 GPL-2.0-or-later
twm Stacking C 1987 1.0.12[40][41]  2022-04-02 MIT-open-group
MIT-CMU
XFree86-1.0		 1.2
uwm Stacking C 1985 Similar to BSD license
Window Maker Stacking C 1997 0.95.9[42]  2020-04-04 GPL-2.0-or-later 7
Wingo Dynamic Go WTFPL
WMFS Tiling C 201003[43]  2010-03-28 BSD-3-Clause
wmii Dynamic C 2005-06-01 3.9.2[44]  2010-06-10 MIT
Xfwm (Xfce) Compositing C, C++ (GTK+) 1996 4.16[45]  2020-12-22 GPL, LGPL 70
xmonad Dynamic Haskell 2007-03-06 0.17.0[46]  2021-10-27 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 No Yes
Fluxbox Yes Depends[lower-alpha 3] Yes Yes[48] Yes Yes Yes
FLWM No Yes No[lower-alpha 7] No No
FVWM Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes[49] Depends[lower-alpha 3][50][51]
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.[47]
  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. https://github.com/9wm/9wm/releases/tag/1.4.2.
  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] Compiz 0.9.14.1 released". 28 November 2019.
  9. "cwm". Archived from the original on 8 June 2015.
  10. https://git.suckless.org/dwm/commit/d39e2f3441fe18aba8d1a62c08918a411ec6f237.html; publication date: 7 January 2022.
  11. https://www.enlightenment.org/news/2022-02-10-enlightenment-0.25.3; retrieved: 6 April 2022.
  12. "evilwm - standards support". evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.
  13. http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/doc/ChangeLog.
  14. "evilwm.txt".
  15. "Exwm version 0.26". 13 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  16. "Fluxbox 1.3.7 - Bam! Zero Bugs!!11!". 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022.
  17. http://flwm.sourceforge.net.
  18. https://github.com/fvwmorg/fvwm3/releases/tag/1.0.4.
  19. Michael Stapelberg (3 November 2021). "i3 v4.20.1 released". Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  20. https://github.com/ice-wm/icewm/releases/tag/2.9.6.
  21. "The Ion window manager (2000-2009)". Archived from the original on 20 March 2022.
  22. https://github.com/joewing/jwm/releases/tag/v2.4.1.
  23. https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/tags/v5.24.3.
  24. https://git.yoctoproject.org/matchbox-window-manager/tag/?h=1.2.2.
  25. https://github.com/GNOME/metacity/releases/tag/3.44.0.
  26. "mutter 42.0"; author name string: Florian Müllner; publication date: 12 March 2022; retrieved: 30 March 2022.
  27. "42.0". 12 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  28. "Motif 2.3.8 Source Code". 5 December 2017.
  29. "Openbox:Changelog".
  30. https://github.com/pekwm/pekwm/releases/tag/release-0.2.1.
  31. https://github.com/qtile/qtile/releases/tag/v0.21.0.
  32. "ratpoison-1.4.9 has been released"; author name string: Jeremie Courreges-Anglas; publication date: 4 April 2017; retrieved: 12 November 2020.
  33. https://github.com/SawfishWM/sawfish/releases/tag/sawfish-1.13.0.
  34. https://sithwm.darkside.no/sn/?M=D.
  35. https://github.com/conformal/spectrwm/releases/tag/SPECTRWM_3_4_1.
  36. "steamos-compositor debian source package". /steamos-compositor-1.35/src/steamcompmgr.c.
  37. "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package". /usr/share/doc/steamos-compositor/copyright. License: BSD-2-clause
  38. "StumpWM 20.11 'Aphrodite Giant' Released!". 27 November 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  39. "Release 20.11". 27 November 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  40. "[ANNOUNCE] twm 1.0.12". 2 April 2022.
  41. https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/twm/-/tags/twm-1.0.12.
  42. http://www.windowmaker.org/news/.
  43. https://github.com/xorg62/wmfs/releases/tag/201003; retrieved: 31 January 2018.
  44. https://code.google.com/archive/p/wmii/downloads.
  45. "Xfce 4.16 released".
  46. https://github.com/xmonad/xmonad/releases/tag/v0.17.0.
  47. "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.
  48. "Tables".
  49. FvwmTabs Archived 2009-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
  50. Fvwm Themes
  51. FVWM-Crystal
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