Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 16, 2026

Comparison of X window managers

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

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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 1.4.22 Edit this on Wikidata 2022-01-19 MIT 0.4
aewm Stacking C 1999 1.3.123 Edit this on Wikidata 2007-12-27 MIT
awesome Dynamic C, Lua 2007-09-18 4.34 Edit this on Wikidata 2019-01-28 GPL-2.0-or-later 9
Berry Stacking C 2018-08-24 0.1.135 2025-06-22 MIT
Blackbox Stacking C++ 1997 0.776 Edit this on Wikidata 2021-05-12 MIT 3
bspwm Tiling C 2013-04-23 0.9.127 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-10-08 BSD-2-clause8
Compiz Compositing C (OpenGL) 2006 0.9.14.29 Edit this on Wikidata 2022-08-22 MIT
CTWM Stacking C 1992 4.1.010 Edit this on Wikidata 2023-03-26 MIT
cwm Stacking C 2004-07-10 311 Edit this on Wikidata 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 6.812 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-01-30 MIT 1
Enlightenment Compositing C 1997 0.27.113 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-03-14 BSD-2-clause
Enlightenment 1614 Compositing C 1999-10-10 1.0.3115 2025-08-10 MIT with advertising clause
evilwm16 Stacking C 2000 1.517 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-12-19 aewm/9wm18
EXWM Tiling Emacs Lisp 2018 0.341920 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-06-27 GPL-3.0-or-later
Fluxbox Stacking C++ 2001-09-12 1.3.721 Edit this on Wikidata 2015-02-08 MIT 16
FLWM Stacking C++ (FLTK) 1998 1.0222 Edit this on Wikidata 2006-06-30 GPL-2.0-or-later
FVWM Stacking C 1993-06-01 1.1.423 2025-11-09 GPL-2.0-or-later24 4
herbstluftwm Dynamic C++ 2011-10-02 0.9.625 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-04-03 BSD-2-clause
i3 Dynamic C 2009-03-15 4.25.126 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-02-06 BSD-3-clause 3
IceWM Stacking C++ 1997 4.0.027 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-01-01 LGPL-2.0-only 4.5
Ion Tiling C, Lua 2000 Final 2009-01-10 LGPL-2.1-onlya
JWM Stacking C 2003 2.4.628 Edit this on Wikidata 2024-11-09 MIT 3
KWin (KDE) Compositing C++ (Qt) 2002 6.4.329 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-07-15 GPL 41
LeftWM Tiling Rust 2019 0.5.3 2024-10-20 MIT
Matchbox Stacking C 2007-04-13 1.2.330 2023-03-15 GPL-2.0-or-later
Metacity (GNOME 2/LiMo) Compositing C, C++ (GTK+) 2002-10 3.56.031 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-04-26 GPL-2.0-or-later
Moksha (E17) Compositing C 2015-08-11 0.4.132 Edit this on Wikidata 2023-08-28
Motif Window Manager (mwm) Stacking C 1989 2.3.833 Edit this on Wikidata 2017-12-05 LGPL-2.1-or-later
Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo) Compositing C (Clutter) 2011-04 50.134 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-04-14 GPL-2.0-or-later 18.6
Openbox Stacking C 2002-09-18 3.6.135 Edit this on Wikidata 2015-07-01 GPL-2.0-or-later 7
PekWM Stacking C++ 2009 0.4.436 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-04-06 GPL-2.0-or-later 5.3
PlayWM Stacking C 2013-31-01 Final 2013-02-10 GPL
Qtile Dynamic Python 2008-08-31 0.36.037 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-05-22 MIT 2
Ragnar Tiling C 2023-05-15 1.5.0 2024-08-17 GPL
Ratpoison Tiling C 2000-12-04 1.4.938 Edit this on Wikidata 2017-04-04 GPL-2.0-or-later 1
Sawfish Stacking Lisp, C 2000-01-01 1.13.039 Edit this on Wikidata 2021-12-24 GPL-2.0-or-later 3.1
SithWM Stacking C 2007 1.2.340 Edit this on Wikidata 2008-04-25 GPL
spectrwm Dynamic C 2012-02-07 3.7.041 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-08-27 ISC
steamcompmgr Compositing C42 2013 BSD-2-clause43
StumpWM Tiling Common Lisp 2017-01-12 24.1144 Edit this on Wikidata 2024-11-29 GPL-2.0-or-later
sxwm Dynamic C 2025 1.645 2025-06-26 GPL-3.0-or-later46
twm Stacking C 1987 1.0.13.14748 Edit this on Wikidata 2025-05-06 MIT-open-group
MIT-CMU
XFree86-1.0 		1.2
Ultrix Window Manager (uwm) Stacking C 1985 Final49 1988-10-27 Similar to BSD licenses
Window Maker Stacking C 1997 0.96.050 Edit this on Wikidata 2023-08-05 GPL-2.0-or-later 7
Wingo Dynamic Go 2012 Final 2018 WTFPL
wmii Dynamic C 2005-06-01 3.9.251 Edit this on Wikidata 2010-06-10 MIT
Xfwm (Xfce) Compositing C (GTK+) 1996 4.20.052 Edit this on Wikidata 2024-12-15 GPL, LGPL 70
xmonad Dynamic Haskell 2007-03-06 0.18.153 Edit this on Wikidata 2026-03-07 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)
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 Yesa Yesb No No No Yes
Blackbox No Dependsc Dependsd Yese Yes No Yes
bspwm No No Yesf Partial No No No
Compiz Yes Yes Yes Yes Dependsc 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
evilwm16 no titlebar buttons No Yes Partial16 No No Yes
EXWM No No Yes Partial No Depends Yes
Fluxbox Yes Dependsc Yes Yes55 Yes Yes Yes
FLWM No Yes Nog No No
FVWM Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes56 Dependsc5758
herbstluftwm no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
i3 no titlebar buttons No Yes Yes No Yes Yes
IceWM Yes Dependsc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ion no titlebar buttons No Yes No Yes Yes
JWM Yes Dependsc 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 Noh
Openbox Yes Dependsc Yes Yes Dependsc 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
Ragnar
Ratpoison No No Yes No No No No
Sawfish Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes primitive Yes
SithWM Archived 2022-03-26 at the Wayback Machine 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
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
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 No Yes
xmonad Yes No Yes Yes / ? Dependsc Yes Yes
worm
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 0.70.54
  6. With sxhkd.
  7. There is a window list menu.
  8. Can change colours.
See also

See also

References

References

  1. "A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops". l3net - a layer 3 networking blog. 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  2. "Release 1.4.2 · 9wm/9wm · GitHub".
  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. JLErvin. "Release 0.1.13 · JLErvin/berry". GitHub. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
  6. "Release 0.77". 12 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  7. "Release 0.9.12". 8 October 2025. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  8. "bspwm License". GitHub. 2 November 2021.
  9. "Compiz 0.9.14.2 released". 22 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  10. "CTWM Change History".
  11. "cwm". Archived from the original on 8 June 2015.
  12. "bump version to 6.8". 30 January 2026.
  13. "Enlightenment 0.27.1 Release". 14 March 2025. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  14. "Enlightenment E16". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  15. "Enlightenment E16 Downloads". Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  16. "evilwm - standards support". Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2009-10-26. evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.
  17. "evilwm - a minimalist window manager for the X Window System". Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  18. "evilwm.txt".
  19. "Release 0.34". 27 June 2025. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  20. "[GNU ELPA] Exwm version 0.34". 27 June 2025. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  21. "Fluxbox 1.3.7 - Bam! Zero Bugs!!11!". 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  22. "flwm".
  23. fvwmorg. "Releases · fvwmorg/fvwm3". GitHub. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
  24. "fvwm3/COPYING at main". GitHub. 3 March 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  25. "Release 0.9.6". 3 April 2026. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  26. "Release 4.25.1". 6 February 2026. Retrieved 7 April 2026.
  27. "Release icewm-4.0.0". 1 January 2026. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  28. joewing. "Release v2.4.6 · joewing/jwm". Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  29. "Tagging 6.4.3". 15 July 2025. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  30. "matchbox-window-manager - Matchbox Window Manager v1". git.yoctoproject.org. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  31. "3.56.0". 26 April 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  32. JeffHoogland. "Release 0.4.1 · JeffHoogland/moksha". Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  33. "Motif 2.3.8 Source Code". 5 December 2017.
  34. "Release 50.1".
  35. "Openbox:Changelog".
  36. https://www.pekwm.se/pekwm/uv/pekwm-0.4.4.tar.gz. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  37. "Release 0.36.0". 22 May 2026. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  38. Jeremie Courreges-Anglas (4 April 2017). "ratpoison-1.4.9 has been released". Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  39. https://github.com/SawfishWM/sawfish/releases/tag/sawfish-1.13.0. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  40. https://sithwm.darkside.no/sn/?M=D. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  41. "Release 3.7.0". 27 August 2025. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  42. "steamos-compositor debian source package". /steamos-compositor-1.35/src/steamcompmgr.c.
  43. "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package". /usr/share/doc/steamos-compositor/copyright. License: BSD-2-clause
  44. "Release 24.11". 29 November 2024. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
  45. "Release sxwm v1.6". GitHub. 26 June 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  46. "sxwm Commit 8701f8d". GitHub. 6 June 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
  47. "[ANNOUNCE] twm 1.0.13.1". 6 May 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  48. "twm-1.0.13.1 · タグ · xorg / app / twm ·". 6 May 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  49. "wm/uwm - The NetBSD Packages Collection". cdn.netbsd.org. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  50. "Version 0.96.0 released". 5 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  51. https://code.google.com/archive/p/wmii/downloads. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  52. "xfwm4-4.20.0 · Tags · Xfce / xfwm4 · GitLab". 15 December 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  53. "Release 0.18.1". 7 March 2026. Retrieved 7 April 2026.
  54. "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.
  55. "Tables". Archived from the original on 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  56. FvwmTabs Archived 2009-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
  57. Fvwm Themes
  58. FVWM-Crystal
External links