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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.
| 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 | 1999 | 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 | 0.1.12 | 2022-10-24 | MIT | |
| Blackbox | Stacking | C++ | 1997 | 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 | 0.9.14.2 [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 | |
| Enlightenment 16 [12] | Compositing | C | 2009-06-03 | 1.0.30 | 2024-08-10 | ||
| evilwm [13] | Stacking | C | 2000 | 1.4.3 [14] | 2024-03-09 | aewm/9wm [15] | |
| EXWM | Tiling | Emacs Lisp | 2018 | 0.32 [16] | 2024-10-05 | GPL-3.0-or-later | |
| Fluxbox | Stacking | C++ | 2001-09-12 | 1.3.7 [17] | 2015-02-08 | MIT | 16 |
| FLWM | Stacking | C++ (FLTK) | 1998 | 1.02 [18] | 2006-06-30 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
| FVWM | Dynamic | C | 1993-06-01 | 3-1.1.0 [19] | 2024-03-30 | GPL | 4 |
| herbstluftwm | Dynamic | C++ | 2011-10-02 | 0.9.5 | 2022-07-30 | BSD-2-clause | |
| i3 | Dynamic | C | 2009-03-15 | 4.23 [20] | 2023-10-29 | BSD-3-clause | 3 |
| IceWM | Stacking | C++ | 1997 | 3.6.0 [21] | 2024-06-16 | LGPL-2.0-only | 4.5 |
| Ion | Tiling | C, Lua | 2000 | Final | 2009-01-10 | LGPL-2.1-only [a] | |
| JWM | Stacking | C | 2003 | 2.4.5 [22] | 2024-10-05 | MIT | 3 |
| KWin (KDE) | Compositing | C++ (Qt) | 2002 | 6.1.0 [23] | 2024-06-12 | GPL | 41 |
| LeftWM | Tiling | Rust | 2019 | 0.5.3 | 2024-10-20 | MIT | |
| Matchbox | Stacking | C | 2007-04-13 | 1.2.3 [24] | 2023-03-15 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
| Metacity (GNOME 2) | Compositing | C, C++ (GTK+) | 2002-10 | 3.50.0 [25] | 2023-09-23 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
| Moksha (E17) | Compositing | C | 2015-08-11 | 0.4.1 [26] | 2023-07-23 | ||
| Motif Window Manager (mwm) | Stacking | C | 1989 | 2.3.8 [27] | 2017-12-05 | LGPL-2.1-or-later | |
| Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo) | Compositing | C (Clutter) | 2011-04 | 46.2 [28] | 2024-05-25 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 18.6 |
| Openbox | Stacking | C | 2002-09-18 | 3.6.1 [29] | 2015-07-01 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 7 |
| PekWM | Stacking | C++ | 2009 | 0.3.0 [30] | 2023-01-23 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 5.3 |
| PlayWM | Stacking | C | 2013-31-01 | Final | 2013-02-10 | GPL | |
| Qtile | Dynamic | Python | 2008-08-31 | 0.29.0 [31] | 2024-10-19 | 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 | 1.13.0 [32] | 2021-12-24 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 3.1 |
| SithWM | Stacking | C | 2007 | 1.2.3 [33] | 2008-04-25 | GPL | |
| spectrwm | Dynamic | C | 2012-02-07 | 3.6.0 [34] | 2024-07-10 | ISC | |
| steamcompmgr | Compositing | C [35] | 2013 | BSD-2-clause [36] | |||
| StumpWM | Tiling | Common Lisp | 2017-01-12 | 23.11 [37] | 2023-11-26 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
| twm | Stacking | C | 1987 | 1.0.12 [38] [39] | 2022-04-02 | MIT-open-group MIT-CMU XFree86-1.0 | 1.2 |
| Ultrix Window Manager (uwm) | Stacking | C | 1985 | Final [40] | 1988-10-27 | Similar to BSD licenses | |
| Window Maker | Stacking | C | 1997 | 0.96.0 [41] | 2023-08-05 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 7 |
| Wingo | Dynamic | Go | 2012 | Final | 2018 | WTFPL | |
| wmii | Dynamic | C | 2005-06-01 | 3.9.2 [42] | 2010-06-10 | MIT | |
| Xfwm (Xfce) | Compositing | C, C++ (GTK+) | 1996 | 4.19 [43] | 2024-11-01 | GPL, LGPL | 70 |
| xmonad | Dynamic | Haskell | 2007-03-06 | 0.18.0 [44] | 2024-02-03 | 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 | ||||||
| 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 [13] | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Partial [13] | No | No | Yes |
| EXWM [ citation needed ] | No | No | Yes | Partial | No | Depends | Yes |
| Fluxbox | Yes | Depends [c] | Yes | Yes [46] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FLWM | No | Yes | No [g] | No | No | ||
| FVWM | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [47] | Depends [c] [48] [49] |
| 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 | Yes | 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 |
| Moody | |||||||
| 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 |
An X window manager is a window manager that runs on top of the X Window System, a windowing system mainly used on Unix-like systems.
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{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help){{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help){{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help){{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help){{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)License: BSD-2-clause
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)Blackbox releases up to and including version 0.65.0 follow the ICCCM standard, while 0.70 and later follow EWMH.