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	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	0.9.12 [6]	2025-10-08	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	6.6 [10]	2025-08-09	MIT	1
Enlightenment	Compositing	C	1997	0.27.1 [11]	2025-03-14	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	Stacking	C	1993-06-01			GPL-2.0-or-later [19]	4
herbstluftwm	Dynamic	C++	2011-10-02	0.9.5	2022-07-30	BSD-2-clause
i3	Dynamic	C	2009-03-15	4.25 [20]	2025-12-19	BSD-3-clause	3
IceWM	Stacking	C++	1997	4.0.0 [21]	2026-01-01	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	6.4.3 [23]	2025-07-15	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/LiMo)	Compositing	C, C++ (GTK+)	2002-10	3.56.0 [25]	2025-04-26	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	49.2 [28]	2025-11-24	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	0.4.2 [30]	2025-01-03	GPL-2.0-or-later	5.3
PlayWM	Stacking	C	2013-31-01	Final	2013-02-10	GPL
Qtile	Dynamic	Python	2008-08-31	0.34.1 [31]	2025-12-14	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 Archived 2022-03-26 at the Wayback Machine	Stacking	C	2007	1.2.3 [33]	2008-04-25	GPL
spectrwm	Dynamic	C	2012-02-07	3.6.0 [34]	2025-08-27	ISC
steamcompmgr	Compositing	C [35]	2013			BSD-2-clause [36]
StumpWM	Tiling	Common Lisp	2017-01-12	23.11 [37]	2024-11-29	GPL-2.0-or-later
sxwm	Dynamic	C	2025	1.6 [38]	2025-06-26	GPL-3.0-or-later [39]
twm	Stacking	C	1987	1.0.13.1 [40] [41]	2025-05-06	MIT-open-group MIT-CMU XFree86-1.0	1.2
Ultrix Window Manager (uwm)	Stacking	C	1985	Final [42]	1988-10-27	Similar to BSD licenses
Window Maker	Stacking	C	1997	0.96.0 [43]	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 [44]	2010-06-10	MIT
Xfwm (Xfce)	Compositing	C, C++ (GTK+)	1996	4.20 [45]	2024-12-15	GPL, LGPL	70
xmonad	Dynamic	Haskell	2007-03-06	0.18.0 [46]	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

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 [ 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 [48]	Yes	Yes	Yes
FLWM		No	Yes		No [g]	No	No
FVWM	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [49]	Depends [c] [50] [51]
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 Archived 2022-03-26 at the Wayback Machine	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
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 [ 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

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

• Free and open-source software portal

• Comparison of X Window System desktop environments
• Window manager
• List of Wayland compositors

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. "Release 0.77". 12 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
6. "Release 0.9.12". 8 October 2025. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
7. "bspwm License". GitHub . 2 November 2021.
8. "Compiz 0.9.14.2 released". 22 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
9. "cwm". Archived from the original on 8 June 2015.
10. "bump version to 6.6". 9 August 2025.
11. "Enlightenment 0.27.1 Release". 14 March 2025. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
12. "Enlightenment E16". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
13. "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.
14. "Index of /evilwm/dl". www.6809.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
15. "evilwm.txt".
16. "Releases · emacs-exwm/exwm". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
17. "Fluxbox 1.3.7 - Bam! Zero Bugs!!11!". 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
18. "flwm".
19. "fvwm3/COPYING at main". GitHub . 3 March 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
20. . 19 December 2025 https://github.com/i3/i3/releases/tag/4.25.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
21. "Release icewm-4.0.0". 1 January 2026. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
22. "Releases · joewing/jwm". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
23. "Tagging 6.4.3". 15 July 2025. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
24. "matchbox-window-manager - Matchbox Window Manager v1". git.yoctoproject.org. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
25. "3.56.0". 26 April 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
26. "Releases · JeffHoogland/moksha". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
27. "Motif 2.3.8 Source Code". 5 December 2017.
28. https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/releases/49.2.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
29. "Openbox:Changelog".
30. https://www.pekwm.se/pekwm/uv/pekwm-0.4.2.tar.gz.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
31. "Release 0.34.1". 14 December 2025. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
32. https://github.com/SawfishWM/sawfish/releases/tag/sawfish-1.13.0.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
33. https://sithwm.darkside.no/sn/?M=D.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
34. "Releases · conformal/spectrwm". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
35. "steamos-compositor debian source package". /steamos-compositor-1.35/src/steamcompmgr.c.
36. "steamos-compositor amd64 debian package". /usr/share/doc/steamos-compositor/copyright. License: BSD-2-clause
37. "Releases · stumpwm/stumpwm". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
38. "Release sxwm v1.6". GitHub . 26 June 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
39. "sxwm Commit 8701f8d". GitHub . 6 June 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
40. "[ANNOUNCE] twm 1.0.13.1". 6 May 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
41. "twm-1.0.13.1 · タグ · xorg / app / twm ·". 6 May 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
42. "wm/uwm - The NetBSD Packages Collection". cdn.netbsd.org. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
43. "Version 0.96.0 released". 5 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
44. https://code.google.com/archive/p/wmii/downloads.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
45. "xfce:xfwm4:start [Xfce Docs]". docs.xfce.org. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
46. "Release 0.18.0". 3 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
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". Archived from the original on 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
49. FvwmTabs Archived 2009-08-02 at the Wayback Machine
50. Fvwm Themes
51. FVWM-Crystal

External links

• Comparison of extensible window managers compares window managers "extensible" by user scripts, like Sawfish, xmonad, etc.
• The Comprehensive List of Window Managers for Unix