# 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 | Latest release | License | Memory (MB) |
| Name | Type | Language | Initial release | Version | Date | License | Memory (MB) |
| 9wm | Stacking | C | 1994 | 1.4.2 | 2022-01-19 | MIT | 0.4 |
| aewm | Stacking | C | 1999 | 1.3.12 | 2007-12-27 | MIT | |
| awesome | Dynamic | C, Lua | 2007-09-18 | 4.3 | 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 | 2021-05-12 | MIT | 3 |
| bspwm | Tiling | C | 2013-04-23 | 0.9.10 | 2020-08-02 | BSD-2-clause | |
| Compiz | Compositing | C (OpenGL) | 2006 | 0.9.14.2 | 2022-08-22 | MIT | |
| CTWM | Stacking | C | 1992 | 4.1.0 | 2023-03-26 | MIT | |
| cwm | Stacking | C | 2004-07-10 | 3 | 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 | 2024-03-19 | MIT | 1 |
| Enlightenment | Compositing | C | 1997 | 0.27.0 | 2025-01-11 | BSD-2-clause | |
| Enlightenment 16 | Compositing | C | 2009-06-03 | 1.0.30 | 2024-08-10 | | |
| evilwm | Stacking | C | 2000 | 1.4.3 | 2024-03-09 | aewm/9wm | |
| EXWM | Tiling | Emacs Lisp | 2018 | 0.32 | 2024-10-05 | GPL-3.0-or-later | |
| Fluxbox | Stacking | C++ | 2001-09-12 | 1.3.7 | 2015-02-08 | MIT | 16 |
| FLWM | Stacking | C++ (FLTK) | 1998 | 1.02 | 2006-06-30 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
| FVWM | Dynamic | C | 1993-06-01 | | | GPL | 4 |
| herbstluftwm | Dynamic | C++ | 2011-10-02 | 0.9.5 | 2022-07-30 | BSD-2-clause | |
| i3 | Dynamic | C | 2009-03-15 | 4.24 | 2024-11-06 | BSD-3-clause | 3 |
| IceWM | Stacking | C++ | 1997 | 3.7.2 | 2025-03-09 | LGPL-2.0-only | 4.5 |
| Ion | Tiling | C, Lua | 2000 | Final | 2009-01-10 | LGPL-2.1-only | |
| JWM | Stacking | C | 2003 | 2.4.5 | 2024-10-05 | MIT | 3 |
| KWin (KDE) | Compositing | C++ (Qt) | 2002 | 6.3.2.1 | 2025-02-25 | GPL | 41 |
| LeftWM | Tiling | Rust | 2019 | 0.5.3 | 2024-10-20 | MIT | |
| Matchbox | Stacking | C | 2007-04-13 | 1.2.3 | 2023-03-15 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
| Metacity (GNOME 2) | Compositing | C, C++ (GTK+) | 2002-10 | 3.54.0 | 2024-10-05 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
| Moksha (E17) | Compositing | C | 2015-08-11 | 0.4.1 | 2023-07-23 | | |
| Motif Window Manager (mwm) | Stacking | C | 1989 | 2.3.8 | 2017-12-05 | LGPL-2.1-or-later | |
| Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo) | Compositing | C (Clutter) | 2011-04 | 47.3 | 2024-12-06 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 18.6 |
| Openbox | Stacking | C | 2002-09-18 | 3.6.1 | 2015-07-01 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 7 |
| PekWM | Stacking | C++ | 2009 | 0.3.2 | 2024-12-29 | GPL-2.0-or-later | 5.3 |
| PlayWM | Stacking | C | 2013-31-01 | Final | 2013-02-10 | GPL | |
| Qtile | Dynamic | Python | 2008-08-31 | 0.30.0 | 2025-01-07 | 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 | 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 | 2008-04-25 | GPL | |
| spectrwm | Dynamic | C | 2012-02-07 | 3.6.0 | 2024-07-10 | ISC | |
| steamcompmgr | Compositing | C | 2013 | | | BSD-2-clause | |
| StumpWM | Tiling | Common Lisp | 2017-01-12 | 23.11 | 2024-11-29 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |
| twm | Stacking | C | 1987 | 1.0.12 | 2022-04-02 | MIT-open-group MIT-CMU XFree86-1.0 | 1.2 |
| Ultrix Window Manager (uwm) | Stacking | C | 1985 | Final | 1988-10-27 | Similar to BSD licenses | |
| Window Maker | Stacking | C | 1997 | 0.96.0 | 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 | 2010-06-10 | MIT | |
| Xfwm (Xfce) | Compositing | C, C++ (GTK+) | 1996 | 4.19 | 2024-11-01 | GPL, LGPL | 70 |
| xmonad | Dynamic | Haskell | 2007-03-06 | 0.18.0 | 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 | Latest release | License | Memory (MB) |
| Name | Type | Language | Initial release | Version | Date | License | Memory (MB) |
* ↑ 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 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Blackbox | No | Depends | Depends | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| bspwm | No | No | Yes | Partial | No | No | No |
| Compiz | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Depends | 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 | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Partial | No | No | Yes |
| EXWM | No | No | Yes | Partial | No | Depends | Yes |
| Fluxbox | Yes | Depends | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FLWM | | No | Yes | | No | No | No |
| FVWM | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Depends |
| herbstluftwm | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| i3 | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| IceWM | Yes | Depends | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ion | no titlebar buttons | No | Yes | | No | Yes | Yes |
| JWM | Yes | Depends | 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 |
| Openbox | Yes | Depends | Yes | Yes | Depends | 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 |
| 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 / ? | Depends | Yes | Yes |
| worm | | | | | | | |
| Name | Configurable titlebar buttons | Graphical configuration | Hotkeys | ICCCM/EWMH compliant | Panel for window switching | Tabbed windows | Themeable |
* ↑ Via CLI client.
* ↑ Via CLI client and third party (e.g. sxhkd).
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Via third party.
* ↑ With bbkeys.
* ↑ Through 0.65 / from 0.70.
* ↑ With sxhkd.
* ↑ There is a window list menu.
* ↑ Can change colours.