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) Version Date 9wm Stacking C 1994 MIT 0.4 aewm Stacking C 1999 MIT awesome Dynamic C, Lua 2007-09-18 GPL-2.0-or-later 9 Berry Stacking C 2018-08-24 0.1.13 2025-06-22 MIT Blackbox Stacking C++ 1997 MIT 3 bspwm Tiling C 2013-04-23 BSD-2-clause Compiz Compositing C (OpenGL) 2006 MIT CTWMStackingC1992 MIT cwm Stacking C 2004-07-10 ISC 8dkwmDynamicC2019-12-011.9-12023-06-18MIT/X dwm Dynamic C 2006-07-14 MIT 1 Enlightenment Compositing C 1997 BSD-2-clause Enlightenment 16CompositingC1999-10-101.0.312025-08-10 MIT with advertising clause evilwm Stacking C 2000 aewm/9wm EXWM Tiling Emacs Lisp2018 GPL-3.0-or-later Fluxbox Stacking C++ 2001-09-12 MIT 16 FLWM Stacking C++ (FLTK) 1998 GPL-2.0-or-later FVWM Stacking C 1993-06-01 1.1.4 2025-11-09 GPL-2.0-or-later 4 herbstluftwm Dynamic C++ 2011-10-02 BSD-2-clause i3 Dynamic C 2009-03-15 BSD-3-clause 3 IceWM Stacking C++ 1997 LGPL-2.0-only 4.5 Ion Tiling C, Lua 2000 Final 2009-01-10 LGPL-2.1-only JWM (Joe's Window Manager) Stacking C 2003 MIT 3 KWin (KDE) Compositing C++ (Qt) 2002 GPL 41LeftWMTilingRust20190.5.32024-10-20MIT Matchbox Stacking C 2007-04-13 1.2.3 2023-03-15 GPL-2.0-or-later Metacity (GNOME 2/LiMo) Compositing C, C++ (GTK+) 2002-10 GPL-2.0-or-later Moksha (E17)CompositingC2015-08-11 Motif Window Manager (mwm) Stacking C 1989 LGPL-2.1-or-later Mutter (GNOME 3+/MeeGo) Compositing C (Clutter) 2011-04 GPL-2.0-or-later 18.6 Openbox Stacking C 2002-09-18 GPL-2.0-or-later 7 PekWM Stacking C++ 2009 GPL-2.0-or-later 5.3 PlayWM Stacking C2013-31-01Final2013-02-10 GPL Qtile Dynamic Python 2008-08-31 MIT 2RagnarTilingC2023-05-151.5.02024-08-17GPL Ratpoison Tiling C 2000-12-04 GPL-2.0-or-later 1 Sawfish Stacking Lisp, C 2000-01-01 GPL-2.0-or-later 3.1 SithWM Stacking C 2007 GPL spectrwm Dynamic C2012-02-07 ISC steamcompmgr Compositing C 2013 BSD-2-clause StumpWM Tiling Common Lisp 2017-01-12 GPL-2.0-or-later sxwm Dynamic C 2025 1.6 2025-06-26 GPL-3.0-or-later twm Stacking C 1987 MIT-open-groupMIT-CMUXFree86-1.0 1.2 Ultrix Window Manager (uwm) Stacking C 1985 Final 1988-10-27 Similar to BSD licenses Window Maker Stacking C 1997 GPL-2.0-or-later 7 Wingo Dynamic Go 2012 Final 2018 WTFPL wmii Dynamic C 2005-06-01 MIT Xfwm (Xfce) Compositing C (GTK+) 1996 GPL, LGPL 70 xmonad Dynamic Haskell 2007-03-06 BSD-3-clause 2wormDynamicNim2021-12-120.3.32024-03-30MIT Name Type Language Initial release Latest release License Memory (MB) Version Date

Features

Name Configurable titlebar buttons Graphical configuration Hotkeys ICCCM/EWMH compliant Panel for window switching Tabbed windows Themeable 9wm aewm awesome Berry Blackbox bspwm Compiz CTWM cwm no titlebar buttons dkwm dwm no titlebar buttons Enlightenment evilwm no titlebar buttons EXWM Fluxbox FLWM FVWM FvwmTabs Fvwm ThemesFVWM-Crystal herbstluftwm no titlebar buttons i3 no titlebar buttons IceWM Ion no titlebar buttons JWM KWin (KDE) LeftWM Matchbox Metacity (GNOME) Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo) Moody Motif Window Manager (mwm) Openbox PekWM PlayWM Qtile Ragnar Ratpoison Sawfish primitive SithWM no titlebar buttons spectrwm no titlebar buttons steamcompmgr StumpWM sxwm twm uwm Window Maker Wingo WMFS wmii Xfwm (Xfce) xmonad worm Name Configurable titlebar buttons Graphical configuration Hotkeys ICCCM/EWMH compliant Panel for window switching Tabbed windows Themeable

See also

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

References

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