Comparison of X window managers

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

Name	Language	License	Type	Configurable titlebar buttons	Graphical configuration	Hotkeys	ICCCM/EWMH compliant	Panel for window switching	Tabbed windows	Themeable
9wm	C	MIT	Stacking	No	No	No		Yes	No	No
aewm	C	MIT	Stacking	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
awesome	C, Lua	GPL	Dynamic	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Blackbox	C++	MIT	Stacking	No	third-party	with bbkeys	through 0.65 / from 0.70	Yes	No	Yes
Compiz	C (OpenGL)	MIT	Compositing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	third-party	Yes	Yes
cwm	C	ISC	Stacking	Yes	No	Yes		No	Yes	Yes
dwm	C	MIT	Tiling and stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes		Yes	No	Yes
Enlightenment	C	BSD	Tiling and Stacking	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
evilwm	C	Artistic	Stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	No	?/Somewhat from 1.1.0	No	No	Yes
Fluxbox	C++	MIT	Stacking	Yes	third-party	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
FLWM	C (FLTK)	GPL	stacking		No	Yes		There is a window list menu	No	No
FVWM	C	GPL	Dynamic	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	third-party
i3	C	BSD	Dynamic	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
IceWM	C++	GPL, LGPL	Stacking	Yes	third-party	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ion	C, Lua	LGPL with naming restrictions on modified versions	Tiling and stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes		No	Yes	Yes
JWM	C	GPL	Stacking	Yes	No	Yes	EWMH	Yes	No	Yes
KWin (KDE)	C++ (Qt)	GPL	Compositing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Matchbox	C	GPL	Stacking				EWMH compliance	No	No	Yes
Metacity (GNOME)	C, C++ (GTK+)	GPL	Compositing or Stacking	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo)	C (Clutter)	GPL	Compositing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Gnome Shell	No	Yes
mwm (Motif Window Manager)	C	The Open Group Public License	Stacking	No	No	Yes				can change colours
Openbox	C	GPL	Stacking	Yes	third-party	Yes	Yes	third-party	No	Yes
PekWM	C++	GPL	Stacking	Yes	No	Yes	Partial	No	Yes	Yes
PlayWM	C	GPL	Stacking	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Ratpoison	C	GPL	Tiling	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Sawfish	Lisp, C	GPL	Stacking	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	primitive	Yes
sithWM	C	GPL	Stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes		No	No	Yes
spectrwm	C	BSD	Tiling and stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	solid colors
StumpWM	Common Lisp	GPL	Tiling	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
twm	C	MIT License	re-parenting	Yes	No	Yes		Yes	No	solid colors
WMFS	C	BSD	Tiling	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wingo	Go	WTFPL	Dynamic	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
wmii	C	MIT	Dynamic	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Xfwm (Xfce)	C, C++ (GTK+)	GPL, LGPL	Compositing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
xmonad	Haskell	BSD	Dynamic	Yes	No	Yes	Yes / ?	third-party	Yes	Yes
Name	Language	License	Type	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

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