Comparison of X window managers

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

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
Compiz	C++ (OpenGL)	MIT	Compositing	Yes	Yes	Yes		third-party	Yes	Yes
KWin (KDE)	C++ (Qt)	GPL	Compositing and Tiling[1]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Metacity (GNOME)	C, C++ (GTK+)	GPL	Compositing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Mutter (GNOME/MeeGo)	C (Clutter)	GPL	Compositing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Gnome Shell	No	Yes
Xfwm (Xfce)	C, C++ (GTK+)	GPL, LGPL	Compositing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Enlightenment	C	BSD	Stacking	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
IceWM	C++	GPL, LGPL	Stacking	Yes	third-party	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
JWM	C	GPL	Stacking	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Blackbox	C++	MIT	Stacking	No	third-party	with bbkeys	through 0.65 / from 0.70[2]	Yes	No	Yes
Fluxbox	C++	MIT	Stacking	Yes	third-party	Yes	Yes[3]	Yes	Yes	Yes
Openbox	C	GPL	Stacking	Yes	third-party	Yes	Yes	third-party	No	Yes
awesome	C, Lua	GPL	Dynamic	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
xmonad	Haskell	BSD	Dynamic	Yes		Yes	Yes / ?	third-party	Yes	Yes
FVWM	C	GPL	Dynamic	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[4]	third-party[5][6]
Ion	C, Lua	LGPL with naming restrictions on modified versions	Tiling and stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes		No	Yes	Yes
twm	C	MIT License	re-parenting	Yes	No	Yes		Yes	No	solid colors
Matchbox	C	GPL	Stacking							Yes
sithWM	C	GPL	Stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes				Yes
evilwm	C	AEWM[7]	Stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	No	?/Somewhat from 1.1.0[8]	No		Yes
dwm	C	MIT	Tiling and stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes	Yes/No	Yes		Yes
WMFS	C	BSD	Tiling	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
wmii	C	MIT	Dynamic	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
scrotwm	C	BSD	Tiling and stacking	no titlebar buttons	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	solid colors
FLWM	C (FLTK)	GPL	stacking							No

See also

Free software portal

• Comparison of X Window System desktop environments
• Window manager
• The CTWM window manager This adds multiple virtual desktops and other features to TWM.

References

1. ^ "KDE Software Compilation 4.5 Beta2 Release Announcement". http://kde.org/announcements/announce-4.5-beta2.php. 
2. ^ "NetWM - Blackbox". http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/NetWM. "Blackbox releases up to and including version 0.65.0 follow the ICCCM standard, while 0.70 and later follow EWMH." 
3. ^ http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs/ewmh-support.html
4. ^ FvwmTabs
5. ^ Fvwm Themes
6. ^ FVWM-Crystal
7. ^ evilwm Readme
8. ^ "evilwm - standards support". http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/standards.shtml. "evilwm releases following and including version 1.1.0 follow the EWMH standard."