Comparison of tiling window managers

This article provides an unbiased comparison of the most popular tiling window managers (as opposed to floating window managers).

Comparison table

The following table lists the most popular tiling window managers alongside notable features, providing readers with a quick overview.

Comparison of tiling window managers

Window Manager	Written in	Configured with	Management style	System tray support	On-the-fly reload	Information bars	Compositing	Default layouts	Pixel usage	External control	Library	Multiple (n) monitor behavior	Maintenance
alopex	C	C (recompile)	Hybrid	None	No	Built-in; call script/program as first argument	external	max, h-stack, v-stack, h-tab	Variable borders; titles in-statusbar		Xlib	six tags, two views available by default	active
Awesome	C	Lua	Dynamic	Built-in	Yes	Built-in, images and text	external		variable borders, optional h-tab titles	dbus (if enabled)	XCB	n-tags (workspaces). Per default 9 are enabled. Example	Active
bspwm	C	Anything	Hybrid	None	Yes	Can write internal state to a FIFO	External	v-split, h-split	Variable borders	via bspc	XCB	Monitors hold Desktops	Active
catwm	C	C (recompile)	Dynamic	None	No	None	No	v-stack, max	1-pix borders		Xlib		Abandoned
dswm	Lisp	Lisp	Manual	None	Yes	Yes	No						Active
dwm	C	C (recompile)	Dynamic	None	Optional	Built-in, reads from root window name	external	v-stack, max			Xlib	n regions, 9 workspaces fixed to each region	Active
echinus	C	Text	Dynamic	None	Yes	ouricoAUR	external	v-stack, b-stack, max	Variable borders & optional titles		Xlib		Unknown
euclid-wm	C	Text	Hybrid	None	Yes	External (dzen)		rows, columns	1-pix borders		Xlib		Dormant
herbstluftwm	C	Text	Manual	None	Yes			rows, columns	1-pix borders	commands via herbstclient	Xlib and Glib	n regions, 9 workspaces visible in any region	Active
i3	C	Text	Manual	i3bar	Yes	text piped to i3bar (i3status/conky can be used)	external	tree, v-split, h-split, stacked, tabbed, max	none, 1-pix or 2-pix, optional titlebars	commands via ipc (or i3-msg, which uses ipc)	XCB	n regions	Active
Ion3	C	Lua	Manual	trayion	Yes	configurable	?	h-tab, max					Abandoned
monsterwm	C	C (recompile)	Dynamic	None	Optional, but windows are lost	No, outputs information to stdout, which can easily be parsed and displayed by an external monitor or panel (dzen2, conky, etc)	external	h-stack, v-stack, grid, max		supports _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW, so external control can be supplied by xdotool and similar tools	Xlib primary and XCB fork	n workspaces per monitor	Active
Musca	C	Text, own command set, C(recompile)	Manual	None	No, but allows running of musca commands on the fly	None	No	h-split, v-split, max		commands, hooks	Xlib		Abandoned
Notion	C, Lua	Lua, compatible with Ion3 configs	Manual	trayion, stalonetray	Yes	configurable	?	h-tab, max	Configurable borders and titlebars/tabs	EWMH, arbitrary Lua scripts which have access to the rich internal API	Xlib	n workspaces on each monitor. Supports on-the-fly changes in topology	Active
qtile	Python	Python	Dynamic	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	tree, v-split, h-split, stacked, tabbed, max	No borders, although customizable	Hooks, Server mode	XCB		Active
Ratpoison	C	Text	Manual	None	Yes	Yes	external	max					Active
Snapwm	C	Text	Dynamic	None	Yes	Built-in, reads from root window name	External	nVertical, Fullscreen, nHorizontal, Grid, Center Stacking	variable borders, no titles		Xlib	Number of desktops distributed evenly between monitors	Active
Spectrwm	C	Text	Dynamic	None	Yes	Built-in, reads from user script	No	nv-stack, nh-stack, max	1-pix borders, no titles		XCB	n regions, 10 workspaces visible in any region	Active
Stumpwm	Lisp	Lisp	Manual	None	Yes	Yes	No						Dormant
subtle	C	Ruby	Manual	Built-in	Yes	Built-in (Ruby), external can be used as well	external	Variable grid	Variable borders, no titles	Hooks (Ruby), subtler (CLI), subtlext (Ruby extension)	Xlib	One workspace (view) per monitor (screen), placement on views via tags and per runtime	Active
Wingo	Go	Text	Dynamic	None	Yes	No	external	floating, nv-stack, nh-stack, max	title bars in floating, skinny borders in tiling	via wingo-cmd or UNIX sockets in any programming language	X Go Binding	n regions, workspaces visible in any region	Active
WMFS	C	Text	Dynamic	Built-in	Yes	Built-in, set with command, color text, images	external	nh-stack (and invert), nv-stack (and invert), mirror-v, mirror-h, grid, free, max	variable borders, titles or no titles	commands	Xlib	Up to 36 tags(workspaces) per screen	Active
wmii	C	Anything	Manual	witray	Yes	Built-in	external	columns, max, v-tab	titles	9P filesystem		one big region	active
xmonad	Haskell	Haskell	Dynamic	None	Yes	No	Yes, with xmonad-contrib and an external manager	nv-stack, nh-stack, max	variable borders, no titles	via XMonad-Hooks-ServerMode	Xlib	n regions, 9 workspaces visible in any region	Active
Window Manager	Written in	Configured with	Management style	System tray support	On-the-fly reload	Information bars	Compositing	Default layouts	Pixel usage	External control	Library	Multiple (n) monitor behavior	Maintenance

Tip: External control can also be achieved by programs like xdotool which simulate keystrokes.

Management style

Dynamic management emphasizes automatic management of window layouts for speed and simplicity. Manual management emphasizes manual adjustment of layout and sizing with potentially more precise control, at the cost of more time spent moving and sizing windows.

Layouts

A number of common layout types appear in several tiling WMs, although the terminology varies somewhat.

• max: one window shown fullscreen (with or without a status bar, title and borders). Aka: monocle (dwm, monsterwm).
• h-stack: master area in top half, other windows stack up horizontally in the bottom half. The master area may be resizable. May be inverted top-bottom (wmfs). Aka: bottom stack (dwm), bstack(monsterwm).
• v-stack: master area in left half, other windows stack up vertically in the right half. The master area may be resizable. May be inverted left-right (wmfs). Aka: tile (dwm, monsterwm).
• nh-stack: h-stack allowing >=1 windows in master area. Aka: nbstack (dwm)
• nv-stack: v-stack allowing >=1 windows in master area. Aka: ntile (dwm)
• mirror-h: nh-stack with stacks above and below the master area
• mirror-v: nv-stack with stacks to the left and right of the master area
• h-tab: one window shown fullscreen with all window titles shown horizontally (like browser tabs)
• v-tab: one window shown fullscreen with all window titles shown vertically. Aka: stack (wmii).
• h-split: a keybinding splits the current window horizontally creating space for another
• v-split: a keybinding splits the current window horizontally creating space for another
• columns: manual layout style which treats windows as belonging to vertical columns
• rows: manual layout style which treats windows as belonging to horizontal rows
• grid: window positions and sizes based on a regular NxM grid. May be automatic (like wmfs, monsterwm) or manual (like Subtle).

Key bindings

Tiling window managers are usually designed to be used entirely with the keyboard or with keyboard & mouse. This is for speed (reaching for and moving a mouse is slow) and ease of use. Sensible key bindings are crucial to making workflow fast and efficient. Some default sets are better than others, but generally the keys can be rebound as desired by the user.

External links

• Comparison of extensible window managers compares WMs "extensible" by scripting, like Xmonad and Sawfish.