Window Manager vs. Desktop Environment

Which Linux user interface better meets your needs?

Linux is about choice. Take the graphical user interface (GUI) you use. With Windows and macOS, you’re locked into the desktops Microsoft and Apple, respectively, have chosen for you. But with Linux desktop environments, the sky’s the limit. We tested the two main ways to customize Linux — a windows manager and a desktop environment — to help you choose.

Overall Findings

Controls the appearance and placement of windows.

Customization through themes.

Has a learning curve.

Requires some technical know-how.

Need to know the window manager nomenclature.

Requires the X Window System and a window manager.

Designed to make Linux easier to use.

Improves the integration between applications and drag-and-drop functionality.

There are many ways to customize a Linux environment. Depending on the Linux distribution you use and how tech-savvy you are, you may want a window manager, a desktop environment, or both.

App Integration: A Desktop Environment Takes You Further

Controls where elements appear on the display.

Customize with themes and menus.

Requires the X Window System.

Makes GUI elements aware of each other and the position on the display.

Improved user experience.

Requires the X Window System and a window manager.

All GUIs require an X Window System layer, which draws graphic elements on the display. Without the X server, neither a window manager nor a desktop environment could create images on a Linux display. X also creates a framework for moving windows and performing tasks using a mouse and keyboard.

Where X draws graphical elements onto the display, a window manager controls the placement and appearance of screen elements. Popular window managers include Enlightenment, Gala, Mutter, kwin, i3, Joe’s Window Manager (JWM), Window Maker, and IceWM. Window managers require X but not a desktop environment.

A desktop environment requires both X and a window manager. It also adds a deeper and seamless integration with applications, panels, system menus, status applets, drag-and-drop functionality, and more. The most popular desktop environments are the GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME), K Desktop Environment (KDE) Plasma, Pantheon, MATE, Cinnamon, and Ubuntu Budgie.

Customization: More Flexibility With a Window Manager

Requires configuration to get what you want.

Tends to be flexible and highly customizable.

Customizes most aspects of a Linux experience.

Often takes less time to configure.

May not be particularly customizable.

Many mimic Windows or macOS desktops.

If you like to customize your tech, you’ll like the flexibility of window managers, such as Enlightenment. Desktop environments tend to be rigid, but most window managers are highly configurable. Using themes, transparencies, and menu editors, you can customize a window manager to look and behave the way you want.

Learning Curve: Window Managers Take Time to Learn

Not user-friendly out of the box.

Requires a high level of technical knowledge.

Need to edit configuration files.

Excellent default configurations.

Looks great out of the box.

Great if you don’t want to customize everything.

For most people, the logical choice for Linux is a desktop environment. Both macOS and Windows offer fully integrated desktop environments. The default configurations work well for the average user. In contrast, window managers require that you take time to configure the environment — sometimes by manually editing a configuration file — to meet your needs. Most new Linux users migrate to Linux from either macOS or Windows. So, you may want an environment that offers the simplicity and level of integration found in Windows and macOS.

New Linux users are usually more comfortable with a Linux distribution that uses a full-featured desktop environment than a window manager on its own. Typically, window managers aren’t user-friendly environments. Some, however, mimic the integration found in desktop environments closely — although there is a caveat.

For example, the Enlightenment window manager does a great job of offering many of the elements found in a desktop environment. Still, it’s not for the faint of heart. You’ll have to learn the window manager nomenclature for desktop elements. In some cases, you may have to configure the desktop by editing text files.

Final Verdict: Which You Choose Depends on How Much Time You Want to Spend

Whether you go with a window manager or a desktop environment depends on how much time you want to spend configuring your Linux environment and how integrated you want the desktop to be with applications. If you like the idea of constantly customizing the desktop and don’t need much integration, go with a window manager. If you want a desktop that simply works for you, with little changes, go with a desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE Plasma.

13 Best Tiling Window Managers for Linux

As the name Linux Window manager suggests, the work of window managers is to coordinate how app windows function and they automatically run in the background of your OS to manage the appearance and placement of running applications.

There are several Window Manager apps that you can use on Linux but just as you would expect, here is an article lists the best tiling window managers for you to choose from.

i3 is a free, open-source, and completely configurable windows manager app targetted at advanced Linux and BSD users and developers. It features a tree data structure that allows for more flexible layouts than its alternatives and it does not require Haskell or LUA.

i3 is among the most loved manual window tiling manager apps because of its vast features which include settings in plain text, custom keyboard shortcuts, and configuration without the need to restart the underlying system.

i3 – Tiling Window Manager for Linux

The package i3 is provided by the distribution you are using, just use the package manager to install it as shown.

2. bspwm

bspwm is a free, lightweight, and open-source Linux tiling manager known for adhering to the Linux philosophy by concentrating on doing one thing and getting it done properly.

It is based on binary space partitioning which represents windows as the leaves of a complete binary tree and it handles key binding with a separate utility, sxhkd, which allows for smoother performance and support for other input devices.

bspwm’s features include support for multiple windows, partial support for EWMH, automatic mode for automatically setting the position of app tiles, and it is configured and controlled through messages, among others.

bspwm – Tiling Window Manager for Linux

The package bspwm is provided by the distribution you are using, just use the package manager to install it as shown.

3. herbstluftwm

herbstluftwm is a free and open-source configurable manual tiling window manager for x11 using Glib and Xlib. Basically, it works using a layout based on splitting frames into sub-frames which can be further split and filled with windows.

herbstluftwm’s main features include tags (i.e. workspaces or virtual desktops), a configuration script which runs at startup, exactly one tag per monitor, etc. Learn more from our article on herbstluftwm here.

herbstluftwm – Tiling Window Manager for Linux

The package herbstluftwm is provided by the distribution you are using, just use the package manager to install it as shown.

4. awesome

awesome is a free and open-source next-generation tiling manager for X built to be fast and extensible and it is primarily aimed at developers, power users, and anyone who would like to control their graphical environment.

Its features include well-documented source code and API, real multi-head support with per-screen desktops, support for D-Bus, support for Lua extensions, no floating or tiled layers, etc.

awesome – Framework Window Manager for Linux

The package awesome is provided by the distribution you are using, just use the package manager to install it as shown.

5. Tilix

Tilix is an advanced GTK3 tiling terminal emulator and manager that uses the Gnome Human Interface Guidelines. It enables users to organize app windows horizontally and vertically using drag and drop.

Tilix offers its users a lot of features including working with custom titles and custom hyperlinks, support for transparent background images, notifications in the background, multiple panes, and persistent layouts.

Tilix – GTK3 Tiling Terminal Emulator for Linux

The package Tilix is provided by the distribution you are using, just use the package manager to install it as shown.

6. XMonad

XMonad is a free and open-source dynamic tiling X11 window manager that exists to automate windows searching and alignment. It is extensible using its very own extension library which gives it options for status bars and window decorations. It is also minimal, stable, and easy to configure.

xmonad – Tiling Window Manager for Linux

The package xmonad is provided by the distribution you are using, just use the package manager to install it as shown.

7. Sway

Sway is a free, open-source, and lightweight tiling Wayland i3-compatible window manager that automatically arranges app windows to logically maximize desktop space. It arranges windows into a grid by default and supports almost all the commands included in i3.

Its features include support for keyboard shortcuts, its usage of Wayland instead of Xorg, and gaps. Read more about Sway in our article here.

Sway – Tiling Wayland Window Manager for Linux

Sway is available to install from the default repository of many distributions if it’s not available to check out this wiki page for installation instructions for your distributions.

8. tmux

tmux is an open-source terminal multiplexer that enables users to create multiple terminal sessions that they can access and control from a single screen which makes it perfect for running several command-line programs at the same time.

tmux makes use of all the space available to it and it is easily usable thanks to its support for keybindings which you can use to split windows and create more panes. You can also share individual shell instances between distinct sessions to be used for different purposes by different users.

Tmux Manage Multiple Linux Terminals Inside Single Console

The package tmux is provided by the distribution you are using, just use the package manager to install it as shown.

9. spectrwm

spectrwm is a small, dynamic, xmonad, and dwm-inspired reparenting and tiling window manager built for X11 to be fast, compact, and concise. It was created with the aim of solving the issues of xmonad and dwm face.

spectrwm uses a plain text configuration file, boasts defaults similar to those in xmonad and dwm, and features built-in keyboard shortcuts. Its other features include customizable colors and border width, drag-to-float, quick launch menu, customizable status bar, dynamic RandR support, etc.

spectrwm – Tiling Window Manager for Linux

The package spectrwm is provided by the distribution you are using, just use the package manager to install it as shown.

10. JWM

JWM (Joe’s Window Manager) is an open-source C-based lightweight window manager for the X11 Window System optimized to work smoothly on older, less powerful computer systems. It requires only the Xlib library to run but is capable of working with a host of other libraries including libXext for shape extension, Cairo and libRSVG for icons and backgrounds, libjpeg and libpng for JPEG and PNG backgrounds and icons respectively, etc.

JWM – Window Manager for Linux

JWM is included in a couple of Linux distros e.g. Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux and has found most of its use on portable PCs like the Raspberry Pi.

11. Qtile

Qtile is a small but full-featured and completely configurable open-source tiling window manager developed in Python. It is designed with a focus on simplicity, extensibility using extensions, and customization.

Qtile features easy to write custom layouts, commands, and widgets. It can also be scripted remotely in order to set up workspaces, update status bar widgets, manipulate windows, etc. It has comprehensive documentation in case you need clarification along the way.

Qtile – Hackable Tiling Window Manager

On newer Ubuntu (17.04 or greater), Debian (10 or greater) and Fedora versions, there are Qtile packages available to install via.

12. Ratpoison

Ratpoison is a lightweight Window Manager designed to be simple and without fancy graphics, window decorations, or dependence on any other projects. It is modeled after the GNU Screen which is very popular in the virtual terminal community.

Ratpoison’s main features include the ability to split windows into non-overlapping frames with all windows maximized within their frames. It is solely operated using keyboard commands.

Ratpoison Window Manager

13. dwm

dwm is a lightweight and dynamic tiling window manager for the X Windows system that has guided the development of various other X window managers, including awesome and xmonad window manager.

dwm controls windows in a tiled, monocle, and floating layouts and all of these layouts can be added dynamically, enhance the environment for the application in use, and the task executed.

Dwm – Tiling Window Manager

There are more tiling managers in the community that you can choose from but not many of them offer nearly a complete feature list as the apps listed above.

Do you know any commendable apps that are worthy of mention? Or have you had experiences with any that influence your choice of one over the other? Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

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30 thoughts on “13 Best Tiling Window Managers for Linux”

1. 

A couple of issues with this article:

DWM is not any worse than JWM, Ratpoison, or Qtile. In fact, quite a lot of people use it. It may be a little hard to configure, and it’s made usually for developers, but just because the config is hard doesn’t mean it’s last. There really isn’t any other downsides I can think of.

2. Tilix is on this list.

Tilix is a tiling terminal emulator, not a tiling window manager. I can’t think of anybody that calls it a window manager.

3. Qtile is really low in this list.

Sure, it’s a little buggy, it’s made in Python, and isn’t that well known. Doesn’t make it worse than a terminal emulator or a stacking window manager. In my experience, the qtile bar is insane. It is VERY customizable, though nowhere near bars like polybar. You really should consider giving it a better position in the list.

4. JWM is not a tiling window manager.

This article was titled “best tiling window managers for Linux”. Why is there a stacking window manager in a tiling window manager list?

5. No instructions for Arch users(honestly not that big of an issue).

This isn’t the biggest issue as arch users should be able to install any one of these window managers/terminal emulators.

Don’t forget the notion window manager (former ion3)!

Why isn’t there any mention about dwm here?!

• 

I’ve included dwm tiling window manager in the list as suggested by you…

Sorry for all the typos, I didn’t find an edit button.

• 

No worries. I can’t see your comment, though

Ah! Window managers!

I fall in love with i3 three years ago. I’m a developer and I was using Unity with Ubuntu before, and the number of bugs pushed me to try i3, with some of my colleagues praising it like it was the source of all enlightenment.

I can’t use a desktop environment anymore. My whole workflow shifted from GUI to CLIs. It’s great.

I wrote a comprehensive article how to configure i3 with the minimum, explain you everything about this config, including how to personalize it yourself further -> https://thevaluable.dev/window-manager-mouseless-i3/

• 

Thanks for your feedback, Matthieu. Yes, i3 is indeed a spectacular product. Awesome post you got there, too

• 

tilix is a multiplexing terminal, and tmux is a terminal multiplexer, either of those arent window manager.

Try ratpoison window manager. Super minimalist and my absolute favorite 🙂

• 

Alas, I have to try tiling wms after this article. Distro hopping, DE hopping, WM hopping… Damn You GNU/Linux.

• 

qtile wasn’t qualified!. Why??

• 

I have never used it before a reader suggested it to me. But I now know that it is an excellent tool.

Tillix, tmux and jwm are not window managers per the title of this article.

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Because they don’t manage the windows of non-terminal apps?

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tilix is a multiplexing terminal, not a tiling window manager. tmux is a terminal multiplexer, not a tiling window manager either. jwm is a lightweight STACKING window manager. I guess you could call tmux a tiling wm for a console only system (along with gnu screen and dvtm), but that’s really stretching your definition, and the other two certainly don’t qualify.

Why would I want to use a tiling WM rather than a more traditional stacking WM? From what I can see, they look simplistic and primitive.

• 

Because tiling can be a cooler way to organize windows

• 

Definitely go for appearance over function. Must always be “kewl”.

• 

‍♂️ to each his own. You already know this.

Cooler how? Cooler why? Seems nothing more than a matter of taste, and my tastes run to the traditional.

• 

Exactly. It’s cooler to whoever chooses to use it for reasons best known to them.

• 

I use tiling WM and stack WM (i3wm and deepin). I NEED to use tiling WM when I dev applications or web sites because I win time and space and RAM with tiling WM like i3wm.

All goes good from the keyboard (no mouse need), no window border loose place, optimal screen window’s print, very low RAM to run this WM (more power for real use). You can also consider to use them for little powered computer (ARM proc like odroid or raspberry or other). There is some real efficient reason to use tiling WM, it is not for fun.

The visual appearance is certainly not the main draw. Tiling window managers main goal is the efficient organization of space, both in the sense of actual physical space on your screen, and also in the sense of conceptual space.

When I talk of conceptual space, I mean the notion of organization of tasks. Tiling wms allow me to easily compare documents side by side, group collections of related tasks. and see exactly all of the information I need at the same time.

For instance, I use a tiling wm at home, but at work I do not. At work I frequently find myself wanting to shift through a few different instances of file managers, each with a few tabs studying different parts of a file tree, or alternatively 4 or 5 terminal windows, also each tabbed up a few times.

I find that I spend a lot of my time at work simply shifting through this mess, looking for the specific instance that I wanted, or carefully arranging windows so that I can compare 3 or 4 sources of information at once. At home, on my tiling wm, all of these issues are almost nonexistent. My work computer nearly drives me insane sometimes for this reason.

Upon observation of other people using stacking wms, I found that most of them try to keep very few things running at once, and often close and reopen files several times in a session. They probably aren’t thinking specifically that they are avoiding my brand of chaos though: It is just a habit for them. Tiling wms got me out of this habit, because they make it unnecessary. Having 8 or 9 terminals going at the same time does not feel any more confusing than having one of them.

Your complaint is somewhat valid: Tiling wms may well look simplistic and primitive. They are not about style, appearance, user friendliness or intuitiveness. They are about efficiency and functionality ONLY. While many see form vs. function as a sort of balance, often trying to find compromises that improve both together, tiling wms are about what happens when you attempt ONLY to optimize function and disregard form entirely. They are absolutely not for everyone, but some people (myself included) find it very hard to work without them.

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“They are about efficiency and functionality ONLY”

Only if you are used to them and fluent in their usage. For somebody who isn’t (like me), using them is very inefficient. Don’t get me wrong, I am not criticizing anybody for using tiling wms. I just wanted to know what the allure was. Now I know. Different strokes for different folks.