Alternatives to herbstluftwm
A manual tiling window manager for X11 that is configured at runtime through the herbstclient tool. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
herbstluftwm
A manual tiling window manager for X11 that is configured at runtime through the herbstclient tool.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as herbstluftwm.
i3
Arrange X11 windows in a keyboard-controlled tiling workspace.
i3 uses a tree-based tiling layout with configurable key bindings on X11, set in a config file rather than changed live through a client tool.
bspwm
Manage X11 windows as the leaves of a binary tree.
bspwm arranges windows as leaves of a binary tree and is controlled through shell commands, needing separate tools for key bindings and panels.
StumpWM
A keyboard-driven tiling window manager for X11, written in and extensible with Common Lisp.
StumpWM is a keyboard-driven tiling manager for X11 reconfigurable live from Common Lisp, so runtime scripting requires learning Lisp instead of herbstclient.
xmonad
A dynamically tiling X11 window manager that is written and configured in Haskell.
xmonad tiles windows automatically instead of manually, configured as a full Haskell program with a large extension set in xmonad-contrib.
dwm
Use a small dynamic window manager for X11 with tiling and floating layouts.
dwm is a small dynamic tiling manager for X11, but most customisations require editing and recompiling its source code.
awesome
Build a keyboard-driven X11 desktop with a window manager configured in Lua.
awesome supports tiling and floating layouts with programmable widgets and window rules, configured in Lua rather than at runtime through herbstclient.
spectrwm
A small dynamic tiling window manager for X11 that aims to stay out of the way.
spectrwm is a minimal dynamic tiling manager with a single plain-text configuration file that runs on Linux and the BSDs.
Qtile
Configure a tiling window manager using Python.
Qtile is configured in Python with programmable layouts and widgets, and adds a Wayland back end alongside X11.
Also worth comparing
These listings name herbstluftwm as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
LeftWM
Arrange Linux windows with a tiling manager written in Rust.
herbstluftwm uses manual tiling on X11 configured at runtime through herbstclient, with live settings changes and virtual monitors for large screens.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Polybar
Build a configurable status bar for an X11 desktop.
Lemonbar
Featherweight, scriptable status bar for X11 built on xcb.
rofi
A keyboard-driven window switcher, application launcher and dmenu replacement for Linux desktops.
picom
A lightweight standalone compositor for X11 that adds shadows, transparency, blur, fading and animations.
xdotool
A command-line tool that simulates keyboard and mouse input and manages windows on X11.
Tint2
Lightweight panel and taskbar for Linux and BSD window managers.
