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herbstluftwm vs awesome: catalog facts
herbstluftwm	awesome
Best for: X11 users who want scriptable, manually controlled tiling	Best for: Build a keyboard-driven X11 desktop with a window manager configured in Lua
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source. Hosting, hardware and any external services are separate.
Linux	Linux
Settings change live without restarting Tiling and floating layers on every tag All 3 strengths for herbstluftwm Settings change live without restarting Tiling and floating layers on every tag Virtual monitors for splitting large screens	Supports tiling and floating layouts Exposes programmable widgets and window rules
X11 only Manual tiling means arranging frames yourself	Extensive customization requires editing Lua configuration.
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-2.0
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Offline features available	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for herbstluftwm herbstluftwm.org Catalog checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for awesome awesomewm.org github.com/awesomeWM/awesome Catalog checked September 22, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.