Software Alternatives & Reviews

Xfce VS dwm

Compare Xfce VS dwm and see what are their differences

Xfce

Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.

dwm

dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts. All of the layouts can be applied dynamically, optimising the environment for the application in use and the task performed.
  • Xfce Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-04
  • dwm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-12

Xfce

Categories
  • Linux
  • Operating Systems
  • Desktop Environments
  • Linux Distribution
Website xfce.org  

dwm

Categories
  • Linux
  • Window Manager
  • Utilities
  • Open Source
Website dwm.suckless.org  

Xfce videos

Fully functional? - Xfce 4.14 First Impressions

More videos:

  • Review - Debian 10 XFCE Review
  • Review - Xfce Desktop Overview

dwm videos

dwm (suckless) - why I prefer it to i3 [ricing FreeBSD & OpenBSD]

More videos:

  • Review - Super MINIMALIST tiling window manager - dwm
  • Review - Suckless's dwm: So easy even a caveman could do it!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Xfce and dwm)
Linux
55 55%
45% 45
Operating Systems
100 100%
0% 0
Window Manager
25 25%
75% 75
Desktop Environments
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Xfce and dwm

Xfce Reviews

9 Best Linux Desktop Environments to Use in 2023
XFCE is compatible with a wide range of Linux distros. Xfce does not offer sophisticated modifications, yet it is the most performance-oriented desktop environment. It’s a compact desktop environment with a comprehensive user interface. XFCE can be installed on a variety of UNIX systems. It has been reported to compile on Ubuntu, NetBSD, Solaris, Cygwin, OpenBSD, and macOS...
Source: geekflare.com
The 8 Best Ubuntu Desktop Environments (22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux)
Cinnamon desktop is another fork of the GNOME desktop. It has a rather conservative design and is similar to Xfce. It is uncomplicated to learn and from this reason might be a good choice for someone who is new to Linux.
Source: linuxconfig.org
Top 10 Best Desktop Environments in 2020
Lightweight and Low-resource can be considered the same, but in this case, there’s a difference. XFCE is a lightweight desktop environment even with a whole lot of built-in customizations and UI perks. LXDE, on the other hand, is a DE that is built to be as low-resource as possible. You certainly can add animations, but they need to be downloaded separately.
The 12 Best Linux Desktop Environments
At first look, Xfce looks a bit older and boring, but we assure you that your mindset will change after unpacking it because it is one of the best Linux lightweight desktop environments available. Xfce is becoming one of the most reliable choices, but it has a comparatively small team for development that results in late updates. Nowadays, many users think that Xfce is an...
Source: linuxhint.com
The Best Desktop Environments For Linux (We Tested Them So That You Don’t Have To)
Xfce is light on resources but proves to provide a feature-rich user experience. If you need a performance-centric desktop environment without needing advanced customizations, Xfce is a great choice to go with.
Source: itsfoss.com

dwm Reviews

Top 13 Best Tiling Window Managers For Linux In 2022
Spectrwm is a fast, compact, and brief reparenting and tiling window manager for X11 that is inspired by xmonad and dwm. It was created to address the problems that xmonad and dwm have. Also check Fulfillify alternatives
Source: www.hubtech.org
13 Best Tiling Window Managers for Linux
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.
Source: www.tecmint.com
5 Great Tiling Window Managers for Linux
DWM is, well, a dynamic window manager. Tiling isn’t the only way you can manage your windows. It’s also possible to lay the windows out in a floating or monocle style. All modifications to DWM can be done within its source code. Easy keyboard shortcuts allow for a great navigation experience while managing windows.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, dwm should be more popular than Xfce. It has been mentiond 62 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Xfce mentions (19)

  • distro hopping
    Pick up your Desktop Environment based on your computer's specs, NOT on your visual preferences. (HINT: XFCE consumes way less system resources than GNOME and KDE). Source: 3 months ago
  • Lightweight dev tools.
    It’s a bit of an interesting challenge and has forced me to re-examine some of my tool usage. I started by a minimal install of Debian “bookworm” with the XFCE Desktop Environment which chews through much fewer resources than the default GNOME 43 based environment (although more than LXDE - but there still has to be room for aesthetics). - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • I Still Use Windows 95 (archived, 2008)
    Luckily you can get an efficient, clean Desktop Environment that works well and is actively developed: Xfce ( https://xfce.org/ ) I think you will like it. It has a very early-2000's feel IMO. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • best lightweight linux distro for old laptop and gaming
    Well, it depends. It was better experience than FreeBSD 7.2 that's for sure. :) It was running Xorg with https://i3wm.org, a web-server, XMPP-server, PostgreSQL, few bots and dovecot / postfix (e-mail server). It was doing fine routing internet for 2PCs and a WiFi router for 10 years until its HDD died. For gaming... erm... I was able to play something like Theme Hospital or Syndicate Wars in dosbox. You have to... Source: 10 months ago
  • Only one of the four XFCE4's desktop/workspace got hung and now I can't use wallpaper
    Another resource for help might be xfce.org. It's a low traffic site, but responsive. Source: 12 months ago
View more

dwm mentions (62)

  • Sent – simple plaintext presentation tool
    > Their philosophy[1] says nothing of the sort Their philosophy doesn't, but their page for dwm[0] does :D "Because dwm is customized through editing its source code, it's pointless to make binary packages of it. This keeps its userbase small and elitist. No novices asking stupid questions. There are some distributions that provide binary packages though." [0] https://dwm.suckless.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 days ago
  • Introduction
    I was looking for a minimal linux distribution that is light on resources, and I found one called Metis Linux, which is based on Artix. The interesting part of metis is that it wasn't using a desktop environment, but a windows manager called dwm. At the time, metis linux had a minimal bash script installer via chroot. This took longer to setup, but I had a better understanding of what the setup involved rather... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Hi guys I am new to linux and want to install gentoo ok i tried many distrues before so how can i make gentoo look like this? a windows telling manager?
    The window manager in this screenshot is DWM in floating mode (https://dwm.suckless.org) with a lot of patches and a compositor (to make DWM support transparency). And the terminal is st with some patches. Both should be compiled from source manually. And both are configured in C. Source: 9 months ago
  • I Have a Dirty Secret. I’m a Software Craftsman
    In my programs there's usually a core insight or mental model that makes the code simple and straightforward to understand. What does someone need to have in their mind to understand this program? Then time happens and then the code is adapted and refactored and more features are added, then the original gem of mental model is hidden by hundreds of files and the algorithm is split into 10s of files for the little... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • FreeBSD 13.2 Is Released
    Https://surf.suckless.org/ ah, the memories this + dwn https://dwm.suckless.org/ then I said to myself "why am I wasting so much time tinkering with stuff that gains me nothing" and moved on in my life. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Xfce and dwm, you can also consider the following products

KDE Plasma Desktop - Plasma Workspaces is the umbrella term for all graphical environments provided by KDE.

i3 - A dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.

LXQt - The LXQt team is proud to announce the release of qtermwidget and qterminal, both in version 0. 8. 0. Read more..

awesome - A dynamic window manager for the X Window System developed in the C and Lua programming languages.

LXDE - Why will you like it? Less resource needs. You can use it on your less-pricey embedded board or salvaged computer. Component-based design. Don't want something in LXDE, or you don't want to use LXDE but only part of it?

Xmonad - xmonad is a dynamically tiling X11 window manager that is written and configured in Haskell.