# dwm

22 Hacker News commenters recommended dwm and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (3 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** A minimal tiling window manager for X11 that people set up once and keep for years, praised for stability and staying out of the way. Configuration means editing and recompiling C source.

## Why people recommend it

- Simple and minimal, stays out of the way (7 comments): "After installing dwm years ago, I've more or less stopped thinking about window managers as an open problem to be solved." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45936031)) "Ive personally always enjoyed more minimal window mangers like DWM and BSPWM on X11" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47666546)) "The best part about choosing a simple WM is you never have to think about it again." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45935034))
- Stable for years with no bitrot (4 comments): "In 10 years of using dwm I've not been aware of any bitrot that affects me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46097964)) "dwm as supplied continues to work perfectly without modification" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46124167)) "I use dwm. There is no bitrot." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46097835))
- Fast boots, light, quick to compile (3 comments): "Bit the bullet, installed arch and dwm. I remember my initial impressions on how fast the boot went, how silent the hdd is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477317)) "with a neat window manager (dwm) a clean boot was using just 300MB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49240746)) "it compiles in two seconds and has minimal dependencies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48984019))

## What people warn about

- Config means editing and recompiling C source (2 comments): "Requiring a C compiler, source code and header files to change your keybindings is just a different kind of bloat" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48984506)) "all that fancy neovim/dwm/... ecosystem tend to be "we provide you a great framework to create your own things"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47295126))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Hyprland](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hyprland.md): 82 recommend
- [Enlightenment window manager](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enlightenment.md): 51 recommend
- [FVWM](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fvwm.md): 28 recommend
- [Window Maker](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windowmaker.md): 21 recommend
- [Compiz](https://hackerapproved.com/p/compiz.md): 15 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "dwm", https://hackerapproved.com/p/dwm/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).