# Fluxbox

12 Hacker News commenters recommended Fluxbox and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** A lightweight window manager that people choose for low memory use, window tabs, and many themes, often over full desktop environments like KDE or GNOME.

## Why people recommend it

- Low memory and light on resources (3 comments): "a light window manager such as Fluxbox/Openbox could make run machine run well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47058043)) "Gnome / KDE on Wayland will use far more memory than FVWM / Fluxbox on X11" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47648769)) "It was quite a bit lighter than gnome" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49248904))
- Long-term favourite on many machines (3 comments): "Debian/Ubuntu/Arch with IceWM or Fluxbox (or the like) works great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49707085)) "Always used flux/openbox whenever I could on my own workstations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47288655)) "me too! fluxbox and gkrellm for some kick ass desktop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47515001))
- Window tabs and stacking (2 comments): "Fluxbox has tabs and is a stacking window manager." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47464146)) "I still do, I can’t go without window tabs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47517845))
- Many themes available (2 comments): "You have under Fluxbox, from modern Zukitre, Nordic... ones to the ones mimicking Mac OS from early 90's" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46613528)) "I am not exaggerating when I say they could be over 1000 themes for Fluxbox/Blackbox." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46598306))

## 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
- [dwm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dwm.md): 22 recommend
- [Window Maker](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windowmaker.md): 21 recommend

## Cite as

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