FVWM
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 30 window managers by recommenders
Lightweight, long-lived X11 window manager that people praise for deep configurability and low memory use; configuration takes effort and the default look feels dated.
Lightweight, long-lived X11 window manager that people praise for deep configurability and low memory use; configuration takes effort and the default look feels dated.
32 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 28
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 25 years
Median of the 7 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 28 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Lightweight on memory and CPU
“Fvwm ran exactly that way on my Pentium-60 and I do not recall ever experiencing performance or latency issues”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “XFCE Is Great” “Gnome / KDE on Wayland will use far more memory than FVWM / Fluxbox on X11”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Ubuntu now requires more RAM than Windows 11” “it was much lighter on memory than the window manager I was using”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” - Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “The beauty and terror of modding Windows”
- Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)”
- Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Raspberry Pi Drag Race: Pi 1 to Pi 5 – Performance Comparison”
- Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “How did Windows 95 get permission to put the Weezer video Buddy Holly on the CD?”
Highly configurable, can mimic any interface
“I have such a setup (using FVWM with customized key bindings and virtual layout that I like”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Can I start using Wayland in 2026?” “It's important to remember that fvwm is customisable so it doesn't need to look dated.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop” “I like the Win95 aesthetic”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” - Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop”
- Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)”
- Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux”
- Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)”
Long-running favourite for years
“The original fvwm also holds a special place, that was the first I used in GNU/Linux, back in 1995”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “Pop_OS 24.04 LTS with COSMIC desktop environment” “nothing better exists :o) not for the lack of trying mind you !”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” “I still use it (shout out taviso iykyk).”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” - Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”
- Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)”
- Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)”
Multiple screens and virtual desktops
“Fvwm2 was brilliant with its multiple screens and controlling the mouse using arrow keys”
Comment from 7 Dec 2025 in “Screenshots from developers: 2002 vs. 2015 (2015)” “X with FVWM gave me so much more virtual desktop”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “NetBSD and my life (2005)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Configuration is difficult or painful
“I like the Win95 aesthetic”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” “The configuration is painful but every tiny thing can be adapted.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop” “FVWM? Perl? Oh noez! Such complication! ;>”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux” Dated Windows 95 look
“This looks a little too Windows 95, but the dock is a nice reminder that it's X Windows.”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” “It's pretty visually accurate, fonts notwithstanding”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” Fvwm95 fork is stale
“FVWM95 was encouraged by power users and developers to stop being used in favor of FVWM3”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” “fvwm95 was a fork of fvwm2 and has remained in that state, and never updated.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” “I was not a fan of the evolution into fvwm-95”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)”
Other window managers people recommend
The four most recommended other window managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyprland | 82 | 33 | 71% | 12 | 1 mo4 owners | Approved |
| Rectangle for macOS | 67 | 3 | 96% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Enlightenment window manager | 51 | 19 | 73% | 8 | — | Approved |
| FVWMThis page | 28 | 4 | 88% | 8 | 25 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| AwesomeWM | 26 | 2 | 93% | 11 | 12 yrs3 owners | Approved |
What people said
37 of the 45 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's important to remember that fvwm is customisable so it doesn't need to look dated.”
“The configuration is painful but every tiny thing can be adapted.”
“X with FVWM gave me so much more virtual desktop”
“at no time did a corporate designer decide that I no longer should have a feature I had previously been using”
“I very much prefered the orginal fvwm”
“Gnome / KDE on Wayland will use far more memory than FVWM / Fluxbox on X11”
“I don't think I've ever had a piece of software balk at me because I used FVWM”
“you could use FVWM instead of bloated environments”
“it was actually lighter than TWM”
“Running fvwm2 on a Pi1 had resonable speed.”
“FVWM? Perl? Oh noez! Such complication! ;>”
“with FVWM literally you could mimick any interface ever.”
“Fvwm ran exactly that way on my Pentium-60 and I do not recall ever experiencing performance or latency issues”
“no such "invisible drag areas" here either using just FVWM2”
“I have such a setup (using FVWM with customized key bindings and virtual layout that I like”
“the application support in fvwm3 greatly outweighs the version of fvwm2 which fvwm95 wad forked from”
“fvwm95 was a fork of fvwm2 and has remained in that state, and never updated.”
“Wasn’t too complicated in the end”
“it made an awesome portable setup”
“nothing better exists :o) not for the lack of trying mind you !”
“it was much lighter on memory than the window manager I was using”
“I liked fvwm2 better and theme it however you liked”
“Windows 95 was a step back compared to the FVWM configurability”
“I also have fond memories”
“FVWM configurability could be amazing, although it can be a challenge”
“I like the Win95 aesthetic”
“I still use it (shout out taviso iykyk).”
“I was not a fan of the evolution into fvwm-95”
“This doesn't work on some newer apps”
“It's pretty visually accurate, fonts notwithstanding”
“I love lightweight desktops, like this one.”
“FVWM95 was encouraged by power users and developers to stop being used in favor of FVWM3”
“I have fond memories of FVWM.”
“This was a kludgey hack that never managed to land upstream, yet utterly dominated”
“This looks a little too Windows 95, but the dock is a nice reminder that it's X Windows.”
“The original fvwm also holds a special place, that was the first I used in GNU/Linux, back in 1995”
“Fvwm2 was brilliant with its multiple screens and controlling the mouse using arrow keys”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.