# IceWM

10 Hacker News commenters recommended IceWM 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:** Lightweight Linux window manager that people find fast, stable and easy to configure with plain text files, often as a replacement for heavier desktops like GNOME or KDE.

## Why people recommend it

- Fast and snappy compared to GNOME/KDE (3 comments): "it is so much faster than GNOME or KDE-Plasma" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47284902)) "since it is so much faster than KDE or GNOME" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48278271)) "The thing is snappy, even in the browser." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49464889))
- Easy to configure with plain text (2 comments): "before switching to IceWM because it was more fun to configure" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46189525)) "the config being a few plain text files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49431781))

## What people warn about

- Look not liked by some users (1 comments): "I don't like the look of IceWM" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46352649))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [AltDrag](https://hackerapproved.com/p/altdrag.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

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