Openbox VS Xmonad

Compare Openbox VS Xmonad and see what are their differences

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Openbox

Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.

Xmonad

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

Landing page //
2023-09-06

Landing page //
2022-04-01

Openbox

Website: openbox.org
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Xmonad

Website: xmonad.org
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Openbox features and specs

Lightweight
Openbox is a highly efficient window manager that requires minimal system resources, making it an excellent choice for older hardware or systems with limited resources.
Customizable
Openbox offers extensive customization options, allowing users to tailor the look and feel of their desktop environment to their specific preferences.
Fast Performance
Due to its lightweight nature, Openbox provides fast and responsive performance, resulting in quicker application launches and smoother overall desktop experience.
Comprehensive Keybindings
Openbox supports complex keybindings, enabling power users to create efficient workflow setups through keyboard shortcuts.
Extensible
Openbox can work seamlessly with other tools and additional software, allowing users to extend its capabilities with tools like panels, widgets, and additional plugins.

Possible disadvantages of Openbox

Steep Learning Curve
Openbox requires a more hands-on approach and can be challenging for beginners to set up and configure due to its extensive customization options.
Limited Out-of-the-box Features
Unlike full desktop environments, Openbox does not come with many built-in features, requiring users to install and configure additional software to achieve a fully functional desktop.
No Desktop Icons by Default
Openbox does not support desktop icons natively, so users need to rely on additional tools like 'xfdesktop' or 'pcmanfm' to add this functionality.
Minimalistic Appearance
While some users appreciate the minimalistic look, others might find it too bare-bones compared to more feature-rich environments like GNOME or KDE.
Manual Configuration
Most customizations in Openbox require editing configuration files manually, which can be time-consuming and error-prone for users unfamiliar with text-based configurations.

Xmonad features and specs

Highly Customizable
Xmonad is written in Haskell and allows for extensive customization. Users can write custom configurations and extensions to tailor the window manager to their exact needs.
Efficient and Minimalist
Xmonad is designed to be efficient and lightweight. It uses minimal system resources, making it ideal for older hardware or systems where performance is a priority.
Keyboard-Centric
Xmonad is optimized for keyboard operation, providing a highly efficient and fast way to manage windows without relying on a mouse, which can improve productivity.
Tiling Window Manager
As a tiling window manager, Xmonad automatically arranges windows to use screen space efficiently, reducing the need to manually resize and position windows.
Stable and Reliable
Xmonad is known for its stability and reliability, with a strong track record of stable releases and robust performance.

Possible disadvantages of Xmonad

Steep Learning Curve
New users may find Xmonad difficult to learn due to its reliance on Haskell for customization and a lack of graphical configuration tools.
Limited Out-of-the-Box Functionality
Xmonad comes with a very basic setup by default, requiring significant configuration and customization to fully utilize its capabilities.
Haskell Knowledge Required
Customization of Xmonad requires knowledge of Haskell, which can be a barrier for users unfamiliar with the language.
Sparse Community and Documentation
Compared to more popular window managers, Xmonad has a smaller community and less extensive documentation, which can make troubleshooting and learning more challenging.
Not Newbie-Friendly
Xmonad is not the most user-friendly option for beginners. Its lack of GUI tools and reliance on command-line configuration can be intimidating for new users.

Openbox videos

+ Add

Get Rid Of That Bloated Desktop Environment And Install Openbox

Xmonad videos

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Xmonad Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Openbox and Xmonad)

Xmonad

Linux

58 58%

Linux

42% 42

Window Manager

51 51%

Window Manager

49% 49

Utilities

58 58%

Utilities

42% 42

Desktop Environments

100 100%

Desktop Environments

0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Openbox and Xmonad. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Reviews

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

Openbox Reviews

Top 10 Best Desktop Environments in 2020

People who’re deep into Linux, love Openbox’s simplicity. It’s extremely lightweight, and comes with only a text-based right-click menu that lists all your applications. The menu is customizable too, and you can add scripts or functions within the menu as a link.

Source: www.journaldev.com

Xmonad Reviews

Top 13 Best Tiling Window Managers For Linux In 2022

XMonad is a dynamic tiling X11 window manager that allows you to automate window finding and alignment. It may be customised with its own extension library, which includes choices for status bars and window decorations. It’s also simple to set up, stable, and minimal.

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

Xmonad is a tiling window manager written in Haskell. Like most (if not all) window managers, it comes with no frills or window decorations. The keyboard shortcuts are top notch. It works out-of-the-box and is very user friendly. On top of all that, Xmonad sports a fairly big extension library (which can add on even more functionality).

Source: www.maketecheasier.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Xmonad seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 15 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.

Openbox mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Openbox yet. Tracking of Openbox recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Xmonad mentions (15)

Rubywm: An X11 window manager in pure Ruby
If you want tiling, but i3 requires too much manual work, you might like the more managed layouts that are the default in XMonad: https://xmonad.org/ XMonad works fine with multiple monitors. Each monitor displays one of the many virtual desktops. The normal keys for desktops and for windows work pretty intuitively with multiple monitors. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
[Media] shrs: a shell that is configurable and extensible in rust
Hey everyone 👋 ! I'm currently working on a rust library for building and configuring your own shell! It's inspired by projects like xmonad and penrose where the configuration of the program is done in code. This means that for example, instead of using Bash's arcane syntax for configuring the prompt, it can be configured instead using a rust builder pattern! The project itself is still at a very young stage, so... Source: about 2 years ago
What LaTeX setup do you use?
There are a few other things I could mention, but there are more like side issues, and not relevant to my actual LaTeX setup. First and foremost—and thus perhaps noteworthy after all—is bibliography management with arxiv-citation (see here for more words). This is integrated very well with the XMonad window manager, which makes it even more of a joy to use. Source: about 2 years ago
How to map arrows keys to CapsLock+(h,i,j,k) shortcuts in i3
Another way to do it (and works on Linux and other platforms) is with XMonad, defining Caps Lock as a layer key. Source: almost 3 years ago
Can ISTP like abstract things and theories?
I tried it once, it was alright. https://xmonad.org/ But I prefer to build my own. Source: almost 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Openbox and Xmonad, you can also consider the following products

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

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.

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

IceWM - icewm home page . Bug Tracking. If you have a patch, a bug report or a feature request to submit, please do so at the icewm project page at SourceForge.

bspwm - A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

Fluxbox - Fluxbox is a window manager for X that was based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code.