head to head · open source
imgui vs aframe
imgui has 76,296 GitHub stars, 12,048 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. aframe has 17,635 stars, 4,396 forks, 338 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. imgui leads on adoption by 333% (76,296 vs 17,635 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; aframe is written in JavaScript under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, aframe 25%. imgui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (game-development, game-engine, gamedev), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| imgui | aframe | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 4.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick imgui if
- You weight community size — 76K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick aframe if
- You want the aframe feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and aframe fits your workflow better
About imgui
Dear ImGui is a bloat free, MIT licensed graphical user interface library for C++ that outputs optimized vertex buffers for rendering inside 3D pipeline enabled applications, and it is aimed at programmers building content creation, visualization, and debug tools rather than at developers shipping consumer facing UI.
read the full imgui overview →
About aframe
A Frame is an MIT licensed JavaScript web framework built on top of three.js that lets anyone who can write HTML build browser based 3D, augmented reality and virtual reality experiences running on desktop, mobile and any WebXR capable headset.
read the full aframe overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or aframe more popular?
imgui has 76,296 GitHub stars and aframe has 17,635. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and aframe free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and aframe under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and aframe?
imgui is written in C++ and aframe in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, imgui or aframe?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,296 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose aframe if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.