head to head · open source
imgui vs armory
imgui has 76,651 GitHub stars, 12,080 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. armory has 3,350 stars, 356 forks, 398 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 2,188% (76,651 vs 3,350 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; armory is written in C++ under Zlib. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, armory 11%. imgui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (game-engine), 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 | armory | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | MIT | Zlib |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 356 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick imgui if
- You weight community size — 77K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick armory if
- You want the armory feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and armory 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 armory
Armory is an open source 3D game engine with full Blender integration, aimed at developers who want to build games inside Blender rather than in a separate editor.
read the full armory overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or armory more popular?
imgui has 76,651 GitHub stars and armory has 3,350. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and armory free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and armory under Zlib. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and armory?
imgui is written in C++ and armory in C++. 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 armory?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,651 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose armory if its feature set, stack or Zlib licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.