head to head · open source
imgui vs bevy
imgui has 76,934 GitHub stars, 12,107 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bevy has 49,474 stars, 5,010 forks, 3,418 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 56% (76,934 vs 49,474 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; bevy is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, bevy 10%. 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 | bevy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 49K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 5.0K |
| 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 bevy if
- You want the bevy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and bevy fits your workflow better
About imgui
Dear ImGui ===== "Give someone state and they'll have a bug one day, but teach them how to represent state in two separate locations that have to be kept in sync and they'll have bugs for a lifetime." ryg (This library is available under a free and permissive license, but needs financial support to sustain its continued improvements. In addition to maintenance and stability there are many desirable features yet to be added. If your company is using Dear ImGui, please consider reaching out.) Businesses: support continued development and maintenance via invoiced sponsoring/support contracts: E mail: contact @…
read the full imgui overview →
About bevy
What is Bevy? Bevy is a refreshingly simple data driven game engine built in Rust. It is free and open source forever! WARNING Bevy is still in the early stages of development. Important features are missing. Documentation is sparse. A new version of Bevy containing breaking changes to the API is released approximately once every 3 months. We provide migration guides, but we can't guarantee migrations will always be easy. Use only if you are willing to work in this environment. MSRV: Bevy relies heavily on improvements in the Rust language and compiler. As a result, the Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) is…
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or bevy more popular?
imgui has 76,934 GitHub stars and bevy has 49,474. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and bevy free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and bevy under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and bevy?
imgui is written in C++ and bevy in Rust. 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 bevy?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,934 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose bevy if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.