head to head · open source
imgui vs boardgame.io
imgui has 76,374 GitHub stars, 12,060 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. boardgame.io has 12,443 stars, 832 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 514% (76,374 vs 12,443 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; boardgame.io is written in TypeScript under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, boardgame.io 7%. 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 | boardgame.io | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-25 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 832 |
| 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 boardgame.io if
- You want the boardgame.io feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and boardgame.io 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 boardgame.io
boardgame.io is an MIT licensed engine for building turn based games in JavaScript, aimed at developers who want state management, realtime multiplayer and matchmaking handled for them instead of writing their own networking and storage code.
read the full boardgame.io overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or boardgame.io more popular?
imgui has 76,374 GitHub stars and boardgame.io has 12,443. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and boardgame.io free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and boardgame.io under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and boardgame.io?
imgui is written in C++ and boardgame.io in TypeScript. 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 boardgame.io?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,374 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose boardgame.io if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.