head to head · open source
imgui vs corona
imgui has 76,756 GitHub stars, 12,080 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. corona has 2,894 stars, 317 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 2,552% (76,756 vs 2,894 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; corona is written in C++ under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, corona 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 | corona | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 317 |
| 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 corona if
- You want the corona feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and corona 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 corona
Solar2D Game Engine Download the latest build from the Releases page and join the community on Discord and the forums. Rebranded Corona SDK Simple to learn and use, completely free and open source 2D game engine. Easy to learn & powerful Solar2D is a cross platform framework which is ideal for rapidly creating apps and games for mobile devices, TV, desktop systems and HTML5. That means you can create your project once and publish it to multiple devices, including Apple iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, Amazon Fire, Mac Desktop, Windows Desktop, Linux, HTML5 and even connected TVs such as Apple TV…
read the full corona overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or corona more popular?
imgui has 76,756 GitHub stars and corona has 2,894. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and corona free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and corona under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and corona?
imgui is written in C++ and corona 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 corona?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,756 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose corona if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.