head to head · open source
imgui vs Descent3
imgui has 76,740 GitHub stars, 12,095 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Descent3 has 3,019 stars, 293 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. imgui leads on adoption by 2,442% (76,740 vs 3,019 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; Descent3 is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Descent3 10%. imgui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cplusplus, 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| imgui | Descent3 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-16 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 293 |
| 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 Descent3 if
- You want the Descent3 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Descent3 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 Descent3
This is the Descent 3 open source engine, licensed under GPL 3.0. It includes the '1.5' patch written by Kevin Bentley and Jeff Slutter several years ago and brought to a stable condition by the Descent community. In order to use this, you must provide your own game files. See the USAGE.md file for details about installation. To build the game, follow build instructions in the BUILD.md file. Build or runtime issues should be reported on our GitHub tracker. Contributing Anyone can contribute! We have an active Discord presence at Descent Developer Network. Patches should be submitted on GitHub.…
read the full Descent3 overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Gaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Gaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or Descent3 more popular?
imgui has 76,740 GitHub stars and Descent3 has 3,019. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and Descent3 free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and Descent3 under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and Descent3?
imgui is written in C++ and Descent3 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 Descent3?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,740 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Descent3 if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.