head to head · open source
imgui vs dhewm3
imgui has 76,971 GitHub stars, 12,101 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dhewm3 has 2,193 stars, 430 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. imgui leads on adoption by 3,410% (76,971 vs 2,193 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; dhewm3 is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, dhewm3 20%. 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 | dhewm3 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-06-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 430 |
| 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 dhewm3 if
- You want the dhewm3 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 dhewm3 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 dhewm3
ABOUT dhewm 3 is a Doom 3 GPL source port, known to work on at least Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD. The goal of dhewm 3 is bring DOOM 3 with the help of SDL to all suitable platforms. Bugs present in the original DOOM 3 will be fixed (when identified) without altering the original gameplay. The official homepage is: Mods supported by dhewm3: Mod SDK for dhewm3: The project is hosted at: Download the latest release: Consult the FAQ at: Report bugs here: CHANGES Compared to the original DOOM 3 , the changes of dhewm 3 worth mentioning are: 64 bit port SDL for low level OS support, OpenGL and input handling…
read the full dhewm3 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or dhewm3 more popular?
imgui has 76,971 GitHub stars and dhewm3 has 2,193. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and dhewm3 free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and dhewm3 under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and dhewm3?
imgui is written in C++ and dhewm3 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 dhewm3?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,971 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dhewm3 if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.