head to head · open source
imgui vs ezEngine
imgui has 77,026 GitHub stars, 12,105 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. ezEngine has 2,036 stars, 266 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 3,683% (77,026 vs 2,036 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; ezEngine is written in C++ under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, ezEngine 13%. ezEngine was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (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 | ezEngine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 266 |
| 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 ezEngine if
- You want the ezEngine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and ezEngine 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 ezEngine
ezEngine ezEngine is an open source C++ game engine. Watch the trailer below for a quick feature overview: Visit for documentation, samples and detailed build instructions. Supported Platforms The full engine functionality is currently only available on Windows, because the renderer uses Direct3D 11. Work on porting the renderer to Vulkan is ongoing. There is an experimental Linux port of the editor, but it is not yet functional enough for productive use. All non rendering related functionality compiles on Windows, Android, Linux and MacOS. See this page for details. Prebuilt Binaries See the releases for recent…
read the full ezEngine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or ezEngine more popular?
imgui has 77,026 GitHub stars and ezEngine has 2,036. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and ezEngine free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and ezEngine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and ezEngine?
imgui is written in C++ and ezEngine 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 ezEngine?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (77,026 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ezEngine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.