head to head · open source
imgui vs fheroes2
imgui has 76,633 GitHub stars, 12,080 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fheroes2 has 3,503 stars, 503 forks, 431 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 2,088% (76,633 vs 3,503 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; fheroes2 is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, fheroes2 14%. imgui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (game-development, 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 | fheroes2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 3.5K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-13 | 2026-10-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 503 |
| 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 fheroes2 if
- You want the fheroes2 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and fheroes2 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 fheroes2
fheroes2 is an open source, multiplatform recreation of the Heroes of Might and Magic II game engine, written from scratch in C++ under the GNU General Public License v2.0, and it is built for players who want to run the classic turn based strategy game on modern systems and for the developers, artists and translators who keep improving it.
read the full fheroes2 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 fheroes2 more popular?
imgui has 76,633 GitHub stars and fheroes2 has 3,503. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and fheroes2 free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and fheroes2 under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and fheroes2?
imgui is written in C++ and fheroes2 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 fheroes2?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,633 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose fheroes2 if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.