head to head · open source
imgui vs FXGL
imgui has 76,491 GitHub stars, 12,072 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. FXGL has 4,864 stars, 711 forks, 150 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 1,473% (76,491 vs 4,864 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; FXGL is written in Kotlin under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, FXGL 15%. FXGL was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (framework, game-development, 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 | FXGL | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 711 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick imgui if
- You weight community size — 76K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick FXGL if
- You want the FXGL feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and FXGL 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 FXGL
FXGL is a free, MIT licensed Java game library built on JavaFX that lets Java and Kotlin developers write 2D games — and some 3D and business UIs — without installing anything beyond their JVM toolchain.
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or FXGL more popular?
imgui has 76,491 GitHub stars and FXGL has 4,864. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and FXGL free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and FXGL under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and FXGL?
imgui is written in C++ and FXGL in Kotlin. 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 FXGL?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,491 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose FXGL if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.