head to head · open source
imgui vs horizon
imgui has 76,834 GitHub stars, 12,083 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. horizon has 2,537 stars, 173 forks, 438 open issues and last shipped yesterday. imgui leads on adoption by 2,929% (76,834 vs 2,537 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; horizon is written in Rust under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, horizon 7%. horizon 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 | horizon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 173 |
| 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 horizon if
- You want the horizon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and horizon 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 horizon
Website · Download · Documentation · Release notes · Roadmap · Project status · Contributing Horizon Horizon is Minecraft: Java Edition 26.3 rewritten in Rust: a native game that reads the same worlds, follows the same rules and generates the same terrain as the Java game, and is checked against it by 281 differential harnesses. You play it through a small launcher, on the files from your own copy of Minecraft. It is free, open source and unofficial. Not an official Minecraft product. Not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft. Horizon contains no Minecraft code, assets or data: you need your own…
read the full horizon overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or horizon more popular?
imgui has 76,834 GitHub stars and horizon has 2,537. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and horizon free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and horizon under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and horizon?
imgui is written in C++ and horizon in Rust. 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 horizon?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,834 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose horizon if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.