head to head · open source
imgui vs Kaetram-Open
imgui has 76,531 GitHub stars, 12,076 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kaetram-Open has 739 stars, 202 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 10,256% (76,531 vs 739 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; Kaetram-Open is written in TypeScript under MPL-2.0. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Kaetram-Open 27%. imgui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| imgui | Kaetram-Open | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 739 |
| License | MIT | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 202 |
| 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 Kaetram-Open if
- You want the Kaetram-Open feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Kaetram-Open 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 Kaetram-Open
Kaetram Open is an open source 2D HTML5 MMORPG written in TypeScript, extending Little Workshop's BrowserQuest, for players who want a collaborative browser game and for developers looking for a game engine to build their own version on.
read the full Kaetram-Open 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 Kaetram-Open more popular?
imgui has 76,531 GitHub stars and Kaetram-Open has 739. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and Kaetram-Open free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and Kaetram-Open under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and Kaetram-Open?
imgui is written in C++ and Kaetram-Open in TypeScript. 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 Kaetram-Open?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,531 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Kaetram-Open if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.