head to head · open source
imgui vs lovr
imgui has 76,795 GitHub stars, 12,071 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lovr has 2,614 stars, 177 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. imgui leads on adoption by 2,838% (76,795 vs 2,614 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; lovr is written in C under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, lovr 7%. lovr 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 | lovr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 177 |
| 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 lovr if
- You want the lovr feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and lovr 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 lovr
LÖVR A simple Lua framework for rapidly building 3D games and VR experiences. Homepage Documentation FAQ Features Cross Platform Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Cross Device Supports any headset that works with OpenXR, and has a keyboard/mouse VR simulator. Beginner friendly Simple scenes can be created in just a few lines of Lua. Fast Written in C11 and scripted with LuaJIT, includes optimized single pass stereo rendering. Tiny The whole framework is just a couple of megabytes, and it's easy to disable/remove modules. Powerful GPU APIs Compute shaders, ray tracing, indirect rendering, atomics, and…
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or lovr more popular?
imgui has 76,795 GitHub stars and lovr has 2,614. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and lovr free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and lovr under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and lovr?
imgui is written in C++ and lovr 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 lovr?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,795 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lovr if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.