head to head · open source
imgui vs LumixEngine
imgui has 76,576 GitHub stars, 12,078 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. LumixEngine has 3,894 stars, 447 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped yesterday. imgui leads on adoption by 1,867% (76,576 vs 3,894 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; LumixEngine is written in C++ under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, LumixEngine 11%. LumixEngine 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.
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Side by side
| imgui | LumixEngine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 3.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 447 |
| 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 LumixEngine if
- You want the LumixEngine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and LumixEngine 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 LumixEngine
Lumix Engine is an MIT licensed, open source 3D game engine written in C++ with an integrated editor, aimed at game developers who want to build and ship their own projects on Windows or Linux.
read the full LumixEngine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or LumixEngine more popular?
imgui has 76,576 GitHub stars and LumixEngine has 3,894. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and LumixEngine free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and LumixEngine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and LumixEngine?
imgui is written in C++ and LumixEngine 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 LumixEngine?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,576 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose LumixEngine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.