head to head · open source
imgui vs melonJS
imgui has 76,469 GitHub stars, 12,067 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. melonJS has 6,399 stars, 662 forks, 20 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 1,095% (76,469 vs 6,399 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; melonJS is written in JavaScript under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, melonJS 10%. 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.
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Side by side
| imgui | melonJS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 6.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 662 |
| 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 melonJS if
- You want the melonJS feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and melonJS 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 melonJS
melonJS is a modern, lightweight HTML5 2.5D game engine for indie developers and web game programmers who want a full game stack in a single dependency free ES module.
read the full melonJS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or melonJS more popular?
imgui has 76,469 GitHub stars and melonJS has 6,399. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and melonJS free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and melonJS under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and melonJS?
imgui is written in C++ and melonJS in JavaScript. 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 melonJS?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,469 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose melonJS if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.