head to head · open source
imgui vs MonoGame
imgui has 76,246 GitHub stars, 12,044 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MonoGame has 14,431 stars, 3,107 forks, 766 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 428% (76,246 vs 14,431 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; MonoGame is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, MonoGame 22%. 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 | MonoGame | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 14K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | C++ | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| 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 MonoGame if
- You want the MonoGame feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and MonoGame 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 MonoGame
MonoGame is a free, open source C and .NET game framework for building cross platform games. It lives in the .NET game development ecosystem and is positioned as one framework for creating games on desktop PCs, mobile devices, and consoles. It is an open source re implementation of Microsoft's discontinued XNA Framework, used to create games such as Streets of Rage 4, Carrion, Celeste, and Stardew Valley.
read the full MonoGame overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or MonoGame more popular?
imgui has 76,246 GitHub stars and MonoGame has 14,431. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and MonoGame free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT, and MonoGame has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between imgui and MonoGame?
imgui is written in C++ and MonoGame 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 MonoGame?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,246 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose MonoGame if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.