head to head · open source
imgui vs MonoGame
imgui has 76,934 GitHub stars, 12,107 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MonoGame has 14,602 stars, 3,119 forks, 766 open issues and last shipped yesterday. imgui leads on adoption by 427% (76,934 vs 14,602 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 21%. 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 | ★ 77K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | C++ | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| 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 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 ===== "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 MonoGame
MonoGame One framework for creating powerful cross platform games Supported Platforms • Resources • Samples • Support and Contributions • Source Code • Helpful Links • License Overview MonoGame is a simple and powerful .NET framework for creating games for desktop PCs, video game consoles, and mobile devices using the C programming language. It has been successfully used to create games such as Streets of Rage 4, Carrion, Celeste, Stardew Valley, and many others. It is an open source re implementation of the discontinued Microsoft's XNA Framework. Supported Platforms We support a growing list of platforms across…
read the full MonoGame overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or MonoGame more popular?
imgui has 76,934 GitHub stars and MonoGame has 14,602. 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 (76,934 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose MonoGame if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.