head to head · open source
imgui vs OpenJK
imgui has 76,934 GitHub stars, 12,107 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenJK has 2,322 stars, 745 forks, 284 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. imgui leads on adoption by 3,213% (76,934 vs 2,322 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; OpenJK is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, OpenJK 32%. 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, multi-platform), 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 | OpenJK | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 745 |
| 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 OpenJK if
- You want the OpenJK feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and OpenJK 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 OpenJK
OpenJK OpenJK is a community effort to maintain and improve the game and engine powering Jedi Academy and Jedi Outcast, while maintaining full backwards compatibility with the existing games and mods. This project does not intend to add major features, rebalance, or otherwise modify core gameplay. Our aims are to: Improve the stability of the engine by fixing bugs and improving performance. Support more hardware (x86 64, Arm, Apple Silicon) and software platforms (Linux, macOS) Provide a clean base from which new code modifications can be made. Supported Games Please direct support queries, discussions and…
read the full OpenJK overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or OpenJK more popular?
imgui has 76,934 GitHub stars and OpenJK has 2,322. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and OpenJK free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and OpenJK under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and OpenJK?
imgui is written in C++ and OpenJK 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 OpenJK?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,934 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OpenJK if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.