head to head · open source
imgui vs planck.js
imgui has 76,491 GitHub stars, 12,072 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. planck.js has 5,289 stars, 256 forks, 33 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 1,346% (76,491 vs 5,289 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; planck.js is written in TypeScript under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, planck.js 5%. 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 | planck.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 256 |
| 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 planck.js if
- You want the planck.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and planck.js 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 planck.js
planck.js is a free, open source 2D physics engine written in TypeScript for game developers building cross platform HTML5 games in JavaScript.
read the full planck.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or planck.js more popular?
imgui has 76,491 GitHub stars and planck.js has 5,289. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and planck.js free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and planck.js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and planck.js?
imgui is written in C++ and planck.js in TypeScript. 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 planck.js?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,491 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose planck.js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.