head to head · open source
imgui vs raylib
imgui has 76,246 GitHub stars, 12,044 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. raylib has 34,783 stars, 3,299 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. imgui leads on adoption by 119% (76,246 vs 34,783 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; raylib is written in C under Zlib. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, raylib 9%. 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 | raylib | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 35K |
| License | MIT | Zlib |
| Written in | C++ | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| 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 raylib if
- You want the raylib feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and raylib 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 raylib
raylib is an open source, Zlib licensed C programming library for building videogames and graphical applications, aimed at programmers who would rather write code directly than work inside a visual game engine editor.
read the full raylib overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or raylib more popular?
imgui has 76,246 GitHub stars and raylib has 34,783. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and raylib free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and raylib under Zlib. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and raylib?
imgui is written in C++ and raylib 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 raylib?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,246 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose raylib if its feature set, stack or Zlib licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.