head to head · open source
imgui vs raylib-go
imgui has 76,807 GitHub stars, 12,071 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. raylib-go has 2,553 stars, 210 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. imgui leads on adoption by 2,908% (76,807 vs 2,553 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; raylib-go is written in C under Zlib. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, raylib-go 8%. imgui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (game-engine), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| imgui | raylib-go | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MIT | Zlib |
| Written in | C++ | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-08-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 210 |
| 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 raylib-go if
- You want the raylib-go feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and raylib-go 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 raylib-go
raylib go Golang bindings for raylib, a simple and easy to use library to enjoy videogames programming. raylib C source code is included and compiled together with bindings. Note that the first build can take a few minutes. It is also possible to use raylib go without cgo (see requirements below). Requirements cgo Ubuntu apt get install libgl1 mesa dev libxi dev libxcursor dev libxrandr dev libxinerama dev libwayland dev libxkbcommon dev Fedora dnf install mesa libGL devel libXi devel libXcursor devel libXrandr devel libXinerama devel wayland devel libxkbcommon devel macOS On macOS, you need Xcode or Command…
read the full raylib-go overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Gaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Gaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or raylib-go more popular?
imgui has 76,807 GitHub stars and raylib-go has 2,553. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and raylib-go free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and raylib-go under Zlib. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and raylib-go?
imgui is written in C++ and raylib-go 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-go?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,807 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose raylib-go if its feature set, stack or Zlib licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.