head to head · open source
imgui vs redot-engine
imgui has 76,491 GitHub stars, 12,072 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. redot-engine has 6,123 stars, 335 forks, 91 open issues and last shipped yesterday. imgui leads on adoption by 1,149% (76,491 vs 6,123 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; redot-engine is written in C++ under MIT. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, redot-engine 5%. redot-engine was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (game-development, game-engine, gamedev, 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 | redot-engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 335 |
| 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 redot-engine if
- You want the redot-engine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and redot-engine 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 redot-engine
Redot Engine is a free, open source, MIT licensed C++ game engine for developers who create 2D and 3D games and export them to desktop, mobile, web, and console platforms.
read the full redot-engine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or redot-engine more popular?
imgui has 76,491 GitHub stars and redot-engine has 6,123. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and redot-engine free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and redot-engine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and redot-engine?
imgui is written in C++ and redot-engine 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 redot-engine?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,491 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose redot-engine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.