head to head · open source
imgui vs s&box
imgui has 76,246 GitHub stars, 12,044 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. s&box has 6,468 stars, 671 forks, 2,406 open issues and last shipped yesterday. imgui leads on adoption by 1,079% (76,246 vs 6,468 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; s&box is written in C# under a custom or non-standard licence. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, s&box 10%. imgui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | s&box | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | C++ | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 671 |
| 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 s&box if
- You want the s&box feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and s&box 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 s&box
s&box is a modern game engine built on Valve's Source 2 and the latest .NET technology, offering a modern intuitive editor for creating games, and it is aimed at game creators who want to build and play games inside an engine that runs live, alongside the contributors who compile the engine itself from source.
read the full s&box overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or s&box more popular?
imgui has 76,246 GitHub stars and s&box has 6,468. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and s&box free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT, and s&box has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between imgui and s&box?
imgui is written in C++ and s&box 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 s&box?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,246 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose s&box if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.