head to head · open source
imgui vs OpenRA
imgui has 76,308 GitHub stars, 12,051 forks, 1,227 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenRA has 17,408 stars, 3,048 forks, 1,598 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. imgui leads on adoption by 338% (76,308 vs 17,408 stars). imgui is written in C++ under MIT; OpenRA is written in C# under GPL-3.0. imgui has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, OpenRA 18%. 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.
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Side by side
| imgui | OpenRA | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 17K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| 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 OpenRA if
- You want the OpenRA feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and OpenRA 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 OpenRA
OpenRA is a libre, free and open source real time strategy game engine written in C with SDL and OpenGL, built for players, mappers and modders who want to run and extend early Westwood classics such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Dune 2000 on Windows, Linux, BSD and Mac OS X.
read the full OpenRA overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is imgui or OpenRA more popular?
imgui has 76,308 GitHub stars and OpenRA has 17,408. imgui has the larger community by that measure.
Are imgui and OpenRA free?
Both are open source. imgui is licensed under MIT and OpenRA under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between imgui and OpenRA?
imgui is written in C++ and OpenRA 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 OpenRA?
Choose imgui if you want the larger community (76,308 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OpenRA if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.