head to head · open source
rembg vs imaginary
rembg has 25,379 GitHub stars, 2,476 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. imaginary has 6,091 stars, 502 forks, 135 open issues and last shipped 1.0 years ago. rembg leads on adoption by 317% (25,379 vs 6,091 stars). rembg is written in Python under MIT; imaginary is written in Go under MIT. rembg has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, imaginary 8%. rembg was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (image-processing), 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
| rembg | imaginary | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-06 | 2025-11-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 502 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rembg if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick imaginary if
- You want the imaginary feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and imaginary fits your workflow better
About rembg
Rembg is a tool to remove image backgrounds. It can be used as a CLI, Python library, HTTP server, or Docker container. Sponsors PhotoRoom Remove Background API Fast and accurate background remover API If this project has helped you, please consider making a donation. Requirements bash pip install "rembg[gpu]" for library pip install "rembg[gpu,cli]" for library + cli bash pip install "rembg[rocm]" for library pip install "rembg[rocm,cli]" for library + cli shell rembg help shell rembg help shell curl s rembg i output.png shell rembg i path/to/input.png path/to/output.png shell rembg i path/to/input.png →…
read the full rembg overview →
About imaginary
imaginary Fast HTTP microservice written in Go for high level image processing backed by bimg and libvips. imaginary can be used as private or public HTTP service for massive image processing with first class support for Docker & Fly.io. It's almost dependency free and only uses net/http native package without additional abstractions for better performance. Supports multiple image operations exposed as a simple HTTP API, with additional optional features such as API token authorization , URL signature protection , HTTP traffic throttle strategy and CORS support for web clients. imaginary can read images from…
read the full imaginary overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rembg or imaginary more popular?
rembg has 25,379 GitHub stars and imaginary has 6,091. rembg has the larger community by that measure.
Are rembg and imaginary free?
Both are open source. rembg is licensed under MIT and imaginary under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rembg and imaginary?
rembg is written in Python and imaginary in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, rembg or imaginary?
Choose rembg if you want the larger community (25,379 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose imaginary if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.