People have the automatic tendency to imitate one another, but it remains unclear whether and how this ubiquitous nonverbal behavior varies across cultures. To explore cultural differences in automatic imitation, we conducted two preregistered experiments using the imitation-inhibition task, in different countries that vary in terms of collectivism/individualism. In Experiment 1 (N = 408), we examined participants from Vietnam and the USA but found no significant differences in automatic imitation between these countries. As we assessed imitation in two countries only, Experiment 1 remains unclear whether the detected effects are specific for the USA and Vietnam, or whether they can be generalized across more nations differing in terms of collectivism/individualism. Moreover, as the classical imitation-inhibition task confounds imitative with spatial compatibility, any potential difference in terms of imitative compatibility between cultures could have been hided. To address these shortcomings, Experiment 2 involved a larger sample (N = 4,447) from 22 countries and controlled for spatial compatibility. The results showed no overall difference between individualistic and collectivistic nations in the extent of imitation, but revealed small qualitative differences in how people imitate. Individuals from collectivistic, as compared to individualistic cultures, imitated more strongly when spatial information was controlled. These findings suggest that while imitation in collectivistic nations is more resistant to conflicting non-social cues, imitation in individualistic cultures more strongly depends on external, non-social factors.