nfs-ganesha
NFS-Ganesha is burning through major versions to migrate management onto gRPC
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Dashy vs Dust
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Dashy and Dust — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Dashy vs Dust: at a glance
What is Dashy?
After the 4.5.0 drag-and-drop release, Dashy has settled into translations and dependency patches
Dashy's 4.5.0 release was the substantive one — drag-and-drop editing of sections, items and widgets, a rebuilt GitHub stats widget on the official API, and richer number formatting in the custom-api widget. Everything since has been a single-PR patch release: two community translation contributions, three dependency bump batches, an out-of-memory fix from unclosed connection listeners, and OIDC post-logout redirect support. The tail is quiet by design rather than stalled.
What is Dust?
Dust doubles down on MCP-native agents with multi-model routing and enterprise guardrails.
Dust is building an MCP-native agent platform with broad model coverage and growing enterprise depth. The May cadence shows parallel investment in agent capability (vision via MCP tools, context compaction, frame editing/export) and operational readiness (audit logs, SIEM streaming, protocol migrations). Mobile is getting a voice-first input redesign.
Dashy vs Dust: editorial side-by-side
Dashy
6.3INFRA · APIS
After the 4.5.0 drag-and-drop release, Dashy has settled into translations and dependency patches
◆ Current state
Dashy's 4.5.0 release was the substantive one — drag-and-drop editing of sections, items and widgets, a rebuilt GitHub stats widget on the official API, and richer number formatting in the custom-api widget. Everything since has been a single-PR patch release: two community translation contributions, three dependency bump batches, an out-of-memory fix from unclosed connection listeners, and OIDC post-logout redirect support. The tail is quiet by design rather than stalled.
◆ Where it's heading
The project is in the consolidation phase that follows a feature release, shipping one PR per version at a steady clip. Two threads still show forward motion: authentication is being rounded out, with OIDC post-logout redirects following the logout redirect option added in 4.5.0, and translation coverage is being filled in by contributors rather than maintainers. The widget system remains where the feature energy goes when it returns.
◆ Prediction
Expect the single-PR patch cadence to continue until enough widget or editing work accumulates for a 4.6 line. The OIDC additions suggest self-hosted single sign-on is the area most likely to see the next real feature.
Dust
8.8INFRA · APIS
Dust doubles down on MCP-native agents with multi-model routing and enterprise guardrails.
◆ Current state
Dust is building an MCP-native agent platform with broad model coverage and growing enterprise depth. The May cadence shows parallel investment in agent capability (vision via MCP tools, context compaction, frame editing/export) and operational readiness (audit logs, SIEM streaming, protocol migrations). Mobile is getting a voice-first input redesign.
◆ Where it's heading
The product is converging on agents-in-the-enterprise via MCP, with multi-model routing as table stakes. MCP V2 migrations and image returns from MCP tools point to the protocol becoming Dust's integration backbone. The model-refresh cadence — three vendors in 48 hours — suggests model routing is now a core competency, not a feature.
◆ Prediction
Expect more MCP V2 connector migrations and richer MCP return types beyond images. The voice-first mobile input bar likely precedes a deeper voice-mode agent surface.
Alternatives to Dashy and Dust
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Dashy or Dust.
easybuild
EasyBuild opened itself to third-party plugins and went all-in on AMD GPUs
Casdoor
Casdoor ships a version per commit, and this week's commits are org-boundary checks
NetBox
NetBox spent 4.6's patch cycle paying down GraphQL query cost, release after release
Hotjar
Hotjar's update feed stops in April 2025 — the arc it captures ended mid-sentence.
Tailscale
Tailscale is turning the tailnet into something you provision by API, not configure by hand.
Recent activity from Dashy and Dust
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoDashyTraditional Chinese UI translations completed
- 5d agoDashyNine grouped dependency updates
- 6d agoDashySingle dependency bump for fast-uri
- 9d agoDashyMissing German translations added
- 11d agoDashyOut-of-memory crash from unclosed secureConnect listeners fixed
- 12d agoDashyTwo grouped dependency updates
- 2mo agoDustCompact mobile input bar goes voice-first
- 2mo agoDustFrames export as PDF or PNG
- 2mo agoDustInline text editing in frames
- 2mo agoDustGemini 3.5 Flash now available
- 2mo agoDustGrok 4.3 upgrade and Anthropic model migrations
- 3mo agoDustAsana MCP update
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Dashy and Dust?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Dust is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 vs 6.3), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Dashy better than Dust?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Dust is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 vs 6.3), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Dashy?
Top Dashy alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Dashy alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/dashy for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Dust?
Top Dust alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Dust alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/dust for the full list with editorial commentary on each.