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Comparison · Infra & APIs

Dashy vs Jenkins

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Dashy and Jenkins — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Dashy vs Jenkins: at a glance

FeatureDashyJenkins
SectorInfra & APIsDevOps, Infra & APIs
Velocity score6.35.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesself-hosted, dashboard, oidc, per-pr-releasesci-cd, release-train, security-hardening, plugin-ecosystem
Last editorial update1h ago4h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Dashy?

Dashy ships a release per merged PR — the real 4.5 features are already scrolling off the feed.

The self-hosted dashboard cuts a version for essentially every merged pull request, so the recent window is a mix of dependabot bumps, German translations, an out-of-memory fix from unclosed secureConnect listeners, OIDC post-logout redirect support, and new sorting by provider and item ID. The 4.5.0 release that carries the substance — drag-and-drop editing of sections, items and widgets, a rebuilt GitHub stats widget on the official API, and number formatting in the custom-api widget — sits just outside this window.

Read the full Dashy trajectory →

What is Jenkins?

Jenkins is shedding weight and hardening deserialization on its weekly train

The weekly releases continue without interruption, and two threads dominate the last two months. One is slimming: 2.574 stopped bundling the JUnit, Mailer, Matrix Authorization, Matrix Project and OWASP Markup Formatter plugins, cutting more than 20 MB from jenkins.war and ending automatic installation for very old upgrade paths. The other is security posture — a password complexity extension point, type checks on deserialized collection elements, and Object field deserialization prohibited by default, capped by an important security fix in 2.575. Running underneath both is a continuous refit of the experimental Manage Jenkins UI.

Read the full Jenkins trajectory →

Dashy vs Jenkins: editorial side-by-side

D
Dashy
INFRA · APIS
6.3

Dashy ships a release per merged PR — the real 4.5 features are already scrolling off the feed.

◆ Current state

The self-hosted dashboard cuts a version for essentially every merged pull request, so the recent window is a mix of dependabot bumps, German translations, an out-of-memory fix from unclosed secureConnect listeners, OIDC post-logout redirect support, and new sorting by provider and item ID. The 4.5.0 release that carries the substance — drag-and-drop editing of sections, items and widgets, a rebuilt GitHub stats widget on the official API, and number formatting in the custom-api widget — sits just outside this window.

◆ Where it's heading

Development is steady and community-driven, with a maintainer handling auth and stability while contributors add widgets, sorting and translations. The direction after 4.5.0 is refinement rather than expansion: fix what the new editing surface exposed, round out OIDC, keep dependencies current. The per-PR release cadence makes the feed noisy relative to how much actually changes.

◆ Prediction

Expect the 4.5.x patch stream to continue at roughly a release every few days, dominated by dependency bumps and follow-up fixes to the drag-and-drop editor. Larger features will land in a 4.6 cut rather than trickling through patches.

Jenkins logo
Jenkins
DEVOPSINFRA · APIS
5.0

Jenkins is shedding weight and hardening deserialization on its weekly train

◆ Current state

The weekly releases continue without interruption, and two threads dominate the last two months. One is slimming: 2.574 stopped bundling the JUnit, Mailer, Matrix Authorization, Matrix Project and OWASP Markup Formatter plugins, cutting more than 20 MB from jenkins.war and ending automatic installation for very old upgrade paths. The other is security posture — a password complexity extension point, type checks on deserialized collection elements, and Object field deserialization prohibited by default, capped by an important security fix in 2.575. Running underneath both is a continuous refit of the experimental Manage Jenkins UI.

◆ Where it's heading

This is a mature project reducing its own surface area rather than growing it. Unbundling plugins moves maintenance burden to where it belongs and makes the core smaller to audit; the deserialization defaults close a class of vulnerability that has historically been Jenkins' most expensive. The UI work is patient and unglamorous — status icons, breadcrumbs, notification components, translations — which is what a redesign shipped incrementally behind an experimental flag looks like.

◆ Prediction

Expect the Manage Jenkins redesign to keep advancing page by page toward becoming the default, and more deserialization and serialization defaults to tighten. The unbundling precedent set by 2.574 suggests further candidates for removal from the war.

Dashy alternatives

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Tap any card for the full editorial trajectory or compare directly with Dashy.

See all Dashy alternatives →

Jenkins alternatives

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Tap any card for the full editorial trajectory or compare directly with Jenkins.

See all Jenkins alternatives →

Recent activity from Dashy and Jenkins

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 9h agoDashy4.5.6 bumps fast-uri
  2. 1d agoJenkins2.575: security fixes
  3. 3d agoDashy4.5.5 adds missing German translations
  4. 5d agoDashy4.5.4 fixes an OOM crash from leaked listeners
  5. 5d agoDashy4.5.3 bumps minor and patch dependencies
  6. 7d agoDashy4.5.2 adds OIDC post-logout redirect support
  7. 9d agoDashy4.5.1 adds sorting by provider and item ID
  8. 16d agoJenkins2.574: five bundled plugins removed, war shrinks by 20 MB
  9. 24d agoJenkins2.573: status icons reflect only the current job
  10. 1mo agoJenkins2.572: password complexity hook, deserialization locked down
  11. 1mo agoJenkins2.571: OS end-of-life warnings and System Log refinements
  12. 1mo agoJenkins2.570: ECDSA and Ed25519 keys for the CLI

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Dashy and Jenkins?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Dashy is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), 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 Jenkins?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Dashy is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), 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 Jenkins?

Top Jenkins alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Jenkins alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/jenkins for the full list with editorial commentary on each.