Hotjar
Hotjar's update feed stops in April 2025 — the arc it captures ended mid-sentence.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Dashy vs Merge
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Dashy and Merge — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Dashy vs Merge: at a glance
| Feature | Dashy | Merge |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Infra & APIs | Infra & APIs |
| Velocity score | 6.3 | 6.3 |
| Sparks · 30d | 0 | 1 |
| Top themes | self-hosted-dashboard, widgets, oidc-auth, i18n | unified-api, agent-infrastructure, mcp, llm-routing |
| Last editorial update | 3h ago | 1h ago |
| Website | Visit → | — |
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 Merge?
Merge is becoming the governance layer for agent tool access, not just a unified data API.
Merge ships a weekly digest split across three lines: the original unified API (HRIS, ATS, CRM, accounting, file storage, ticketing), Agent Handler for AI agent connectors, and Gateway for LLM routing. The unified-API half reads as a maintenance grind — every week is dominated by SharePoint, SAP SuccessFactors, Workday and Dayforce sync reliability, pagination and mapping fixes. All of July's directional news came from the other two lines, ending with hundreds of generic MCP connectors folded into the Agent Handler catalog and an AI Guardrails surface with PII detection.
Dashy vs Merge: 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.
Merge
6.3INFRA · APIS
Merge is becoming the governance layer for agent tool access, not just a unified data API.
◆ Current state
Merge ships a weekly digest split across three lines: the original unified API (HRIS, ATS, CRM, accounting, file storage, ticketing), Agent Handler for AI agent connectors, and Gateway for LLM routing. The unified-API half reads as a maintenance grind — every week is dominated by SharePoint, SAP SuccessFactors, Workday and Dayforce sync reliability, pagination and mapping fixes. All of July's directional news came from the other two lines, ending with hundreds of generic MCP connectors folded into the Agent Handler catalog and an AI Guardrails surface with PII detection.
◆ Where it's heading
The unified API is being maintained, not expanded — new objects arrive at a trickle (expense reports in early July) while the bulk of each week goes to sync stability across existing connectors. Attention has moved to sitting between agents and the tools they call: Merge now offers auth, access control, governance and guardrails over connectors it did not build. Gateway is moving the same way, from a routing product to multi-tenant infrastructure customers resell, via Embedded Routing Stack, bring-your-own keys and per-customer complexity classifiers.
◆ Prediction
Expect the guardrails surface to deepen — PII detection and pre-run/post-run rule labels shipped in the same month, and the generic MCP connectors currently arrive without the tool safety hints Merge applied to its own catalog. The likely next step is extending that governance tooling to the imported MCP servers.
Alternatives to Dashy and Merge
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 Merge.
Tailscale
Tailscale is turning the tailnet into something you provision by API, not configure by hand.
Daytona
Ten releases in a month, all pointed at making agent sandboxes safe to run in production.
Jackett
Jackett ships daily, and every release is tracker definitions chasing sites that moved
Quay
Quay ships nothing but CVE remediation, mirrored across two supported branches
Unleash
Feature flags repositioned as the runtime kill switch for AI agents writing your code.
Recent activity from Dashy and Merge
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoDashyTraditional Chinese UI translations completed
- 4d 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
- 11d agoDashyTwo grouped dependency updates
- 12d agoMergeHundreds of generic MCP connectors land in Agent Handler ⚡
- 19d agoMergeLink setup flow becomes configurable per integration
- 26d agoMergeEmbedded Routing Stack gives Gateway per-customer model controls
- 1mo agoMergeGPT-5.6, Grok 4.5 join Gateway; new Professional Plan pricing
- 1mo agoMergeiTrent and OmniHR connectors; Slackbot gets its own agent identity
- 1mo agoMergeExpense reports endpoint, iTrent and OmniHR join HRIS
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Dashy and Merge?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Dashy and Merge are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 6.3 vs 6.3, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Dashy better than Merge?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Dashy and Merge are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 6.3 vs 6.3, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). 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 Merge?
Top Merge alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Merge alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/merge-dev for the full list with editorial commentary on each.