werf
Three release channels at once as werf 3 takes shape beside a still-shipping 2.75.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Dokku vs Dashy
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Dokku and Dashy — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Dokku vs Dashy: at a glance
What is Dokku?
Dokku ships patches weekly, and quietly grows a Kubernetes backend under its single-host roots.
Dokku releases on a near-weekly patch cadence, and most entries are dominated by Dependabot bumps to test fixtures. The real content is thin but consistent: a command injection fix in docker options evaluation, per-app Let's Encrypt emails on k3s, atomic buildpack list replacement, custom chown values, and JSON output added to apps:list, ps:scale and docker-options reports. Several tags in early July were published within minutes of each other and out of version order.
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.
Dokku vs Dashy: editorial side-by-side
Dokku
5.0INFRA · APIS
Dokku ships patches weekly, and quietly grows a Kubernetes backend under its single-host roots.
◆ Current state
Dokku releases on a near-weekly patch cadence, and most entries are dominated by Dependabot bumps to test fixtures. The real content is thin but consistent: a command injection fix in docker options evaluation, per-app Let's Encrypt emails on k3s, atomic buildpack list replacement, custom chown values, and JSON output added to apps:list, ps:scale and docker-options reports. Several tags in early July were published within minutes of each other and out of version order.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads carry through. The scheduler-k3s plugin keeps accumulating what a real platform needs — helm chart previews, autoscaling auth state, control-plane node matching, per-app certificate configuration — which pushes Dokku beyond the single-host Docker tool it started as. The second is machine readability: command after command gains --format json, turning the CLI into something automation can consume rather than parse.
◆ Prediction
Expect JSON output to keep spreading command by command until it is the norm rather than a flag, and expect the k3s scheduler to stay the destination for new capability while the Docker scheduler receives fixes. The patch train shows no sign of consolidating into a minor release.
Dashy
6.3INFRA · APIS
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.
Alternatives to Dokku and Dashy
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 Dokku or Dashy.
Volatility
Volatility 3 caught up with Volatility 2, then started reorganising itself.
GLAuth
A small LDAP server that grew OpenTelemetry tracing, embedded plugins and RISC-V builds.
OctoPrint
OctoPrint 2.0 turns serial into one connector among several, and breaks plugins doing it.
CRI-O
Patch tags land monthly with release notes that itemize nothing.
Dokploy
A self-hosted PaaS spending its releases on secrets, injection fixes and plan limits.
Recent activity from Dokku and Dashy
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 22h agoDashy4.5.6 bumps fast-uri
- 3d agoDashy4.5.5 adds missing German translations
- 5d agoDashy4.5.4 fixes an OOM crash from leaked listeners
- 6d agoDashy4.5.3 bumps minor and patch dependencies
- 8d agoDashy4.5.2 adds OIDC post-logout redirect support
- 10d agoDashy4.5.1 adds sorting by provider and item ID
- 15d agoDokkuCommand injection fix, per-app Let's Encrypt on k3s
- 19d agoDokkuBuildpack docs links and test dependency bumps
- 19d agoDokkuCertificate CN parsing fixed for OpenSSL 3.x
- 28d agoDokkuAtomic buildpack replacement and structured reports
- 1mo agoDokku0.38.19 tag with no release notes
- 1mo agoDokkuTest fixture Go version bumps
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Dokku and Dashy?
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 Dokku better than Dashy?
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 Dokku?
Top Dokku alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Dokku alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/dokku for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
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.