Auth0
Auth0's cadence is all enterprise plumbing: federation, SCIM provisioning, session governance.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Dust vs Ably
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Dust and Ably — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Dust vs Ably: at a glance
| Feature | Dust | Ably |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Infra & APIs | Infra & APIs |
| Velocity score | 8.8 | 5.0 |
| Sparks · 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Top themes | mcp, multi-model, enterprise, agent-capabilities | realtime, ai-agents, sdk, durable-execution |
| Last editorial update | 1mo ago | 5h ago |
| Website | Visit → | — |
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.
What is Ably?
Ably is spinning up an AI-agent transport layer at 0.x speed
Ably is iterating hard on a new AI Transport SDK — four releases (0.2 through 0.5) in about a month — aimed at making agent conversations durable, resumable, and branchable over its realtime channels. Alongside it, the core Pub/Sub and Chat SDKs keep getting steady, mostly incremental maintenance: React hook ergonomics, presence reliability fixes, and better LiveObjects visibility in the dashboard.
Dust vs Ably: editorial side-by-side
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.
Ably
5.0INFRA · APIS
Ably is spinning up an AI-agent transport layer at 0.x speed
◆ Current state
Ably is iterating hard on a new AI Transport SDK — four releases (0.2 through 0.5) in about a month — aimed at making agent conversations durable, resumable, and branchable over its realtime channels. Alongside it, the core Pub/Sub and Chat SDKs keep getting steady, mostly incremental maintenance: React hook ergonomics, presence reliability fixes, and better LiveObjects visibility in the dashboard.
◆ Where it's heading
The AI Transport line is the story. Each release layers on capability that matters for production agents — declarative codecs, external data hydration, and now durable execution that survives process restarts inside frameworks like Temporal and Vercel's WDK. Ably is positioning its realtime infrastructure as the transport substrate for AI agents, not just chat and pub/sub, while keeping the mature core SDKs stable. The frequent breaking changes signal a product still finding its API shape.
◆ Prediction
Expect the AI Transport SDK to keep its fast breaking-change cadence toward a 1.0 with a stabilized session/run API, and likely SDKs beyond JS as the surface settles. The entries don't yet indicate a GA date.
Alternatives to Dust and Ably
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 Dust or Ably.
Depot
Depot extends from build acceleration into hosted source control with Depot Code.
OpenStatus
OpenStatus ships weekly: status-page polish plus a self-hostable, provider-agnostic AI assistant.
Semgrep
Semgrep grinds out weekly gains in language coverage, scan speed, and supply-chain depth
Tailscale
Tailscale deepens enterprise identity while quietly building agent-access infrastructure
Unleash
Unleash is pitching feature flags as runtime control for AI coding agents
Recent activity from Dust and Ably
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 10h agoAblyAI Transport SDK 0.5.0: durable execution for agents
- 8d agoAblyAI Transport SDK 0.4.0: external data hydration
- 16d agoAblyCocoa SDK: push registration fix before first unlock
- 20d agoAblyAI Transport SDK 0.3.0: declarative codecs, presence pass-through
- 20d agoAblyJS SDK 2.23.0: React hooks infer channel from provider
- 1mo agoAblyImproved visibility into LiveObjects
- 1mo agoDustCompact mobile input bar goes voice-first
- 1mo agoDustFrames export as PDF or PNG
- 1mo agoDustInline text editing in frames
- 1mo agoDustGemini 3.5 Flash now available
- 1mo agoDustGrok 4.3 upgrade and Anthropic model migrations
- 1mo agoDustAsana MCP update
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Dust and Ably?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Dust is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 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 Dust better than Ably?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Dust is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 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 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.
What are the best alternatives to Ably?
Top Ably alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Ably alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ably for the full list with editorial commentary on each.