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Comparison · Collab
Flame vs Smartsheet
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Flame and Smartsheet — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Flame vs Smartsheet: at a glance
What is Flame?
Self-hosted dashboard that finished its feature arc and stopped shipping in 2023.
Flame is a self-hosted startpage for homelab services — app tiles, bookmarks, weather, and a search bar. The feature set it set out to build was finished across 2021 and 2022: custom app descriptions, Docker secrets support, a secondary search provider, and a custom theme editor. The most recent release in this feed is v2.3.1 from July 2023, and it is entirely bug fixes.
What is Smartsheet?
Smartsheet introduces a Contributor seat tier; rest of the stream is portal nav.
Almost everything in Smartsheet's tracked stream is portal navigation — Community link, Learning Center, customer stories, archived release notes index. The one substantive entry is the Contributor seat reaching general availability on April 30, positioned as 'best-in-class collaboration value' — i.e., a new pricing tier for users who participate in but don't author work.
Flame vs Smartsheet: editorial side-by-side
Flame
0.0COLLAB
Self-hosted dashboard that finished its feature arc and stopped shipping in 2023.
◆ Current state
Flame is a self-hosted startpage for homelab services — app tiles, bookmarks, weather, and a search bar. The feature set it set out to build was finished across 2021 and 2022: custom app descriptions, Docker secrets support, a secondary search provider, and a custom theme editor. The most recent release in this feed is v2.3.1 from July 2023, and it is entirely bug fixes.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc reads as a project reaching completion rather than one under active development. Later releases shifted from adding capability to correcting the edges of what already existed — search-provider interactions, iOS input rendering, theme editor field sizes, label wording. There has been nothing since.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in these entries suggests further releases; anyone deploying Flame should treat the current version as the final one unless the project resumes.
Smartsheet
3.8COLLABPM
Smartsheet introduces a Contributor seat tier; rest of the stream is portal nav.
◆ Current state
Almost everything in Smartsheet's tracked stream is portal navigation — Community link, Learning Center, customer stories, archived release notes index. The one substantive entry is the Contributor seat reaching general availability on April 30, positioned as 'best-in-class collaboration value' — i.e., a new pricing tier for users who participate in but don't author work.
◆ Where it's heading
Smartsheet is using packaging, not features, as its visible motion right now: a Contributor seat sits below full-editor tiers and is built to expand seat counts inside accounts without forcing every collaborator onto a paid editor license. The rest of the stream offers no product-feature signal worth interpreting.
◆ Prediction
Expect Contributor-seat positioning to drive a B2B-style up-sell motion (more activated seats, eventually more upgrades) and follow-on packaging refinement around external collaborators and viewers. Real product moves are likely happening but not visible in this stream.
Alternatives to Flame and Smartsheet
Other Collab 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 Flame or Smartsheet.
AFFiNE
A nightly canary train where the AI platform work hides between dependency bumps
CommaFeed
A self-hosted RSS reader that now spends most of its release notes on security.
SiYuan
SiYuan's v3.8.0 train restates one AI feature set across seven consecutive builds.
Jellyfin
Jellyfin renumbers to 12.0 and spends the whole cycle paying down its backend rewrite.
Teable
Teable is spending its release budget making bring-your-own-database failures survivable.
See all Flame alternatives → · See all Smartsheet alternatives →
Recent activity from Flame and Smartsheet
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agoSmartsheetContributor seat, now generally available! ⚡
- 3mo agoSmartsheetContributor seat, now generally available!
- 4mo agoSmartsheetFeedback portal link (not a release)
- 4mo agoSmartsheetBe inspired.
- 4mo agoSmartsheetLearning Center portal link (not a release)
- 4mo agoSmartsheetArchived release notes index page
- 3y agoFlameBug fixes for local search, iOS input styling, and theme editor
- 4y agoFlameCustom theme editor and secondary search provider
- 4y agoFlameIn-app location detection and tightened file permissions
- 4y agoFlameLocal search covers app descriptions; background task tuning
- 4y agoFlameCustom app descriptions and a cluster deployment fix
- 4y agoFlameDocker secrets support
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Flame and Smartsheet?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Smartsheet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), 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 Flame better than Smartsheet?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Smartsheet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Flame?
Top Flame alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Flame alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/flame-dashboard for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Smartsheet?
Top Smartsheet alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Smartsheet alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/smartsheet for the full list with editorial commentary on each.