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Comparison · Comms
Maddy vs Subsplash
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Maddy and Subsplash — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Maddy vs Subsplash: at a glance
| Feature | Maddy | Subsplash |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Comms | Comms |
| Velocity score | 0.0 | 2.5 |
| Sparks · 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Top themes | mail-server, self-hosted, golang, security | church-platform, workflow-automation, people-management, giving-management |
| Last editorial update | 2h ago | 2h ago |
| Website | Visit → | — |
What is Maddy?
maddy's latest release is a security fix, five months after its last feature work.
maddy is an all-in-one Go mail server for SMTP and IMAP. Its most recent release, 0.9.6 in October, requires explicit trust for PROXY protocol headers and closes an auth misconfiguration that could skip password checks. Before that, the 0.9 line ran from March to May: no-downtime config reload in 0.9.0, an LDAP injection fix, and removal of long-deprecated commands.
What is Subsplash?
Subsplash gives church staff notes on every person and every Workflow card.
Subsplash runs giving, media, people and workflow tools for churches. Late September brought notes on People profiles and Workflow cards, board search and hide-completed checklists in Workflows, gift totals and recurring-gift status in Giving, and timestamped share links for media. October added multi-select actions on People.
Maddy vs Subsplash: editorial side-by-side
Maddy
0.0COMMS
maddy's latest release is a security fix, five months after its last feature work.
◆ Current state
maddy is an all-in-one Go mail server for SMTP and IMAP. Its most recent release, 0.9.6 in October, requires explicit trust for PROXY protocol headers and closes an auth misconfiguration that could skip password checks. Before that, the 0.9 line ran from March to May: no-downtime config reload in 0.9.0, an LDAP injection fix, and removal of long-deprecated commands.
◆ Where it's heading
The project is moving from convenient defaults to safer ones, accepting breaking changes on the way. Older conveniences such as SASL LOGIN, STARTTLS plaintext fallback and the maddyctl symlink have been removed, and 0.9.1 flagged several DNS providers for removal in 0.10.0. Two of the last four releases were security fixes.
◆ Prediction
0.10.0 is scoped by the deprecations announced in 0.9.1: expect the flagged DNS providers to go and gandi to require Bearer tokens. The five-month gap gives no date for it.
Subsplash
2.5COMMS
Subsplash gives church staff notes on every person and every Workflow card.
◆ Current state
Subsplash runs giving, media, people and workflow tools for churches. Late September brought notes on People profiles and Workflow cards, board search and hide-completed checklists in Workflows, gift totals and recurring-gift status in Giving, and timestamped share links for media. October added multi-select actions on People.
◆ Where it's heading
The platform is filling in the record-keeping that church staff did in other tools: notes, handoffs, follow-ups and giving totals now live next to the person or card. Workflows keeps getting features for busy boards and team handoffs. The releases are practical and incremental rather than new product lines.
◆ Prediction
Expect Workflows and People to keep converging, for example notes or tasks shared between a person and their cards. The entries say nothing new about the AI features mentioned earlier in the year.
Alternatives to Maddy and Subsplash
Other Comms 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 Maddy or Subsplash.
Converse.js
Converse.js 14.0.1 fixes OMEMO:2 group decryption broken by Chromium 153.
Element iOS
Element Classic now asks its own users to move to Element X, if their server opts in.
Brosix
Brosix follows its communities launch with a referral push and a private-room how-to.
VerneMQ
VerneMQ follows its year-in-the-making 2.2.0 with a quick round of subscription fixes.
Session
Session survived its funding scare; now Pro is on hold and Protocol v2 is the bet.
See all Maddy alternatives → · See all Subsplash alternatives →
Recent activity from Maddy and Subsplash
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3d agoSubsplashPeople Multi-Select
- 1mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.6 fixes PROXY trust and auth bypass misconfig
- 1mo agoSubsplashGift totals and recurring status in Giving
- 1mo agoSubsplashNotes on People
- 1mo agoSubsplashShare links that start a video at the current timestamp
- 1mo agoSubsplashCard search and cleaner checklists in Workflows
- 1mo agoSubsplashNotes on Workflow Cards
- 5mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.5 fixes nested pipeline logging and systemd reload reporting
- 6mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.4 removes the maddyctl symlink and implicit run command
- 6mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.3 patches an LDAP injection flaw in auth.ldap
- 7mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.2 fixes an rspamd panic on unspecified tls_client
- 7mo agoMaddymaddy 0.9.1 flags libdns providers for removal in 0.10.0
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Maddy and Subsplash?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Subsplash is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 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 Maddy better than Subsplash?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Subsplash is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 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 Comms products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Maddy?
Top Maddy alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Maddy alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/maddy for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Subsplash?
Top Subsplash alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Subsplash alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/subsplash for the full list with editorial commentary on each.