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Comparison · Infra & APIs

Pacemaker vs Dashy

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Pacemaker and Dashy — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Pacemaker vs Dashy: at a glance

FeaturePacemakerDashy
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score6.36.3
Sparks · 30d10
Top themeshigh availability, cluster security, tls authentication, dual branch releasesself-hosted, homelab-dashboard, dependency-bumps, oidc
Last editorial update3h ago20h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Pacemaker?

Pacemaker is putting TLS and X509 auth between its cluster nodes, then hardening the wire code.

Two branches ship in parallel: the 3.0.x line carrying new work and 2.1.x taking backported fixes. The 3.0 series added TLS for Pacemaker Remote nodes, X509 authentication, TLS certificates for remote CIB operations, and then PSK authentication for those same operations, alongside large-IPC and multipart message support. The most recent releases on both branches are the same security train, fixing CVE-2026-10649 and a set of integer overflows and size checks in the remote message code.

Read the full Pacemaker trajectory →

What is Dashy?

After 4.5.0's drag-and-drop release, the version number is outrunning the product.

Dashy shipped 4.5.0 in late July with drag-and-drop editing and a new widget, and everything since has been patch work. Across the six most recent releases, three are automated dependency bumps, one adds missing German translations, one fixes an out-of-memory crash, and one adds an OIDC post-logout redirect. Releases land every one to three days, each cut from a single pull request. Maintenance is visibly split between the project owner and a dependency bot.

Read the full Dashy trajectory →

Pacemaker vs Dashy: editorial side-by-side

P
Pacemaker
INFRA · APIS
6.3

Pacemaker is putting TLS and X509 auth between its cluster nodes, then hardening the wire code.

◆ Current state

Two branches ship in parallel: the 3.0.x line carrying new work and 2.1.x taking backported fixes. The 3.0 series added TLS for Pacemaker Remote nodes, X509 authentication, TLS certificates for remote CIB operations, and then PSK authentication for those same operations, alongside large-IPC and multipart message support. The most recent releases on both branches are the same security train, fixing CVE-2026-10649 and a set of integer overflows and size checks in the remote message code.

◆ Where it's heading

The cluster's internal transport is being rebuilt on the assumption that the network between nodes is not trusted. Authentication and encryption arrived first, and the fixes that followed, overflow guards and a maximum remote message size, are the hardening pass on the same code paths. Release discipline is heavy and visible: each version ships a release candidate with an identical commit set days earlier, and every 3.0 release documents the regressions it introduced and where they were fixed.

◆ Prediction

Remote CIB operations now support both X509 certificates and PSK, and the recent fixes all sit in message framing and size limits; further work is most likely to continue in that message-handling code rather than adding another authentication mechanism.

D
Dashy
INFRA · APIS
6.3

After 4.5.0's drag-and-drop release, the version number is outrunning the product.

◆ Current state

Dashy shipped 4.5.0 in late July with drag-and-drop editing and a new widget, and everything since has been patch work. Across the six most recent releases, three are automated dependency bumps, one adds missing German translations, one fixes an out-of-memory crash, and one adds an OIDC post-logout redirect. Releases land every one to three days, each cut from a single pull request. Maintenance is visibly split between the project owner and a dependency bot.

◆ Where it's heading

The cadence follows a repeating shape: a feature release, then a long tail of single-PR patches, and 4.5 is deep into that tail. The human-authored work skews toward self-hosting operations - authentication flows and crash fixes - rather than the dashboard surface itself. That fits a project whose users run their own instance and care most about it staying up between restarts.

◆ Prediction

Expect the 4.5.x train to keep releasing roughly per merged pull request until a 4.6.0 gathers the next batch of user-facing features; on this evidence the intervening entries will be dependency bumps with occasional auth and stability fixes.

Alternatives to Pacemaker 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 Pacemaker or Dashy.

See all Pacemaker alternatives → · See all Dashy alternatives →

Recent activity from Pacemaker and Dashy

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 1d agoDashyv4.5.7: dependency bot bumps a group of nine
  2. 2d agoDashyv4.5.6: fast-uri dependency bump
  3. 5d agoDashyv4.5.5: missing German translations added
  4. 7d agoDashyv4.5.4: fixes an out-of-memory crash from leaked listeners
  5. 8d agoDashyv4.5.3: two dependency bumps
  6. 10d agoDashyv4.5.2: OIDC post-logout redirect URI support
  7. 11d agoPacemaker3.0.3: CVE-2026-10649 and remote message overflow fixes
  8. 28d agoPacemaker3.0.2: PSK auth for remote CIB operations
  9. 28d agoPacemaker3.0.1: TLS and X509 authentication for Pacemaker Remote
  10. 28d agoPacemaker3.0.3-rc1: release candidate for the CVE fix set
  11. 1mo agoPacemaker2.1.11: CVE-2026-10649 backported to the maintenance branch
  12. 1mo agoPacemaker2.1.11-rc1: release candidate for the 2.1 CVE backport

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Pacemaker and Dashy?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Pacemaker and Dashy 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 Pacemaker better than Dashy?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Pacemaker and Dashy 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 Pacemaker?

Top Pacemaker alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Pacemaker alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/pacemaker 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.