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Comparison · Infra & APIs

RSS-Bridge vs Dashy

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

Shared themes:self-hosted

RSS-Bridge vs Dashy: at a glance

FeatureRSS-BridgeDashy
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score0.06.3
Sparks · 30d01
Top themesrss, web-scraping, self-hosted, phpself-hosted, dashboard, drag-and-drop, widgets
Last editorial update2h ago2h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is RSS-Bridge?

The web's duct-tape RSS layer, now quiet for a year after flipping every bridge on by default.

RSS-Bridge generates feeds for sites that removed theirs, and each release is a batch of community fixes to individual bridges plus a handful of new ones. Releases are date-tagged rather than versioned and land every few months, with the most recent in August 2025 — roughly a year of silence since. The core is stable PHP; the churn is in the ~400 site-specific scrapers that break whenever a target site changes markup or adds bot protection.

Read the full RSS-Bridge trajectory →

What is Dashy?

The self-hosted dashboard finally let you drag things around instead of editing YAML.

Dashy tags a release per merged pull request, so the version number climbs several times a week while most tags carry a single dependabot bump or a translation file. The substance sits in 4.5.0, which added drag-and-drop editing of sections, items and widgets, rebuilt the GitHub stats widget on GitHub's own API with optional token authentication, and expanded number formatting in the custom-api widget. Point releases since have been an OIDC post-logout redirect, item sorting options, and an out-of-memory crash fix.

Read the full Dashy trajectory →

RSS-Bridge vs Dashy: editorial side-by-side

R
RSS-Bridge
INFRA · APIS
0.0

The web's duct-tape RSS layer, now quiet for a year after flipping every bridge on by default.

◆ Current state

RSS-Bridge generates feeds for sites that removed theirs, and each release is a batch of community fixes to individual bridges plus a handful of new ones. Releases are date-tagged rather than versioned and land every few months, with the most recent in August 2025 — roughly a year of silence since. The core is stable PHP; the churn is in the ~400 site-specific scrapers that break whenever a target site changes markup or adds bot protection.

◆ Where it's heading

The project has been shifting from a curated tool to a general-purpose scraping surface: bridges are now all enabled by default, caching was rewritten, and token-based URL auth was added to make public instances survivable. That combination points at operators running shared instances rather than individuals running one bridge. The maintenance load, however, is entirely community-carried, and the gap since the last release suggests that pipeline has thinned.

◆ Prediction

The next release is likely another routine batch of bridge repairs and additions rather than a core change. The stated intentions in these notes — raising the minimum PHP version and separating the document root from the data folder — remain unshipped, and nothing here indicates when that lands.

D
Dashy
INFRA · APIS
6.3

The self-hosted dashboard finally let you drag things around instead of editing YAML.

◆ Current state

Dashy tags a release per merged pull request, so the version number climbs several times a week while most tags carry a single dependabot bump or a translation file. The substance sits in 4.5.0, which added drag-and-drop editing of sections, items and widgets, rebuilt the GitHub stats widget on GitHub's own API with optional token authentication, and expanded number formatting in the custom-api widget. Point releases since have been an OIDC post-logout redirect, item sorting options, and an out-of-memory crash fix.

◆ Where it's heading

The direction is away from configuration-as-a-file toward direct manipulation, which is the friction that has always separated Dashy from simpler homepage dashboards. The supporting work lines up with it: sorting controls, better handling of long titles, richer widget formatting. The auth-adjacent changes — OIDC logout redirect, logout destination — suggest people are running Dashy behind an identity provider for more than one user.

◆ Prediction

With drag-and-drop editing shipped, the follow-on is most likely persistence and permissions questions around who can edit a shared dashboard, though these notes do not state that. Expect the per-PR release cadence to continue producing mostly dependency tags.

Alternatives to RSS-Bridge 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 RSS-Bridge or Dashy.

See all RSS-Bridge alternatives → · See all Dashy alternatives →

Recent activity from RSS-Bridge and Dashy

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

  1. 1d agoDashyMissing German translations added
  2. 3d agoDashyOut-of-memory crash from unclosed secureConnect listeners fixed
  3. 4d agoDashyDependency bumps in the minor-and-patch group
  4. 6d agoDashyOIDC post-logout redirect URI support
  5. 8d agoDashyItems can be sorted by provider and by item ID
  6. 9d agoDashy4.5.0 adds drag-and-drop editing of sections, items and widgets
  7. 0y agoRSS-BridgeRoutine batch: new bridges plus bot-protection and parser repairs
  8. 1y agoRSS-BridgeBridge repairs, subcategory support, default 1-day cache TTL
  9. 1y agoRSS-BridgeRe-tag release to correct the version shown in Configuration
  10. 1y agoRSS-BridgeAll bridges now enabled by default
  11. 2y agoRSS-BridgeURL token authentication and cache administration tooling
  12. 2y agoRSS-BridgeCaching system rewritten; all existing cache items expire

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between RSS-Bridge and Dashy?

Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Infra & APIs. Dashy is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 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 RSS-Bridge 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 0.0), with 1 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 RSS-Bridge?

Top RSS-Bridge alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "RSS-Bridge alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rss-bridge 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.