Matrix
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Comparison · Comms
Stalwart vs Subsplash
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Stalwart and Subsplash — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Stalwart vs Subsplash: at a glance
| Feature | Stalwart | Subsplash |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Comms | Comms |
| Velocity score | 6.3 | 2.5 |
| Sparks · 30d | 1 | 0 |
| Top themes | email-server, scim, jmap, enterprise-provisioning | church-platform, workflow-automation, giving-management, ai-people-insights |
| Last editorial update | 2h ago | 2h ago |
| Website | Visit → | — |
What is Stalwart?
Stalwart adds full SCIM v2 provisioning and 24-language calendar support as its standards coverage extends further than most commercial mail servers.
Stalwart is maintaining a weekly-or-faster release cadence, with alternating feature releases and dense bug-fix releases. The v0.16.20 release landed full SCIM v2 (Enterprise) including cursor-based pagination and the IPSIE lifecycle profile, conference links in calendar invites, and 24 new calendar interface translations. Below the feature line, the project is steadily closing correctness gaps across JMAP, CalDAV, IMAP, and MTA — many of them edge-case RFC compliance issues.
What is Subsplash?
Subsplash's Workflows feature goes GA with email automation on every step, unifying church operations in one platform.
Subsplash is systematically converting its Workflows feature from beta to a full operational backbone for church teams: email automations trigger on card movement, a 'My Cards' view surfaces all assigned work across every workflow, completion notifications go to team leaders automatically, and the rebuilt Transfers & Reconciliation page handles bank deposit matching with audit trails. The AI People Assistant (natural language filtering) and Trends AI (media + campaign data) are building toward a data-informed operations layer.
Stalwart vs Subsplash: editorial side-by-side
Stalwart
6.3COMMS
Stalwart adds full SCIM v2 provisioning and 24-language calendar support as its standards coverage extends further than most commercial mail servers.
◆ Current state
Stalwart is maintaining a weekly-or-faster release cadence, with alternating feature releases and dense bug-fix releases. The v0.16.20 release landed full SCIM v2 (Enterprise) including cursor-based pagination and the IPSIE lifecycle profile, conference links in calendar invites, and 24 new calendar interface translations. Below the feature line, the project is steadily closing correctness gaps across JMAP, CalDAV, IMAP, and MTA — many of them edge-case RFC compliance issues.
◆ Where it's heading
Stalwart is building toward parity with commercial enterprise mail servers on identity federation and provisioning (SCIM v2, VAPID for web push, DMARCbis/DKIM2 already landed). The pace of RFC implementation is unusually aggressive for an open-source project; the combination of JMAP, CalDAV, IMAP UIDONLY/UIDBATCHES, and SCIM v2 positions it as a viable self-hosted alternative for organizations that need standards compliance without vendor lock-in.
◆ Prediction
WebAuthn/passkey-based authentication and improved multi-tenant administration tooling are the most likely next capability additions, given the current trajectory toward enterprise identity management.
Subsplash
2.5COMMS
Subsplash's Workflows feature goes GA with email automation on every step, unifying church operations in one platform.
◆ Current state
Subsplash is systematically converting its Workflows feature from beta to a full operational backbone for church teams: email automations trigger on card movement, a 'My Cards' view surfaces all assigned work across every workflow, completion notifications go to team leaders automatically, and the rebuilt Transfers & Reconciliation page handles bank deposit matching with audit trails. The AI People Assistant (natural language filtering) and Trends AI (media + campaign data) are building toward a data-informed operations layer.
◆ Where it's heading
Subsplash is moving toward unifying giving, event management, people management, and operational workflows into a single platform for churches — reducing dependence on external tools like SurveyMonkey for surveys or separate streaming platforms. The 'My Cards' view and email automation completion notifications are the kinds of features that shift Workflow from a nice-to-have into a primary daily interface for church staff.
◆ Prediction
Automations will gain conditional branching and third-party integrations (email providers, SMS), and Trends AI will expand to include workflow completion and giving pattern correlations — moving toward a full church operations intelligence layer.
Alternatives to Stalwart 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 Stalwart or Subsplash.
Netcore Cloud
Netcore Cloud's available data is marketing blog content — no product feature signal this cycle.
Krisp
Krisp is building a full Call Center AI stack — voice translation, accent conversion, and supervisor analytics shipping weekly.
Signal Desktop
Signal refines notification control with per-thread mute settings and badge granularity.
Melp
Melp's changelog contains wiki and SEO content, not product releases
Synapse
Synapse Matrix server ships v1.160 on a predictable two-week release cadence
See all Stalwart alternatives → · See all Subsplash alternatives →
Recent activity from Stalwart and Subsplash
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoStalwartv0.16.21
- 3d agoSubsplash"My Cards" view in Workflows
- 9d agoStalwartv0.16.20 ⚡
- 14d agoStalwartv0.16.19
- 21d agoStalwartv0.16.18
- 28d agoStalwartv0.16.17
- 1mo agoSubsplashTransfers & Reconciliation
- 1mo agoStalwartv0.16.16
- 1mo agoSubsplashBe notified by email when a Workflow Card is complete
- 1mo agoSubsplashIntroducing Group Member Limits + Group Finder Improvements
- 1mo agoSubsplashEmail Automations for Workflows ⚡
- 2mo agoSubsplashRegister Guests & Waive Payments from Dashboard
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Stalwart and Subsplash?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Stalwart is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), 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 Stalwart better than Subsplash?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Stalwart is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 1 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 Stalwart?
Top Stalwart alternatives in Comms are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Stalwart alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/stalwart 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.