SHSelfHostIndex

Cube vs Smashing

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted dashboards & startpages options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
CU Cube Semantic layer and headless BI for building data apps VS SM Smashing Sinatra-based dashboard framework for custom widgets
FeatureCubeSmashing
CategoryDashboards & StartpagesDashboards & Startpages
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageRustJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 20,572★ 3,301
First released20192016
ReplacesLooker, AtScaleGeckoboard

Why pick each one

Choose Cube if…

  • Consistent metrics across tools
  • Strong API surface
Cube details

Choose Smashing if…

  • Highly customizable
  • Good for office wallboards
Smashing details

Frequently asked questions

Is Cube or Smashing better?

Neither is universally better. Cube has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Cube and Smashing free and open-source?

Yes. Cube is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Smashing under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Cube and Smashing with Docker?

Cube: yes. Smashing: yes.

Related comparisons