SHSelfHostIndex

Dashy vs Heimdall

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?
DA Dashy Feature-rich personal dashboard for self-hosters VS Heimdall Simple application dashboard and launcher
FeatureDashyHeimdall
Deploy effort≈5-minute setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score97 · Excellent92 · Excellent
CategoryDashboards & StartpagesDashboards & Startpages
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageVuePHP
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker
GitHub stars★ 26,552★ 9,331
First released20212017
ReplacesHeimdallHeimdall

What are Dashy and Heimdall?

Dashy

Dashy is a highly configurable personal dashboard with status checks, widgets, themes, and authentication. It targets home labbers who want a feature-packed start page. It is deployed via Docker.

  • Status checking for services
  • Many widgets and themes
  • Optional authentication
  • Cloud backup option

Read the full Dashy guide →

Heimdall

Heimdall is a simple dashboard for organizing all your web applications and links in one place with enhanced app tiles. It targets users who want an easy, no-frills start page. It is deployed via Docker.

  • Simple app tile dashboard
  • Enhanced tiles with live data
  • Search bar integration
  • Easy to use

Read the full Heimdall guide →

Dashy vs Heimdall: key differences

Dashy is written in Vue, while Heimdall is built with PHP. Heimdall is the more established project (first released 2017), while Dashy arrived in 2021. Dashy has the considerably larger community, at 26,552 GitHub stars versus 9,331.

Why pick each one

Choose Dashy if…

  • Very feature-rich
  • Lots of themes
  • Built-in status checks

Watch out for

  • Many options to configure
  • Slower recent development
Dashy details

Choose Heimdall if…

  • Very simple to set up
  • Clean look
  • Low maintenance

Watch out for

  • Limited widgets
  • Slow development pace
Heimdall details

Frequently asked questions

Is Dashy or Heimdall better?

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

Are Dashy and Heimdall free and open-source?

Yes. Dashy is licensed under MIT and Heimdall under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Dashy and Heimdall with Docker?

Dashy: yes. Heimdall: yes.

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