Sampler Dashboard vs What's Up Status
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?
Sampler Dashboard
Terminal dashboard for visualizing shell command output
VS
What's Up Status
Static status and link dashboard from JSON
| Feature | Sampler Dashboard | What's Up Status |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Dashboards & Startpages | Dashboards & Startpages |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,727 | ★ 34,425 |
| First released | 2019 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Grafana | Heimdall |
Why pick each one
Choose What's Up Status if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 34.4k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Sampler Dashboard or What's Up Status better?
Neither is universally better. What's Up Status has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Sampler Dashboard and What's Up Status free and open-source?
Yes. Sampler Dashboard is licensed under GPL-3.0 and What's Up Status under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sampler Dashboard and What's Up Status with Docker?
Sampler Dashboard: check the project docs for container support. What's Up Status: yes.