Dashy vs Flame: Lightweight Dashboards Compared

Quick Verdict

Dashy if you want a dashboard you’ll customize for hours. Flame if you want a dashboard you’ll set up in five minutes and never touch again. They target different ends of the dashboard spectrum — Dashy is feature-rich and endlessly configurable, Flame is deliberately minimal with just bookmarks, a weather widget, and a search bar. If you’re reading a comparison article between these two, you probably want Dashy.

What These Dashboards Actually Do

Flame is a startpage. You get a grid of bookmarks organized into categories, a search bar, and a weather widget. That’s it. No service integrations, no status monitoring, no API, no plugins. It stores everything in a SQLite database, configurable through its web UI. The developer built Flame because other dashboards were too complex for what most people actually use a dashboard for — clicking links to their services.

Dashy is a configurable dashboard with 50+ built-in themes, a widget system, status checking, multiple authentication options, a visual config editor, and enough settings to keep you busy for a weekend. Configuration lives in a YAML file, and the app gives you both a GUI editor and direct YAML editing. It is arguably over-engineered for a bookmark page — and that’s exactly why its users love it.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Dashy	Flame
Configuration	YAML file + GUI editor	Web UI only
Themes	50+ built-in, custom CSS	Light/dark mode, custom colors
Status monitoring	HTTP, ping, port checks	No
Widgets	Clock, weather, search, system info, custom	Weather, search
Docker integration	No	Docker API for auto-discovery
Authentication	Built-in, Keycloak, OAuth	Basic password
Icon support	Font Awesome, Material, Dashboard Icons, custom SVG	Dashboard Icons, custom URLs
Search	Built-in with web fallback	Configurable search providers
Bookmarks	In YAML config	Web UI with drag-and-drop
Multi-tab	Sections with collapse	Categories
Custom CSS/JS	Full support	No
API	REST API	REST API
Keyboard shortcuts	Yes	No
Mobile responsive	Yes	Yes
Database	None (YAML file)	SQLite
Framework	Vue.js	React + Express
License	MIT	MIT
Last updated	2025	2023 (maintenance mode)

Docker Setup

Dashy

services:
  dashy:
    image: lissy93/dashy:3.1.1
    container_name: dashy
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "4000:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./dashy-conf.yml:/app/user-data/conf.yml
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "node", "/app/services/healthcheck"]
      interval: 1m30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 40s

Dashy takes 15-20 seconds to start while it builds the Vue.js app. After that, it’s responsive.

Flame

services:
  flame:
    image: pawelmalak/flame:2.3.1
    container_name: flame
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5005:5005"
    volumes:
      - flame_data:/app/data           # Bookmarks and settings (SQLite)
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro  # Optional: auto-discover Docker containers
    environment:
      - PASSWORD=change_this_password   # CHANGE THIS: dashboard login password

volumes:
  flame_data:

Flame starts in under 3 seconds. Add bookmarks through the web UI at http://your-server:5005.

The Real Difference: Time Investment

This is what it comes down to:

Flame: Deploy. Set password. Add bookmarks via the web UI. Done. Total setup time: 10 minutes. You’ll check on it once a month to add a new service link.

Dashy: Deploy. Choose a theme. Tweak the theme. Add sections. Configure icons. Set up status checks. Enable keyboard shortcuts. Add widgets. Customize the search providers. Set up authentication. Share your screenshot on r/selfhosted. Spend the next evening fine-tuning CSS. Total setup time: 2-8 hours, and you’ll revisit it regularly.

Neither is wrong. They’re for different people.

Development Status

This matters for your long-term choice:

Metric	Dashy	Flame
GitHub stars	18K+	5K+
Last commit	2025	2023
Open issues	100+	200+ (many stale)
Active development	Moderate	Maintenance mode
Community	Active (Discord, Reddit)	Small

Flame’s developer has stepped back from active development. The app works and is stable, but don’t expect new features. Dashy has a larger community and continues to receive updates, though the pace has slowed. If you want active development, consider Homepage instead — it’s the most actively maintained dashboard right now.

Performance

Metric	Dashy	Flame
RAM (idle)	~100 MB	~30 MB
CPU	Very low	Negligible
Docker image size	~300 MB	~150 MB
Cold start	15-20 seconds	2-3 seconds
Page load	Fast after build	Instant

Flame is dramatically lighter. If you’re running on a Raspberry Pi with tight RAM, Flame’s 30 MB footprint vs Dashy’s 100 MB makes a real difference when you’re also running Pi-hole, Jellyfin, and half a dozen other services.

Docker Auto-Discovery

Interestingly, Flame has a feature Dashy lacks: Docker container auto-discovery. Mount the Docker socket and add labels to your containers:

labels:
  - flame.type=app
  - flame.name=Jellyfin
  - flame.url=http://your-server:8096
  - flame.icon=jellyfin

Flame automatically picks up labeled containers and adds them to your dashboard. Dashy requires manual entry in the YAML config for every service. For Docker-native auto-discovery with a richer widget system, Homepage does both.

Use Cases

Choose Dashy If…

• You enjoy customizing your dashboard and consider it part of the hobby
• You want 50+ themes and full CSS control
• You need status monitoring for your services
• You want keyboard shortcuts and a polished power-user experience
• You want widgets beyond simple bookmarks

Choose Flame If…

• You want a simple startpage and nothing more
• RAM is tight and every megabyte matters
• You prefer adding bookmarks through a web UI, not editing YAML
• You want Docker container auto-discovery without complex config
• You value speed — 3-second startup, instant page loads

Choose Neither — Consider Homepage

If you want the best of both worlds — YAML configuration with deep service widgets, low resource usage, and active development — Homepage is the strongest option in the dashboard space right now. It’s more functional than both Dashy and Flame while being lighter than Dashy.

Final Verdict

Flame is the better choice if a dashboard is a utility for you — a page you open to click links. It does that job with minimal resource usage and zero maintenance.

Dashy is the better choice if a dashboard is a project — something you configure, theme, and show off. It rewards the time you put into it with a genuinely impressive result.

For most self-hosters building a new stack today, I’d recommend looking at Homepage first. But between these two: Dashy for tinkerers, Flame for pragmatists.

Related

• How to Self-Host Dashy
• How to Self-Host Homarr
• How to Self-Host Homepage
• Homarr vs Dashy
• Homarr vs Homepage
• Homepage vs Dashy
• Best Self-Hosted Dashboards
• Docker Compose Basics