Homepage vs Dashy: Self-Hosted Dashboards Compared

Quick Verdict

Homepage is the better dashboard for most self-hosters. It has more service integrations (100+ vs Dashy’s ~30), uses less memory, starts faster, and its YAML-first approach plays well with git and Docker Compose workflows. Dashy is the pick if visual customization is your top priority — 50+ built-in themes, full CSS overrides, and a web-based config editor give it an edge in aesthetics. But for functionality, Homepage wins.

Updated March 2026: Verified with latest Docker images and configurations.

The Core Difference

Both Homepage and Dashy are YAML-configured dashboards, but they interpret “YAML-configured” differently.

Homepage treats YAML as the primary interface. You define services in services.yaml, bookmarks in bookmarks.yaml, and settings in settings.yaml. There’s no web-based editor — you edit files, and the dashboard reloads. This is a feature, not a limitation. Your dashboard config lives alongside your Docker Compose files, version-controlled and reproducible.

Dashy stores everything in a single conf.yml but also ships a built-in visual config editor in the web UI. You can edit YAML directly or use the GUI. In practice, most Dashy users start with the GUI, get frustrated with its limitations, and end up editing YAML anyway. The hybrid approach sounds appealing but means neither interface is fully polished.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Homepage	Dashy
Service widgets	100+ with live API data	~30 widgets, less service-specific
Configuration	Multi-file YAML (services, bookmarks, settings, docker)	Single conf.yml + optional GUI editor
Themes	Light/dark, custom color schemes	50+ built-in themes, full CSS override
Docker integration	Container status, stats, auto-discovery	No native Docker integration
Kubernetes support	Native	No
Status monitoring	Ping + HTTP checks	Built-in checks (HTTP, ping, port scan)
Search	Configurable providers (Google, DuckDuckGo, etc.)	Built-in with web search fallback
Authentication	None built-in (use auth proxy)	Built-in auth, Keycloak, OAuth
Icon support	Dashboard Icons, URLs, Material Design	Dashboard Icons, Font Awesome, Material, custom SVG
Bookmarks	Dedicated bookmarks.yaml	Inline with services
Multi-tab / sections	Service groups + tab layout	Sections with collapsible groups
Custom CSS/JS	Yes	Yes
Mobile responsive	Yes	Yes
API	No	Yes
Version control	Excellent (plain YAML files)	Good (single YAML file)
Database	None	None
Framework	Next.js	Vue.js
License	GPL-2.0	MIT

Docker Compose Setup

Homepage

services:
  homepage:
    image: ghcr.io/gethomepage/homepage:v1.11.0
    container_name: homepage
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./homepage/config:/app/config          # YAML configuration files
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro  # Docker integration (optional)
    environment:
      - HOMEPAGE_ALLOWED_HOSTS=homepage.example.com,localhost  # Required: allowed hostnames
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000

Create the config directory and add your service definitions:

mkdir -p homepage/config

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

Create a starter dashy-conf.yml:

pageInfo:
  title: My Dashboard
sections:
  - name: Services
    items:
      - title: Portainer
        url: http://your-server:9000
        icon: hl-portainer
appConfig:
  theme: one-dark
  statusCheck: true

Widget Ecosystem

This is Homepage’s strongest advantage. It has native widgets for:

Category	Homepage Widgets	Dashy Equivalent
Media (*arr stack)	Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Bazarr, Overseerr, Tautulli, Jellyfin, Plex, Emby	Generic iframe or status check
Download clients	qBittorrent, Transmission, Deluge, SABnzbd, NZBGet	Generic status check
System monitoring	Glances, Netdata	Glances widget available
Infrastructure	Proxmox, Portainer, Traefik, AdGuard Home, Pi-hole	Limited API widgets
DNS/Network	Pi-hole, AdGuard Home, Unifi, OPNsense, pfSense	Status check only
Productivity	Paperless-ngx, Immich, Nextcloud, Calendar	Limited

Homepage widgets pull live data — active downloads, upcoming episodes, storage usage, DNS query counts. Dashy’s status checks tell you whether a service is responding but don’t show what it’s doing.

If you run a media stack (Sonarr, Radarr, Jellyfin, qBittorrent), Homepage’s widgets are a significant quality-of-life improvement over any other dashboard.

Theming and Customization

Dashy wins here, convincingly. It ships with 50+ themes — from minimal dark modes to retro terminal aesthetics to glass-morphism designs. Switching themes is a single line in conf.yml:

appConfig:
  theme: dracula

Custom CSS is injected via the config file, and Dashy’s DOM is structured with enough classes that deep customization is practical.

Homepage keeps things simpler. Light mode, dark mode, and a customcss field in settings.yaml for overrides. The design is clean and professional, but there’s less to work with out of the box. Most Homepage deployments look similar.

Performance and Resource Usage

Metric	Homepage	Dashy
RAM (idle)	~80 MB	~100 MB
RAM (with widgets active)	~120 MB	~120 MB
CPU	Very low	Very low
Disk (image size)	~200 MB	~300 MB
Cold start time	~5 seconds	~15-20 seconds
Hot reload on config change	Instant	Requires rebuild/restart

Homepage is lighter and starts faster. Both run comfortably on a Raspberry Pi or a minimal VPS. The startup time difference matters if you restart containers frequently — Dashy’s Vue.js build step during startup adds noticeable delay.

Community and Development

Metric	Homepage	Dashy
GitHub stars	22K+	18K+
Contributors	200+	100+
Release cadence	Weekly-biweekly	Monthly
Last release	February 2026	2025
Documentation	Excellent (dedicated docs site)	Good (GitHub wiki + demo)
Discord community	Active	Active

Both have healthy communities, but Homepage is more actively developed with more frequent releases and a broader contributor base. Dashy’s development pace has slowed compared to its initial momentum.

Authentication

Dashy has built-in auth — basic password protection, multi-user accounts, and Keycloak/OAuth integration. This is useful if you expose your dashboard to the internet.

Homepage has no built-in auth. The intended approach is an authentication proxy (Authentik, Authelia, or your reverse proxy’s basic auth). This is actually the better security model for most setups — centralized auth at the proxy layer protects everything behind it, not just the dashboard.

Use Cases

Choose Homepage If…

• You manage services with Docker Compose and want your dashboard config in the same workflow
• You run a media stack and want live widgets showing download progress, upcoming episodes, and library stats
• You value startup speed and low resource usage
• You want Kubernetes or Proxmox integration
• You prefer your entire homelab configuration to be version-controlled

Choose Dashy If…

• Visual theming is a high priority — you want your dashboard to look distinctive
• You prefer a GUI config editor over hand-editing YAML
• You need built-in authentication without setting up an auth proxy
• You want status monitoring with custom check intervals (HTTP, ping, port)
• You enjoy spending time making your dashboard look perfect

Final Verdict

Homepage is the better dashboard for functionality. Its widget ecosystem is unmatched — no other self-hosted dashboard gives you live data from 100+ services out of the box. The YAML-first approach is the right call for infrastructure-minded people who already manage their stack through config files. It’s lighter, faster, and more actively maintained.

Dashy is the better dashboard for aesthetics. If your dashboard is as much a hobby project as a utility — something you want to look at and feel good about — Dashy’s theming system gives you creative control that Homepage can’t match.

For most self-hosters who want a functional dashboard that shows real data from real services, Homepage is the clear pick. Add Homarr to the comparison if you want a GUI-first approach with similar widget depth.

Related

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