Dune Announces Major Overhaul to Dashboard Refresh Policy
March 4, 2026 – DeFi News Desk
Dune, the popular analytics platform for decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto research, has unveiled a new approach to keeping its public dashboards up‑to‑date. Starting Monday, July 24, 2026, the automatic “Time‑to‑Live” (TTL) refresh that has historically refreshed dashboards older than six hours on Dune (and 24 hours on the Spark layer) will be disabled for all content. In its place, Dune will employ a demand‑driven refresh system that prioritises the most heavily accessed dashboards.
What’s Changing
- TTL removal: The blanket auto‑refresh that refreshed every dashboard on a fixed schedule will cease.
- Dynamic refresh: When users visit dune.com, the platform will automatically refresh the most popular dashboards more frequently, while less‑used dashboards will be refreshed on a longer interval.
- User‑controlled updates: A “Run” button and new scheduling tools, introduced over recent months, give creators the ability to trigger refreshes on their own terms.
- Cost‑recovery for parameterised queries: Credits will now be charged when users apply parameters to a dashboard, discouraging gratuitous runs that provide limited community value.
Why the Shift
Dune has been shouldering the operational cost of updating hundreds of thousands of dashboards as a goodwill gesture to its community of “wizards” (dashboard creators). While this has helped maintain a rich ecosystem of public‑good analytics, the indiscriminate refresh model proved unsustainable: many dashboards see little traffic yet consume the same resources as high‑impact dashboards.
The platform’s recent enhancements—clearer data‑age indicators, scheduling options, and credit‑based usage for parameterised queries—lay the groundwork for a more selective refresh strategy that aligns resources with community demand.
Potential Impact on Users
| Aspect | Before July 24 | After July 24 |
|---|---|---|
| Data freshness for popular dashboards | Up to 6‑hour lag (TTL) | Potentially fresher, as refresh frequency scales with usage |
| Data freshness for low‑traffic dashboards | Up to 6‑hour lag (TTL) | May see longer intervals between updates |
| Control over refreshes | Limited (automatic) | Creators can manually trigger runs or schedule them |
| Cost for parameterised runs | Free (subsidised) | Credits deducted per run |
| Overall platform sustainability | Increasing cost pressure | Reduced waste, better allocation of compute resources |
Analyst View
The move reflects a broader trend in the crypto analytics space toward resource‑aware scaling. As the number of public dashboards continues to explode, platforms must balance openness with operational viability. By tying refresh frequency to traffic, Dune can:
- Improve user experience for the most visited dashboards, where fresh data is critical for timely trading and research decisions.
- Contain compute expenditures, limiting waste on rarely accessed dashboards that contribute little to the ecosystem.
- Encourage responsible usage through credit‑based pricing for on‑the‑fly queries, potentially nudging creators to optimise their dashboards for efficiency.
However, the change may introduce latency concerns for niche dashboards that serve specialized research niches. Users relying on those assets will need to either schedule manual refreshes or accept a longer data lag. The new “Run” button and scheduling tools mitigate this risk, but adoption will depend on community awareness and willingness to manage their own refresh cycles.
Key Takeaways
- TTL auto‑refresh ends on July 24, 2026. All dashboards will stop refreshing on a fixed six‑hour schedule.
- Dynamic, popularity‑driven refreshes will keep high‑traffic dashboards more current while reducing unnecessary updates for low‑traffic ones.
- Creators gain direct control over when their dashboards update via manual run and scheduling features.
- Parameterised queries now cost credits, aligning usage with platform sustainability.
- Overall, the policy aims to preserve Dune’s public‑good ethos while ensuring long‑term cost efficiency and a better experience for the most active users.
Dune’s leadership emphasized that the transition is part of an ongoing effort to keep the platform “the most reliable source of on‑chain data” while protecting the infrastructure that powers it. As the DeFi analytics landscape evolves, stakeholders will be watching closely to see how these changes affect data accessibility, research workflows, and the broader ecosystem of open‑source crypto intelligence.
Source: https://dune.com/blog/changes-to-dashboard-refreshes
