Cal.diy vs GNOME Calendar
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted calendar & contacts options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Cal.diy
Online appointment scheduling system
VS
GNOME Calendar
Simple desktop calendar with CalDAV support
| Feature | Cal.diy | GNOME Calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Calendar & Contacts | Calendar & Contacts |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 47,334 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2026 | 2015 |
| Replaces | — | Google Calendar |
Why pick each one
Choose Cal.diy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 47.3k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose GNOME Calendar if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Cal.diy or GNOME Calendar better?
Neither is universally better. Cal.diy has the larger community, while GNOME Calendar is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cal.diy and GNOME Calendar free and open-source?
Yes. Cal.diy is licensed under MIT and GNOME Calendar under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cal.diy and GNOME Calendar with Docker?
Cal.diy: check the project docs for container support. GNOME Calendar: check the project docs for container support.