OpenCalendar Sync vs khal
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?
OpenCalendar Sync
Self-hosted shared calendar with public event pages
VS
khal
Command-line calendar built on CalDAV
| Feature | OpenCalendar Sync | khal |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Calendar & Contacts | Calendar & Contacts |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 852 | ★ 3,039 |
| First released | 2014 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Calendly, Google Calendar | Google Calendar |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenCalendar Sync if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose khal if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenCalendar Sync or khal better?
Neither is universally better. khal has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are OpenCalendar Sync and khal free and open-source?
Yes. OpenCalendar Sync is licensed under MIT and khal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenCalendar Sync and khal with Docker?
OpenCalendar Sync: yes. khal: check the project docs for container support.