calcurse vs Etar
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted calendar & contacts options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | calcurse | Etar |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 77 · Good | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Calendar & Contacts | Calendar & Contacts |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 16 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,303 | ★ 2,603 |
| First released | 2004 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Google Calendar | Google Calendar |
What are calcurse and Etar?
calcurse
calcurse is a text-based personal organizer with a calendar, an appointments list, and a to-do manager, all in a curses interface. It supports CalDAV synchronization so it can connect to self-hosted calendar servers.
- Text-based calendar and to-do
- CalDAV synchronization
- Very low resource use
Etar
Etar is an open-source Android calendar app forked from AOSP Calendar. It has no server of its own: pair it with DAVx5 and any self-hosted CalDAV server such as Radicale, Baikal or Nextcloud to keep events under your control.
- CalDAV support
- Event API
- Mobile sync friendly
- Open data formats
calcurse vs Etar: key differences
Calcurse is written in C, while Etar is built with Java. Licensing differs — BSD-2-Clause for calcurse versus GPL-3.0 for Etar. Calcurse is the lighter option, starting around 16 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Etar. Calcurse is the more established project (first released 2004), while Etar arrived in 2016.
Why pick each one
Choose calcurse if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Choose Etar if…
- Open ecosystem
- No vendor lock-in
Watch out for
- Mainly a client project
- Server piece is minimal
Frequently asked questions
Is calcurse or Etar better?
Neither is universally better. Etar has the larger community, while calcurse is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are calcurse and Etar free and open-source?
Yes. calcurse is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Etar under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run calcurse and Etar with Docker?
calcurse: check the project docs for container support. Etar: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, calcurse or Etar?
calcurse has the smaller minimum footprint at 16 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Etar. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.