calcurse vs Open Event Server
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?
calcurse
Text-based calendar and scheduling application
VS
Open Event Server
Self-hosted event management and ticketing backend
| Feature | calcurse | Open Event Server |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Calendar & Contacts | Calendar & Contacts |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 16 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,301 | ★ 3,006 |
| First released | 2004 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Google Calendar | Eventbrite, Sched |
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 Open Event Server if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is calcurse or Open Event Server better?
Neither is universally better. Open Event Server 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 Open Event Server free and open-source?
Yes. calcurse is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Open Event Server under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run calcurse and Open Event Server with Docker?
calcurse: check the project docs for container support. Open Event Server: yes.