DavMail vs EteSync
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?
DavMail
POP/IMAP/SMTP/Caldav/Carddav/LDAP exchange gateway allowing users to
VS
EteSync
End-to-end encrypted sync for contacts and calendars
| Feature | DavMail | EteSync |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Calendar & Contacts | Calendar & Contacts |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Java | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 751 | ★ 1,765 |
| First released | 2020 | 2017 |
| Replaces | — | Google Calendar, iCloud |
Why pick each one
Choose DavMail if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Java
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose EteSync if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is DavMail or EteSync better?
Neither is universally better. EteSync has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are DavMail and EteSync free and open-source?
Yes. DavMail is licensed under GPL-2.0 and EteSync under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run DavMail and EteSync with Docker?
DavMail: check the project docs for container support. EteSync: yes.