GNOME Calendar vs khal
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted calendar & contacts options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | GNOME Calendar | khal |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Calendar & Contacts | Calendar & Contacts |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 300 | ★ 3,053 |
| First released | 2015 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Google Calendar | Google Calendar |
What are GNOME Calendar and khal?
GNOME Calendar
GNOME Calendar is a clean and uncluttered desktop calendar application that integrates with GNOME Online Accounts and can connect to self-hosted CalDAV servers for synchronizing events.
- Clean desktop calendar
- CalDAV server support
- GNOME Online Accounts integration
khal
khal is a standards-based command-line calendar program that reads and writes iCalendar files and works with vdirsyncer to synchronize against self-hosted CalDAV servers. It offers an interactive console interface.
- Command-line CalDAV calendar
- Works with vdirsyncer
- Interactive console interface
GNOME Calendar vs khal: key differences
GNOME Calendar is written in C, while khal is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for GNOME Calendar versus MIT for khal. Khal is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for GNOME Calendar. Khal is the more established project (first released 2013), while GNOME Calendar arrived in 2015. Khal has the considerably larger community, at 3,053 GitHub stars versus 300.
Why pick each one
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
Choose khal if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is GNOME Calendar or khal better?
Neither is universally better. khal 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 GNOME Calendar and khal free and open-source?
Yes. GNOME Calendar is licensed under GPL-3.0 and khal under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GNOME Calendar and khal with Docker?
GNOME Calendar: check the project docs for container support. khal: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, GNOME Calendar or khal?
khal has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for GNOME Calendar. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.