SHSelfHostIndex

GNOME Calendar 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?
GN GNOME Calendar Simple desktop calendar with CalDAV support VS OP Open Event Server Self-hosted event management and ticketing backend
FeatureGNOME CalendarOpen Event Server
CategoryCalendar & ContactsCalendar & Contacts
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguageCPython
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM256 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker, source
GitHub stars★ 300★ 3,006
First released20152016
ReplacesGoogle CalendarEventbrite, Sched

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
GNOME Calendar details

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
Open Event Server details

Frequently asked questions

Is GNOME Calendar or Open Event Server better?

Neither is universally better. Open Event Server 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 Open Event Server free and open-source?

Yes. GNOME Calendar is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Open Event Server under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run GNOME Calendar and Open Event Server with Docker?

GNOME Calendar: check the project docs for container support. Open Event Server: yes.

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