khal vs Horde Kronolith
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted calendar & contacts options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | khal | Horde Kronolith |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 69 · Good | 69 · Good |
| Category | Calendar & Contacts | Calendar & Contacts |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,054 | ★ 10 |
| First released | 2013 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Google Calendar | Google Calendar, Exchange |
What are khal and Horde Kronolith?
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
Horde Kronolith
Kronolith is the calendar component of the Horde groupware framework. It provides shared calendars, event management, and supports CalDAV synchronization with desktop and mobile clients.
- Part of Horde groupware
- Shared calendar support
- CalDAV synchronization
khal vs Horde Kronolith: key differences
Khal is written in Python, while Horde Kronolith is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for khal versus GPL-2.0 for Horde Kronolith. Khal is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Horde Kronolith. Horde Kronolith is the more established project (first released 2003), while khal arrived in 2013. Khal has the considerably larger community, at 3,054 GitHub stars versus 10.
Why pick each one
Choose khal if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Horde Kronolith if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is khal or Horde Kronolith better?
khal is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Horde Kronolith if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are khal and Horde Kronolith free and open-source?
Yes. khal is licensed under MIT and Horde Kronolith under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run khal and Horde Kronolith with Docker?
khal: check the project docs for container support. Horde Kronolith: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, khal or Horde Kronolith?
khal has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Horde Kronolith. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.