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.
Not the right match-up?
khal
Command-line calendar built on CalDAV
VS
Horde Kronolith
Calendar application from the Horde groupware suite
| Feature | khal | Horde Kronolith |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ★ 3,039 | ★ 10 |
| First released | 2013 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Google Calendar | Google Calendar, Exchange |
Why pick each one
Choose khal if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3k 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.