SHSelfHostIndex

khal vs Decsync Calendar Sync

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?
KH khal Command-line calendar built on CalDAV VS DE Decsync Calendar Sync File-based calendar and contacts synchronization
FeaturekhalDecsync Calendar Sync
CategoryCalendar & ContactsCalendar & Contacts
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonKotlin
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB128 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcesource, binary
GitHub stars★ 3,039★ 696
First released20132018
ReplacesGoogle CalendarGoogle Calendar

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
khal details

Choose Decsync Calendar Sync if…

  • Server-free architecture
  • Privacy friendly
Decsync Calendar Sync details

Frequently asked questions

Is khal or Decsync Calendar Sync better?

Neither is universally better. khal has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are khal and Decsync Calendar Sync free and open-source?

Yes. khal is licensed under MIT and Decsync Calendar Sync under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run khal and Decsync Calendar Sync with Docker?

khal: check the project docs for container support. Decsync Calendar Sync: check the project docs for container support.

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