Agenda vs Radicale
| Tagline | Node.js job scheduling library with persistent MongoDB-backed queue | Lightweight CalDAV and CardDAV server with minimal configuration |
| Category | Scheduling & Booking | Scheduling & Booking |
| Replaces | Calendly | Calendly, Acuity Scheduling |
| GitHub stars | 9.7k | 4.9k |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 2/5 Easy |
| Deploy options | Manual Docker | Docker Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 12 days ago | 14 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Agenda
- Library only — no UI for managing or viewing scheduled jobs without additional tooling
- Requires MongoDB; not suitable for simple SQLite/Postgres-only stacks
- No native support for distributed locking at high scale
Radicale
- No web-based calendar UI; clients must use a CalDAV-compatible app (Thunderbird, Apple Calendar, etc.)
- Not a booking/scheduling tool; no public booking pages or availability sharing like Calendly
- Scaling beyond a handful of users is not a design goal
- Lacks push notifications; relies on client polling
Bottom line
Choose Radicale if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Agenda for the larger community and ecosystem. Agenda has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.