Cal.diy vs pretix
| Tagline | Open-source online appointment scheduling built on Cal.com | Open-source ticket sales and event registration platform for any scale |
| Category | Scheduling & Booking | Scheduling & Booking |
| Replaces | Calendly, Acuity Scheduling | Calendly, Acuity Scheduling |
| GitHub stars | 46k | 5.2k |
| Language | Nodejs | Python |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 5 days ago | 1 month 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.
Cal.diy
- Self-hosted setup requires configuring PostgreSQL, email/SMTP, and OAuth providers
- Enterprise features (SAML SSO, workflows at scale, analytics) are cloud-only or require an enterprise license
- Payment collection integrations need additional third-party setup
- Admin UI for multi-tenant management is less polished than Calendly's hosted offering
pretix
- Steeper setup curve than simple booking tools
- No built-in one-on-one appointment scheduling workflow
- Mobile app for organizers is Android/iOS only, not PWA
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; choose Cal.diy for the larger community and ecosystem. Cal.diy has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.