Cal.diy vs Radicale
| Tagline | Open-source online appointment scheduling built on Cal.com | Lightweight CalDAV and CardDAV server with minimal configuration |
| Category | Scheduling & Booking | Scheduling & Booking |
| Replaces | Calendly, Acuity Scheduling | Calendly, Acuity Scheduling |
| GitHub stars | 46k | 4.8k |
| Language | Nodejs | Python |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 2/5 Easy |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Docker Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 2 days ago | today |
| 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
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 Cal.diy for the larger community and ecosystem. Radicale has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.