Cal.com vs Trilium
Is it time to switch? We break down the differences so you can stop bleeding money.
Choose Cal.com.
If you want to own your data, save money, and avoid vendor lock-in, Cal.com is more popular among developers.
What Actually Matters
No fluff — just the differences that affect your decision
Both open source, different licenses: Cal.com uses MIT, Trilium uses AGPL-3.0. Check the fine print if you're building commercial.
Both can run on your own metal with Docker. Full data ownership, no cloud dependency. We have deploy guides for each.
Cal.com leads at 49.0k stars vs 38.3k, but both have solid communities. You won't be alone with either choice.
Both written in TypeScript. Same ecosystem, same talent pool — makes switching easier if you ever need to.
Try both — most offer free tiers. The right pick depends on your stack size, team, and tolerance for DevOps.
Cal.com
The open-source Calendly alternative. Take control of your scheduling.
Why Choose Cal.com
- ✓Self-hosted scheduling — no data leaves your server
- ✓Deeply extensible with a plugin architecture and API
- ✓Round-robin, collective, and managed event types
Drawbacks
- ×Can be overkill for simple use cases
Trilium
A hierarchical note-taking application built on TypeScript and available for desktop platforms, allowing users to organize and build their personal knowledge base. Supports data synchronization, tagging, and media embedding.
Why Choose Trilium
- ✓Built on TypeScript — ensuring a robust and maintainable architecture
- ✓Supports data synchronization — keeping notes up-to-date across devices
- ✓Hierarchical organization — enabling users to build a structured knowledge base
Drawbacks
- ×Self-hosting can be complex
- ×Smaller ecosystem compared to other note-taking applications
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