Cal.com (Cal.diy) Review

Cal.diy is the open-source community edition of Cal.com, a fork with enterprise and commercial code removed, with no hosted version, so you run it on your own infrastructure. Enterprise features are removed: Teams, Organizations, Insights, Workflows, and SSO or SAML, and no license key or Cal.com account is needed. The whole codebase is MIT, with no open-core split. OpenAlternative lists event types, recurring and seated bookings, Stripe and PayPal payments, buffer times, date overrides, out-of-office blocks, calendar sync (Google, Outlook, Apple, CalDAV, Exchange), video conferencing (Zoom, Meet, Teams, Jitsi), webhooks, analytics, embeds, a v2 REST API, and email, Google, and Microsoft login. Optional integrations are Google Calendar, Microsoft 365, Zoho Calendar, Zoom, Daily.co (with DAILY_SCALE_PLAN=true for recording), HubSpot, ZohoCRM, Zoho Bigin, Pipedrive, Basecamp 3, and Webex, each needing its own OAuth credentials and a redirect URI of the form <Cal.diy URL>/api/integrations/<service>/callback. The hosted Cal.com product, by contrast, offers round-robin scheduling, routing forms, workflows, SAML SSO, SCIM, and compliance certifications on its paid plans.

Requirements are Node.js 18.x or later, PostgreSQL 13.x or later, and Yarn, with Docker and Docker Compose for the yarn dx quick start or Docker deployment. Manual setup is to clone the repository, run yarn, copy .env.example to .env, generate NEXTAUTH_SECRET with openssl rand -base64 32 and CALENDSO_ENCRYPTION_KEY with openssl rand -base64 24, set DATABASE_URL, run the Prisma migrations (db-migrate for development, db-deploy for production, noting that db-migrate can clear development data in some cases), and start with yarn dev. With Docker you can use the prebuilt calcom/cal.diy image or build from source with DOCKER_BUILDKIT=0 docker compose build calcom, set the secret keys (plus VAPID keys for push notifications), run docker compose up -d, and the app is at localhost:3000 with a setup wizard for the first user. One-click deploys are listed for Railway, Northflank, Render, Elestio, and Vercel (which needs the Pro plan because of serverless function limits). Other settings include NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBAPP_URL, NEXTAUTH_URL, MAX_OLD_SPACE_SIZE (default 4096 for builds), CALCOM_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 to turn off anonymous usage data, and optional Unkey rate limiting. Upgrades are git pull, yarn, migrations, yarn predev to check .env changes, and a restart, or for Docker docker compose down, pull, update env vars, and up -d. Troubleshooting notes cover CLIENT_FETCH_ERROR in Docker (set NEXTAUTH_URL to http://localhost:3000/api/auth), a Windows symlink error on packages/prisma/.env, and Prisma user.create errors. The README warns that you must replace the default secret placeholders in production and that self-hosting requires server administration, database, and secrets-management skills.

Invitees see a clean booking page for each event type, and you manage availability, calendars, and integrations from the dashboard. Without Teams and Workflows, you do not get round-robin scheduling for groups or automated reminders in the same way as the hosted product. This section reflects the README, pricing page, and OpenAlternative; we did not deploy Cal.diy.

• Event types, recurring and seated bookings, and buffer times
• Calendar sync with Google, Microsoft 365, Apple, CalDAV, and Exchange
• Video links for Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Jitsi, and Daily.co
• Stripe and PayPal payments, webhooks, and embeds
• v2 REST API and automation tool support
• MIT license with no enterprise-only code

• A genuinely MIT-licensed scheduler with a broad set of integrations
• Free of per-seat fees and in your control
• Well-known codebase, with about 49,000 stars
• Docker, prebuilt images, and one-click deployment options, with clear upgrade and troubleshooting notes

• Lacks Teams, Organizations, Insights, Workflows, and SSO or SAML
• The README says it is intended for personal, non-production use and not for commercial or enterprise scheduling, and contributions to Cal.diy do not flow into Cal.com
• No hosted version, so you handle servers, security, upgrades, and secret rotation
• Each integration needs its own OAuth credentials and redirect URL, and Vercel deployment needs the Pro plan
• Last commit was about 17 days before this review, slower than some peers

Cal.diy is free under the MIT license. The hosted Cal.com product has Free ($0 for 1 user, with unlimited event types, 100+ integrations, and Stripe and PayPal payments), Teams at $12/user/month billed yearly (shared availability, round-robin, collective and managed events, routing forms, and analytics), Organizations at $28/user/month billed yearly (sub-teams, SAML SSO and SCIM, and SOC 2, HIPAA, and ISO 27001 compliance), and Enterprise (custom, with SLAs and a dedicated database), with 14-day trials on the paid plans.

Calendly, Doodle, and Clockwise are hosted scheduling services with polished team features and support. Cal.diy gives individuals a self-hosted, MIT-licensed way to run booking pages with payments, calendar sync, and video links, without per-seat pricing. If you need team scheduling, workflows, analytics, or SSO, you need the hosted Cal.com or Calendly rather than this community edition.

• Individuals and freelancers who want a self-hosted booking page
• Developers who want an MIT-licensed scheduler they can extend
• Hobbyists who enjoy running their own infrastructure

• Teams that need round-robin, workflows, insights, or SSO
• Businesses that need production-grade reliability and support
• Anyone who does not want to manage a server and database