Baikal: Calendar and contacts server
Baikal is a self-hosted calendar and contacts tool. Calendar and contacts server.
Why self-host Baikal
The case for running Baikal at home is straightforward: you get the full feature set, no subscription cost, and no data sitting on someone else’s server.
What it does
Baikal falls into the Calendar, Contacts category of self-hosted software. It is designed to be deployed on your own infrastructure, whether that is a home server, a VPS, or a local machine running Docker.
Community traction
The project has 2k stars on GitHub, which is a reasonable proxy for how widely it is used. Active repositories tend to ship bug fixes faster and have better documentation than projects that stall after the initial release.
Deployment
Most users run Baikal via Docker Compose. The typical setup involves one or two containers and a volume for persistent data.
Alternatives
If Baikal does not fit your needs, common alternatives include Google Calendar, Google Contacts. The self-hosted versions of these tools often differ in resource requirements and feature focus, so it is worth testing the one that matches your workload.
Maturity
The current version is 0.9.5, which means the project is still pre-1.0. That is not a disqualifier, but it is worth checking the changelog before upgrading in a setup where stability matters.
License
It is licensed under GPL-3.0, making it freely available for personal and commercial use.
Links
For anyone already running a home server, Baikal is a natural addition. It handles calendar and contacts without requiring a paid subscription or an account with a third party.