tidycal vs Baïkal

Compare tidycal and Baïkal on pricing, features, platforms, and ratings — both Calendar tools, Freemium vs Free (open source) pricing to decide which fits…

At a Glance

 tidycalBaïkal
Primary categoryCalendarCalendar
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelFreemiumFree (open source)
Starting price$0Free
Free planYesNot documented
Free trialNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsWebWeb
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresNot documentedNot documented
Public APINot documentedYes

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

tidycal

No individual plan breakdown documented yet.

Baïkal

No individual plan breakdown documented yet.

Pros & Cons

tidycal

Pros

  • Genuinely free-forever plan with unlimited bookings and booking types, not just a trial.
  • Sells one-time "lifetime" plans ($29 Individual, $79 Agency) as an alternative to a recurring subscription.
  • Auto-generates Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams links for booked meetings from the Individual Lifetime tier up.
  • Recognized as a #1 Product of the Day on Product Hunt, per a badge shown on the homepage.

Cons

  • Removing TidyCal branding and using a custom domain requires the separate Pro subscription ($12/mo, or $99/yr billed annually) on top of a lifetime purchase.
  • SMS reminders are limited to the US & Canada, per the Agency Lifetime plan description.
  • The AI booking assistant and group bookings aren't available on the free plan — they start at the paid Individual Lifetime tier.

Baïkal

Pros

  • Free and open source under the GPL v3 license
  • Lightweight with minimal server requirements
  • Broad compatibility with major calendar and contacts clients
  • Simple installation via web installer or Docker

Cons

  • Minimal feature set compared to full groupware suites
  • Development pace has slowed with less frequent releases
  • Requires self-hosting and manual server maintenance

Use Cases

tidycal

Baïkal

  • Privacy-focused calendar sync — Individuals who want to self-host calendar and contact sync instead of using a third-party cloud provider.
  • Homelab self-hosting — Self-hosting enthusiasts running personal infrastructure who want a lightweight CalDAV/CardDAV server.
  • Small team calendar sharing — Small teams or families wanting shared calendars and contacts without a commercial service.

Read the full tidycal review · Read the full Baïkal review