Alternatives to Google Calendar
Keep your schedule on a server you choose, with apps that do not need a Google account.
Ranked by score out of 30, most convivial first.
DAVx5
An Android app that syncs your calendars, contacts and tasks with a server you choose.
Fossify Calendar
A plain Android calendar with no ads, no tracking and no internet permission.
Radicale
A small calendar and contacts server that keeps everything as plain files in a folder.
Etar
A material-design calendar for Android that shows whatever calendars your phone already syncs.
Baïkal
A calendar and contacts server for CalDAV and CardDAV, now kept up by volunteers.
Proton Calendar
An end-to-end encrypted calendar from Proton, where Proton says it cannot read your event details.
For comparison
The big names these tools are measured against. We review them as benchmarks, so they sit outside the directory.
About these tools
A calendar is a quiet record of your life, and the standard that lets you keep it anywhere is CalDAV. Radicale and Baïkal are small servers that speak it, DAVx5 points an Android phone at them, and Fossify Calendar and Etar are plain Android calendar apps that show what the phone syncs. Proton Calendar takes another route, a hosted calendar where Proton says it cannot read event details.
Most of these are parts of a set, so read them together. A server, a sync app and a calendar app make a calendar that is yours, and each piece is free software you can swap.
How to choose
Decide who will run the server. If you can host something small, Radicale or Baïkal with DAVx5 gives you a calendar with no company in it. If you want it done for you, Proton Calendar is a hosted option with encryption. Either way, check that invitations from people on Google still reach you, since shared calendars are where the giant keeps its hold.
Frequently asked questions
What can I use instead of Google Calendar on Android?
Fossify Calendar and Etar are open calendar apps, and DAVx5 syncs them with a server you choose.
Is there an encrypted calendar?
Proton Calendar encrypts event details end to end, and Proton says it cannot read them.