Davis vs Baikal: Which Should You Self-Host?

Quick Verdict

Davis and Baikal are built on the same foundation (sabre/dav) and provide nearly identical CalDAV/CardDAV functionality. Davis has a more modern web dashboard and supports LDAP/IMAP authentication. Baikal is more mature and widely deployed. For most self-hosters, either works — pick Davis if you need LDAP, pick Baikal if you want the most battle-tested option.

Overview

Both Davis and Baikal are PHP-based CalDAV/CardDAV servers that use the sabre/dav library under the hood. They provide the same core protocol support with different administration interfaces and authentication options.

Davis is a Symfony-based application that wraps sabre/dav with a modern admin dashboard, LDAP/IMAP authentication support, and database migration tooling.

Baikal is one of the oldest and most established self-hosted CalDAV/CardDAV servers. It provides a simpler admin interface and uses SQLite or MySQL for storage. It has been a default recommendation in the self-hosting community for years.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Davis	Baikal
CalDAV (calendars)	Yes	Yes
CardDAV (contacts)	Yes	Yes
Underlying library	sabre/dav	sabre/dav
Web admin dashboard	Yes — modern UI	Yes — functional but dated
User management	Web UI + database	Web UI + database
Authentication	Internal, LDAP, IMAP	Internal only
Database backend	MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite	SQLite, MySQL
PostgreSQL support	Yes	No
Calendar subscriptions	Yes	Yes
CalDAV scheduling (iTIP)	Yes	Yes
Framework	Symfony	Custom PHP
Docker image	ghcr.io/tchapi/davis-standalone	ckulka/baikal
License	MIT	GPL-3.0

Installation Complexity

Davis requires running a database migration (bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate) on first setup. It uses Symfony’s configuration system with environment variables. With MariaDB/PostgreSQL, the Compose file includes two services.

Baikal has a web-based setup wizard — you deploy the container, open the browser, and follow the wizard. No CLI commands needed. With SQLite, it’s a single container. The setup experience is more polished for beginners.

Baikal has a slightly easier first-run experience. Davis requires one extra CLI step.

Performance and Resource Usage

Resource	Davis	Baikal
RAM	~50-100 MB (with database)	~30-60 MB (with SQLite)
CPU	Minimal	Minimal
Disk	~200 MB	~100 MB

Both are extremely lightweight. CalDAV/CardDAV operations are infrequent (sync happens every few minutes at most), so neither will consume meaningful resources.

Community and Support

Davis is a smaller project (~300+ GitHub stars) with focused, active development. Documentation covers the essentials.

Baikal is well-established (~2.5K+ GitHub stars) with years of production use across the self-hosting community. It’s one of the most recommended CalDAV/CardDAV servers. Documentation is solid and community knowledge is extensive.

Baikal has the larger community and longer track record.

Use Cases

Choose Davis If…

• You need LDAP or IMAP authentication (integrate with existing user directory)
• You want PostgreSQL support
• You prefer a more modern admin dashboard
• You’re deploying in an environment with Symfony/PHP tooling
• You need to manage users programmatically (CLI + migrations)

Choose Baikal If…

• You want the most battle-tested CalDAV/CardDAV server
• You prefer a web-based setup wizard with no CLI required
• SQLite storage is sufficient (simplest backup — one file)
• You want the larger community and more third-party guides
• Internal authentication (username/password) is sufficient

Final Verdict

For most self-hosters syncing calendars and contacts across devices, Baikal is the safer choice — it’s been running reliably for years, has a larger community, and the web-based setup wizard makes first-run painless. The SQLite option means truly zero-dependency deployment.

Choose Davis specifically if you need LDAP/IMAP authentication (for example, integrating with an existing user directory like Authentik or Active Directory) or if you need PostgreSQL. These are the only meaningful differentiators — the core CalDAV/CardDAV functionality is identical since both use sabre/dav.

For the absolute simplest option in this category, also consider Radicale — no web dashboard, but a 20 MB Python process with file-based storage.

Related

• How to Self-Host Davis — full setup guide
• How to Self-Host Baikal — full setup guide
• How to Self-Host Radicale — minimal CalDAV/CardDAV
• Davis vs Radicale — web UI vs minimal
• Radicale vs Baikal — minimal vs web UI
• Best Self-Hosted Calendar & Contacts — full category roundup