head to head · open source
salt vs ical4j
salt has 15,729 GitHub stars, 5,604 forks, 1,885 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ical4j has 841 stars, 225 forks, 162 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. salt leads on adoption by 1,770% (15,729 vs 841 stars). salt is written in Python under Apache-2.0; ical4j is written in Java under BSD-3-Clause. salt has attracted 36% as many forks as stars, ical4j 27%. salt was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| salt | ical4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 841 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 225 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick salt if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ical4j if
- You want the ical4j feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and ical4j fits your workflow better
About salt
.. image:: :alt: Salt Project License: Apache v2.0 :target: .. image:: :alt: PyPi Package Downloads :target: .. image:: :alt: Salt Project Discord Community :target: .. image:: :alt: Salt Project subreddit :target: .. image:: :alt: Follow SaltStack on Twitter :target: .. figure:: :scale: 80 % :width: 1000px :height: 356px :align: center :alt: Salt Project Logo Latest Salt Documentation Open an issue (bug report, feature request, etc.) .. note:: When using salt cloud p with a profile, pass only the VM name on the command line. Specify VM attributes (memory, cpu, vcpu, etc.) in the profile configuration, not as…
About ical4j
iCal4j iCalendar parser and object model [RFC2445]: [RFC2446]: [RFC2447]: [RFC5545]: [RFC5546]: [RFC6047]: [RFC6868]: [RFC7808]: [RFC7953]: [RFC7986]: [RFC7529]: [RFC9073]: [RFC9074]: [RFC9253]: [mavenrepo]: [Java Legacy Date Time Code]: [Introduction]: introduction [Setup]: setup [System requirements]: system requirements [Release downloads]: release downloads [Install with Maven]: install with maven [Install with Gradle]: install with gradle [Usage]: usage [Examples]: examples [References]: references [Specifications]: specifications [Configuration]: configuration [Compatibility Hints]: compatibility hints…
read the full ical4j overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is salt or ical4j more popular?
salt has 15,729 GitHub stars and ical4j has 841. salt has the larger community by that measure.
Are salt and ical4j free?
Both are open source. salt is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ical4j under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between salt and ical4j?
salt is written in Python and ical4j in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, salt or ical4j?
Choose salt if you want the larger community (15,729 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose ical4j if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.