Free Skylight Calendar Alternative (No Subscription)

HomeGlow

HomeGlow is an open-source (AGPL-3.0) family dashboard. Its site says its widgets "turn any old tablet or monitor into a high-end family dashboard." The site promises "No 'Premium' tier. No locked features."

• Calendar: syncs ICS links (from Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and others) and private CalDAV servers.
• Family features: a chores widget with a reward currency ("clams"), a meal menu widget, weather, and a photo widget that uses a self-hosted Immich server.
• Setup: deploy with Docker or a Proxmox script. The README says it's optimized for Linux, such as a Raspberry Pi or a Proxmox virtual machine.
• No sign-up: the site says "no accounts required," and your data "never leaves your network."

Source: homeglow.dev and HomeGlow on GitHub (license: AGPL-3.0 per GitHub) · checked 2026-10-23

MagicMirror²

MagicMirror² is a free, open-source (MIT) "modular smart mirror platform" with a large community. It's often used for wall displays, not just mirrors.

• Calendar: the built-in calendar module shows events from public iCal calendars and can combine several.
• Hardware: its docs say it's developed for the Raspberry Pi and supports the Pi 2, 3, 4 and 5 (Pi 0 and 1 aren't supported for the standard app). You need the full Raspberry Pi OS with a desktop, not the Lite version.
• Extras: third-party modules add more features. We haven't checked specific modules, so we don't list chore or meal features here.

Source: magicmirror.builders, calendar module docs, requirements (license: MIT per GitHub) · checked 2026-10-23

DinkyDash (self-hosted)

DinkyDash describes itself as "a family calendar for the wall, on a screen you already own." The hosted version costs $39 a year or $6 a month after a 14-day free trial. The self-hosted version is free and MIT-licensed, and the site says it's the same code.

• How it works: you paste calendar links (Google, Apple, Outlook and Cozi each provide one) and open the dashboard in any browser, on an old tablet, a TV or a monitor.
• Chores: each chore passes to the next person every day.
• Optional AI line: the self-hosted dashboard runs with no API key. If you want its AI-written daily headline, you add your own Anthropic key, which the site says "costs well under a dollar a month."
• No sign-up when self-hosted: the self-hosted version runs on your machine with no API key needed. The hosted version signs you in with an email link.
• Caveats from the site: setting it up on a Raspberry Pi is "an afternoon rather than five minutes." The self-hosted dashboard has no login, so keep it off the public internet. Self-hosting is community-supported.

Source: dinkydash.co · checked 2026-10-23

Mantel

Mantel is an open-source (MIT) family calendar for a kitchen wall. It runs in one Docker container with "no account, no subscription and no cloud," so there's no sign-up.

• Calendar: two-way sync with Google Calendar and iCloud. You can add an event on the wall display and it shows up on phones.
• Features: shared grocery and to-do lists, weather and a widget dashboard. The README says chores and rewards and meal planning aren't built yet.
• Hardware: Docker images for amd64 and arm64, with Raspberry Pi kiosk instructions.
• Note: it's a very new, small project (4 GitHub stars when we checked), so expect rough edges.

Source: Mantel on GitHub (license: MIT per GitHub) · checked 2026-10-23

DAKboard free plan

DAKboard is a web dashboard for wall displays. Its pricing page lists a Free plan that needs a free account. It includes:

• 1 predefined screen
• Calendars (up to 2)
• Photos, weather, news/RSS and TouchHub
• DAKboard branding

Custom layouts, more calendars and "all integrations" start with Essential, at $5 a month billed annually. The page lists Google Calendar, Apple iCloud, Office365 and ICS feeds among the integrations, and says Essential and Plus customers get all of them, but doesn't spell out which calendar sources Free supports.

Source: DAKboard pricing · checked 2026-10-23

Cozi

Cozi is a free family organizer app for iPhone, Android and the web. It isn't a wall display, but it covers much of what families use Skylight for.

• Free plan: shared family calendar, shopping and to-do lists, and a recipe library. The home page also describes a meal planner that adds ingredients to your shopping list.
• Calendars: works with Google, Outlook and Apple calendars.
• Sign-up: you create a free account, which the whole family shares.
• Cozi Gold ($39 a year): removes ads and adds month view on mobile, calendar search, change notifications and a birthday tracker.

You can also show Cozi on a Skylight: Skylight lists Cozi among the calendars it syncs with.

Source: cozi.com and Cozi Gold · checked 2026-10-23

Prism

Prism is a self-hosted family dashboard for wall screens and tablets. It's free for personal and non-commercial use under the PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 license. That license isn't a standard open-source license, so a business can't use it for free.

• Integrations: Google Calendar, Microsoft To Do, OneDrive, Apple iCloud (CalDAV) and Kroger, among others.
• Setup: Docker (amd64 and arm64, including Raspberry Pi) or a Home Assistant add-on. The README says it's "for people who … are comfortable with Docker."
• Note: the author says it was built with an AI coding assistant and that they "can't make guarantees," so be careful about exposing it to the internet.

Source: Prism on GitHub · checked 2026-10-23

OpenSkyLight (no license file)

OpenSkyLight calls itself "an open-source, fully standalone family calendar display" and a Skylight alternative with no subscription. It's free to download, but the GitHub repository has no license file, so in legal terms it isn't open source; the code is visible, but reuse rights aren't granted.

• Features: two-way Google Calendar sync (using your own free Google Cloud credentials), chores and routines with star rewards, lists, meals, a photo screensaver and a phone companion that works over your home Wi-Fi.
• No cloud account: the README says it needs "no cloud account."
• Hardware: a Windows touchscreen PC. The README covers a Windows installer and Windows kiosk setup.

Source: OpenSkyLight on GitHub (license: none detected by GitHub) · checked 2026-10-23