head to head · open source
frigate vs android
frigate has 36,005 GitHub stars, 3,611 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. android has 3,903 stars, 1,067 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped yesterday. frigate leads on adoption by 822% (36,005 vs 3,903 stars). frigate is written in TypeScript under MIT; android is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. frigate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, android 27%. frigate was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (home-assistant, home-automation), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| frigate | android | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 3.9K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick frigate if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick android if
- You want the android feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and android fits your workflow better
About frigate
Frigate NVR is a complete and local network video recorder built for Home Assistant, with AI object detection. It uses OpenCV and Tensorflow to run realtime object detection locally on IP cameras, so video analysis happens on your own hardware instead of a vendor cloud. Project lives in the Home Assistant home automation ecosystem, with tight integration through a custom component, and it talks over MQTT so other systems can consume its events. Written mainly in TypeScript, MIT licensed, 8 years old, 35,896 stars and 3,596 forks on GitHub.
read the full frigate overview →
About android
The Home Assistant Companion for Android is the official Android application for Home Assistant, an open source home automation platform. It is written in Kotlin, released under the Apache 2.0 license, and distributed as an open source app for Android devices. The project sits inside the Home Assistant ecosystem and connects a mobile client to a user's Home Assistant instance.
read the full android overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frigate or android more popular?
frigate has 36,005 GitHub stars and android has 3,903. frigate has the larger community by that measure.
Are frigate and android free?
Both are open source. frigate is licensed under MIT and android under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frigate and android?
frigate is written in TypeScript and android in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, frigate or android?
Choose frigate if you want the larger community (36,005 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose android if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.