head to head · open source
frigate vs camera.ui
frigate has 35,953 GitHub stars, 3,602 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped today. camera.ui has 1,110 stars, 167 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped today. frigate leads on adoption by 3,139% (35,953 vs 1,110 stars). frigate is written in TypeScript under MIT; camera.ui is written in TypeScript under MIT. frigate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, camera.ui 15%. camera.ui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ai, home-automation, nvr, object-detection), 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 | camera.ui | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 167 |
| 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 camera.ui if
- You want the camera.ui feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and camera.ui 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 camera.ui
camera.ui A self hosted platform for your security cameras — live viewing, 24/7 recording\ , on device AI detection, semantic search\ , smart home integration, and push notifications\ , all built on an extensible plugin ecosystem for endless possibilities. Runs on hardware you own — no mandatory cloud, your footage stays with you. Getting Started Please follow the documentation at docs.cameraui.com — it covers installation (desktop app, Docker, Proxmox, bare metal Linux, mobile apps), a guided first run, and everything beyond. A live demo is in the works — coming soon. Questions For questions and support please u…
read the full camera.ui overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frigate or camera.ui more popular?
frigate has 35,953 GitHub stars and camera.ui has 1,110. frigate has the larger community by that measure.
Are frigate and camera.ui free?
Both are open source. frigate is licensed under MIT and camera.ui under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frigate and camera.ui?
frigate is written in TypeScript and camera.ui in TypeScript. 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 camera.ui?
Choose frigate if you want the larger community (35,953 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose camera.ui if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.