head to head · open source
frigate vs LiveKit
frigate has 35,947 GitHub stars, 3,601 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LiveKit has 20,973 stars, 2,347 forks, 189 open issues and last shipped yesterday. frigate leads on adoption by 71% (35,947 vs 20,973 stars). frigate is written in TypeScript under MIT; LiveKit is written in Go under Apache-2.0. frigate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, LiveKit 11%. frigate 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
| frigate | LiveKit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 21K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| 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 LiveKit if
- You want the LiveKit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and LiveKit 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 LiveKit
LiveKit is an open source realtime infrastructure project for voice, video, and physical AI agents, and it lives in the WebRTC, media server, and voice AI ecosystem. The repository contains the LiveKit server, a scalable distributed WebRTC SFU written in Go and built on Pion WebRTC. It moves realtime audio, video, and data between people, devices, and AI models, while SDKs, agent frameworks, and companion services are provided separately.
read the full LiveKit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frigate or LiveKit more popular?
frigate has 35,947 GitHub stars and LiveKit has 20,973. frigate has the larger community by that measure.
Are frigate and LiveKit free?
Both are open source. frigate is licensed under MIT and LiveKit under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frigate and LiveKit?
frigate is written in TypeScript and LiveKit in Go. 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 LiveKit?
Choose frigate if you want the larger community (35,947 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose LiveKit if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.