head to head · open source
frigate vs spook
frigate has 35,953 GitHub stars, 3,602 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped today. spook has 1,292 stars, 91 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. frigate leads on adoption by 2,683% (35,953 vs 1,292 stars). frigate is written in TypeScript under MIT; spook is written in Python under MIT. frigate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, spook 7%. 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 | spook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 91 |
| 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 spook if
- You want the spook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and spook 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 spook
Spook 👻 Your homie. [![GitHub Release][releases shield]][releases] ![Project Stage][project stage shield] [![License][license shield]](LICENSE.md) ![Project Maintenance][maintenance shield] [![Coverage][codecov shield]][codecov] [![OpenSSF Scorecard][scorecard shield]][scorecard] About Hi! I'm Spook 👻 and I'm a custom integration for use with Home Assistant. I will extend your Home Assistant instance with a huge set of scary powerful tools. 🛠️ Learn all about me in the extensive documentation ⚠️ Just to be very clear... Spook is not affiliated with, endorsed, recommended, or supported by the Home Assistant pro…
read the full spook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frigate or spook more popular?
frigate has 35,953 GitHub stars and spook has 1,292. frigate has the larger community by that measure.
Are frigate and spook free?
Both are open source. frigate is licensed under MIT and spook under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frigate and spook?
frigate is written in TypeScript and spook in Python. 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 spook?
Choose frigate if you want the larger community (35,953 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose spook if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.