head to head · open source
frigate vs UI
frigate has 37,160 GitHub stars, 3,782 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. UI has 2,081 stars, 422 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. frigate leads on adoption by 1,686% (37,160 vs 2,081 stars). frigate is written in Python under MIT; UI is written in JavaScript under MIT. frigate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, UI 20%. frigate was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (home-assistant), 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 | UI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 422 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick frigate if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick UI if
- You want the UI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and UI fits your workflow better
About frigate
Frigate NVR™ Realtime Object Detection for IP Cameras \[English\] 简体中文 A complete and local NVR designed for Home Assistant with AI object detection. Uses OpenCV and Tensorflow to perform realtime object detection locally for IP cameras. Use of a GPU or AI accelerator is highly recommended. AI accelerators will outperform even the best CPUs with very little overhead. See Frigate's supported object detectors. Tight integration with Home Assistant via a custom component Designed to minimize resource use and maximize performance by only looking for objects when and where it is necessary Leverages multiprocessing…
read the full frigate overview →
About UI
UI Lovelace Minimalist [!IMPORTANT] Looking for New Maintainers! This project is in need of new maintainers! The current maintainers are no longer actively working on it, and without fresh leadership, we may be forced to shut down the project and its associated Discord server. If you're passionate about this project and would like to take over its development and community management, we’d love to hear from you! Join us on Discord to discuss further: Thread Message Or reach out on GitHub Discussions: GitHub discussion Thank you for considering helping keep this project alive and thriving! 🙌 It's kind of hard to…
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Frequently asked questions
Is frigate or UI more popular?
frigate has 37,160 GitHub stars and UI has 2,081. frigate has the larger community by that measure.
Are frigate and UI free?
Both are open source. frigate is licensed under MIT and UI under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frigate and UI?
frigate is written in Python and UI in JavaScript. 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 UI?
Choose frigate if you want the larger community (37,160 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose UI if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.