head to head · open source
frigate vs Windmill
frigate has 37,160 GitHub stars, 3,782 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Windmill has 18,360 stars, 1,136 forks, 852 open issues and last shipped yesterday. frigate leads on adoption by 102% (37,160 vs 18,360 stars). frigate is written in Python under MIT; Windmill is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. frigate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Windmill 6%. 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 | Windmill | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 Windmill if
- You want the Windmill feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Windmill 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 Windmill
Open source developer platform for internal code: APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs. Self hostable alternative to Retool, Pipedream, Superblocks and a simplified Temporal with autogenerated UIs and custom UIs to trigger workflows and scripts as internal apps. Scripts are turned into sharable UIs automatically, and can be composed together into flows or used into richer apps built with low code. Supported languages: Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, GraphQL, PowerShell, Rust, and more. Try it Website Docs Discord Hub Contributing Windmill Developer platform for APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs…
read the full Windmill overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frigate or Windmill more popular?
frigate has 37,160 GitHub stars and Windmill has 18,360. frigate has the larger community by that measure.
Are frigate and Windmill free?
Both are open source. frigate is licensed under MIT, and Windmill has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between frigate and Windmill?
frigate is written in Python and Windmill in Rust. 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 Windmill?
Choose frigate if you want the larger community (37,160 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Windmill if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.