head to head · open source
frigate vs Lightpanda
frigate has 35,947 GitHub stars, 3,601 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lightpanda has 35,409 stars, 1,680 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. frigate leads on adoption by 2% (35,947 vs 35,409 stars). frigate is written in TypeScript under MIT; Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0. frigate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Lightpanda 5%. 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 | Lightpanda | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 35K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Zig |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 Lightpanda if
- You want the Lightpanda feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Zig
- You evaluated both and Lightpanda 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 Lightpanda
Lightpanda is a headless browser built from scratch in Zig, designed specifically for AI agents and automation tasks. It is not a fork of Chromium or WebKit but a new implementation targeting performance and efficiency in automated web interactions. It lives in the browser automation ecosystem, competing with tools like Puppeteer and Playwright that typically rely on Chromium based headless modes.
read the full Lightpanda overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frigate or Lightpanda more popular?
frigate has 35,947 GitHub stars and Lightpanda has 35,409. frigate has the larger community by that measure.
Are frigate and Lightpanda free?
Both are open source. frigate is licensed under MIT and Lightpanda under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frigate and Lightpanda?
frigate is written in TypeScript and Lightpanda in Zig. 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 Lightpanda?
Choose frigate if you want the larger community (35,947 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Lightpanda if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.