# Alternatives to Frigate

Local AI camera NVR.

Frigate ranks #8 of 8 in Home automation, with an Alt Score of 46. It is licensed under MIT, freemium from $50/yr and available on Linux and Web. 4 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/frigate/
Category: Home automation

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Privacy-conscious homeowners and home automation enthusiasts running security cameras who want local, self-hosted video monitoring instead of a cloud NVR service, especially those already using Home Assistant.
- **What you get**: An open-source NVR that runs real-time AI object detection on your own hardware, using AI accelerators to process 100+ detections per second without sending footage to the cloud. It distinguishes real events (people, cars, animals) from motion noise like shadows or wind, and supports zone-based tracking to flag when something enters a specific area. Recordings, snapshots, and live streams are managed in one interface, with camera entities and sensors exposed to Home Assistant, MQTT, OpenHAB, and Node-RED for automation.
- **How it works**: You connect your existing IP cameras (RTSP/ONVIF) to Frigate, configure detectors (e.g., Coral, Hailo, or GPU) and any zones or masks, and Frigate continuously analyzes the video locally, recording clips and firing events/MQTT messages only when it detects relevant objects, which downstream systems like Home Assistant can act on.

## Profile

- **License**: MIT (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: $50/yr (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Linux, Web
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Domoticz](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/domoticz.md) | 100 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, Linux, iOS, Android |
| 2 | [Home Assistant](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/home-assistant.md) | 100 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 3 | [ESPHome](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/esphome.md) | 86 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 4 | [SmartThings](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/smartthings.md) | 73 | Proprietary | Windows, iOS, Android |
| 5 | [Homebridge](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/homebridge.md) | 68 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 6 | [openHAB](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/openhab.md) | 64 | EPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 7 | [Scrypted](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/scrypted.md) | 64 | ISC | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Home automation checklist | Frigate | Domoticz | Home Assistant | ESPHome | SmartThings | Homebridge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Free | Free | Free | ? | Free |
| Starts at | $50/yr | Free | Free | Free | ? | Free |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Apache-2.0 |
| Platforms | Linux, Web | Windows, Linux, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Local-first (no cloud required) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Device / integration count | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automation engine | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Voice assistant integration | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Matter / Thread support | ? | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Energy monitoring | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Dashboards | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Runs on Raspberry Pi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Frigate. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: MIT — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blakeblackshear/frigate/dev/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “The MIT License”
- **Starts at**: $50/yr — <https://frigate.video/plus/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “$50/yr”
- **Pricing model**: Freemium — <https://frigate.video/plus/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Frigate itself is free/MIT; Frigate+ is an optional paid model-training service.
  - Quote: “Models trained during your subscription are available for download indefinitely even if you decide not to renew.”
- **Platforms**: Linux, Web — <https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/installation> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Linux/Docker; a web UI dashboard. Windows explicitly unsupported.
  - Quote: “Frigate is a Docker container that can be run on any Docker host including as a Home Assistant App.”
- **Status**: active — <https://github.com/blakeblackshear/frigate/releases/tag/v0.17.2> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “0.17.2 Release”
- **Local-first (no cloud required)**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blakeblackshear/frigate/dev/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “complete and local NVR designed for [Home Assistant]”
- **Dashboards**: Yes — <https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/live> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Frigate intelligently displays your camera streams on the Live view dashboard.”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blakeblackshear/frigate/dev/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “The MIT License”
- **Runs on Raspberry Pi**: Yes — <https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/hardware> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “including the Raspberry Pi 5 with the PCIe hat from the AI kit”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/