What is Frigate used for?

Frigate is a local network video recorder that runs real-time AI object detection on IP camera streams and integrates with Home Assistant. It is a good fit for home security with person and vehicle alerts, replacing cloud camera subscriptions, and feeding camera events into home automation.

Is Frigate open source?

Yes. Frigate is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at blakeblackshear/frigate and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Frigate is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Frigate?

Yes. Frigate can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Frigate an alternative to?

Frigate is an open-source alternative to Alarm.com. Other open-source alternatives to Alarm.com include Viseron, Clearcam and ZoneMinder.

Is Frigate actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Frigate was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.18.0, published on 12 September 2026. The project has 36k stars on GitHub.

Frigate: open-source alternative to Alarm.com

About Frigate

Frigate is a network video recorder (NVR) built around local, real-time object detection for IP cameras. It was designed for Home Assistant and uses OpenCV and TensorFlow to detect objects on your own hardware, so camera footage does not have to be analyzed in a third-party cloud. The code is MIT licensed, written in Python, and the Frigate name and logo are trademarks of Frigate, Inc.

To save resources, Frigate runs inexpensive motion detection first and only applies object detection where and when it is needed. Detection runs in separate processes to keep frame rates high, and the project recommends a GPU or AI accelerator for good performance. It communicates over MQTT, records video with retention rules based on detected objects, supports 24/7 recording, and can re-stream cameras over RTSP. WebRTC and MSE provide low-latency live view.

Key features

Real-time local object detection on camera feeds
Tight integration with Home Assistant
Motion-triggered detection to save resources
Recording with object-based retention settings
MQTT messaging and RTSP re-streaming
Low-latency live view via WebRTC and MSE

Good fit for

→Home security with person and vehicle alerts
→Replacing cloud camera subscriptions
→Feeding camera events into home automation

Built with: Python
Tags: nvr; ip-camera; object-detection; home-assistant; self-hosted; mqtt; surveillance; ai

Frigate: questions and answers

What is Frigate used for?: Frigate is a local network video recorder that runs real-time AI object detection on IP camera streams and integrates with Home Assistant. It is a good fit for home security with person and vehicle alerts, replacing cloud camera subscriptions, and feeding camera events into home automation.
Is Frigate open source?: Yes. Frigate is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at blakeblackshear/frigate and is written mainly in Python.
Is Frigate free?: Yes. Frigate is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Frigate?: Yes. Frigate can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Frigate an alternative to?: Frigate is an open-source alternative to Alarm.com. Other open-source alternatives to Alarm.com include Viseron, Clearcam and ZoneMinder.
Is Frigate actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Frigate was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.18.0, published on 12 September 2026. The project has 36k stars on GitHub.