# Frigate NVR

54 Hacker News commenters recommended Frigate NVR and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free open-source NVR that runs object detection locally and works well with Home Assistant. Critics say it uses lots of CPU with many cameras and needs effort to set up.

## Why people recommend it

- Fully local object detection (5 comments): "Open-source NVR software like Frigate can do things like the object-detection/license plate/face recognition game on local hardware" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48589756)) "With openvino frigate can still do fully local object detection on the security case" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47307496)) "The Frigate+ models at least can identify trash bins with a fully local model" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960798))
- Integrates well with Home Assistant (3 comments): "The lightweight object detectors plus home assistant automations and notifications are way too fun and powerful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49063337)) "Reolink with Frigate NVR. Can also put Home Assistant on the same box." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46997807)) "Otherwise Frigate is great and integrates well with Home Assistant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47002227))
- Works with many camera brands (4 comments): "You can also stream Reolink video to a Frigate box and access that from wherever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47001152)) "Im using a g3 flex with frigate without use of unifi protect, works fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47313750)) "Reolink with Frigate NVR. Can also put Home Assistant on the same box." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46997807))
- Runs on low-power hardware (4 comments): "It takes like 1-2 watts of power, responds in 15ms, and is completely local." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49841577)) "I have Frigate and a Coral USB running happily in a VM on an N97" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45982825)) "My mini PC frigate installation can handle 5 cameras easily." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47457896))

## What people warn about

- Heavy CPU use, always decoding (2 comments): "Frigate is pretty cool if you need motion detection. If you don't it's a bit wasteful because it still keeps the whole decoding pipeline active." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49062321)) "Ever viewed 20 cameras simultaneously in one browser tab in Frigate and seen the CPU usage?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49686640))
- Fragile dependencies, hard to update (2 comments): "since it's not trivially updatable and breaks other subtle things" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45984203)) "so many fragile native dependencies and a super complex stack" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47408041))
- Detection limited by Coral, visual only (2 comments): "You were definitely hitting the limitations of the coral." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48619770)) "Turns out Frigate uses visual classification only." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49739343))
- Setup takes real effort (2 comments): "requires some effort to get working" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48597079)) "it always stole time from me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46162302))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [UniFi Protect](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubiquiti-unifi-protect.md): 13 recommend
- [HomeKit Secure Video](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-homekit-secure-video.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Frigate NVR", https://hackerapproved.com/p/frigate/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).