Moonfire NVR vs Frigate: NVR Compared

Quick Verdict

Frigate and Moonfire NVR solve different problems. Frigate is an AI-powered NVR that detects people, cars, and animals in your camera feeds — it tells you what moved. Moonfire NVR is a lightweight recorder that captures RTSP streams directly to disk with near-zero CPU usage — it tells you that something was recorded. If you want smart detection and Home Assistant integration, choose Frigate. If you want efficient 24/7 recording on minimal hardware, choose Moonfire.

Overview

Moonfire NVR started as a personal project by Scott Lamb to solve a specific problem: record RTSP camera feeds as efficiently as possible. Written in Rust, it avoids transcoding entirely — H.264 streams go straight from camera to disk. The result is an NVR that runs six 1080p cameras on a Raspberry Pi 2 at under 10% CPU usage. No AI, no object detection, no integrations — just reliable recording with a clean web UI for playback.

Frigate (v0.17.0) takes the opposite approach. It runs AI object detection models on every frame using Google Coral TPUs or Intel OpenVINO, classifies detected objects, integrates deeply with Home Assistant, and includes go2rtc for live streaming. It’s a smart surveillance platform, not just a recorder.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Moonfire NVR 0.7.30	Frigate 0.17.0
Primary function	Passthrough recording	AI detection + recording
Object detection	No	Yes (person, car, animal, etc.)
Motion detection	No	Via AI models
Hardware acceleration	None needed (no processing)	Coral TPU, OpenVINO, ROCm
Transcoding	None (passthrough to disk)	FFmpeg (for sub-streams, playback)
Live streaming	Web UI playback	go2rtc (WebRTC, MSE, HLS, RTSP)
RTSP restreaming	No	Yes (reduces camera load)
Home Assistant	No	Deep integration (companion add-on)
MQTT	No	Yes (native)
Audio detection	No	Yes (speech, bark, car horn)
Zone-based detection	No	Yes
Birdseye view	No	Yes (combined multi-camera)
Web UI	Clean, minimal playback UI	Full event browser + live view
API	RESTful	RESTful + WebSocket
Configuration	TOML file	YAML file
Database	SQLite3	SQLite
Language	Rust	Python + Go
Docker image size	~50 MB	~1.5 GB
Minimum RAM	512 MB	2 GB
CPU usage (4 cameras, 1080p)	<10%	15-80% (depends on acceleration)
Sub-stream support	No (records what camera sends)	Yes (detect on sub, record on main)
Recording modes	Continuous only	Continuous, event-based, snapshot
Raspberry Pi support	Yes (Pi 2+)	Pi 4+ with Coral TPU
GitHub stars	1,100+	18,000+
License	GPL-3.0	MIT

Installation Complexity

Moonfire NVR

Moonfire uses a TOML config and a lightweight container:

services:
  moonfire:
    image: ghcr.io/scottlamb/moonfire-nvr:v0.7.31
    container_name: moonfire-nvr
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - moonfire-config:/var/lib/moonfire-nvr
      - /path/to/recordings:/recordings
    environment:
      - TZ=America/New_York

volumes:
  moonfire-config:

Initial setup requires running moonfire-nvr init to create the database, then configuring cameras via CLI or config file. Each camera needs its RTSP URL, retention policy, and stream details. The setup is minimal but documentation is sparse compared to Frigate.

Frigate

Frigate requires more configuration but has extensive documentation:

services:
  frigate:
    image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.17.0
    container_name: frigate
    restart: unless-stopped
    privileged: true
    shm_size: 256mb
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
      - "8554:8554"
      - "8555:8555/tcp"
      - "8555:8555/udp"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - /path/to/recordings:/media/frigate
      - type: tmpfs
        target: /tmp/cache
        tmpfs:
          size: 1000000000
    devices:
      - /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb  # Coral USB
    environment:
      - FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD=your_password

volumes: {}

Frigate’s config.yml defines cameras, detection parameters, zones, recording rules, and go2rtc settings. The config file is larger but well-documented with community examples for hundreds of camera models.

Performance and Resource Usage

This is where the comparison is most dramatic.

Scenario	Moonfire NVR	Frigate
1 camera, 1080p/30fps	~50 MB RAM, <2% CPU	~500 MB RAM, 5-15% CPU
4 cameras, 1080p/30fps	~100 MB RAM, <5% CPU	~1 GB RAM, 15-40% CPU
6 cameras, 1080p/30fps	~150 MB RAM, <10% CPU	~1.5 GB RAM, 25-60% CPU
Power consumption (RPi 4)	~3W total	~5W + Coral USB (~1W)
Docker image size	~50 MB	~1.5 GB
Storage efficiency	Minimal overhead (passthrough)	Slight overhead (segment files + metadata)

Moonfire NVR is an order of magnitude more efficient because it does almost nothing — no decoding, no processing, no AI inference. It copies bytes from the camera’s RTSP stream to disk. Frigate decodes frames, runs them through AI models, manages events, generates thumbnails, and handles live streaming.

The trade-off: Moonfire uses 10x fewer resources but gives you zero intelligence about what’s in the footage. Frigate uses 10x more resources but tells you exactly who’s in your driveway.

Recording and Playback

Moonfire NVR:

• Records continuously — no event-based recording
• H.264 passthrough — exact copy of camera output
• MP4 files constructed on-demand during playback (no pre-built files)
• Web UI shows a timeline — scrub to any point in the retention window
• No thumbnails, no event clips, no snapshots
• SQLite database tracks recording segments

Frigate:

• Continuous, event-based, or snapshot-only recording
• Records main stream while detecting on sub-stream
• Event clips with pre/post-roll around detections
• Thumbnail generation for each event
• Timeline view with event markers
• Searchable event database (filter by object type, camera, time)

If you need to find “the person who was at the front door at 3 PM,” Frigate takes you directly to the event with a thumbnail. Moonfire NVR requires scrubbing through the timeline manually.

Community and Ecosystem

Metric	Moonfire NVR	Frigate
GitHub stars	1,100+	18,000+
Contributors	15+	300+
Documentation	Basic README, sparse	Extensive docs site (frigate.video)
Community size	Small (GitHub issues only)	Large (Reddit, HA forums, Discord)
Third-party integrations	None	Frigate card, Double Take, HA blueprints
Camera configs shared	Very few	Hundreds of community examples
YouTube tutorials	<5	50+

Frigate’s community is roughly 16x larger. This matters when troubleshooting camera compatibility, optimizing detection zones, or finding configs for specific camera models.

Use Cases

Choose Moonfire NVR If…

• Pure recording is your only requirement — no detection needed
• You run cameras on a Raspberry Pi or very low-power hardware
• Resource efficiency matters more than smart features
• You review footage manually when incidents occur
• You want the smallest possible Docker footprint
• Your cameras already handle motion detection internally (some cameras have on-device detection)
• Power consumption is a constraint (off-grid, solar, UPS-limited)

Choose Frigate If…

• You want AI-based object detection (person, car, animal)
• Home Assistant integration is important
• You want event-based recording instead of 24/7 continuous
• You need real-time alerts when specific objects are detected
• Live streaming to a dashboard matters
• You’re willing to invest in a Coral TPU (~$30) for efficient detection
• Searchable event history is useful (filter by object type, camera, time)

Why Not Both?

Some users run Moonfire NVR for 24/7 continuous recording (cheap storage, zero CPU) alongside Frigate for AI detection on a subset of cameras. Frigate detects events and sends alerts; Moonfire keeps the full unprocessed recording as evidence. This requires cameras that support dual RTSP streams or a separate RTSP restreamer.

Final Verdict

These NVRs serve different audiences. Moonfire NVR is a recording appliance — remarkably efficient, written in Rust, zero processing overhead. It’s the right choice when your cameras connect to constrained hardware and you don’t need AI intelligence. Frigate is a smart surveillance platform — AI detection, Home Assistant integration, event management, live streaming. It’s the right choice when you want your cameras to tell you what’s happening, not just record everything.

For most self-hosters building a home security system, Frigate with a Coral TPU provides more practical value. The ability to get a “person detected at front door” notification, with a snapshot, that triggers a Home Assistant automation, is worth the extra resources. Moonfire NVR earns its spot for users who want pure, efficient recording on minimal hardware — particularly Raspberry Pi or NAS deployments where every watt and megabyte counts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Moonfire NVR do any kind of detection?

No. Moonfire NVR is strictly a recorder — it captures RTSP streams and stores them. It has no motion detection, no object detection, no alerting. If you need any form of detection, you need Frigate, Viseron, or camera-side detection.

Does Moonfire NVR work on a Raspberry Pi?

Yes, and it’s one of the best NVRs for Pi hardware. Moonfire’s passthrough recording means a Raspberry Pi 2 (1 GB RAM) can handle six 1080p cameras at under 10% CPU. Frigate needs at least a Pi 4 with a Coral USB Accelerator to be useful.

Can Frigate record without detection?

Yes. You can configure Frigate to record continuously without running detection on specific cameras. However, Frigate still decodes streams for recording management, so it uses more resources than Moonfire even without detection enabled.

Which uses less storage?

Nearly identical. Both record the same H.264 RTSP streams from cameras. Moonfire is slightly more efficient because it writes raw stream data without re-muxing. Frigate adds some overhead for segment files and event metadata. The difference is under 5% for the same cameras and retention settings.

Is Moonfire NVR still maintained?

Yes, though development is slow. Scott Lamb (the sole primary developer) maintains the project and pushes updates periodically. v0.7.31 is the latest release. Given the small scope (recording only), there’s less to maintain — but the bus factor of a single-developer project is a real concern for long-term reliability.

Related

• How to Self-Host Moonfire NVR
• How to Self-Host Frigate
• Frigate vs ZoneMinder
• Frigate vs Viseron
• Frigate vs Shinobi
• Best Self-Hosted Video Surveillance
• Self-Hosted Ring Alternative
• NVR Hardware Guide
• NVR Setup Guide
• Docker Compose Basics