SHSelfHostIndex

Agent DVR vs OpenALPR

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video surveillance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
AG Agent DVR Cross-platform DVR with AI object detection VS OP OpenALPR Automatic license plate recognition library
FeatureAgent DVROpenALPR
CategoryVideo SurveillanceVideo Surveillance
LicenseFreewareAGPL-3.0
LanguageShellC++
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM2,048 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 48★ 11,440
First released20202015
ReplacesBlue IrisRekor Scout, Plate Recognizer

Why pick each one

Choose Agent DVR if…

  • Polished interface
  • Good detection options
Agent DVR details

Choose OpenALPR if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 11.4k GitHub stars
  • Written in C++
OpenALPR details

Frequently asked questions

Is Agent DVR or OpenALPR better?

Neither is universally better. OpenALPR has the larger community, while Agent DVR is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Agent DVR and OpenALPR free and open-source?

Yes. Agent DVR is licensed under Freeware and OpenALPR under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Agent DVR and OpenALPR with Docker?

Agent DVR: yes. OpenALPR: yes.

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