SHSelfHostIndex

Bluecherry vs Kerberos.io Machinery

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?
BL Bluecherry Open-source IP camera surveillance and NVR application VS KE Kerberos.io Machinery Open-source video surveillance recording engine
FeatureBluecherryKerberos.io Machinery
CategoryVideo SurveillanceVideo Surveillance
LicenseGPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageC++C++
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 274★ 486
First released20102014
ReplacesMilestone XProtectMilestone XProtect, Blue Iris

Why pick each one

Choose Bluecherry if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in C++
Bluecherry details

Choose Kerberos.io Machinery if…

  • Lightweight engine
  • Part of broader ecosystem
Kerberos.io Machinery details

Frequently asked questions

Is Bluecherry or Kerberos.io Machinery better?

Neither is universally better. Kerberos.io Machinery has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Bluecherry and Kerberos.io Machinery free and open-source?

Yes. Bluecherry is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Kerberos.io Machinery under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Bluecherry and Kerberos.io Machinery with Docker?

Bluecherry: yes. Kerberos.io Machinery: yes.

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