Cameradar vs Moonfire NVR
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?
Cameradar
RTSP stream discovery and access-auditing tool for cameras
VS
Moonfire NVR
Lightweight always-recording network video recorder
| Feature | Cameradar | Moonfire NVR |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,147 | ★ 1,731 |
| First released | 2016 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Commercial camera audit tools | Blue Iris |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Cameradar or Moonfire NVR better?
Neither is universally better. Cameradar has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Cameradar and Moonfire NVR free and open-source?
Yes. Cameradar is licensed under MIT and Moonfire NVR under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cameradar and Moonfire NVR with Docker?
Cameradar: yes. Moonfire NVR: yes.