Double Take vs motionEye
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video surveillance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Double Take
Unified UI and API for face recognition on camera feeds
VS
motionEye
Web frontend for the Motion video surveillance program
| Feature | Double Take | motionEye |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 38 · At risk | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,442 | ★ 4,685 |
| First released | 2021 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Nest Cam | Nest Cam |
What are Double Take and motionEye?
Double Take
Double Take provides a unified interface and API to coordinate multiple face recognition services for your surveillance cameras. It connects to Frigate and detectors like CompreFace to deliver named-person alerts.
- Unified face recognition UI
- Frigate integration
- Multiple detector backends
- Named-person alerts
motionEye
motionEye is a web-based frontend for the Motion surveillance daemon, making it easy to manage cameras and recordings. It is popular for building DIY surveillance systems on Raspberry Pi hardware.
- Web frontend for Motion
- Motion detection recording
- Raspberry Pi friendly
- Multiple camera support
Double Take vs motionEye: key differences
Double Take is written in JavaScript, while motionEye is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for Double Take versus GPL-3.0 for motionEye. MotionEye is the more established project (first released 2013), while Double Take arrived in 2021. MotionEye has the considerably larger community, at 4,685 GitHub stars versus 1,442.
Why pick each one
Choose Double Take if…
- Coordinates several detectors
- Good Frigate companion
Watch out for
- Companion tool only
- Requires a detector backend
Choose motionEye if…
- Easy to set up
- Great for DIY builds
Watch out for
- Aging codebase
- Limited modern AI detection
Frequently asked questions
Is Double Take or motionEye better?
motionEye is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Double Take if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Double Take and motionEye free and open-source?
Yes. Double Take is licensed under MIT and motionEye under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Double Take and motionEye with Docker?
Double Take: yes. motionEye: yes.