Frigate Notify vs Kerberos Agent
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video surveillance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Frigate Notify | Kerberos Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 59 · Fair | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 413 | ★ 1,120 |
| First released | 2023 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Nest Cam | Nest Cam |
What are Frigate Notify and Kerberos Agent?
Frigate Notify
Frigate Notify is a small standalone application that sends alerts for events detected by a Frigate NVR. It supports many notification channels and works without depending on Home Assistant.
- Notifications for Frigate events
- Many alert channels
- No Home Assistant needed
- Tiny footprint
Kerberos Agent
Kerberos Agent is a lightweight, single-camera video surveillance application that detects motion and stores recordings locally or in the cloud. Multiple agents can be managed centrally with Kerberos Hub.
- Single-camera agent design
- Motion detection
- Local and cloud storage
- Kubernetes friendly
Frigate Notify vs Kerberos Agent: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Frigate Notify is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kerberos Agent. Kerberos Agent is the more established project (first released 2014), while Frigate Notify arrived in 2023. Kerberos Agent has the considerably larger community, at 1,120 GitHub stars versus 413.
Why pick each one
Choose Frigate Notify if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Watch out for
- Companion tool only
- Requires Frigate
Choose Kerberos Agent if…
- Lightweight per-camera model
- Scales with orchestration
Watch out for
- One agent per camera
- Hub needed for central view
Frequently asked questions
Is Frigate Notify or Kerberos Agent better?
Neither is universally better. Kerberos Agent has the larger community, while Frigate Notify is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Frigate Notify and Kerberos Agent free and open-source?
Yes. Frigate Notify is licensed under MIT and Kerberos Agent under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Frigate Notify and Kerberos Agent with Docker?
Frigate Notify: yes. Kerberos Agent: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Frigate Notify or Kerberos Agent?
Frigate Notify has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Kerberos Agent. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.