Frigate vs Mosquitto

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

Not the right match-up?
FeatureFrigateMosquitto
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseMITEPL-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptC
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB64 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 34,903★ 11,101
First released20202009
ReplacesGoogle HomeSmartThings

Why pick each one

Choose Frigate if…

  • Smart local NVR
  • Great with Home Assistant
  • Privacy-friendly
Frigate details

Choose Mosquitto if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Rock-solid reliability
  • Ubiquitous in smart homes
Mosquitto details

Frequently asked questions

Is Frigate or Mosquitto better?

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

Are Frigate and Mosquitto free and open-source?

Yes. Frigate is licensed under MIT and Mosquitto under EPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Frigate and Mosquitto with Docker?

Frigate: yes. Mosquitto: yes.

Related comparisons