Frigate vs Piper

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?
FeatureFrigatePiper
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageTypeScriptC++
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB256 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 34,903★ 5,066
First released20202023
ReplacesGoogle HomeAmazon Polly, Google TTS

Why pick each one

Choose Frigate if…

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

Choose Piper if…

  • Natural-sounding offline TTS
  • Very efficient
Piper details

Frequently asked questions

Is Frigate or Piper better?

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

Are Frigate and Piper free and open-source?

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

Can I run Frigate and Piper with Docker?

Frigate: yes. Piper: yes.

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