go2rtc 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.
go2rtc
Ultimate camera streaming gateway with low latency
VS
Kerberos Agent
Lightweight video surveillance agent for a single camera
| Feature | go2rtc | Kerberos Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 90 · Excellent | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,247 | ★ 1,121 |
| First released | 2022 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Nest Cam | Nest Cam |
What are go2rtc and Kerberos Agent?
go2rtc
go2rtc is a camera streaming application that supports RTSP, WebRTC, HomeKit, and many other protocols with very low latency. It is widely used as a streaming layer for surveillance and smart-home camera setups.
- Multi-protocol camera streaming
- Ultra-low latency WebRTC
- HomeKit support
- Single binary
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
go2rtc vs Kerberos Agent: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Go2rtc is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kerberos Agent. Kerberos Agent is the more established project (first released 2014), while go2rtc arrived in 2022. Go2rtc has the considerably larger community, at 14,247 GitHub stars versus 1,121.
Why pick each one
Choose go2rtc if…
- Very low latency
- Lightweight and flexible
Watch out for
- Streaming layer, not a full NVR
- Config requires some knowledge
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 go2rtc or Kerberos Agent better?
Neither is universally better. go2rtc has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are go2rtc and Kerberos Agent free and open-source?
Yes. go2rtc is licensed under MIT and Kerberos Agent under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run go2rtc and Kerberos Agent with Docker?
go2rtc: yes. Kerberos Agent: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, go2rtc or Kerberos Agent?
go2rtc has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Kerberos Agent. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.