go2rtc vs mjpg-streamer
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video surveillance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
go2rtc
Ultimate camera streaming gateway with low latency
VS
mjpg-streamer
Stream JPEG frames from webcams over HTTP
| Feature | go2rtc | mjpg-streamer |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,837 | ★ 3,246 |
| First released | 2022 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Nest Cam | Webcam streaming services |
Why pick each one
Choose mjpg-streamer if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is go2rtc or mjpg-streamer better?
Neither is universally better. go2rtc has the larger community, while mjpg-streamer is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are go2rtc and mjpg-streamer free and open-source?
Yes. go2rtc is licensed under MIT and mjpg-streamer under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run go2rtc and mjpg-streamer with Docker?
go2rtc: yes. mjpg-streamer: check the project docs for container support.