Kerberos Agent vs Motion
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video surveillance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Kerberos Agent | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 80 · Excellent |
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,121 | ★ 4,048 |
| First released | 2014 | 2000 |
| Replaces | Nest Cam | Nest Cam |
What are Kerberos Agent and Motion?
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
Motion
Motion is a program that monitors video signals from cameras and detects movement. It can record video, capture snapshots, and trigger external scripts when motion is detected, all with a small footprint.
- Motion detection
- Snapshot and video capture
- External script triggers
- Very low resource use
Kerberos Agent vs Motion: key differences
Kerberos Agent is written in Go, while Motion is built with C++. Licensing differs — MIT for Kerberos Agent versus GPL-2.0 for Motion. Motion is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kerberos Agent. Motion is the more established project (first released 2000), while Kerberos Agent arrived in 2014. Motion has the considerably larger community, at 4,048 GitHub stars versus 1,121.
Why pick each one
Choose Kerberos Agent if…
- Lightweight per-camera model
- Scales with orchestration
Watch out for
- One agent per camera
- Hub needed for central view
Choose Motion if…
- Tiny footprint
- Highly scriptable
Watch out for
- No built-in web UI
- Configuration via files
Frequently asked questions
Is Kerberos Agent or Motion better?
Neither is universally better. Motion has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kerberos Agent and Motion free and open-source?
Yes. Kerberos Agent is licensed under MIT and Motion under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kerberos Agent and Motion with Docker?
Kerberos Agent: yes. Motion: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kerberos Agent or Motion?
Motion has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Kerberos Agent. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.