Kerberos Agent vs Pikrellcam
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 | Pikrellcam |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 9 · At risk |
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,121 | ★ 272 |
| First released | 2014 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Nest Cam | Nest Cam |
What are Kerberos Agent and Pikrellcam?
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
Pikrellcam
PiKrellCam is a motion-detecting video recorder for the Raspberry Pi camera with a built-in web interface. It records motion events, captures still images, and can overlay annotations on the video.
- Raspberry Pi camera recording
- Motion detection
- Web interface
- Annotation overlays
Kerberos Agent vs Pikrellcam: key differences
Kerberos Agent is written in Go, while Pikrellcam is built with C. Licensing differs — MIT for Kerberos Agent versus GPL-3.0 for Pikrellcam. Pikrellcam is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kerberos Agent. Kerberos Agent has the considerably larger community, at 1,121 GitHub stars versus 272. Kerberos Agent lists first-class Docker deployment; Pikrellcam does not.
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 Pikrellcam if…
- Great for Pi camera modules
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Raspberry Pi specific
- Single-camera focus
Frequently asked questions
Is Kerberos Agent or Pikrellcam better?
Neither is universally better. Kerberos Agent has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kerberos Agent and Pikrellcam free and open-source?
Yes. Kerberos Agent is licensed under MIT and Pikrellcam under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kerberos Agent and Pikrellcam with Docker?
Kerberos Agent: yes. Pikrellcam: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Kerberos Agent or Pikrellcam?
Pikrellcam 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.