Kerberos.io Machinery vs Kerberos Factory

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? Compare Kerberos.io Machinery with Compare Kerberos Factory with

KE Kerberos.io Machinery Archived Open-source video surveillance recording engine VS KE Kerberos Factory Scalable video analytics platform for cameras

Feature	Kerberos.io Machinery	Kerberos Factory
Deploy effort	Under-an-hour setup	Under-an-hour setup
Health score	10 · At risk	62 · Good
Status	Archived	Actively maintained
Category	Video Surveillance	Video Surveillance
License	Apache-2.0	MIT
Language	C++	Go
Setup difficulty	Medium	Hard
Min. RAM	512 MB	4,096 MB
Deployment	docker, binary, source	docker, kubernetes
GitHub stars	★ 486	★ 35
First released	2014	2021
Replaces	Milestone XProtect, Blue Iris	Milestone XProtect, Genetec

What are Kerberos.io Machinery and Kerberos Factory?

Kerberos.io Machinery

Kerberos Machinery is the open-source video surveillance recording engine of the Kerberos.io ecosystem. It captures, records, and processes video from IP and USB cameras with motion detection and event-based recording.

Video recording engine
Motion-based capture
IP and USB camera support
Event-driven processing

Kerberos Factory

Kerberos Factory is a self-hosted platform for managing many camera agents and applying video analytics at scale. It centralizes configuration, storage, and analytics across distributed surveillance deployments.

Centralized camera fleet
Scalable analytics
Kubernetes deployment
Distributed storage

Kerberos.io Machinery vs Kerberos Factory: key differences

The biggest difference is maintenance: Kerberos.io Machinery's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Kerberos Factory is actively maintained. Kerberos.io Machinery is written in C++, while Kerberos Factory is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Kerberos.io Machinery versus MIT for Kerberos Factory. Kerberos.io Machinery is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Kerberos Factory. Kerberos.io Machinery is the more established project (first released 2014), while Kerberos Factory arrived in 2021. Kerberos.io Machinery has the considerably larger community, at 486 GitHub stars versus 35.

Why pick each one

Choose Kerberos.io Machinery if…

Lightweight engine
Part of broader ecosystem

Watch out for

Best with Kerberos suite
Single-camera per instance

Kerberos.io Machinery details

Choose Kerberos Factory if…

Released under the MIT license
First-class Docker support for quick deployment
Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
Written in Go

Kerberos Factory details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kerberos.io Machinery or Kerberos Factory better?

Kerberos.io Machinery is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Kerberos.io Machinery if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Kerberos.io Machinery and Kerberos Factory free and open-source?

Yes. Kerberos.io Machinery is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Kerberos Factory under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kerberos.io Machinery and Kerberos Factory with Docker?

Kerberos.io Machinery: yes. Kerberos Factory: yes.

Which is lighter on resources, Kerberos.io Machinery or Kerberos Factory?

Kerberos.io Machinery has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Kerberos Factory. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.