SHSelfHostIndex

Kerberos.io Machinery vs Moonfire NVR

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?
KE Kerberos.io Machinery Archived Open-source video surveillance recording engine VS MO Moonfire NVR Lightweight always-recording network video recorder
FeatureKerberos.io MachineryMoonfire NVR
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score10 · At risk84 · Excellent
StatusArchivedActively maintained
CategoryVideo SurveillanceVideo Surveillance
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageC++Rust
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 486★ 1,746
First released20142018
ReplacesMilestone XProtect, Blue IrisBlue Iris

What are Kerberos.io Machinery and Moonfire NVR?

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

Moonfire NVR

Moonfire NVR is an open-source security camera network video recorder focused on efficient, continuous recording. Written in Rust, it stores video with minimal overhead and provides a simple web interface to review footage.

  • Continuous always-on recording
  • Efficient storage handling
  • Web review interface
  • Low resource footprint

Read the full Moonfire NVR guide →

Kerberos.io Machinery vs Moonfire NVR: key differences

The biggest difference is maintenance: Kerberos.io Machinery's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Moonfire NVR is actively maintained. Kerberos.io Machinery is written in C++, while Moonfire NVR is built with Rust. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Kerberos.io Machinery versus GPL-3.0 for Moonfire NVR. Kerberos.io Machinery is the more established project (first released 2014), while Moonfire NVR arrived in 2018. Moonfire NVR has the considerably larger community, at 1,746 GitHub stars versus 486.

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 Moonfire NVR if…

  • Very efficient
  • Reliable 24/7 recording

Watch out for

  • Limited motion analytics
  • Smaller feature set
Moonfire NVR details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kerberos.io Machinery or Moonfire NVR better?

Neither is universally better. Moonfire NVR has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Kerberos.io Machinery and Moonfire NVR free and open-source?

Yes. Kerberos.io Machinery is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Moonfire NVR under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kerberos.io Machinery and Moonfire NVR with Docker?

Kerberos.io Machinery: yes. Moonfire NVR: yes.

Related comparisons