SHSelfHostIndex

Kerberos.io Machinery vs OpenALPR

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 Open-source video surveillance recording engine VS OP OpenALPR Automatic license plate recognition library
FeatureKerberos.io MachineryOpenALPR
CategoryVideo SurveillanceVideo Surveillance
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageC++C++
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM512 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 486★ 11,440
First released20142015
ReplacesMilestone XProtect, Blue IrisRekor Scout, Plate Recognizer

Why pick each one

Choose Kerberos.io Machinery if…

  • Lightweight engine
  • Part of broader ecosystem
Kerberos.io Machinery details

Choose OpenALPR if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 11.4k GitHub stars
  • Written in C++
OpenALPR details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kerberos.io Machinery or OpenALPR better?

Neither is universally better. OpenALPR has the larger community, while Kerberos.io Machinery is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

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

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

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

Kerberos.io Machinery: yes. OpenALPR: yes.

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