Kerberos Factory vs ZoneMinder
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted video surveillance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Kerberos Factory | ZoneMinder |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 62 · Good | 90 · Excellent |
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 35 | ★ 5,936 |
| First released | 2021 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Milestone XProtect, Genetec | Blue Iris, Milestone XProtect |
What are Kerberos Factory and ZoneMinder?
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
ZoneMinder
ZoneMinder is a free, open-source, closed-circuit television software application for Linux that supports IP, USB, and analog cameras. It provides recording, monitoring, analysis, and a web-based control interface.
- IP, USB, and analog camera support
- Motion zones and analysis
- Event recording
- Web control interface
Kerberos Factory vs ZoneMinder: key differences
Kerberos Factory is written in Go, while ZoneMinder is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Kerberos Factory versus GPL-2.0 for ZoneMinder. ZoneMinder is the lighter option, starting around 2,048 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Kerberos Factory. ZoneMinder is the more established project (first released 2002), while Kerberos Factory arrived in 2021. ZoneMinder has the considerably larger community, at 5,936 GitHub stars versus 35.
Why pick each one
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
Choose ZoneMinder if…
- Very mature project
- Highly configurable
Watch out for
- Complex installation
- Dated interface
Frequently asked questions
Is Kerberos Factory or ZoneMinder better?
Neither is universally better. ZoneMinder has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kerberos Factory and ZoneMinder free and open-source?
Yes. Kerberos Factory is licensed under MIT and ZoneMinder under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kerberos Factory and ZoneMinder with Docker?
Kerberos Factory: yes. ZoneMinder: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kerberos Factory or ZoneMinder?
ZoneMinder has the smaller minimum footprint at 2,048 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Kerberos Factory. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.