SHSelfHostIndex

mjpg-streamer 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?
MJ mjpg-streamer Stream JPEG frames from webcams over HTTP VS MO Moonfire NVR Lightweight always-recording network video recorder
Featuremjpg-streamerMoonfire NVR
CategoryVideo SurveillanceVideo Surveillance
LicenseGPL-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageCRust
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 3,246★ 1,731
First released20132018
ReplacesWebcam streaming servicesBlue Iris

Why pick each one

Choose mjpg-streamer if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C
mjpg-streamer details

Choose Moonfire NVR if…

  • Very efficient
  • Reliable 24/7 recording
Moonfire NVR details

Frequently asked questions

Is mjpg-streamer or Moonfire NVR better?

mjpg-streamer is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Moonfire NVR if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are mjpg-streamer and Moonfire NVR free and open-source?

Yes. mjpg-streamer is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Moonfire NVR under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run mjpg-streamer and Moonfire NVR with Docker?

mjpg-streamer: check the project docs for container support. Moonfire NVR: yes.

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