Moonfire NVR vs Motion
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?
Moonfire NVR
Lightweight always-recording network video recorder
VS
Motion
Lightweight motion-detection video surveillance daemon
| Feature | Moonfire NVR | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,731 | ★ 4,030 |
| First released | 2018 | 2000 |
| Replaces | Blue Iris | Nest Cam |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Moonfire NVR or Motion better?
Neither is universally better. Motion has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Moonfire NVR and Motion free and open-source?
Yes. Moonfire NVR is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Motion under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Moonfire NVR and Motion with Docker?
Moonfire NVR: yes. Motion: yes.
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