OpenALPR vs RTSPtoWebRTC
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?
OpenALPR
Automatic license plate recognition library
VS
RTSPtoWebRTC
Low-latency RTSP camera streaming to browsers over WebRTC
| Feature | OpenALPR | RTSPtoWebRTC |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,440 | ★ 1,786 |
| First released | 2015 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Rekor Scout, Plate Recognizer | commercial camera viewer software |
Why pick each one
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++
Choose RTSPtoWebRTC if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenALPR or RTSPtoWebRTC better?
Neither is universally better. OpenALPR has the larger community, while RTSPtoWebRTC is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are OpenALPR and RTSPtoWebRTC free and open-source?
Yes. OpenALPR is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and RTSPtoWebRTC under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenALPR and RTSPtoWebRTC with Docker?
OpenALPR: yes. RTSPtoWebRTC: yes.