uStreamer vs OpenCvSharp
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?
uStreamer
Lightweight MJPEG streamer for USB and CSI cameras
VS
OpenCvSharp
.NET wrapper for OpenCV computer vision
| Feature | uStreamer | OpenCvSharp |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Video Surveillance | Video Surveillance |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,021 | ★ 6,056 |
| First released | 2018 | 2008 |
| Replaces | mjpg-streamer | Commercial vision SDKs |
Why pick each one
Choose uStreamer if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is uStreamer or OpenCvSharp better?
Neither is universally better. OpenCvSharp has the larger community, while uStreamer is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are uStreamer and OpenCvSharp free and open-source?
Yes. uStreamer is licensed under GPL-3.0 and OpenCvSharp under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run uStreamer and OpenCvSharp with Docker?
uStreamer: check the project docs for container support. OpenCvSharp: check the project docs for container support.