SHSelfHostIndex

uStreamer vs Shinobi

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?
US uStreamer Lightweight MJPEG streamer for USB and CSI cameras VS SH Shinobi Open-source NVR and CCTV software for IP cameras
FeatureuStreamerShinobi
CategoryVideo SurveillanceVideo Surveillance
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguageCJavaScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 2,021★ 4,000
First released20182017
Replacesmjpg-streamerBlue Iris

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
uStreamer details

Choose Shinobi if…

  • Flexible camera support
  • Active community
Shinobi details

Frequently asked questions

Is uStreamer or Shinobi better?

Neither is universally better. Shinobi 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 Shinobi free and open-source?

Yes. uStreamer is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Shinobi under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run uStreamer and Shinobi with Docker?

uStreamer: check the project docs for container support. Shinobi: yes.

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