Frigate
App in the BluixApps catalog
What it is
Frigate is an open-source NVR (Network Video Recorder) with real-time AI object detection — connect IP cameras, Frigate processes streams locally, detects people / cars / animals via AI, records on motion, and integrates with Home Assistant for automations. The "smart" in smart cameras, on your infrastructure.
For privacy-conscious households wanting Ring / Nest-quality detection without cloud uploads of every camera frame, Frigate is the OSS answer.
What it's for
- Smart home cameras — AI detection on IP camera streams
- Object detection alerts — fire automation on person / car detected
- Local recording — store footage on your infrastructure
- Home Assistant integration — cameras + AI events in HA dashboard
- Privacy-first surveillance — camera frames never leave your network
Who it's for
- Privacy-conscious households rejecting Ring / Nest cloud-only models
- Smart home enthusiasts integrating cameras with Home Assistant
- DIY security operators running multi-camera setups
- Small businesses monitoring premises with AI detection
- Vacation property owners needing remote monitoring with privacy
Why teams pick Frigate over alternatives
- MIT license — fully open
- AI built-in — TensorFlow Lite detection, not just motion sensing
- Coral USB / GPU support — hardware accel for many cameras
- Home Assistant native — first-class integration
- MQTT events — extend with any automation tool
- Active development — strong release cadence
Integrations
- Cameras — any RTSP / RTMP / HTTP camera (Reolink, Amcrest, Hikvision, Dahua, Unifi)
- AI accelerators — Coral USB (Edge TPU), NVIDIA GPU, Intel iGPU (OpenVINO)
- MQTT — Mosquitto pairing for Home Assistant
- Home Assistant — auto-discovery + dedicated Frigate integration
- Notification — fire MQTT events on detection for downstream
- Restream — Frigate re-streams cameras for HA / other consumers
- Storage — local or NFS / SMB mounted for recording
Notable users & community
- 20k+ GitHub stars
- Standard tool in r/homeassistant + r/HomeNetworking
- Active Discord with thousands of members
- Backed by Frigate's commercial Frigate+ training service
- Featured in NVR + smart home camera guides
- Strong release cadence with public roadmap
Tips & operations
- CPU detection works but limited — 1-2 cameras OK; Coral USB scales to 8-16
- Hardware accel matters — Coral USB (~$60) or NVIDIA GPU dramatically expands capacity
- Storage planning critical — H.264/H.265 recording accumulates fast; size disk + cleanup policy
- Camera quality matters — Frigate detection accuracy depends on stream quality
- Restream feature — Frigate restreams cameras; HA / VLC pulls from Frigate, not direct
- Tune detection zones — false positives from trees / shadows tune-able per camera
What we ship in BluixApps
- Docker container:
ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable - Default config with placeholders (cameras must be added manually)
- Auto-detects Mosquitto on same VPS for HA integration
- Ports: 5000 (UI), 1935 (RTMP), 8554 (RTSP restream)
- Persistent volumes:
/opt/frigate/config,/opt/frigate/storage - Random RTSP password generated for restream
- Coral USB / GPU passthrough documented in install report (manual addition)
Get this app — pick a BluixApps plan
Same catalog. Scaling tenant isolation, white-label and support tier.
| Tier | Tenants | Catalog | Support | White-label | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stacks | 1 | 19 curated stacks | Standard | — | $19/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Starter | 10 | Full catalog | Standard | +$15–25/mo | $49/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Pro | 25 | Full catalog | Priority bugfix | +$15–25/mo | $149/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Growth | 100 | Full catalog | Priority bugfix | +$15–25/mo | $349/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Scale | 500 | Full catalog | 7-day window | +$15–25/mo | $799/mo | DetailDeploy |
| Enterprise | Unlimited | Full catalog | Priority 7-day | Bundled | $1,499/mo | DetailDeploy |
