Free NVR software compared
“Free” means different things in NVR software. Some programs are free only for local viewing, some charge for remote access, and some are free but need Docker. This page compares what you get for free in six popular options.
At a glance
| Litmus NVR | Frigate | Agent DVR | Blue Iris | ZoneMinder | motionEye | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no camera limit | Free and open source. Optional Frigate+ ($50 a year) | Free for private local use. A license (from $7.95 a month) is needed for HD viewing, local learning AI, remote access or business use | Paid: $39.95 (LE, 1 camera) or $99.95 (Full). 15-day trial | Free and open source (GPL-2.0) | Free and open source (GPL-3.0-or-later) |
| Remote viewing | Free over a direct connection, in the phone app and browser | Not compared | Paid license | Android and iOS apps | zmNinjaNg app (iOS, Android, desktop) | Not stated in the official docs |
| Runs on | Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Docker, Home Assistant add-on | Docker (recommended) or a Home Assistant app. Windows is not officially supported | Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker, Raspberry Pi | Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) | Linux packages or Docker. Windows via WSL | Linux (pip and systemd) or Docker |
| AI detection | Built in: people, faces, vehicles, license plates | Built in | On the free version, through external services such as CodeProject.AI or DeepStack | Built in since version 6.0.1 | Motion detection. Objects, faces and plates through the separate event server | Motion detection |
| Search | By appearance, face, text description and license plate | Semantic search, off by default | Not stated on the official site | Not compared | Not compared | Not compared |
| Camera limit | None | None stated | None (“hardware is the only limit”) | 1 (LE) or up to 128 (Full) | None stated | None stated |
From each product’s official site as of November 2026: docs.frigate.video and frigate.video, ispyconnect.com (pricing and download pages), blueirissoftware.com, the ZoneMinder and motionEye GitHub repositories and docs.
Which one fits
- You want everything free, including viewing from your phone: Litmus NVR. Remote viewing over a direct connection is free too.
- You want open-source software and are comfortable with Docker: Frigate.
- You want to plug in your own AI services: Agent DVR lists integrations such as CodeProject.AI, DeepStack and PlateRecognizer.com.
- You run many cameras on one Windows PC and do not mind paying: Blue Iris Full supports up to 128 cameras.
- You want a long-established open-source recorder on Linux and motion detection is enough: ZoneMinder or motionEye.
What Litmus does
- Every person and vehicle becomes a card. Litmus detects people and vehicles as it records and turns each one into a card, so you browse who was there instead of scrubbing a timeline.
- Follow someone across cameras. Open a card to play that person’s scenes from every camera in time order.
- Four ways to search. By appearance (clothing and build), by face with no enrollment, by a description such as “a person in a yellow shirt”, or by attributes like clothing color, bag, hat and age group. Vehicles can be searched by license plate, and a partial plate works.
- Works locally, no sign-up. On your network, open it in a browser without a Litmus account.
- Remote viewing without port forwarding. Add the device to your Litmus account, and the phone app and browser connect over an encrypted peer-to-peer connection, which works on most home and office routers.
- Video stays on your hardware. Recordings and analysis are stored on the computer running Litmus, not in the cloud.
Questions
Is Litmus NVR really free?
Yes. Every feature is free with no camera limit. Live View over a direct connection is unlimited.
Is there free NVR software for Mac?
Litmus NVR and Agent DVR both list macOS. Litmus NVR runs on macOS 14.4 or later on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
What hardware does Litmus need?
An Intel N100 mini PC handles 1 to 2 cameras, a 12th-gen Core i5 5 to 6, a 12th-gen Core i7 9 to 10, and an Apple M2 Mac 12 to 14. A Raspberry Pi 5 handles 1 to 2. A graphics card lets the same PC handle more cameras. These are for 1080p cameras at the default 10 analyses per second. The Apple M2 count is measured. The PC counts are estimates based on CPU performance.