Home camera recording that stays in your house, with Frigate
How to run local home camera recording with Frigate: AI motion detection, no cloud, no per-camera subscription. Setup steps, storage math, and limits.
Frigate is an open-source network video recorder that watches your existing IP or RTSP cameras, uses on-device AI to tell the difference between a person, a car, and a tree branch moving in the wind, and stores the footage on your own box — nothing uploaded to a cloud, no per-camera subscription.
This replaces the recurring fee on Ring Protect or Nest Aware — the cameras themselves are a separate purchase either way, but what you do with the footage afterward does not have to cost anything monthly.
How it works
STEP 1 — Point your cameras at Frigate
Most IP cameras stream over RTSP already — Frigate reads that stream directly, no proprietary hub required.
STEP 2 — Frigate tells objects apart
On-device detection flags people, vehicles, and animals specifically, instead of every leaf blowing across the frame.
STEP 3 — Clips save automatically
Motion events save as short, searchable clips with a timeline — not one giant unsearchable video file per day.
STEP 4 — Check in from your phone
A live view and event history in a browser or the companion app, on your network or remotely if you set that up.
What we actually configure
Each camera's stream split into two: a low-resolution feed just for the motion detector, and the full-quality stream only recorded when something actually happens — the difference between four cameras working smoothly and a box grinding to a halt.
Hardware acceleration wired up if your box supports it (Intel Quick Sync or a Coral USB accelerator) — without it, more than a couple of cameras will saturate every CPU core.
Storage sized on purpose: motion-triggered clips plus a short continuous buffer, not unthinking 24/7 4K recording that fills a drive in a week.
Retention and overwrite rules set before the drive fills up mid-week, not discovered after it already has.
Honest limitations
Frigate is software for footage you already have cameras to produce — the cameras themselves are a separate purchase and not something we manufacture or mark up.
Continuous high-resolution recording on many cameras needs real CPU or a hardware accelerator — an underpowered box will drop frames or lag, not fail silently.
Like every module here, footage stays local by default — remote viewing needs the same reverse-proxy setup as everything else, not a raw port opened to the internet.
What this replaces: Replaces Ring Protect Plus ($12/mo) or Nest Aware ($10/mo) cloud recording fees — prices checked on the subscription calculator. Cameras themselves are separate.