motionEye
Not yet benchmarked
- Vendor
- Open source (motioneye-project)
- License
- GPLv3 (open source)
- Platforms
- Linux, Raspberry Pi, Docker, add-on Home Assistant
The classic Raspberry Pi NVR: a free web frontend for the `motion` daemon, or the full motionEyeOS distribution that turns a board into a dedicated recorder. Not yet benchmarked on our test bench.
Strengths
- Fully open source (GPLv3), free, no commercial tier; runs on very cheap hardware (Raspberry Pi Zero and up).
- Active project (v0.44.0, June 2026) with a large community; also ships as a Home Assistant add-on.
Limitations
- No facial recognition or object detection — motion detection only, via the `motion` backend.
- Handles RTSP-only IP cameras poorly out of the box (best with directly connected or MJPEG/HTTP cameras); no built-in HTTPS by default.
- Web interface only — no desktop or mobile apps.
Criteria
| Open source (auditable code) | ✓ |
|---|---|
| Self-hosted (runs on your hardware) | ✓ |
| Works without a mandatory vendor account | ✓ |
| Works with any ONVIF/RTSP camera (no hardware lock-in) | ✓ |
| Built-in facial recognition | ✗ |
| Encrypts stored footage at rest | ✗ |
| Remote access without a vendor cloud | ✓ |
| Web + desktop + mobile apps | ✗ |
Sources
This product has not yet been tested on our bench. The information above comes from dated documentary sources; no comparative verdict is published until a real test has taken place.