Banalytics vs Frigate
When to choose each — capabilities, deployment, and integration matrix.
Frigate is an open-source NVR focused on real-time AI object detection, primarily for Home Assistant users. Banalytics is a broader edge orchestration platform that combines VMS, IoT, Modbus, MQTT, dashboards, and event-driven workflows in one product. Choose Frigate if your goal is a Docker-based, AI-detection NVR tightly coupled to Home Assistant. Choose Banalytics if you need multi-site, multi-protocol orchestration with built-in alerts, dashboards, and industrial protocol support (Modbus, ZeroMQ).
Choose Frigate when
- Your primary goal is real-time object detection from cameras feeding directly into Home Assistant.
- You run Docker and want a single self-contained NVR container.
- You already use a Coral TPU, NVidia GPU, or OpenVINO-compatible CPU for AI.
- You only need video; no industrial sensors, no Modbus, no multi-site dashboards.
Choose Banalytics when
- You need cameras plus sensors, Modbus equipment, MQTT topics, or DAQ in one platform.
- You want multi-site monitoring with one dashboard across locations.
- You need Telegram, email, audio output, or webhook actions out of the box, not via add-ons.
- You want native AI (YOLO) plus a Gemini assistant for scene queries.
- You run on a wider range of hosts: bare-metal Windows, Linux x86_64, Linux ARM64, with or without Docker.
- You need a free Community tier with predictable per-component pricing for scaling.
Side-by-side capabilities
| Capability | Banalytics | Frigate |
|---|---|---|
| License | Commercial with free Community tier | MIT (open source) |
| Deployment | Native installer (Win/Linux x64/ARM64), no Docker required | Docker container |
| Minimum hardware | 1.66 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM | Multi-core x86, 4 GB+ RAM; Coral TPU recommended for AI |
| Camera protocols | ONVIF, RTSP, USB | RTSP (FFmpeg-based ingestion) |
| Object detection | YOLO (v5/v8/v11) on CPU/GPU | TensorFlow Lite, OpenVINO, Coral TPU, ONNX |
| LLM assistant | Gemini AI assistant for natural-language scene queries | Not built-in |
| Industrial protocols | Modbus RTU/TCP, MQTT v3/v5, ZeroMQ | MQTT only (event bus) |
| Multi-site | Multiple linked agents in one console | One instance per location |
| Built-in alerts | Telegram, email, audio, MQTT, webhook, PTZ, Java/CMD tasks | MQTT events; integrate via Home Assistant for the rest |
| Dashboards | Built-in, configurable in browser | Live view; full dashboards expected via Home Assistant |
| Remote access | Portal-mediated WebRTC P2P, no public IP required | VPN or reverse proxy you set up |
| Storage | Local disk, NAS, network share | Local disk (bind-mounted volume) |
| Pricing | Free Community tier; Basic $15/mo; Pro $50/mo; Enterprise custom | Free; donation-supported |
Where they overlap
- Both are local-first: recordings stay on your hardware.
- Both publish events via MQTT for downstream automation.
- Both support common IP cameras (ONVIF/RTSP).
- Both run AI object detection at the edge.
Coming from Frigate?
If you already publish Frigate events to MQTT and consume them in Home Assistant, the same event bus works with Banalytics. Banalytics adds Modbus, dashboards, multi-site agents, and built-in actions on top, so you can extend rather than replace your setup. For pure Home Assistant camera integration, see Best VMS for Home Assistant.
Try Banalytics free in 5 minutes
Community tier is free forever. No credit card. Runs alongside Frigate or Home Assistant.