Frigate vs Commercial NVRs: Self-Hosted Security Cameras for a Small Office
A small office with a handful of cameras has three real paths: buy a turnkey NVR system, add cameras to a NAS you already own, or self-host the recording and AI detection yourself with Frigate. All three work. The difference is upfront cost vs. ongoing fees, and how much setup time you’re willing to trade for zero subscriptions.
Search intent
Someone searching “Frigate vs commercial NVR” already knows Frigate exists and is weighing whether to self-host security cameras or buy a turnkey system like UniFi Protect or Reolink — they want a real comparison, not an explainer of what an NVR is.
Quick take
- Want zero subscription fees and don’t mind running a Docker container and a small PC: Frigate
- Want the most polished single-app experience and are fine paying more for it: UniFi Protect
- Want the cheapest all-in-one hardware bundle and don’t need the polish: Reolink
- Already own a Synology NAS: Synology Surveillance Station — no new hardware, but check the per-camera license cost first
What Frigate actually is
Frigate is open-source, self-hosted NVR software that runs in Docker on Linux (or a Home Assistant add-on) and adds real-time AI object detection — person, car, animal — to any ONVIF/RTSP camera you already own or buy separately. There’s no cloud dependency, no subscription, and no vendor lock-in on the camera side: once the hardware is paid for, recording and detection are free indefinitely.
The Coral TPU situation changed in 2026. For years, the default advice was “buy a $60 Google Coral USB Accelerator” to run Frigate’s AI detection efficiently. That advice is now dead for new builds — the Coral driver was archived in April 2026 and doesn’t build on modern Linux kernels. Don’t buy a Coral TPU for a new Frigate box in 2026.
Current alternatives:
- Intel N100/N150 mini PC using OpenVINO on the iGPU — no separate accelerator needed, the integrated GPU handles detection directly. This is the same class of hardware as our best mini PC for a homelab pick (Beelink EQ12 Pro and similar), reported running around $309-339 as a Frigate-dedicated build: Beelink EQ12 Pro placeholder — swap for a real link once an affiliate account exists.
- Raspberry Pi 5 + a Hailo AI HAT (13 TOPS) — a smaller, roughly $130 option if you don’t need the mini PC’s general-purpose horsepower for anything else.
Storage matters more than compute here: with 4K cameras now common, budget at least 1TB for a couple of cameras’ rolling footage, more if you’re recording continuously instead of on motion/detection events.
The commercial alternatives
UniFi Protect (Ubiquiti): the UNVR console runs $299 (base) to $499 (Pro), with G4/G5 cameras starting around $130 each. No subscription fee if you self-host the console. The tradeoff is ecosystem lock-in — Protect wants UniFi cameras, with limited ONVIF support for third-party gear — in exchange for the same single-app polish UniFi brings to its networking gear (see our UniFi vs Omada vs MikroTik comparison).
Reolink: the budget-friendly turnkey option. An 8-channel 4K NVR bundle with 6-7 PoE cameras has recently listed around $550, and individual 4K PoE cameras (e.g. the RLC-810A) run about $129 each if you want to build out camera-by-camera instead of buying a bundle. Reolink supports ONVIF, so its cameras aren’t locked to Reolink’s own NVR the way UniFi cameras are locked to Protect.
Reolink RLC-810A placeholder — swap for a real link once an affiliate account exists.
Synology Surveillance Station: if you already run a Synology NAS, this is the lowest new- hardware-cost path — the software runs on hardware you own. Check the license math before assuming it’s free: a built-in camera quota covers a small number of cameras, and beyond that (or for some newer Synology-brand camera models as of 2026) you’re buying per-camera licenses, which have run from roughly $50-60 each up to bundle pricing in the $300+ range for an 8-camera pack. Confirm current license pricing and your NAS model’s included quota on Synology’s site before counting on this being free.
Head-to-head at a glance
| Frigate (self-hosted) | UniFi Protect | Reolink | Synology Surveillance Station | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | None | None (self-hosted console) | None | None, but per-camera licenses beyond quota |
| Upfront cost | Mini PC (~$150-340) + cameras | UNVR $299-499 + cameras from ~$130 | NVR+camera bundle ~$550, or ~$129/camera | Existing NAS + camera licenses (~$50-60+/camera) |
| Camera flexibility | Any ONVIF/RTSP camera | Best with UniFi cameras | ONVIF-flexible | ONVIF-flexible, Synology-brand may need licenses |
| Setup effort | Highest — Docker, camera config, detector tuning | Lowest | Low | Low if NAS already running |
| AI detection | Yes, local, included | Yes, included | Yes on newer models | Yes, included |
Which one should you actually pick?
- You want the lowest lifetime cost and don’t mind a real setup project: Frigate on an N100 mini PC. Budget a weekend for initial setup and camera tuning.
- You want it to just work and the budget supports it: UniFi Protect, especially if you’re already standardizing on UniFi networking gear.
- You want the cheapest hardware and don’t need a polished app: Reolink — buy the bundle or build out camera-by-camera.
- You already have a Synology NAS with spare drive bays: Surveillance Station, after checking the license cost against your camera count.
What to verify before buying anything here
- Camera count and license/quota math for Synology, since that’s the one path where “free” can turn into a real per-camera cost.
- Current Frigate hardware requirements — this space moved fast in 2026 (the Coral TPU deprecation is a good example); check Frigate’s own docs for the current recommended detector before buying hardware.
- Local laws on recording audio/video where cameras will point, especially anything covering a public sidewalk or a neighboring property — this varies by jurisdiction and isn’t something any vendor’s marketing page will tell you.
Bottom line
Frigate wins on lifetime cost and camera flexibility if you’re willing to run and maintain the software yourself. The commercial options trade that setup time for money — UniFi if you want polish, Reolink if you want the cheapest bundle, Synology if you already own the NAS. None of these are a bad choice; the right one depends on whether your time or your budget is the scarcer resource.