I’ve tried a variety of ecosystems for cameras, both for myself and others. Many of them push you toward subscription-based cloud services, which features like video history, motion detection, and notifications only work fully if you pay monthly. Some of them barely provide any features without paying, despite the fact you bought the device. Even when offering local options, this is often storage with a microSD card in the camera, which is clunky, slow, and unreliable.
That is why I decided to go with a network video recorder. A server that takes the feeds from all the cameras and stores the recordings. You can buy commercial NVRs you can purchase and install in your house, including some that integrate with the specific hardware cameras you bought, but I wanted a solution that aligned with my philosophy of self-hosted, privacy first smart home tech.
So I chose Frigate.
Quick Answer: Why Use POE Cameras With Frigate?
POE cameras and Frigate make sense if you want a local home-surveillance system that does not depend on a cloud subscription. Power Over Ethernet cameras are more reliable than Wi-Fi cameras, and Frigate can record video, detect people, cars, animals, and other objects, and let you tune alerts around the parts of your property you actually care about.
| Choice | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| POE cameras | More reliable than Wi-Fi cameras and powered through the network cable |
| Frigate NVR | Local recording and object detection without relying on a cloud camera plan |
| Detection zones | Reduce false alerts from sidewalks, streets, neighbors, or passing cars |
| Self-hosted storage | Keeps recordings under your control instead of inside a camera company’s subscription |
| Frigate+ | Optional model improvements without turning the whole system into a traditional cloud lock-in product |
Why Frigate?
Frigate is an open-source NVR designed for real-time object detection all running on local hardware. It is deeply customizable and can be tuned to only record what matters to you – people, cars, or animals, depending on what zones and filters you decide.
For example, one of my outdoor cameras flagged every pedestrian across the street, which is well outside of the zone I am concerned about. I can narrow the zone to only my property, to dramatically reduce noise in footage and alerts.
Frigate recently added:
- facial recognition
- license plate recognition.
- View-only user roles for shared access
Everything is processed locally, with no cloud dependency.
Frigate+: Smarter Detection, Optional Subscription
To improve detection, you can also subscribe to Frigate+, a $50/year subscription which offers better trained models for detection. These are trained by other users of Frigate. You can participate by submitting false positives and other information voluntarily. If you cancel, you get to keep the downloaded models, you just stop getting updates.
This helps support the developers and doesn’t lock you into a traditional subscription model.
Frigate Notifications
One gap in the core Frigate setup is the lack of built-in robust multi-platform notifications. That’s where another piece of software, Frigate-Notify, comes in. It offers all of the notification options I might want.
- Rich notifications
- Cross-platform delivery including mobile, desktop, and messaging apps
- Fully customizable
Next Steps For My Frigate NVR
Inspired by how well the new system is performing, I plan to replace more of my older Wi-Fi cameras with wired POE models for improved reliability. Wired cameras streaming directly to my NVR reduces lag, improves reliability, and gives me full control over recording, storage, and alerts—without the cloud.
If you’re tired of cloud lock-in and unreliable Wi-Fi cams, and you want a privacy-respecting, smarter surveillance system, Frigate + POE may be the combo you’ve been looking for.
