# vs Frigate-DIY

## Snapshot

| Dimension | Frigate DIY | Blocao |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free software + hardware you already own | Hardware + optional support |
| Setup | Self-install on Home Assistant or standalone | Wizard-driven appliance |
| Multi-site | Not supported | Native via hub |
| GitOps | Not built in (user can DIY) | First-class |
| Sovereignty | Inherently local (no cloud) | Inherently local + sovereign hub option |
| AI engine | Frigate | Frigate (same engine) + enricher + re-id |
| Operator UX | Frigate's web UI | Full forensic console with NL queries |
| Fleet management | None | Hub with multi-site overview |
| Evidence chain | None | Manifest + signature, post-MVP full chain |
| Network architecture | Whatever the user has | VLAN-segregated by default |
| Audience | Hobbyists, technical homelab users | SMB-to-mid commercial buyers |

## Where Frigate-DIY wins

- **Free**. Software is free. Hardware can be reused. For a single-site hobbyist, total cost can be near zero.
- **Total control**. The user owns every component, every config file.
- **Community knowledge**. Reddit, Home Assistant forums, GitHub — vibrant.
- **Iteration speed**. Want to try a new model? Drop it in. Want to write a custom integration? Go ahead.
- **Sovereignty by default**. There's no cloud to phone home to. (Same as Blocao.)

## Where Blocao wins

- **Production-grade integration**. Frigate alone is a great engine; making it work end-to-end with a router, MQTT bridge, GitOps, evidence chain, and an operator-grade forensic console is months of work most customers don't have.
- **Operator UX**. Frigate's UI is for technical users. Blocao's console is for security investigators who don't want to read JSON.
- **Multi-site**. Frigate-DIY has no built-in fleet management. Blocao's hub is purpose-built for it.
- **Network sovereignty**. VLAN segregation, DNS sinkhole, firewall rules — Blocao bakes these in. DIY user has to know to do all of it.
- **Support**. When something breaks at 3 AM, DIY user is on their own. Blocao customers have a path to escalation.
- **Liability**. Insurance / regulatory / commercial customers need a vendor on the hook. Frigate doesn't have a vendor; Blocao does.
- **Speed of deployment**. Wizard-driven onboarding vs read-many-docs-and-config-yourself.

## Where each is comparable

- **AI quality**. Same engine. Blocao adds enricher and re-id but a determined DIY user can match.
- **Cost-per-camera at scale**. For 1-2 cameras, DIY wins on cost. For 10+ cameras across multiple sites, Blocao's TCO is competitive once you factor in operator time.

## Sales conversation patterns

When prospect mentions "we'll just use Frigate":

1. **Ask: "How many sites?"** If 1, ask "how many cameras?".
2. If 1 site, <5 cameras, technical buyer: respect it. Don't try to convert. Maybe refer to the [Blocao GitHub Sponsors program] or similar (post-MVP).
3. If 1 site, >10 cameras: probe operational pain. "Who's on call when an event needs investigating?" "How do you audit config changes?". Frigate alone doesn't answer these.
4. If multiple sites: the conversation is over. DIY doesn't scale to multi-site, period.
5. If commercial use case (insurance, banking, retail): liability conversation. DIY = no vendor accountability.

## Honest assessment

Frigate is excellent. The team behind it built one of the best edge-AI surveillance engines in the world. We respect them, we use their engine, we contribute back where appropriate.

Blocao is **not** an attempt to replace Frigate. We are a **commercial wrapper + extension** that makes Frigate viable for buyers who can't or won't DIY.

For a hobbyist with one site and the time to learn: keep using Frigate-DIY. Don't pay for Blocao. We'd rather have happy users in the community than reluctant customers.

For a commercial buyer with 1+ sites who values operator UX, sovereignty audit trail, and vendor accountability: that's Blocao's home. Frigate alone doesn't compete in that space.

## How we contribute back

Blocao Labs commits to:

- Contributing fixes and improvements to Frigate upstream when our work is broadly useful.
- Sharing model recipes and benchmarks publicly.
- Recognizing Frigate explicitly in product material — never hiding the upstream.
- Supporting Frigate's release cadence (we don't fork hard, we track upstream).

This is the right thing to do, and it also keeps the Frigate ecosystem healthy, which keeps Blocao's foundation strong.