Comparison

Lumen for Frigate vs VisualSentinel

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Lumen for Frigate

Monitor your security cameras and review intelligent detections with this AI-powered companion app for Frigate NVR. It offers live camera views, event playback, face recognition, and system monitoring with a sleek interface.

Highlights
  • Live camera streaming
  • AI-powered event detection
  • Recording playback with timeline
  • Face recognition management
  • Semantic search for events
  • Frigate server system monitoring
  • Automatic server discovery
Features
Read full description

Lumen for Frigate is the beautifully crafted native companion app for Frigate NVR — the leading open-source, AI-powered network video recorder. Monitor your security cameras, review intelligent detections, and play back recordings, all from a stunning dark glassmorphism interface designed for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. LIVE CAMERA VIEWS Stream all your Frigate cameras in real time. Switch between single and multi-camera layouts with smooth, responsive controls. See what matters at a glance from anywhere on your network. AI-POWERED EVENT DETECTION Browse events detected by Frigate's advanced AI models — people, vehicles, animals, packages, and more. View snapshots, thumbnails, and clips for every detection. Filter and search events by camera, label, zone, or time range to find exactly what you need. RECORDING PLAYBACK Scrub through continuous recordings with an intuitive timeline. Jump to any moment, review footage around detected events, and play back multi-camera views in sync for complete situational awareness. FACE RECOGNITION Review and manage recognized faces detected by Frigate. Quickly identify familiar visitors and track appearances across your cameras. SEMANTIC SEARCH Go beyond simple filters — use natural language to search your event history. Describe what you are looking for and let AI find matching detections across all your cameras. SYSTEM MONITORING Keep tabs on your Frigate server's health. View CPU and GPU usage, storage capacity, detector inference speed, and camera performance metrics at a glance. AUTO-DISCOVERY Lumen automatically finds Frigate servers on your local network and supports Tailscale connections, so setup takes just seconds. DESIGNED FOR APPLE Built with SwiftUI from the ground up. Lumen feels right at home on iOS and macOS with smooth animations, native controls, and full support for Dynamic Type, Dark Mode, and multitasking. FREE TO START, PRO TO UNLOCK MORE Get started for free with up to 4 cameras and 25 recent events. Upgrade to Lumen Pro to unlock unlimited cameras, advanced event filtering, recording timeline, system stats, face recognition, macOS support, and everything that comes next. Lumen Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription, or as a one-time lifetime purchase. Current prices are shown in your local currency on the App Store. Start with a 7-day free trial of all Pro features. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://lumenforfrigate.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://lumenforfrigate.app/privacy Frigate NVR is required. Lumen is an independent third-party client and is not affiliated with the Frigate project.

About

VisualSentinel

Features
Read full description

VisualSentinel keeps your website and server operations within reach. Monitor websites, APIs, and infrastructure from one companion app. See live status, uptime, response time, SSL certificate checks, visual changes, and regional check evidence without opening a desktop dashboard. Respond faster: • Prioritize down, degraded, changed, and paused monitors • Compare response performance across US, EU, and Asia regions when available on your plan • Review recent checks with regional sources and timestamps • Track CPU, memory, disk, load, uptime, and agent health for servers • See the exact threshold that caused a degraded server state • Acknowledge and resolve incidents from your phone • Receive native push alerts for monitor and server events • Switch organizations without leaving the app • Choose, restore, and manage subscriptions with Apple In-App Purchase VisualSentinel is a companion for VisualSentinel accounts. Subscription access follows the organization across every signed-in device. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://visualsentinel.com/privacy

Screenshots

Lumen for Frigate4 screens
VisualSentinel4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Lumen for Frigate at 5 against VisualSentinel's 2. VisualSentinel's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Lumen for Frigate sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and VisualSentinel sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lumen for Frigate ships an update every 4 days, VisualSentinel weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Lumen for Frigate versus VisualSentinel: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLumen for FrigateVisualSentinel
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.6 (5 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews20.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB63 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChristine MartinACEFINA LLC

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Lumen for Frigate

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Annual14 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$49.99
8 purchases

VisualSentinel

Subscriptions8
  • Solo Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Starter Monthly$13.991 Month
  • Business Monthly$45.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Solo Yearly$64.991 Year
  • Starter Yearly$129.991 Year
  • Agency Monthly$174.991 Month
  • Business Yearly$419.991 Year
  • Agency Yearly$999.991 Year

Questions

Is Lumen for Frigate free?
Lumen for Frigate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is VisualSentinel free?
VisualSentinel is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lumen for Frigate or VisualSentinel have ads?
Neither Lumen for Frigate nor VisualSentinel shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lumen for Frigate or VisualSentinel?
Lumen for Frigate ships an update every 4 days, and VisualSentinel weekly. Most recently, Lumen for Frigate was updated on October 31, 2026 and VisualSentinel on October 28, 2026.

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