Guides · Mac
Free NVR software for Mac
Updated 29 September 2026
A Mac mini makes a good camera recorder: it is quiet, draws a few watts at idle, and is often on anyway. The hard part is the software, because some of the best-known NVR apps only run on Windows or Linux.
NVR software that runs on a Mac
| App | On a Mac | Cost | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loki Eye | Native app for Apple Silicon and Intel. | Free for two cameras. €29 + VAT a year or €99 + VAT once for more. | Records on each camera’s ONVIF motion events without re-encoding, so it uses very little CPU. No phone app yet. |
| SecuritySpy | Native, Mac only. | Paid, priced by number of cameras. | A long-established Mac recorder with its own motion and object detection, and iOS apps. |
| Agent DVR | Native macOS build. | Free for local use. Remote access and apps by subscription. | Analyses video on the recorder, with ONVIF discovery. |
| Scrypted | Runs on macOS. | Free core. Its NVR recording is a paid add-on. | Best known for bringing cameras into Apple Home and HomeKit Secure Video. |
| Frigate | Only through Docker, which runs a Linux virtual machine. | Free and open source. | Strong object detection, but built for Linux. A Mac is not its main target. |
| Blue Iris | No. Windows only. | Paid. | Needs a Windows PC or virtual machine. See the Blue Iris alternative page. |
Other apps change over time, so check their sites before you decide. For a closer look at Loki Eye, Blue Iris, Agent DVR, Synology, and Frigate, see the full comparison.
If your cameras support HomeKit Secure Video, Apple can also store their event clips in iCloud, analysed on your home hub first. That is cloud recording with Apple’s privacy design, limited to HomeKit cameras and to event clips. The local versus cloud guide covers the trade-offs.
Setting up Loki Eye on a Mac
- Download Loki Eye for Apple Silicon or Intel. Not sure which you have? Apple menu › About This Mac shows Chip on Apple Silicon and Processor on Intel.
- Open it once. Our builds are not yet notarised by Apple, so macOS asks you to confirm the first launch: go to System Settings › Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway next to the Loki Eye message.
- When macOS asks whether Loki Eye may find devices on your local network, allow it. Without that permission it cannot reach your cameras. If you declined, turn it on under System Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network.
- Add your cameras by their stream address. The camera setup guides list the address for each brand.
- Choose the recordings folder and set a storage cap. An external drive works well.
Keeping a Mac recording around the clock
- Stop it sleeping. On a Mac mini, Mac Studio, or iMac, open System Settings › Energy (Energy Saver on older macOS) and turn on Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off. On a MacBook, the option is under System Settings › Battery › Options, and only applies on the power adapter.
- Keep the recording disk awake. In the same settings, turn off Put hard disks to sleep when possible if you record to an external drive.
- Restart after a power cut. On desktop Macs, turn on Start up automatically after a power failure.
- Open Loki Eye at login. Add it under System Settings › General › Login Items so recording resumes after a restart or a macOS update.
- Format the recording drive as APFS. exFAT has no journal, so it copes worse with losing power mid-write.
How much Mac you need
Very little. Loki Eye copies each camera’s video to disk without decoding it, and needed 3.0% of one CPU core to record eight 1080p cameras, with 40 MB of memory in our measurement on macOS. Any Apple Silicon Mac, or a recent Intel one, has plenty of headroom.
Storage is the real limit. The two-camera guide shows how much space recording takes at common bitrates.
Questions
Is there free NVR software for Mac?
Yes. Loki Eye is free for up to two cameras on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, with every recording feature and no account. Agent DVR is also free for local use.
Does Blue Iris run on a Mac?
No. Blue Iris needs Windows 10 or 11, so on a Mac it needs a Windows virtual machine or a separate PC.
Can a MacBook be a camera recorder?
Yes, as long as it stays on its power adapter and is set not to sleep when the display is off. A closed MacBook on battery goes to sleep and stops recording.
Can I watch the cameras from my iPhone?
With a Loki Eye licence, in Safari on your home network, behind a password. Away from home, connect through a VPN. There is no native iPhone app yet.
Loki Eye records your cameras to your own disk on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Free for two cameras, with no account.
Download free