Choosing a hub

The hub is the always-on recorder. It needs to be on the same network as your cameras (except in the own-server setup) and switched on whenever you want recording.

The short answer

If you…	Use
Want the easiest start	The desktop app on your Mac or Windows PC
Want it always on, quietly, for little power	A Raspberry Pi 4 or 5
Already have a NAS or home server	Docker on the NAS (Synology, QNAP, Unraid, TrueNAS)
Run Home Assistant	The Home Assistant add-on
Have no machine at home	Your own server (VPS) with cameras that support RTMP push

Desktop app (Mac or Windows)

Install Unicam and that computer becomes the hub. It keeps recording in the background from the menu bar, and the same app is your camera wall.

The catch: recording stops while the computer is asleep or off. That’s fine for a desktop that’s always on; for a laptop you close at night, a Pi is a better recorder.

Raspberry Pi

A Pi 4 or 5 running 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS is a great dedicated hub: silent, cheap to run and always on. Because Unicam copies each camera’s video instead of re-encoding it, even a Pi handles several cameras. One installer does everything. See Run the hub on a Raspberry Pi.

NAS or Docker

If you have a NAS, the hub can run on it with Docker and record straight to its disks. See Run the hub with Docker or on a NAS. The same Docker setup works on any mini-PC or Linux server.

Your own server

Want no recorder at home at all? Run the hub on a server you control and have cameras push their video to it over RTMP. You lose ONVIF discovery and pan/tilt, and your camera must support RTMP push. See Run the hub on your own server.

How much hub do I need?

Recording itself uses almost no CPU, because the hub stream-copies the camera’s video. Measured on a Mac: about 0.4% CPU per camera, and about 80 MB of memory plus about 50 MB per camera. Smart detection runs only when there’s motion, and cameras that detect motion on-chip can do that part themselves.

For storage on the hub itself, plan for a few days of footage: the hub keeps a local copy and prunes it automatically. See Retention and disk space.

One hub or several?

One hub records every camera at one site. Your plan covers a number of cameras per hub. Multiple sites in one app are coming soon on Pro.