Self-hosted · your video never leaves your machine

Your cameras.
Your hardware.
Your footage.

Professional video management for IP cameras that records to your own disk and plays back in your browser. No cloud. No subscription to watch your own cameras.

Launching September 2026 · free Community tier · one email, no spam.

No card required (Community) Runs on any Linux box One-script install

Real support — you reach the developer directly, not a call center.

Calyston dashboard: four live security cameras (foyer, driveway, alleyway, garage) with live CPU, memory and storage stats and a recent-events panel
Self-hosted on your hardware Video never leaves your machine No subscription required (Community) All major-brand cameras supported
Why Calyston

A well-built tool, not surveillance-as-a-service.

Everything that matters about recording your cameras — without the cloud, the subscriptions, or the config files.

Your footage stays yours

Self-hosted by design. Video — live and recorded — lives on your disk. We have no access to it, and there's no cloud storage to breach.

No subscription

A genuinely free tier, a pay-once Pro Forever option, or yearly plans. No monthly toll to watch your own cameras.

Set up in minutes

One install script on your Linux box, then add cameras from the browser. No YAML, no config files to hand-edit.

Smart, not just recording

Motion and AI events, searchable and filterable, with mobile notifications — the intelligence, without the complexity.

How it works

From zero to recording in three steps.

Get your free key

Enter your email and we send you a Community license — instantly, no card.

Install in minutes

Download the release and run one script on your Debian or Ubuntu machine.

Add your cameras

Our built-in scanner finds the cameras on your network — add them with a click.

Upgrade anytime — enter a paid key to unlock more cameras and features. No reinstall.

Features

The complete picture.

Continuous recording, smart detection, and remote access — the full offering, in one clean web UI.

Recording & playback

Continuous 24/7 recording

Records to local disk with no re-encoding — original quality, low CPU.

24-hour timeline

Instant scrubbing and variable-speed review across the day.

Clips & export

Cut any time range to a downloadable MP4 and share via link.

Smart retention

Auto-prunes the oldest footage as the disk fills, per camera or globally.

Detection & intelligence

Motion detection

Per-camera, with tunable sensitivity to cut down on noise.

AI events

Smart detection of what matters, filterable by camera and time.

Natural-language search

Find footage and events by describing them in plain language.

Home Assistant integration

Every camera becomes motion, person and vehicle sensors in HA — auto-discovered via MQTT, no YAML.

Access & notifications

Browser access

Works on desktop and phone browsers — no app to install.

Cloud relay

Secure remote access without opening ports or exposing your network.

Mobile push

Get alerted on events via Telegram, wherever you are.

Event feed

A searchable, filterable history of everything that happened.

Scale & platform

Multi-camera

From a couple of cameras to dozens, on one install.

Automatic updates

One click to the latest version — your settings and recordings stay put.

Self-hosted on Linux

Runs as a normal background service on Debian or Ubuntu.

Simple administration

Users, settings, and licensing from a clean web UI.

Privacy

Privacy by architecture, not by promise.

Most camera companies ask you to trust their cloud. Calyston removes the cloud from the equation — so there's nothing to trust us with.

All your video stays on your machine

Live and recorded footage, camera credentials, users, events, and clips are all local. There is no cloud video storage.

You control what reaches the internet

Always: a periodic license check and an update check. Only if you turn them on: anonymous crash reports, remote access, and Telegram alerts. Never your video or your data.

Even the crash service is self-hosted by us

Not handed to a third party — and every report is stripped of identifying data on your machine before it is sent. You can turn crash reporting off entirely.

YOUR LINUX MACHINE
CAM 01
CAM 02
CAM 0n
Footage · events · clips — stored locally
INTERNET
License & update check
Crash reports · relay · Telegram · only if enabled
No video. No cloud storage. Ever.
Pricing

Pay once, pay yearly, or don't pay at all.

No monthly subscriptions. One new major version per year. Start free and upgrade whenever you like.

Community
Freeforever

Continuous recording and motion events for a few cameras.

Get notified at launch
4 cameras
  • Continuous 24/7 recording · 14-day retention
  • Browser access, live + playback
  • Motion detection & events · 24h event history
Pro Forever
€129once

All of Pro, paid once — no yearly renewal, ever.

Launch offer — sold only during our first year.

Get notified at launch
16 cameras
  • Everything in Pro
  • Pay once — no renewal required
  • 3+ major releases included
Limited to 500

Founder Edition

All Pro features forever — a one-time purchase grandfathered across every future version (Pro Forever covers 3+ major releases; Founder covers all of them). 32 cameras, a numbered Founder badge, and the Founders' private Discord with the developer.

Get notified — Founder seats open at launch
FOUNDER001/500 €199.99 once · 32 cameras
30-day money-back guarantee 30-day grace period — nothing is ever deleted
FAQ

Questions, answered plainly.

Is my video sent to the cloud?
No. All footage stays on your machine. What uses the internet: a license and update check (always), plus — only if you enable them — crash reports, remote access, and Telegram alerts. Never your video or your data.
Do I need a subscription?
No. There's a free Community tier, a pay-once Pro Forever option, and yearly plans — your choice. No monthly fee to watch your own cameras.
What does "Pro Forever" include?
Pro Forever is a one-time purchase — a perpetual license that never expires and is never remotely disabled. It includes all updates for your current major version plus at least 3 future major releases. After that, keep getting the latest updates for an optional €29.99/year — or just keep using the version you have, forever, at no further cost. Pro Forever is a launch offer: it's on sale only during Calyston's first year — once it retires, the paid options are Pro (yearly) and Founder while seats last. Buying it locks in your license forever; only the ability to buy goes away. (Want every future version free, forever, with no renewal? That's the Founder Edition.)
What cameras work?
Any IP camera on your network that exposes an RTSP or ONVIF stream (H.264 or H.265) — most security cameras do. Wired/PoE is best for 24/7; Wi-Fi RTSP cameras work too. Cloud-locked cameras (Ring, Nest, Wyze and similar) only talk to their own app and can't be recorded by Calyston — or any local NVR. See our camera buyer's guide.
What do I install it on?
Any Linux machine running Debian 12/13 or Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 — a mini-PC, an old desktop, a NAS VM, or a homelab server.
Can I access my cameras remotely?
Yes — via secure cloud relay on paid tiers, without opening ports or exposing your network to the internet.
Does it work with Home Assistant?
Yes — natively. Point Calyston at your MQTT broker (four fields in Settings) and every camera appears in Home Assistant automatically as a device with motion, person, vehicle and animal sensors, availability, and a last-detection snapshot. No YAML on either side, and the bridge is free on every tier. Read how it works.
What happens if my plan lapses?
There's a 30-day money-back guarantee, and after a yearly plan lapses you get a 30-day grace period (it keeps working, with reminders). Then it gently reverts to free Community — nothing is ever deleted.
Is it hard to set up?
No. One install script, then a built-in scanner finds the cameras on your network and you add them with a click. No config files to hand-edit.
Launching September 2026

Keep your footage yours.

Calyston opens in September 2026. Leave your email and we'll send you exactly one message the day it's live — free Community tier, Pro trial, and 500 numbered Founder seats included.

We use your email for one launch announcement — nothing else, and you can ask us to remove it anytime.