Is Rekor Scout still the best option?

[IReallyLikePizza2]

Been using Rekor Scout for a while, and we've endured a lot of price increases. I'm currently paying $20/mo which is quite a lot.

Only reason I keep using it is because of @mlapaglia and the Web Hook Processor, if that didn't exist, I would have cancelled it by now

Is there any viable alternatives to Rekor Scout? I'd love to start looking before the inevitable next price increase comes

 

[wittaj]

That is it cost-wise unless you use the free ANPR CodeProject within BI.

 

[VideoDad]

I'm using the Plate Recognizer service, but we're on a cul-de-sac with fewer than 2500 plates run per month so I'm able to use the free tier.

If you're also under that many, consider it.

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

I had 472 yesterday, so I'm going to say its a no-go

I guess it was really closer to 300~ since every car with front and back plates gets counted twice

 

[wtimothyholman]

I've been using Rekor Scout for a few years. The original developer of OpenALPR (Matt Hill) left Rekor last year, and seems to be semi-retired and working on open source projects. Despite that, Rekor has been upgrading Scout. The latest client (4.1.7) definitely has improved accuracy, especially with TN plates. I've been conversing with their support group, and they're promising some additional upgrades to support Ubuntu 22.04 in the next few months.

The price increases are annoying, but I've yet to find a competing product that allows me to record several thousand plates at a flat rate per camera, and with the same accuracy as Scout. I'll continue to stick with it.

 

[mlapaglia]

i reverse engineered the license checks in the rekor scout DLLs to make it work without a valid license. idk if i would be allowed to upload them here.

 

[wtimothyholman]

i reverse engineered the license checks in the rekor scout DLLs to make it work without a valid license. idk if i would be allowed to upload them here.

You may fool the agent into working on a PC, but the agent uploads license and thumbnail metadata from your cameras into Rekor's servers. They would know in an instant if you have an unauthorized camera running.

Of course, you could run your own web server and point your agent at that server, but do you want to bet that there isn't some other "phone home" checking going on between the agent and Rekor?

 

[wittaj]

You may fool the agent into working on a PC, but the agent uploads license and thumbnail metadata from your cameras into Rekor's servers. They would know in an instant if you have an unauthorized camera running.

Of course, you could run your own web server and point your agent at that server, but do you want to bet that there isn't some other "phone home" checking going on between the agent and Rekor?

But he has been running it that way for years?

 

[wtimothyholman]

But he has been running it that way for years?

Then I can only assume that he has his own internal web server running, and Rekor Scout doesn't phone home otherwise.