Choose ANPR software that fits the way your site works
The right number plate recognition solution depends on your cameras, locations, traffic and privacy needs. Some services charge per read, others per camera or through your own engineering time. ANPR Edge is licensed once per location. This guide helps you compare the options and find the right fit for your operation.
About this comparison
ANPR.software has published this comparison. We have used each vendor’s public product and pricing information, with sources and review dates linked below. As products and prices change, it is always worth confirming the latest details directly with the provider you choose.
What to look for when comparing ANPR software
Most providers offer a similar-looking feature list. These are the practical differences that affect your budget, rollout and day-to-day operation.
How you pay
You may pay per plate read, per camera each month, or through a one-time licence. This often matters more than the headline price: a per-camera fee stays the same whether your barrier opens once a day or a thousand times.
What happens in quieter months
A monthly allowance can be great value when you use it fully, but unused reads usually do not carry over. Pay-as-you-go credit is more flexible when traffic changes through the year. The better option depends on how consistent your volume is.
The detail you receive from each plate
Many engines cover the Gulf. Look closer at what comes back: do you receive the emirate, plate category and Arabic characters as separate fields, or only one line of Latin text?
Where images are processed
With a cloud API, plate images leave your network for processing. With an on-site engine, they stay at your location—but you will need a computer there to run it.
How quickly you can go live
Connecting cameras, barriers and your existing systems can take more time than choosing the recognition engine. Some vendors provide a ready-to-use product, some offer developer tools, and some leave the integration entirely to your team.
Compare the three options
This table uses publicly available information. A blank cell means we could not find that detail published by the vendor.
| Criterion | ANPR.software | Plate Recognizer | OpenALPR / Rekor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three years, 4 cameras on one site | $2,500 once for the ANPR Edge license; updates free in year one, optional after | $5,040 on Stream at $35/camera/month | Scout is priced per camera; the price needs an account |
| Camera and barrier connections | Built into ANPR Edge: Hikvision, Dahua and any ONVIF camera; Hikvision, Dahua or Modbus barrier hardware | Stream reads camera feeds, priced per camera | — |
| Countries covered | The 6 GCC states, and only those | "over 90 countries" | 90+ countries via Rekor Scout |
| Free tier | 100 credits every month, no card | 2,500 lookups a month | CarCheck trial: 50 recognitions a month; 14-day trial needs a card |
| Paid model | Plans from $15/month with credits included; $0.005 per plate, the same on every plan | Monthly subscription: $50 / 50,000, $150 / 250,000, $250 / 500,000 lookups | Scout from $12/month; CarCheck from $40/month. Per-plan prices need an account |
| Camera connections (cloud plans) | Included in the plan: 1 on Free and Starter, 5 on Business, 10 on Growth, 25 on Scale, unlimited on Enterprise | Stream $35/camera/month; ParkPow dashboard $20/camera/month | Scout is priced per camera |
| Make, model and colour | 181 makes, 2,003 models, 92.8% and 85.2% accuracy respectively | "add 50% to the Subscription Fees" | Included on CarCheck Plus and Advanced |
| Sub-national plate regions | Emirate returned as a field, plus plate category and the Arabic characters | "Sub-regions available for USA, Australia and Brazil" | The seven emirates are listed as regions for the UAE |
| On-premise | ANPR Edge on one Windows PC or Mac per location, licensed once: $2,500 up to 4 cameras, $6,500 unlimited | SDK on Windows, Linux, Jetson and Raspberry Pi | AGPL-3.0 library you host, or Rekor Edge hardware |
| Stated speed | 50-100 ms on-premise with ANPR Edge; 900 ms to 1.5 s through the cloud API | "200 ms" cloud, "50-100 ms" SDK | — |
Break the per-camera tax
Other ANPR software charges for every camera. ANPR Edge charges for the location.
Upfront license cost as cameras are added, priced for where you are. From 2 cameras on, ANPR Edge costs the least of the 4.
Upfront license cost at 4 cameras
- ANPR Edge4-camera license up to 4 cameras, unlimited license from 5$2,500
- Milestone XProtect LPRLPR license per camera, plus GCC plate modules once$10,671
- Avigilon ACC LPRLPR license per lane, plus a channel$14,690
- Hikvision license + ANPR cameraANPR channel license plus a dedicated ANPR camera$8,709
ANPR Edge costs $6,209 less than the next cheapest here.
Vaxtor sells per-channel licenses with prices on request, so it has no line.
See the figures as a table
| Cameras | ANPR Edge | Milestone XProtect LPR | Avigilon ACC LPR | Hikvision license + ANPR camera |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | $6,279 | $3,673 | $2,177 |
| 2 | $2,500 | $7,743 | $7,345 | $4,355 |
| 4 | $2,500 | $10,671 | $14,690 | $8,709 |
| 5 | $6,500 | $12,135 | $18,363 | $10,887 |
| 8 | $6,500 | $16,527 | $29,380 | $17,418 |
| 16 | $6,500 | $28,239 | $58,761 | $34,837 |
| 24 | $6,500 | $39,951 | $88,141 | $52,255 |
Sources and assumptions
Milestone: XProtect LPR camera license $1,295 and Pro+ device license $169 per camera, plus the LPR base license $300 (5 plate modules) and 7 more plate modules at $645 each, once per system. Milestone licenses each emirate as its own module, so reading every GCC country takes 12. Official 2021-R2 USD list prices; $1,295 and $645 still listed by a reseller in September 2026.
Hikvision: HikCentral ANPR 1-channel license $216.79 (reseller, 2026) plus an iDS-2CD8A46G0-XZ(H)S(Y) ANPR camera at AED 7,200 (SAR 7,370, about $1,960), the GCC average, from a Gulf seller's regular price, September 2026.
Avigilon: ACC7-LPR $3,492.48 per lane and a Standard channel $180.08 per camera, list prices in a public contract price list, January 2023. All six GCC countries are one plate format at no extra cost.
ANPR Edge: our live price list. With several locations, the volume ladder applies to Edge and Milestone's plate modules are counted once, as for one system.
USD, excluding VAT, hardware, installation and VMS base licenses; project quotes vary.
Price sources: Milestone price list (2021-R2) · Milestone LPR camera license · Milestone LPR country module · Milestone supported countries · Avigilon ACC 7.14 user guide · HikCentral ANPR channel license · Avigilon contract price list · Hikvision ANPR camera, Dubai
Milestone, XProtect, Avigilon, Hikvision, HikCentral, Vaxtor and Uniview are trademarks of their respective owners, named here only to compare published prices.
Which option suits your needs?
You want to use your existing cameras and control the barrier
ANPR Edge runs on one Windows PC or Mac and works with the IP cameras already on your network, including Hikvision, Dahua, Uniview, Axis, Hanwha, Bosch and ONVIF cameras. It can also control compatible Hikvision, Dahua and Modbus barriers over the same local network, without requiring dedicated ANPR cameras.
One location with many cameras
Per-camera plans rise as you add lanes. ANPR Edge is licensed once per location: $6,500 covers as many cameras as the local PC can support. For comparison, Plate Recognizer Stream lists 16 cameras at $560 per month.
Plate images need to stay on site
ANPR Edge processes plates on a computer at your location, typically in 50–100 ms, so images stay on your network. Plate Recognizer’s SDK and self-hosted OpenALPR can also run locally. ANPR Edge includes the camera and barrier connections as part of the product.
You only read plates in the Gulf
ANPR Edge is built specifically for the six GCC countries. It returns the emirate, plate category and Arabic characters as separate fields, rather than leaving your team to interpret a single line of text.
You read plates across many countries
Plate Recognizer publishes coverage for more than 90 countries, while ANPR Edge focuses on the six GCC countries. If your fleet operates well beyond the Gulf, broader country coverage may be the better match.
You have an engineering team and want open-source software
The OpenALPR library is AGPL-3.0 and free to run on your own hardware. It can be a good fit if you have the time and expertise to handle integration and ongoing maintenance. Review the AGPL obligations carefully if you distribute it within your own product.
You need video tools, a dashboard and image redaction too
Plate Recognizer offers Stream, the ParkPow dashboard and Blur image redaction as separate products. Rekor also offers a broader public-safety product range. These may be better options when you want to source the full video workflow from a single provider.
Your traffic changes by season
Monthly allowances can offer excellent value when you use them fully, but may cost more per read during quiet periods. Credit that does not expire gives the same per-plate cost all year. Compare plans using your quieter months as well as your busiest.
Common questions before choosing ANPR software
- Is there genuinely free ANPR software?
- Yes. The OpenALPR library is AGPL-3.0 and free to run on your own hardware, although the licence has obligations if you distribute a product built with it. Most hosted APIs also offer a free tier: Plate Recognizer lists 2,500 lookups per month, ANPR.software offers 100 credits per month, and Rekor CarCheck offers 50 recognitions per month in its trial. These are best for evaluation and small sites rather than sustained production traffic.
- Which ANPR software is most accurate?
- Published information alone cannot answer this fairly. There is no single shared benchmark or test set, and each provider tests in different conditions. We publish 98%+ accuracy on GCC plates and 99.2% for UAE plates; Plate Recognizer publishes capability claims rather than one overall accuracy figure. The best test is always your own cameras, lighting and local plate mix—exactly what a free trial is for.
- Does cheaper per read mean cheaper overall?
- Not always. A $50 plan with 50,000 lookups costs one tenth of a cent per lookup when you use the full allowance, but much more when you only use a small part of it. Compare each plan against your real monthly reads—entries and exits, not just vehicles—to understand the total cost.
- Can I move between these later?
- Changing an API call is usually straightforward, but each provider returns plate data in a different format. Field names, confidence values and regional details can all vary. If flexibility matters, save each read in your own consistent format rather than relying only on the provider’s raw response.
Explore your options in more detail
Visit these guides for a closer look at alternatives, pricing and the full cost of an ANPR system.