Cinestar

Overview

Cinestar is an open-source media search tool for Linux and macOS. It is best suited to people who want to find scenes or images across local collections without sending media to a cloud service. Its search breadth is appealing, but running Ollama and downloading several AI models are part of getting started.

Key features

Cinestar can index folders and videos, transcribe audio with Whisper, embed video frames using BGE, and create image and video captions with Moondream v2. Llama 3.2 (3B) handles language tasks and content organization, while SQLite-Vec stores the vectors. Natural-language searches return relevant moments with timecodes and thumbnails, which can make locating a scene more direct than browsing files one by one.

Visual, audio, and multimodal search serve different ways of looking for material. Plugins cover potential additions such as face recognition, album creation, metadata extraction, transcoding, collaboration, LDAP, audit trails, backups, compliance reporting, and multi-user access. The open API allows custom plugins. That flexibility may suit varied workflows, but teams should choose Cinestar for the capabilities they need rather than assume every plugin will fit their requirements.

The maker says AI processing runs locally and that Cinestar has no analytics, telemetry, usage tracking, or data uploads. That is a strong fit for privacy-conscious personal collections and organizations handling sensitive media. Local processing also means users need to supply the computing environment and manage the model downloads themselves.

Pricing

Cinestar is free and open source under the MIT license. The Cinestar (MIT open-source core) plan costs nothing and includes the open-source core; local AI services require Ollama. There are no paid tiers or stated usage caps in the plan. The trade-off is setup: Ollama is required, and the listed BGE, Moondream, and Llama 3.2 models total about 2–4 GB to download.

Platforms

Cinestar supports Linux and macOS. The macOS install guide calls for downloading Cinestar.app, moving it to Applications, and opening it past Gatekeeper. Linux instructions include commands for installing Ollama. The changelog names v0.1.52, dated October 11, 2025, as the latest release on that page.

Who it's for

Cinestar suits personal media managers, content creators, media organizations, and academic or market researchers who want local search across images and video. Its multimodal approach and plugin options are useful when a collection needs more than basic file lookup. It is a weaker choice for someone who wants a hosted service or a setup that avoids installing local AI services and models.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Local AI processing and no analytics, telemetry, usage tracking, or data uploads address privacy concerns.
• Pros: Visual, audio, and multimodal search combine transcription, frame embeddings, and captions to help locate moments in video as well as images.
• Pros: An MIT license, open API, and plugins offer room to adapt the tool to different media workflows.
• Cons: Ollama and roughly 2–4 GB of model downloads add setup time and storage needs.
• Cons: Linux and macOS support excludes users seeking a Windows version.

Alternatives

Browse AI Video Search Tools for more options. Choose FrameQuery if you want metadata search and local, Drive, or NAS sharing and backup; its free plan has no monthly indexing hours, while face, voice, and AI-tag search require indexed video. DISKO may suit a macOS or web workflow centered on screenwriting, shot lists, and review links; its free cloud plan includes 2 GB, with a Pro plan at $12 a month.

Twelve Labs is an API and web option with a free plan that includes 600 minutes of video, 90-day index access, and limits of 10 hours and 100 videos per index, with five concurrent indexing tasks. ViSearch offers API, self-hosted, and web access; its free plan covers up to 20 minutes of video processing, and its Basic plan charges $0.09, paid once, billed $0.09/min. Vivu is a web and API alternative with 20 indexing minutes and 50 search credits per month on its free plan.

MomentSearch is another free option available on Linux, macOS, Windows, web, and self-hosted environments. Scout Suite is a free, open-source multi-cloud security auditing tool rather than a media search alternative. SentrySearch is a free option for Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted use.

Verdict

Choose Cinestar if you want free, open-source search across local images and video, value keeping AI processing on your own machine, and can accommodate Ollama and the model downloads. Its combination of timecoded results, multiple search modes, and extensibility is its clearest draw. Look elsewhere if you need Windows support or prefer not to manage local AI setup.