Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

OpenCV VS Dlib

Compare OpenCV VS Dlib and see what are their differences

OpenCV logo OpenCV

OpenCV is the world's biggest computer vision library

Dlib logo Dlib

Dlib is a modern C++ toolkit containing machine learning algorithms & tools for creating complex software in C++ to solve real world problem
  • OpenCV Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-29
  • Dlib Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-11-25

OpenCV features and specs

  • Comprehensive Library
    OpenCV offers a wide range of tools for various aspects of computer vision, including image processing, machine learning, and video analysis.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    OpenCV is designed to run on multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS, which makes it versatile for development across different environments.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, OpenCV is freely available for use and allows developers to inspect, modify, and enhance the code according to their needs.
  • Large Community Support
    A large community of developers and researchers actively contributes to OpenCV, providing extensive support, tutorials, forums, and continuously updated documentation.
  • Real-Time Performance
    OpenCV is highly optimized for real-time applications, making it suitable for performance-critical tasks in various industries such as robotics and interactive installations.
  • Extensive Integration
    OpenCV can easily be integrated with other libraries and frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and OpenCL, enhancing its capabilities in deep learning and GPU acceleration.
  • Rich Collection of examples
    OpenCV provides a large number of example codes and sample applications, which can significantly reduce the learning curve for beginners.

Possible disadvantages of OpenCV

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to the vast array of functionalities and the complexity of some of its advanced features, beginners may find it challenging to learn and use effectively.
  • Documentation Gaps
    While the documentation is extensive, it can sometimes be incomplete or outdated, requiring users to rely on community forums or external sources for solutions.
  • Resource Intensive
    Some functions and algorithms in OpenCV can be quite resource-intensive, requiring significant processing power and memory, which can be a limitation for low-end devices.
  • Limited High-Level Abstractions
    OpenCV provides a wealth of low-level functions, but it may lack higher-level abstractions and frameworks, necessitating more hands-on coding and algorithm development.
  • Dependency Management
    Setting up and managing dependencies can be cumbersome, especially when integrating OpenCV with other libraries or on certain operating systems.
  • Backward Compatibility Issues
    With frequent updates and new versions, backward compatibility can sometimes be problematic, potentially breaking existing code when updating.

Dlib features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

OpenCV videos

AI Courses by OpenCV.org

More videos:

  • Review - Practical Python and OpenCV

Dlib videos

Face Recognition with Dlib in Python

More videos:

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to OpenCV and Dlib)
Data Science And Machine Learning
Data Science Tools
95 95%
5% 5
Python Tools
95 95%
5% 5
Image Analysis
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare OpenCV and Dlib

OpenCV Reviews

7 Best Computer Vision Development Libraries in 2024
From the widespread adoption of OpenCV with its extensive algorithmic support to TensorFlow's role in machine learning-driven applications, these libraries play a vital role in real-world applications such as object detection, facial recognition, and image segmentation.
10 Python Libraries for Computer Vision
OpenCV is the go-to library for computer vision tasks. It boasts a vast collection of algorithms and functions that facilitate tasks such as image and video processing, feature extraction, object detection, and more. Its simple interface, extensive documentation, and compatibility with various platforms make it a preferred choice for both beginners and experts in the field.
Source: clouddevs.com
Top 8 Alternatives to OpenCV for Computer Vision and Image Processing
OpenCV is an open-source computer vision and machine learning software library that was first released in 2000. It was initially developed by Intel, and now it is maintained by the OpenCV Foundation. OpenCV provides a set of tools and software development kits (SDKs) that help developers create computer vision applications. It is written in C++, but it supports several...
Source: www.uubyte.com
Top 8 Image-Processing Python Libraries Used in Machine Learning
These are some of the most basic operations that can be performed with the OpenCV on an image. Apart from this, OpenCV can perform operations such as Image Segmentation, Face Detection, Object Detection, 3-D reconstruction, feature extraction as well.
Source: neptune.ai
5 Ultimate Python Libraries for Image Processing
Pillow is an image processing library for Python derived from the PIL or the Python Imaging Library. Although it is not as powerful and fast as openCV it can be used for simple image manipulation works like cropping, resizing, rotating and greyscaling the image. Another benefit is that it can be used without NumPy and Matplotlib.

Dlib Reviews

10 Python Libraries for Computer Vision
Dlib is a versatile library that excels in face detection, facial landmark detection, image alignment, and more. It offers pre-trained models and tools for various machine learning tasks, making it a valuable asset for computer vision projects requiring accurate facial analysis.
Source: clouddevs.com
Top 8 Alternatives to OpenCV for Computer Vision and Image Processing
Dlib is a modern C++ toolkit containing machine learning algorithms and tools for developing complex software in C++ to solve real-world problems. Dlib is widely used in several sectors such as academia, government, and industry. It offers support for several computer vision algorithms such as object detection, face detection, and clustering.
Source: www.uubyte.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, OpenCV should be more popular than Dlib. It has been mentiond 60 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

OpenCV mentions (60)

  • Grasping Computer Vision Fundamentals Using Python
    To aspiring innovators: Dive into open-source frameworks like OpenCV or PyTorch, experiment with custom object detection models, or contribute to projects tackling bias mitigation in training datasets. Computer vision isn’t just a tool, it’s a bridge between the physical and digital worlds, inviting collaborative solutions to global challenges. The next frontier? Systems that don’t just interpret visuals, but... - Source: dev.to / 12 days ago
  • Top Programming Languages for AI Development in 2025
    Ideal For: Computer vision, NLP, deep learning, and machine learning. - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • Why 2024 Was the Best Year for Visual AI (So Far)
    Almost everyone has heard of libraries like OpenCV, Pytorch, and Torchvision. But there have been incredible leaps and bounds in other libraries to help support new tasks that have helped push research even further. It would be impossible to thank each and every project and the thousands of contributors who have helped make the entire community better. MedSAM2 has been helping bring the awesomeness of SAM2 to the... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • 20 Open Source Tools I Recommend to Build, Share, and Run AI Projects
    OpenCV is an open-source computer vision and machine learning software library that allows users to perform various ML tasks, from processing images and videos to identifying objects, faces, or handwriting. Besides object detection, this platform can also be used for complex computer vision tasks like Geometry-based monocular or stereo computer vision. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • F1 FollowLine + HSV filter + PID Controller
    This library is used for image and video processing, offering functions for tasks like object detection, filtering, and transformations in computer vision. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
View more

Dlib mentions (17)

  • 32 years old. HRT in April or May. Things I can do to maximize results and what to expect.
    The apparent gender estimates from photos are using dlib, and I really ought to get what I'm doing cleaned up in such a way that other people can use it easily. Source: over 2 years ago
  • C++ for machine learning
    Additionally, C++ may be used for extremely high levels of optimization even for cloud-based ML. Dlib and Kaldi are C++ libraries used as dependencies in Python codebases for computer vision and audio processing, for example. So if your application requires you to customize any functions similar to those libraries, then you'll need C++ knowhow. Source: over 2 years ago
  • What programming language should I learn after C++ for Audio DSP?
    If you know C++, you don't need anything else. Go and learn APIs for C++ libraries. If you're into DSP, why not study Dlib?. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Exponential vs linear progress?
    The data is mostly in this spreadsheet. The apparently facial gender estimates are made with Dlib. The mental health assessments are from Beck's Depression Inventory and the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale. The graph is made with gnuplot. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Flutter OpenCV and dlib for face detector & recognition
    The plugin uses dlib library with a very fast HOG detector for both face recognition and detector following the relative examples. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing OpenCV and Dlib, you can also consider the following products

Scikit-learn - scikit-learn (formerly scikits.learn) is an open source machine learning library for the Python programming language.

TensorFlow - TensorFlow is an open-source machine learning framework designed and published by Google. It tracks data flow graphs over time. Nodes in the data flow graphs represent machine learning algorithms. Read more about TensorFlow.

Pandas - Pandas is an open source library providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures and data analysis tools for the Python.

PyTorch - Open source deep learning platform that provides a seamless path from research prototyping to...

NumPy - NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python

Keras - Keras is a minimalist, modular neural networks library, written in Python and capable of running on top of either TensorFlow or Theano.