Acoustic monitoring

BirdNET

Recognition of more than 6000 bird species by voice, the baseline tool for acoustic monitoring of an area. A microphone on site also records people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

Developer
Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Chemnitz University of Technology, USA and Germany
First release
Jun 2023
Latest release
Jul 2026
Sizes
a compact EfficientNet-B0 based model
License
Non-commercial onlyCC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - non-commercial use only; the V3.0 release has different terms, check the model card
Ready-made builds
8-bit
Running
On your own serverAlso runs without a GPU
Industries
Science and research, Public sector, Education, Manufacturing and logistics
Deploy on your server Hugging Face GitHub

What it does

  • Long-term monitoring of the sound background of a site
  • Assessing biodiversity for an environmental review
  • Selecting events from round-the-clock recordings
  • A base for your own classifier of environmental sounds

Where it is used

Ecology and conservation projectsPublic sector and municipal servicesEducation and scienceSupport for industrial sites

Hardware requirements

LaptopLaptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions
fits
1 GPUOne GPU with 16–80 GB — mid-size versions
no versions
ClusterServer with several GPUs — flagship versions
no versions

Versions

  1. Модели V3.0 (зеркало сообщества)
  2. BirdNET-Analyzer V2.4 (более 6000 видов)

How to run it

On your own serverWeights are downloaded from Hugging Face and served with vLLM (load and API) or llama.cpp (modest hardware). The model then runs in a closed network with no per-request fees.Hugging Face
How much hardware you needCalculate the VRAM for the model size, context length and number of concurrent requests.Open the hardware calculator

I can set this up end to end: pick the model size, deploy it on your server and connect it to your systems. Quantization compresses a model so it takes less video memory and runs on more modest hardware. Answers change slightly, so quality is checked on your own examples.

Frequently asked questions

Can BirdNET be used in a commercial project?

No. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - non-commercial use only; the V3.0 release has different terms, check the model card. A commercial product needs a different model or a separate agreement with the rights holder.

What hardware does BirdNET need?

At minimum: Laptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions. Some versions also run on an ordinary CPU, without a GPU. You can calculate the exact VRAM for your model size and context in the hardware calculator.

Does BirdNET support Russian?

Language does not matter for this model: it does not work with text.

Where can I download BirdNET and what does it cost?

The BirdNET weights are open and free to download. You only pay for the hardware it runs on and for the setup. Source links are at the bottom of this page.

How I deploy it for clients

  1. SelectionI pick the model size for your task and hardware and test it on your examples.
  2. DeploymentI deploy it on your server or in a closed network and provide an API.
  3. Fine-tuningI fine-tune it on your data (LoRA) or connect a knowledge base — whichever is cheaper for the task.
  4. IntegrationI connect it to your CRM, ERP, bot, website or team chat and set up monitoring.

Similar models

Acoustic monitoringPerchGoogle DeepMind · USACommercial use allowed

A model for acoustic monitoring of nature: it recognises about 15,000 species and provides features for your own tasks, and the license allows commercial use. A microphone on site also records people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

DetailsAcoustic monitoringPANNsUniversity of Surrey · UKCommercial use allowed

The classic set of convolutional networks that label sound across the 527 AudioSet categories, from machinery noise and alarms to breaking glass and screams. The system does not make a diagnosis, it gives you a reason to check the unit before it fails. A microphone can also capture people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

DetailsAcoustic monitoringYAMNetGoogle · USACommercial use allowed

A tiny model covering 521 sound events, including alarms, breaking glass and screams: it fits on a microcontroller and runs without a GPU. A microphone can capture people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

Details

Source: huggingface.co/sammlapp/BirdNET_v2.4. Data checked against the model card on 22 Sep 2026. Have a lawyer review the license before commercial launch.