SORT vs DeepSORT vs ByteTrack vs OC-SORT: Which Tracking Algorithm Should You Use?

Use SORT for fast tracking in simple, predictable scenes; DeepSORT when crowded objects cross paths and you need to keep their IDs; ByteTrack when detections are blurred, partially hidden, or low-confidence; and OC-SORT when objects turn suddenly or move unpredictably. To find the best fit for your footage, build a tracking pipeline with RF-DETR in Roboflow Workflows (or describe it to Roboflow Agent), run your own video through each tracker, and deploy the winner to the cloud or to edge devices like NVIDIA Jetson. Object detectors such as RF-DETR (opens in a new tab) identify objects in individual video frames, but they do not maintain object identities across frames. Object tracking addresses this limitation by associating detections across consecutive frames and assigning consistent IDs to objects as they move through a video. Several object tracking algorithms exist, each using a different approach to associate detections across video frames and maintain consistent object IDs. In this guide, we compare four popular tracking algorithms: SORT, (opens in a new tab) DeepSORT, ByteTrack, (opens in a new tab) and OC-SORT. (opens in a new tab) You'll learn how each algorithm works, what makes it unique, its strengths and weaknesses, and when to use…