Best home security cameras in 2024: Top wireless, indoor and outdoor models - Tom's Guide
The best home security cameras help you provide peace of mind by monitoring your home day and night, inside and out, and sending you an alert when they detect an intruder. These smart security cameras automatically send video to your smartphone, so you can see what's happening in real time, wherever you are. Home security cameras have night vision and automatic motion-activated recording, and some even have built-in speakers, so you can talk with whoever you see, or sound an alarm.
We've tested dozens of the best cameras in our own homes, both indoors and out, to see how they worked in real-world environments. We tried them on ourselves and our pets to see which work the best, capture the sharpest video, and bring the most value for your money.
The quick list
This camera can be used indoors or out, but wherever you put it, you'll get good video at a fraction of the price, as well as facial recognition. And, we like that it has local storage, too.
Read more below.
The same reasons we liked Nest's indoor camera apply here: Great video and great features at a good price. Plus, the outdoor version is very easy to set up and place just about anywhere you want.
Read more below.
The Blink Outdoor 4 camera offers great video quality for the price. You can also mount it almost anywhere, and its batteries will last up to two years on a charge.
Read more below.
The best home security cameras you can buy today
Best indoor security camera
The redesigned Nest Cam (Indoor, wired) is the latest generation of the celebrated Dropcam—one of the first, and one of the best home security cameras—and brings a number of improvements, including a lot of intelligence, such as on-device facial recognition and three hours of video storage.
Video quality from its 1080p sensor was excellent in both day and night settings. We were also impressed with audio; its microphone picked up sounds very well. It was really easy to set up, too; its magnetic base made it super simple to adjust the camera to capture exactly what we wanted.
To really make use of the camera's features, you'll have to shell out for the Nest Aware subscription, which starts at $6 per month. Even without a subscription, you'll get three hours of video storage, person detection and customizable activity zones, which is more than you can say about cameras from Ring and Arlo.
Read our full Nest Cam (indoor, wired) review.
Best indoor camera value
Don't let the low price fool you; the Wyze Cam v4 is the best home security camera for those on a budget. This camera has a higher resolution than the Wyze Cam v3 (1440p vs. 1080p) , and while the quality isn't up to the same par as the 4K Arlo Ultra 2, it's still sharp enough to see who's there. Its color night vision is especially impressive — we were able to clearly see all sorts of details in an outdoor scene at night. It also has a 72-lumen spotlight, similar to the Wyze Cam v3 Pro, which helps illuminate things even further. Unlike the Blink Outdoor 4, though, the Wyze Cam v4 needs to be plugged into an outlet.
Without a subscription, the Wyze Cam v3 will save 14 days of video history, but clips are limited to 12 seconds, and there's a "cool down" period between each recording, so you might not capture what you want. However, the camera also has a microSD card slot which you can use to enable continuous recording and create time-lapse videos. You can get unlimited-length videos and no cool-down periods if you subscribe to Wyze Cam Plus ($2.99/month per camera) — that's the least expensive security camera subscription on a monthly basis, but Wyze doesn't offer as long as video history as its competitors.
Read our full Wyze Cam v4 review.
Best indoor camera without subscription
Eufy's S350 indoor security camera delivers a lot of value. For around $100, you get a camera with a resolution of 4K that can pan, tilt, and swivel to cover a full 360 degrees of your room. What's more, it comes with person, package, and vehicle detection for free — something that many other camera companies charge a subscription for. You can even set the camera to automatically track someone as they cross the camera's field of view. And, the camera has local storage built in, so it'll keep recording even if your Internet connection drops.
In our testing of the S350, we were impressed with the quality of the video. Not only was it sharp, but was also able to compensate for bright and dark conditions in the same frame, so we could easily see out of a dark room through a sun-filled window to the outdoors. Black-and-white nighttime video was equally vivid, as we were able to make out details as easily as the daytime.
The S350 also works with Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can view live feeds through pretty much every smart display out there. Our only real complaint with the S350 was that audio was a bit watery, but other than that, this camera gives you a lot for not that much.
Read our full Eufy Cam S350 review.
Best outdoor security camera
Below is a selection of some excellent outdoor security cameras; however, we have a more comprehensive list at our best outdoor security cameras page.
The well-designed Nest Cam (battery) has a simple shape and is one of the easiest home security cameras to install, thanks to its magnetic base. Its 1080p camera captures sharp images day and night, and its microphone and speaker made conversations a breeze.
The Nest Cam (battery) also offers three hours of rolling video storage for free, as well as person, vehicle, and animal detection. If you sign up for a Nest Aware subscription (starting at $6/month), you also get familiar face detection as well as the ability to store up to a month's worth of video.
Read our full Nest Cam (battery) review.
Best budget outdoor cam
The Blink Outdoor 4 is the best home security camera for those looking for a truly wireless option for around $100. The camera runs off two AA batteries (which should last up to two years), and communicates wirelessly with a small base station that's connected to your Wi-Fi network.
The Blink Outdoor 4's case is weatherproof, so you can stick it either indoors or outside, and comes with a convenient mounting bracket. While not tops, the 1080p video is records is good for the price. While it lacks free cloud storage, you can save videos locally to a USB drive. Cloud storage starts at $3/month or $30/year, and also gets you person detection, faster access to your videos, and extended live views.
Blink's app is fairly robust, and while it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Arlo's cameras, this camera has plenty of features for the price. As an outdoor budget camera, we give Blink an edge over Wyze, for the simple fact that you can mount it anywhere, and not have to worry about plugging it in.
If you want to see even better in the dark, Blink also sells an Outdoor Floodlight Mount that adds two motion-triggered 700-lumen floodlights to the Blink Outdoor 4. You can purchase the mount for $39.99, or as a bundle with the Outdoor 4 for $159.99.
Read our full Blink Outdoor 4 review.
Best no-subscription camera
While the EufyCam 3 has a high upfront cost — $549 for two cameras and the base station — you can make it up on the back end, as you don't need to sign up for a subscription to store video. But that's not all that impressed us; the EufyCam 3's 4K resolution was sharp and clear both day and night, and the massive battery and built-in solar panels meant we never had to recharge or replace the batteries, even after months of use.
The AI built into the cameras can be trained to recognize familiar faces, as well as vehicle and pet detection. It also works with Alexa and Google Assistant. Video is saved locally on the HomeBase 3, which has 16GB of storage built-in; however, you can increase its storage capacity all the way up to 16 TB using a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD.
A wireless 4K security camera that never needs to be recharged and doesn't require a monthly subscription? That's a winner in our book.
Read our full EufyCam 3 review.
Best with 4K video
Not only do the Arlo Ultra's cameras deliver the best home security camera video, but it also uses that extra resolution to enable digital track and zoom, which makes it easier to follow and ID a person as they move across the frame. A built-in spotlight also enables color recording at night, and it has dual microphones for better audio, as well as a built-in alarm loud enough to startle anyone nearby.
Arlo's cameras are completely wireless, with batteries that can last up to six months on a charge; the company also sells solar panels, which helps extend the endurance of the cameras even further.
All of this will cost you, though: A two camera kit (with the hub) is $599, and extra cameras are $299 each. The Arlo Ultra 2 doesn't come with a free tier of cloud storage, so you have to spend at least $4.99 per month for a single camera ($12.99/month for unlimited cameras) if you want to save any videos. That's the priciest of all the security camera storage plans on the market. But if you want the absolute best when it comes to video quality, the Arlo Ultra 2 has it.
Best floodlight cam
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