Home Security Camera Buying Guide

Home security cameras are usually DIY devices, meaning you set up and monitor them yourself rather than hiring a security company to do the work and the watching. While this can save you from installation and monitoring fees, you generally forgo a 24/7 response team and have to self-monitor through alerts and video feeds that pop up on your phone. But some security camera makers, such as Ring, SimpliSafe, and Wyze, have begun offering professional monitoring services for their cameras, where agents check for intruders if the cameras detect motion, and can notify the police. Our DIY home security system ratings feature many models with optional professional monitoring. 

Home security cameras are mainly available in two forms: wireless security cameras and video doorbell cameras. Wireless security cameras connect to WiFi and can be plugged in for power or run off a rechargeable battery. (The term “wireless” in the name refers to WiFi, not the power supply.) Some models also work with small solar panels, which can charge the camera during the day to keep its battery from dying.

Video doorbell cameras offer all the features of a wireless security camera while also alerting you if someone rings the doorbell. They do double duty: If you have a video doorbell, you probably don’t also need a wireless security camera watching the front door. And because most traditional doorbells run on low-voltage wiring, there’s a steady stream of power available for a video doorbell.

In addition to wireless security cameras and video doorbells, a third type of home security camera has begun to grow in popularity: floodlight security cameras. As the name implies, these devices combine a wireless security camera with a bright lights for use at night, with the unit typically connected to a constant power source.

We find that most cameras we test, from any of these categories, don’t deliver the high-definition video quality their manufacturers promise under all situations. And many models require you to pay monthly fees for some of the most important features, such as cloud video storage and monitoring zones (the ability to focus on or ignore motion within a designated area of the camera’s field of view).

That’s not to say home security cameras can’t provide peace of mind, for example, by letting you see that your kids arrived home safely from school, the dog walker showed up as scheduled, or a package was delivered. And companies keep making these cameras smarter through software updates that add new features, such as package detection and facial recognition.

The world of home security cameras has changed rapidly in the past decade. Speedy home internet, smaller camera sensors, and cheaper WiFi chips have helped these cameras gain mass-market appeal in a relatively short amount of time. Two relatively new categories—video doorbell cameras and floodlight cameras—have given consumers more options than ever.

In addition to new products, manufacturers are competing heavily on price. It’s now possible to get a decent security camera or video doorbell for under $100 and a good-quality floodlight camera for under $150. Amazon-owned Blink makes a $35 wireless security camera, an $85 video doorbell, and a $100 floodlight camera. And the budget smart home company Wyze makes a $36 wireless security camera, a $30 video doorbell, and a $100 floodlight camera. Even brands that tend to skew somewhat higher-end, such as Arlo, Google Nest, and Ring, have released wireless security cameras that cost less than $100.

Many of these new, budget-friendly cameras allow you to store footage locally on a microSD card, negating the need for cloud video storage subscriptions, which have become a healthy source of recurring revenue for manufacturers. (Cloud storage subscriptions range anywhere from $1 per month to $30 per month, depending on the plan and number of cameras being used.)

Manufacturers have found another way to attract customers to those recurring subscriptions: artificial intelligence. A number of camera manufacturers are now adding artificial intelligence and object recognition to their subscriptions, allowing their cameras to identify people, animals, vehicles, packages, and faces. Generally, these features work by analyzing footage that the cameras upload to manufacturers’ servers and sending results back to you in real time in the form of smartphone alerts. (Some cameras are capable of running these algorithms locally on the camera itself or its wireless hub, such as new Eufy and Google Nest cameras, but they’re the exception to the rule.) These features also have the added benefit of cutting down on nuisance alerts and recordings from animals, swaying trees, and more.

A few companies, such as Ring and Wyze, have even demoed custom artificial intelligence features that would let you train your cameras to pick up on certain changes, such as whether a car is parked in the driveway. It’s unclear when this functionality will become widely available, though.

Some camera manufacturers are also embracing starlight sensors, which can “see” color in extremely low-light conditions, allowing for color night vision without spotlights or floodlights. These sensors are popping up in lower-priced cameras from Abode, Blurams, Eufy, TP-Link, and Wyze, to name a few.

As mentioned above, a few security camera makers—Ring, SimpliSafe, and Wyze—are now offering professional monitoring services for their cameras, where trained agents check your camera feeds if motion is detected and, if there’s an intruder, alert the authorities. Ring’s offering even allows the agents to speak to intruders via the cameras’ two-way audio. But these services can cost significantly more than regular camera subscriptions and sometimes require specialized cameras or hardware. Wyze is the exception, with its Cam Protect service costing only $40 per year and requiring just one of Wyze’s inexpensive indoor security cameras.

Our comprehensive testing methodology builds on CR’s expertise in testing cameras, televisions, and other connected devices. We focus our tests on how quickly a camera sends alerts to your smartphone when motion is detected—and for video doorbells, when you can see who pressed the bell—as well as its video quality, smart features, data privacy, and data security. These factors can make or break your experience with wireless security cameras and video doorbell cameras.

For the response-time test, we measure how long it takes for the camera to detect movement occurring in its field of view and send alerts to its smartphone app. For video doorbells, we also time how long it takes for a button press to result in a smartphone alert and, subsequently, a live video feed, which is critical if someone is waiting at your front door.

For the video-quality test, we set up a room with multiple resolution charts, everyday objects, and mannequins as stand-ins for people, and evaluate how clear the video is from cameras in good light, low light, and zero light (to test night vision). CR’s engineers designed this test to expose weak spots in the cameras, whether in their sensor, lens, or software. We also add different levels of backlighting to each lighting scenario. All these tests assess whether you would be able to clearly see people or objects in the frame, such as a potential intruder. The results of these tests appear in an individual video quality score for each wireless security camera and video doorbell in our ratings.

When it comes to smart features, we assess a wide variety of capabilities, depending on the type of home security camera. They may include monitoring zones, person detection, facial recognition, voice and app control (with Amazon Alexa, Google Home/Assistant, and Apple Home/Siri), smartphone alerts, two-way audio, scheduling, and geofencing (which turns alerts on and off, depending on whether the device reads that your smartphone and you, presumably, are nearby). All these features factor into our unique Smart IQ score for smart home devices, allowing you to see which cameras are smarter than the competition.

Due to repeated hacks of wireless security cameras and the growing privacy concerns about video doorbells that record audio in public areas (such as streets and sidewalks), we test all these cameras for data privacy and security. In these tests, we evaluate each company’s or service provider’s public documentation, such as privacy policies and terms of service, to see what claims the manufacturer makes about the way it handles your data. The tests include inspection of the user interface and network traffic from each camera and its companion smartphone app to make sure it’s using encryption, adhering to manufacturer policies, and not sharing your data with irrelevant third parties. Additionally, we conduct testing to see if whether can find security vulnerabilities that cybercriminals could exploit.

Finally, our test engineers take the results of these individual tests and use them to calculate our Overall Scores for both wireless security cameras and video doorbell cameras.

The type of camera you’ll need depends on where you want to place it. If you want one inside your home, there are many home security camera options. If you want one outside your home, you’ll need to decide whether you want a wireless security camera, video doorbell, or floodlight camera.

For monitoring a front or back door, consider using a video doorbell because it can be powered through your doorbell wiring. If you want to monitor another area of your property, you’re better off with a wireless security camera. And if you want to monitor an area that already has a hardwired floodlight, consider swapping it out with a floodlight security camera. Keep in mind that while all doorbell cameras and floodlight cameras are designed to survive the elements, not all wireless security cameras are weatherproof. So be sure to check the specs of a camera you’re considering if you want to put it outside. To help you easily tell if a camera is weatherproof, we now organize our wireless security camera ratings into indoor-outdoor and indoor-only categories.

Battery-powered wireless security cameras, video doorbells, and floodlight cameras (yes, there are a few options) offer the most flexibility in terms of placement in and around your home. But depending on the camera and how heavily it’s used, you’ll need to recharge it anywhere from weekly to annually. Hardwired cameras and doorbells neatly sidestep the recharging problem but may limit your placement options, unless you’re willing to run an extension cord or hire an electrician.

Keep in mind that the power source you use could limit the number of models you can choose from. This is especially true of floodlight cameras because there are few battery-powered models on the market.

Before you pick the camera or doorbell you want, be sure to find out how much free cloud storage it comes with and how much additional storage costs. Most manufacturers opt for cloud storage—where the footage is remotely stored on a server—instead of memory cards because the video files are large and the manufacturer can make additional money from the subscriptions. Without cloud storage (or local storage), if you miss an alert for a potential intruder, you’ll have no idea whether someone tried to break in. Many of these cameras also won’t let you download clips to send to authorities unless you pay up.

The amount of free online storage and the cost of storage plans can vary significantly by manufacturer and model. For example, the battery-powered Google Nest Cam comes with 3 hours of free cloud storage. Google Nest charges $8 per month (or $80 per year) for 30 days of motion-triggered storage for an unlimited number of cameras at one location, or $15 per month ($150 per year) for up to 30 days of storage and 10 days of 24/7 video history. By comparison, Ring cameras and doorbells offer no free storage, but Ring charges only $4 per month (or $40 per year) for one camera for 180 days of storage, or $10 per month ($100 per year) for all cameras at one location with 180 days of storage.

Keep in mind, most of these plans store only video clips triggered by motion, not continuous video feeds. But some brands, such as Arlo and Google Nest, offer continuous video storage plans.

While these cameras provide peace of mind, it’s worth remembering that to do that they provide a view into your home and connect to the internet. If you can watch your home from your phone, it may be possible for someone else to take a peek too. The manufacturer also may have access to the video.

“There have been cases of companies deploying these with weak security that can be circumvented,” says Justin Brookman, director of privacy and technology policy at Consumer Reports. “Don’t use default credentials. Make sure you set up your own unique username and difficult-to-guess password.” Read our article on creating strong passwords to make sure yours are as hackproof as they can be.

More and more cameras are offering two-factor authentication, an additional layer of security that sends you a one-time-use passcode via a text message, a phone call, email, or an authentication app. You input the passcode in addition to your username and password when you log in. That way, if a hacker cracks your password, they won’t be able to access your camera unless they also gain access to your one-time code. If your camera offers this, be sure to activate it. You can also find more advice in our article on preventing home security cameras from being hacked, and get personalized tips on staying safe in the CR Security Planner.

These security concerns don’t mean you shouldn’t buy a home security camera. But if privacy is something you’re worried about, you may want to keep these devices out of very private areas, such as bedrooms.

To help you purchase a camera that respects your privacy, we rate each model for data privacy. You can see how the privacy of each camera measures up in our home security camera ratings.

Once you’ve picked out the perfect security camera or video doorbell for your home, check its price at online retailers, local electronics stores, and even big-box hardware stores. The best time of year to buy these devices is during the holiday shopping season because that’s when we usually see the steepest discounts, with some merchants slashing prices by up to 50 percent. Your next best bet is one of Amazon’s sale events (such as Prime Day), followed by other sale holidays, such as Memorial Day and Labor Day.