The best security cameras for 2025

Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor | Power source: Wired｜ Mounting options: Stand or wall mount (included) | Compatible apps: Google Home | Resolution: 1080p ｜Night vision: B/W infrared | Removable storage: No | Subscription-only features: 30/60 days of history, familiar face, alarm and glass break detection | Subscription cost: $8 or $15/month | 2FA required: Yes

If you’re coming in fresh to smart home security, Google’s range of products is an accessible way to go and the Nest Cam is a good entry point. It’s likely you already have a Google account, whether for the company’s apps like Gmail and Google Docs, for posting to YouTube or leaving a coffee shop review on Google Maps. The company’s omnipresence may be alarming in its scope, but it certainly makes signing up for stuff easier.

Google’s Home app is clean and simple to figure out, even for first timers, with clearly labeled tabs and intuitive buttons. For example, there’s a clear Add button on the Devices tab, instead of a tiny plus sign like in most other apps. The app presents a clear walkthrough when you want to set up a new camera, with a step-by-step illustrated experience that should be easy for anyone to follow. Routines are simple to customize and the app uses plain language instead of tech-speak. It’s also pretty effortless to see your camera feed on a Nest Hub, your Google TV or Streamer. Even iPhone users can fully wield the app, including using it for location-based triggers (such as only notifying you of a detected action when you’re away from home).

The Nest Cam itself is the best looking of the devices I tested. It’s made up of two little half-orbs with a matte finish and comes in basic white, tan, gray or an extra cute “sand with maplewood base.” The two halves are connected by a small arm that lets you manually adjust the angle with about a 90-degree range of motion up and down and 360 degrees of side-to-side adjustment. The base acts as both a stand and a wall mount and the unit feels sturdy overall. The camera doesn’t have the widest field of view, just 135 degrees on the diagonal. I noticed the picture was narrower than that of other cameras, but it was still able to cover all the action I’d wanted it to. I also appreciated the (attached) 10-foot cord — and if you’re particular about having wireless cameras, Nest has one of those as well that works much the same way but costs $80 more

Without the $8-per-month Nest Aware subscription, you only get three hours of the most recent event history. That’s not a lot; such scant history means the camera is really just good as an (accurate) notification system attached to a live feed. If the camera records something interesting while you’re away, that three-hour window may not be long enough for you to get around to viewing it. But if you’re willing to pay, you can see the past 30 days of recorded activity. A Nest Aware Plus plan ($15 monthly) lets you watch up to 90 days of history and enables up to 10 days of 24/7 recordings. People, animal and vehicle detection (and customizing alerts for those) does not require a subscription, however, which is a nice added perk.

The 1080p video felt the most true-to-life of the cams I tried, it’s neither too cold nor warm, with subtle but accurate colors. At night, the infrared images were smooth and less grainy than on other cams — but I did notice the Nest Cam was more likely to stream in black and white when the lights were low.

Speaking of other cameras, the Nest Cam appears to be more sensitive to interference from other devices. When I had the Nest set up near a few other live cameras it kept disconnecting. Once I moved it a few feet away and by itself, the problem disappeared. Signal interference is a somewhat common thing among connected equipment, but I was surprised the Nest Cam was the only one I tried to be affected by the proximity.

Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor | Power source: Wired only｜Mounting options: Stand or wall mount (included) | Compatibility: Ecobee app, Alexa, HomeKit | Resolution: 1080p ｜Night vision: B/W infrared | Removable storage: No | Subscription-only features: Professional monitoring, smoke alarm detection, 30-day cloud storage | Subscription cost: $10/month | 2FA required: Yes

The first pleasant surprise I encountered with the Ecobee SmartCamera was how easily it connected to HomeKit. I’ve tested lots of smart home devices and this was the first time I can remember having a device connect to Apple’s smart home app on the first try. I was even more impressed with how reliable the connection remained throughout the weeks I had it running. Just keep in mind that, as with all HomeKit devices, you’ll need a stay-at-home hub for remote access, such as a HomePod, Apple TV or iPad.

The device itself is a fairly unobtrusive rectangle (though it’s on the larger end of the spectrum for indoor cameras). It sits on a cone-shaped base that acts as a stand for setting the camera on a table and as a mount for attaching the unit to the wall. You can manually angle the camera about 90 degrees up or down in table-mode. When wall-mounted, you can also shift its gaze left to right in a 45-degree arc. That should be enough to capture most activity in the room as the lens itself has a 170-degree horizontal field of vision.

It captures video in 1080p resolution, which is more than enough to pick out details in a given room — I could tell when my cat was asleep on his perch versus just staring off into space as he likes to do. The picture quality from the Ecobee camera was warmer than with other cameras, and I liked the overall look of the feed. Of course, that’s a minor detail, but it just felt cozier when I checked in on things with the Ecobee cam.

Quite a few LEDs on the face of the camera indicate the recording status and Alexa functions — yes, the camera can be set up with HomeKit and act as an Amazon assistant at the same time. I imagine most people with smart homes will use one assistant more than all others, but I actually prefer blending the three because they each have different strengths. I was happy to find a camera that could work happily with two of the three major platforms.

If you plan to use the camera primarily with the Apple Home app and already pay for iCloud+, you don’t need to get Ecobee’s subscription. Apple’s plan includes storage for the last 10 days of captured video. You can access that video in the Home app, using a slider that’ll be familiar to anyone who’s edited a video in Photos. Photos also happens to be the app where you’ll send any clips you want to save. HomeKit encrypts the video locally before sending it to the cloud, and person, pet, package detection is included with iCloud+. You can set the cameras to automatically turn off when you arrive home and only record when specific movements are detected when you’re away.

My only gripe with using HomeKit as the primary monitoring app is that accessing a live view when I was home requires a few steps. I have the camera’s recording options set to Stream & Allow Recording when I’m away, but set to Off when I’m home. If I just want to peek whether the dog’s on the couch when I’m in the other room, I have to change that setting to do so. It’s only a few extra steps, but still cumbersome. My workaround is to just check in on the feed using the Ecobee app when I’m at home.

The Ecobee app is pretty easy to use, with plenty of virtual space to organize the brand’s many other smart home security products like entry sensors, smart locks, thermostats, and alarms. If you decide to go for a few of those, you might want to go for Ecobee’s subscription for professional monitoring. The $10-per-month membership connects your cameras and other Ecobee devices to RapidSOS monitoring service, which can call 911 on your behalf when needed. You also get reminders to arm your other Ecobee system when you leave, as well as 30 days of video storage.

As for the competition, Apple sells the Logitech Circleview on its storefront, which implies a tacit endorsement by the company for use with HomeKit. I actually liked the Logitech device a lot. It has a warm, clear picture, was easy to set up within Apple’s Home app and stayed pretty reliably connected. But it looks like a large webcam, which feels less elegant than the Ecobee, plus it costs $50 more and doesn’t double as an Alexa smart speaker like the Ecobee does.

Indoor/Outdoor: Both | Power source: Wireless, 2x AA batteries per camera｜Mounting options: Wall mount (included) | Compatible apps: Blink, Alexa | Resolution: Up to 1080p｜Night vision: B/W infrared | Removable storage: Yes with Sync Module 2 | Subscription-only features: Person detection, 60 days of cloud storage, motion event recording, extended live view | Subscription cost: $3 or $10/month | 2FA required: Yes

If you use Alexa heavily or have many Alexa-enabled devices in your home, the security camera system to get is Blink Outdoor 4. Not only can you arm and disarm the camera system with Alexa voice commands, but you can also use voice commands to bring up camera feeds on Echo Show smart displays. Blink cameras also have an edge over Ring cameras thanks to their longer battery life and easier to use app. One particular qualm we had with the Ring Stick Up Cam, the wireless security camera most equivalent to a Blink Outdoor 4 camera in the Ring lineup, is that it charges up via microUSB. It’s 2025, and that’s too antiquated for us to recommend.

Aside from their Alexa perks, Blink Outdoor 4 cameras are just easy to install, use and add to over time. Bundles come with the required Sync Module, which connects all of your home’s Blink cameras together so you can see them all in the app, and you can buy add-on cameras at your leisure. The Sync Module also has a USB port that can take a thumb drive for local storage, so while you get a 30-day free trial of Blink’s subscription service when you buy a new kit, you don’t have to pay for it to get the most crucial features.

As the name suggests, the Outdoor 4 cameras are weather-resistant and can be used inside or outside. You get a simple mount for each camera in the basic packs, but you can buy all other manner of mounting options if you have a different setup in mind. All of the most standard security camera features are present here and accessible without a subscription: motion alerts, 1080p video recording, two-way audio and HD night view. Motion settings can be customized on a per-camera basis, and you can set activity zones (areas where motion detective is active) and privacy zones (areas in which no motion is detected and no video is recorded) for each as well. That gives you a lot of control; for example, you could have Blink cameras inside and outside your home, only have motion alerts set for the outdoor cameras and check in on the indoor camera feeds as necessary.

I found motion detection to be pretty good, almost too good in some cases. Some of my most active Blink cameras were occasionally triggered by changes in sunlight or plants wafting in a strong breeze. But you are able to adjust the motion sensitivity of each camera if you need to. Video and audio quality of recorded clips is good, with the latter being good enough that I could hear a phone conversation my mailman was having while he dropped off packages to my porch.

Blink’s standard features are robust enough that we’d recommend most people pop for a thumb drive and stick with local storage for saving clips. But if you want a few extra perks, the Blink Subscription Plan is either $30 (Basic) or $100 (Plus) annually. The latter gives you more flexibility right off the bat because it supports unlimited connected cameras, whereas Basic only supports one. Otherwise, extra features include extended live view, unlimited cloud storage for up to 60 days and person/pet detection.

The price is also right for Blink Outdoor 4 cameras — if you know when to buy. The standard price of a single-camera system is $100, but we highly recommend waiting for one of the many Blink sales that happen on Amazon throughout the year that knock the price down to between $40 and $60. Not only does that lower the barrier to entry if you want to try out a Blink system, but if you end up liking it, you don’t have to spend a ton to add more devices to it over time.

Indoor/Outdoor: Both | Power source: Wired with optional outdoor adapter｜ Mounting options: Stand or wall mount (included) | Compatible apps: Blink, Alexa | Resolution: 1080p ｜Night vision: B/W infrared, spotlight for color | Removable storage: Yes with Sync Module 2 | Subscription-only features: Person detection, 60 days of cloud storage, motion event recording, extended live view | Subscription cost: $3 or $10/month | 2FA required: Yes

You don’t get as many features with the Blink Mini 2 as with other security cameras, but the price is tough to beat — particularly since it’s often on sale for as low as $20. The device is small and looks a lot like a black webcam, but it feels solid. You can adjust the camera to a wide range of angles, and when I grabbed the little head to point it where I wanted, it didn’t feel like it was going to break.

Blink is an Amazon company, but you’ll still need to sign up for a Blink account before you can link it to Alexa (make sure you use the same email you have on file with Amazon when you sign up for Blink if you want to properly connect the two). Despite what felt like an extra step, the overall setup was fairly painless and quick. Then, you can view your camera feed through the Alexa app on an Echo Show, Fire Tablet or Fire TV — but not on iOS or Android. You’ll have to use the Blink app to view the feed on your smartphone, but thankfully, the Blink app is one of the simplest I’ve seen. Just three tabs at the bottom, Home, Clips and Settings, make navigation a snap, but also clue you into the fact that Blink only does cameras and video doorbells. If you’re looking for a brand with lots of interconnected security devices, this isn’t it.

Blink Mini 2 captures serviceable images, but it certainly isn’t the highest quality. The bright spots were blown out and some of the darker areas were hard to make out. Though at night, the infrared nighttime view had decent clarity and the spotlight impressively lit up the room to capture color images.

The biggest missing feature on the Blink Mini is the lack of automatic arming. Many other security cameras can tell when you’ve left the house if you’ve enabled location features and will automatically trigger your preferred settings, such as to record and notify you when motion is detected. With the Blink Mini 2, you need to manually arm the camera or schedule it to go on and off at certain times. You can ask Alexa to arm it for you, but you’ll first need to set up an access code.

That said, you do get a few features some other cams don’t give you, such as the ability to set privacy zones and the onboard spotlight you can toggle on to record more detailed (and color) images in low light. The Mini 2 can also act as a doorbell chime if you happen to have a Blink Video Doorbell installed as well. The cam is also weather resistant, so you can set up the Blink Mini 2 outside if you also have the necessary special power adapter.

The Blink Subscription comes in two plans: one for $3 per month that covers one camera, and a $10 monthly plan that covers any number of cameras. You’ll get a free trial of the subscription service with your device purchase (like most others offer), and I was pleased to learn that Blink’s Subscription plan didn’t automatically renew. Without the subscription, you won’t get specialized detection such as for people or pets, and you don’t get any cloud storage (with a plan, you get 60 days). You do get basic motion alerts without a subscription, and I found those to be quick and accurate. As for storage, with a connected Sync Module 2, you can store footage locally on a flash drive, which is typically more secure than sending footage off to the cloud.

A feature called Blink Moments is available on the $10 plan and can stitch together footage from different cameras when motion is detected in a given time frame — in theory, you could see a delivery van pull up to your house, the driver get out and deliver the package in one clip with footage pulled from three different video feeds. I wasn’t able to try out the feature as I just had one Blink device, but that could be a helpful feature, if it actually works.

Indoor/Outdoor: Outdoor | Power source: Wireless, 20,000mAh rechargeable battery｜Mounting options: Ceiling/roof mount (included) | Compatible apps: Reolink | Resolution: 3840 x 2160｜Night vision: Color night vision, spotlight | Removable storage: Yes with microSD card| Subscription-only features: Cloud storage of all motion-detection clips, all video history saved | Subscription cost: Starting at $7/month | 2FA required: No

A number of security camera systems can hook up to solar panel accessories to provide power, but we found Reolink’s cameras to provide the best value for your money in this space. One of the Reolink cameras we tested was the Altas PT Ultra, and you can get it with one solar panel for $230 regularly, but the bundle is often on sale for as low as $140.

One of the key things to note about Reolink cameras in general is that most of them have designs that are best suited for outdoor installation. Most are designed to be mounted on the side of a home with brackets, or on roof overhangs so they can monitor from above. Unless you’re comfortable drilling holds to install the cameras on your interior walls, you’ll have to look elsewhere for indoor monitoring.

The Altas PT Ultra is one of Reolink’s newest battery-powered security cameras and it really shines in that department. It has a 20,000 mAh battery built in that the company boasts can last up to 500 days when used in standard motion-trigger mode — and even in cold weather. It can record 4K video and supports auto-tracking with a 355-degree pan and 90-degree tilt, so it’s safe to say that most motion that occurs near this camera will be captured (and followed), giving you a comprehensive view of the goings-ons. Auto-tracking isn’t turned on by default, but you can easily enable it in Reolink’s mobile app. Same goes for the pre-recording feature, which captures video 10 seconds before a motion-detection video capture, potentially giving you more context and information about the motion that the camera recorded.

Reolink’s mobile app is pretty straightforward, collecting all of the brand’s cameras you have installed on the main page. You can tap into any of them to get a more immersive, full-screen view of its feed and change settings on a per-camera basis like recording quality, motion detection, auto-tracking and more. There are also handy quick controls on the main page for each camera that let you take photos and record snippets of video to be saved immediately. I found the app to be quite responsive, and since the Altas PT Ultra records in 4K, its videos were some of the highest quality ones I had during testing. 4K video is not necessary for everyone — it’s arguably most useful for those monitoring businesses, and most 1080p security cameras will do just fine capturing activity in and around homes — but it’s a nice-to-have feature.

Reolink (unsurprisingly) has a cloud subscription plan that you can use to save videos, but the tiers and pricing are unclear. Reolink’s main site only houses information about the company’s hardware, and the dedicated Reolink Cloud doesn’t have any easily accessible information about current plan pricing. If you’re interested in signing up, you’re prompted to make an account before you can see any pertinent plan and pricing information.

I’d like to see more transparency here, but our general advice still stands: save footage locally if you can, and in this case, most Reolink cameras have built-in microSD card slots. But if you’re interested: a Reolink representative shared pricing information with me upon request. Plans start at $7 per month for a standard LTE plan, which includes up to 30GB of cloud storage, 30 days of cloud video history and support for up to five cameras.

We had a similarly good experience with Arlo security cameras, and you can get some of them with an optional solar panel for continuous power. But in general, Arlo cameras are a bit more expensive than Reolink’s. For example, the top-of-the-line Arlo Ultra 2 4K security camera comes in at $300 and its accompanying solar panel costs an additional $60. The Reolink Altas PT Ultra costs $210 by itself, or $20 extra for a bundle that includes its solar panel.