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Not quite ready to deck out your house with window, door, and motion sensors and hire an on-call monitoring service? Don’t fret! You can still keep your home secure without messing with your wiring by going with an indoor security camera or two. Knowing you can check in when you are away from home offers peace of mind, but these cameras aren’t perfect. There’s an obvious security benefit, but you expose yourself to privacy risks. These are our favorite security cameras after rigorous testing, and we’ve also got details on what to look for when shopping for one.
Be sure to check out our many other guides, including the Best Outdoor Security Cameras, Best Pet Cameras, and Best Password Managers. If you want more smart home products, we have guides on smart plugs and light bulbs, too.
Updated December 2023: We added cameras from Eufy, Philips Hue, and others. We also updated prices throughout.
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Security cameras are great tools, but you also need to protect your security from those cameras. You don't want to find out that a stranger has been watching you sit in your bathrobe bingeing trash TV for the third day in a row, or worse. If you follow these tips, you can be a vigilant and conscious consumer and still feel like your home is protected while you're away.
I prefer cameras that pan (see many choices below), but this one from Cync (9/10, WIRED Recommends) beats out everything else with one important feature: a shutter that covers the camera lens when you don't want it watching—or listening!—to you. Plus, the app has two-factor authentication, and you can't opt out of it. That's a good thing.
Live video feed is pretty sensitive information, so if you're going to invite a camera into your home, it's wise to take some precautions. You can turn your cameras around, turn them off, or unplug them, but the shutter here makes it easier. Slide the shutter up when you're home and you see bright red plastic and a crossed-out camera symbol, and the lens sees nothing. Ready for it to monitor? Slide it back down. This Cync (formerly C by GE) camera is affordable, captures 1080p video at 25 fps, and offers two-way audio. The app is easy to use, so you don't have to be a tech wizard to figure it out. To get more than a live view, you'll need a microSD card, or sign up for a cloud subscription (from $3 per month).
With a compact design, clear video, and two-way audio, this camera from Arlo matches our top pick on features and performs reliably well. It can sit on a shelf or be wall-mounted, has a privacy shutter that comes down when the camera is not in use, and stores video in the cloud. Footage is detailed and there’s no blurring on motion.
It’s relatively expensive, and cloud storage requires a subscription (starting from $5 per month), but the accurate subject detection and smart alerts it unlocks are top-notch. I’m also a big fan of the app for its ease of use, loading speeds, and two-factor authentication that enables you to log in to the live feed with your fingerprint or face scan (phone permitting). There’s also a built-in siren and robust smart home integration for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, and IFTTT. For folks with video doorbells or other cameras from Arlo, this camera is an obvious pick to keep things in a single app. But the lack of local storage might be a turnoff and there are occasionally a few seconds of lag on the live feed.
Affordable and feature-packed, this indoor security camera from TP-Link is a real bargain. If you are simply looking to monitor a fixed view of an entrance or a specific area, there’s no need to spend more than this. The C110 can stream and record video at up to 2K resolution, supports two-way audio (with some lag), and has a slot for up to 256-GB microSD cards to keep recordings local. There’s no HomeKit or IFTTT support, but it works with Google Home and Amazon Alexa, though it was a little slow to load the stream on my Nest Hub.
The motion detection is reliable, and you can tweak the sensitivity and customize notifications. Video is crisp, but the frame rate is only 15 fps, which means fast-moving subjects appear blurry. You can set activity and privacy zones in the Tapo app, and there’s AI detection to recognize people and the sound of a baby crying. Sadly, the option to get rich notifications that include a snapshot is bundled with the optional Tapo Care subscription, along with 30 days of cloud storage for clips, and it’s expensive at $3.50 per month for a single camera or $12 per month for up to 10 cameras. If you don’t mind spending slightly more, check out the Tapo C120 in our honorable mentions section below for enhanced night vision and smarter detection.
The latest panning camera from Wyze replaces the Cam Pan V2 (our previous pick here), bringing 180-degree tilt so it can scan a room up and down, IP65 weather resistance, and a new privacy mode. The refreshed design is two blocks with a hinge between them, enabling the enhanced tilt and privacy mode, where the lens faces down. The Wyze Cam Pan V3 can spin 360 degrees, and you can set up to four waypoints in the app to have it cycle through. The automatic motion tracking worked well in my testing, and I love that the camera returns to your chosen view. It's much quieter than the previous version when moving. The video quality is decent (1080p at 20 fps), and night vision is solid, though the frame rate drops to 15. There is two-way audio, but the sound quality is poor.
The basic plan only gets you snapshot alerts, but you can record locally by inserting a microSD card (up to 256 GB). If you want cloud storage with person, package, vehicle, and pet detection, you can subscribe to Cam Plus for $2 a month. Wyze has optional home monitoring for just $10 a month if you want to upgrade your system with more cameras and sensors. That's a fraction of what other services cost. Wyze also works in conjunction with the Noonlight app, which you can read more about in our Best Personal Safety Tech guide.
Note: You cannot use Cam Plus Lite (free 14-day cloud storage) with this camera, but you can still buy the Wyze Cam Pan V2 ($50) if that’s something you want. This camera model was not one of those affected by the security flaw that Wyze failed to fix or report to customers for three years—though that story may still give you pause in choosing a Wyze device. (Here's the official Wyze response).
With an understated style, Google’s indoor Nest Cam comes in a few elegant finishes (including one with a maple wood base) to help it blend in with your decor. It has HDR, the 1080p video quality is clear at 30 fps, and night vision kicks on automatically when the lights are out. There’s also two-way audio, enforced two-factor authentication, and accurate detection to alert you about people, animals, or vehicles. You can install and use the Nest Cam through the Google Home app, and it’s quick to load on Nest displays or a Chromecast with Google TV. (It's even now accessible via a web interface.)
You only get three hours of history unless you sign up for a Nest Aware subscription, which starts at $6 per month for 30 days of event video history and familiar face alerts. Once you have tagged familiar faces, your notifications include their names, which is handy (and can be reassuring). It’s good to know when your kids get home versus when an unfamiliar face pops up. It’s not 100 percent accurate, but it’s closer than any other camera I have tested. Sadly, there’s no local storage option, and the thing that really sets it apart (familiar faces) requires a relatively expensive subscription. It also lacks a privacy shutter. Try not to buy it at full price, as it's frequently on sale.
Cute ears are amazingly effective at adding personality to a device. This pan and tilt security camera doubles up as a smart home hub. It boasts wide compatibility, including Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and IFTTT. It also acts as a Zigbee 3.0 hub, offering a way to bring all kinds of Aqara sensors and accessories into your smart home fold, and it even has an IR controller. A door or window sensor can trigger the camera to turn and start recording.
As a camera, you can expect crisp 2K footage (HomeKit is limited to 1080p). The camera has a 110-degree field of view. It rotates through 340 degrees, tilts up 30 degrees, and down 15 degrees to cover a large area. Sadly, recording at 20 fps means fast movement can cause blurring. Onboard AI enables person, pet, face, and gesture detection, a cruise mode has the camera cycle through positions, and it can track subjects (though it is a little slow to do so sometimes). Insert a microSD card (up to 128 GB) for local recordings. The sleep mode has the camera lens roll up and shows a pair of closed eyes. It’s a shame you can only connect Aqara accessories and must dig into the Aqara app to access certain features (including pan and tilt). But if you’re into automation, you will enjoy tinkering with this highly customizable security camera.
This feature-packed camera from Eufy is likely overkill for most folks, but it’s an impressively versatile device. It combines a regular camera with a 130-degree field of view that can go up to 4K with a 2K telephoto lens that provides 3x optical zoom. It also has 360-degree pan and 75-degree tilt controls, AI tracking that works well, and support for up to four preset positions it can patrol through, including the default it returns to after tracking a subject out of frame. There’s also privacy mode, two-way audio, and onboard AI to detect people, pets, and sounds. You can record locally with a microSD card up to 128 GB (not included), hook it up to a HomeBase 3 (sold separately), or subscribe for cloud storage from $3 per month.
The footage is crisp and detailed enough to zoom in on, though bright areas like sun streaming in a window can appear blown out. Because the frame rate is 15, sometimes fast-moving subjects appear blurry. The motion detection is reliable, and you can set up privacy zones in the app. Notifications are swift and come with a thumbnail if you don’t mind uploading to the cloud (it is optional). I sometimes noticed a slight lag on the live feed, and sound quality could be better. There is no HomeKit support, but you get Alexa and Google Assistant, though the camera was very slow and sometimes failed to load for me via Google.
Note: After a security researcher identified cloud uploads from a “local” only device and a report warned of video streaming without encryption following a bug in May 2021 that exposed some camera feeds to other Eufy users, we stopped recommending the brand. After initial denials, parent company Anker acknowledged and fixed the issues, overhauled its policies, and instituted a bug bounty program. We spoke with third-party security researcher Ralph Echemendia, who was hired to conduct an audit, and have decided to start testing Eufy cameras again.
Folks with Philips Hue smart lights will find the company’s new security camera intriguing. The Philips Hue Secure is a wired security camera with an optional weighted base. It feels solid and durable (it has an IP65 rating). Video maxes out at 1080p but is crisp and deals with mixed lighting and moving subjects well. It offers a wide 140-degree field of view. Night vision is decent, there’s two-way audio, and it’s quick to send alerts or load the live feed in the Hue app. But, if you want more than that, you need to subscribe from $4 per month ($40/year) for a single camera, which gives you 30 days of cloud storage and unlocks smart detection features.
The person and animal detection works well, helping to filter out false positives, and you can also set multiple activity and privacy zones. There’s vehicle and package detection, too, for outdoors use. There’s no local storage, but footage is end-to-end encrypted, so only you can access it. If you have a Hue bridge and lights, you can have the camera trigger them. I set it up in my office to turn the lights on and off automatically, with different brightness and color settings for different times of day. When you arm the system, it gives you a countdown, and when you get an alert, you can review and trigger flashing lights and a siren to try and scare away intruders, though the siren tops out at 80 decibels. While there are better cameras for this money, the impressively slick integration with the Hue ecosystem is the attraction. Trust is crucial with a camera inside your home, so it’s an easier sell for Hue fans.
Many security cameras support local storage, enabling you to record videos on the camera or a linked hub. A few hubs have built-in storage, and some provide slots for hard drives, but most rely on microSD cards. Here are some details on what to look for (and a few recommendations).
The microSD card you choose should have fast read and write speeds so that you can record high-quality video and play it back without delay. We recommend going for Class 10 microSD cards rated as U1 or U3. You can dive deeper into what that means in our SD card explainer. Before buying, check the card type, format, and maximum supported card size for your security camera. Consider how many hours of video each card capacity can store. For example, you might get a couple of days of HD video on a 32-GB card. If you want to record continuously, you likely want a higher-capacity card.
We recommend formatting the card as soon as you insert it into the camera. You will usually be prompted to do this, but if not, there is generally an option in the settings. Just remember, formatting will wipe anything on the microSD card, so back up the contents first.
Some security camera manufacturers, like Wyze, offer their own branded microSD cards. They work just fine in my experience, but for maximum reliability, here are my favorites. Always remember to check the specs. Even different sizes of cards in the same range often have different capabilities.
There are a lot of security cameras out there. Here are others we tried that didn't earn a top spot.
You don't need to spend money on a new security camera—an old smartphone will do as long as it can still connect to Wi-Fi. Just download a camera app (we like Alfred) to both your old phone and your new phone, then sign in with the same email address. Find a spot to mount your device and keep it charged, and you'll be able to view the camera feed through your current phone.
Hidden Ip Camera The field of view won't be as wide, the battery won't last as long, and the mount will probably be a lot less secure. Still, if you're going on a weekend vacation, it's a quick and easy way to set up something essentially for free. Alfred is available for iOS and Android. It offers motion detection and can set off an alarm when it detects someone.