Table Of Content
- The best security system for smart-home enthusiasts
- How to Clean Your Home Security Cameras
- Nest Cam (Indoor, Wired)
- Security cameras compared
- Types of Home Security Cameras
- How much does a home security system cost?
- The Best Smart Security Devices to Make Your New Home Feel Safe
- Best Outdoor Security Cameras, Tested and Reviewed

The company’s focus on straightforward, easy-to-use equipment makes it an attractive option for those looking for effective home security without the complexity of professional installation or mandatory subscription services. Vivint earns our best overall pick with a 4.7 rating, thanks to its comprehensive, full-service approach to home security, featuring professional monitoring starting at $19.99 per month. Established to provide sophisticated and reliable security solutions, Vivint integrates advanced security tools with smart home capabilities, appealing to those desiring a seamless and personalized home protection experience.
The best security system for smart-home enthusiasts
While the Arlo Pro 5S may be at the top of a crowded field, we know it’s not for everyone -- particularly if you want to avoid paying for a monthly subscription. So we’ve included other top picks from Google Nest, Ring, Lorex, Eufy and more. Whether you want a cam with mobility, prefer staying away from online video cams or are looking for the best cheap security camera, our guide has you covered.
How to Clean Your Home Security Cameras
To record video, you need an Arlo Secure subscription, which starts at $8 per month for a single camera or $13 for unlimited cameras. Arlo Secure also enables Activity Zones and the ability to distinguish between a person, animal, vehicle, or package delivery and sends a specific alert when one of those is detected—a nice perk that we found worked pretty reliably. Dan Wroclawski is a home and appliances writer at Consumer Reports, covering products ranging from refrigerators and coffee makers to cutting-edge smart home devices. Before joining CR in 2017, he was an editor at USA Today’s Reviewed, and launched the site’s smart home section. In his spare time, you can find him tinkering with one of the over 70 connected devices in his house. The $150 Abode Lock is an adapter-style smart deadbolt that adds smart features to an existing lock, and includes a Bluetooth keypad.
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Nest Cam (Indoor, Wired)
The Ultra 2 requires the use of an Arlo hub station, which retails for $99.99. Wireless security systems connect to a hub or a control panel and communicate with other security devices through radio waves or systems like Zigbee or Z-wave to send radio signals. The hub communicates to a monitoring center or other agencies through a cellular connection, though some can use a landline. Most home security systems use Z-wave to communicate between devices because it doesn’t interfere with Wi-Fi.
Security cameras compared
It also gives you the option of hardwiring it to replace your existing doorbell, so you can keep your current chime sound and avoid the awkwardness of having two doorbells. Additionally, there's a membership plan available which allows you to expand on the basic 24-hours online storage to a 30 or 60-day storage plan, along with the ability to store more video as well as get further discounts at Honeywell. When an event is triggered, an alert can be sent via text to your phone or other device, along with a video and/or audio clip of it.
Buying a home security system rewards you with more benefits than simply providing peace of mind. Installing a home security system protects your home and possessions, but many also watch for non-human intruders, such as fire, water and poisonous gases. Frontpoint has mixed reviews when you look across all sites, but it scores fairly high on customer ratings on sites like Google, Trustpilot and Consumer Affairs. Much like many companies on our list, lower reviews on the BBB drag its average down, but this is not uncommon.
How much does a home security system cost?
The Abode iota All-In-One Security Kit provides an excellent starting point for anyone looking to add a DIY smart security system to their home or apartment. It’s easy to install, extremely expandable, and compatible with nearly every home automation platform on the market. Any of the mentioned home security cameras can help improve the safety of your home.

In addition, we scoured the web and analyzed countless online reviews by both customers and security industry professionals to ensure that the most accurate information has been provided below. When deciding which home security system to use, first consider what your actual needs are, as budget options may prove limiting, so if you need to use advanced tools you may find a more expensive platform is much more worthwhile. Additionally, higher-end systems can usually cater for every need, so do ensure you have a good idea of which features you think you may require from your home security system.
Best Outdoor Security Cameras, Tested and Reviewed
From there, there are three monitoring plans to choose from, but all plans included 24/7 professional monitoring, environmental monitoring and smartphone control of the systems. The second-tier plan also includes live video, cloud storage and video analytics. Unlike other outdoor security cameras that only record short clips when they sense motion, the Nest Cam IQ records continuously, 24 hours a day. To access this feature, you’ll need to pay for a Nest Aware subscription, which can cost anywhere from $5.00 to $30.00 per month, depending on how much video history you want to save.
Expand your Ring of Security with Z-wave and wifi-enabled smart home products. It can save up to 128 gigabytes of local storage so you can review important footage each day without the risk of it being erased prematurely. This gives you a much longer, more comprehensive video of what happened as opposed to the stationary cameras on this list. The camera has a 360-degree panning range and a 96-degree tilt range, so you can cover entire spaces with just one. Once motion is detected, the device will rotate and tilt, following the motion across the room. Vivint Smart Home is a comprehensive home surveillance system with video recording built in as standard, and smart home features also available as required.
The motion sensors on the camera extend beyond the visual range of the camera itself, with a total sensing spectrum of 270 degrees for solid coverage. If you wish to store footage, Blink also offers a monthly subscription plan that gives you access to cloud storage, great app functionality, and person recognition software for your camera. Because this list focuses on cheap security cameras, we were extremely cognizant of price. No security camera on this list costs more than $100 at the time of writing.
Designed with rotate tilt, the camera moves in multiple directions, so it can focus on any space in the room. Marrying high-level security with affordability, the Wyze Cam v3 is a great option with an excellent reputation among homeowners and pet parents. The security camera comes with motion- and sound-detection technology that triggers automatic notifications to your phone, which is great for keeping tabs on front-porch deliveries or your kids during nap time. Unfortunately, though, ADT Home Security is one of the more expensive companies out there. Its hardware tends to be quite high priced, and you will be forced to pay for professional installation.
You’ll want to check the response times of home security systems to monitoring centers and the systems entry delay time. The pro monitoring includes Essential Monitoring, video security and a Quality Service Plan that provides repair or replacement of any products. Vivant has a variety of plans to choose from to fit your needs at different price points. It has terrific smart home integration, though its systems come with a lot of fees.
Those with more modest homes, such as a rented apartment, may want a simpler plug-and-play solution, such as the Canary Pro. One plastic canister provides a 1080p HD camera with night vision, a 90dB siren, an integrated temperature, air quality and humidity monitor, and the device is available in white or black to match a variety of decors. Many of the camera’s functions operate without a subscription plan, but the best ones are available through Arlo’s plans that start at $2.99 per month.
The security cam connects directly to the Google Home app, and is therefore compatible with any smart device with Google Assistant, whether that is a Google Pixel, Google Nest Smart Speaker, or Chromebook. Corded power models are generally built for more convenient locations, like in your living room. Corded power provides more stability and once plugged in, never needs to be fussed with. That said, corded power security cameras are limited by how close they are to the nearest outlet. Unlike some other solutions, the company offers five different options for its starter kit.
The subscription also activates some of the camera’s best features like facial recognition and the ability to tell the difference between people and other moving objects. If you don’t want to pay a monthly fee for video storage, there’s a microSD card slot for free and local video storage. Cameras can really strengthen your home's security, but they can also degrade its privacy. Hackers have made headlines by spying on people or using two-way talk features with children in their rooms.
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