The Best Wireless Security Cameras of 2024

1. Lorex - Best for Night Vision

SecurityScore:

9.6 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Resolution	Up to 4K HD
Field of View	Up to 180°
Power	Wired, battery, PoE
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, ethernet
Video Storage	Cloud, Local
Smart Platform Compatibility	Alexa and Google Home

View Packages Links to Lorex

Pros and Cons

High-Quality Equipment

Lorex’s wireless cameras include features normally reserved for wired cameras. We’re talking 4K resolution and a 100-foot night vision range. The Wi-Fi range is also impressive. It will still work up to 150 feet away from your router – as long as your router is Wi-Fi 6 compatible.

To take advantage of Lorex’s impressive hardware though, we recommend mixing together wired and wireless cameras. You can do that with the Fusion DVRs and NVRs. More on that later.

>>Related: The Best Outdoor Security Cameras

No Monthly Fees

Lorex has another advantage over the typical wireless cameras you see in the market today. That is, it doesn’t require monthly fees. Most Lorex systems require a DVR or NVR for local recording. Even if you don’t purchase a cloud subscription, the cameras will still record. That’s a start difference between Lorex and Ring, whose cameras stop recording if you don’t have a cloud subscription.

Our Lorex DVR has a 1TB hard drive installed. That means it can store about two weeks of 1080p HD videos from our four cameras. Later on, we upgraded to 4K. The 1TB drive quickly filled up after only 6 days of recording 4K videos from four cameras. On the bright side, the store is expandable. We found three 1TB hard drives from an old project and were able to use it to give our cameras a total of 4 TB of storage space. That was enough to last about a month.

Wired and Wireless Combined

There was a time when you had to choose between wireless or wired security cameras. But Lorex has found a way to cater to hybrid systems. Our Lorex system is from the Fusion line, which includes DVRs and NVRs that are compatible with wired and wireless cameras. The DVR connects to 16 cameras, with up to eight being wired and the other eight being wireless.

All cameras have 4 TB of storage dedicated to recordings. The only downside is the costs. Fusion DVRs and NVRs start from $300. Ours was $520. It’s an expensive upfront cost, but it eventually pays off since there are no monthly fees.

2. Nest Cam (battery) - Best for Versatility

SecurityScore:

8 /10

View on Amazon Links to Nest Cam (battery)

How We Review

View on Amazon Links to Nest Cam (battery)

Pros and Cons

Great Video and Audio Quality

Although we rated the Arlo Pro the best for video quality, the Nest Cam (battery) isn’t far behind. It features 1080p HDR video quality for both day and night vision, with a 130-degree field of vision. That’s actually true for all Nest Cam models.

The Nest Cam  also features crystal clear audio with digital noise cancelling. It is a bit of an expensive camera compared to others, but that investment really shows up in the superior video and audio quality.

Free Cloud Storage

If it’s a Google device, you know it’s going to leverage the tech giant’s major assets. The Nest Cam does this by offering free storage for the past three hours of events. If the recorded event happened at 3pm, you should be able to see it in your cloud recordings up to 6pm. You can easily go into the cloud to scroll through events, view individual videos, and download any interesting clips for safekeeping. While some companies might charge you for this service, it comes free with your Nest Cam.

Leveraging Google AI Technology

Google is one of the major players in the AI arms race. When you purchase a Nest Cam, you directly benefit from the tech giant’s AI investments. The Nest Cam uses AI to easily distinguish between people, packages, animals, and vehicles that might be entering its field of view. We switched off our alerts for vehicles and animals, reducing our alerts significantly. This feature is included in all Nest Cams out of the box.

When we signed up for the Nest Aware Plus monitoring plan, we gained access to the Familiar Faces feature, which identified our friends and family so we could be told who exactly is at our front door, as if our house butler was announcing guests to us.

3. Ring Spotlight Cam Battery - Best Outdoor Wireless Camera

SecurityScore:

9.5 /10

View on Amazon Links to Ring Spotlight Cam Battery

How We Review

View on Amazon Links to Ring Spotlight Cam Battery

Pros and Cons

Security by Lights

The Ring Spotlight Cam Battery combines two things burglars hate: a security camera and a motion-activated spotlight. Actually, make that three things. The Ring Spotlight Cam battery also has a PIR motion sensor that reliably detects human movement. Those three things work together to keep burglars at bay.

Here’s how the Spotlight Cam works:

1. The PIR motion sensor detects movement. 
2. It turns on the spotlight, which is bright enough to potentially scare away intruders.
3. The camera also wakes up and starts recording a short clip, provided that you’re on a Ring Protect cloud subscription plan. 
4. Simultaneously, the Spotlight Cam Battery sends an alert to your smartphone.
5. With the camera and lights turned on, you can stream footage and see what’s going on. 

On top of that, the spotlight serves a secondary purpose. You know how some camera videos are black-and-white at night? That’s because they use Infrared for night vision. The Ring Spotlight Cam has that option too, but when viewing live from the Ring app, you can turn on the spotlight for color night vision.

>> Also check out: Best Security Cameras for Businesses

Solar Option

The Ring Spotlight Cam Battery is convenient because you don’t need to wire it up or plug it in, but it comes with inconveniences too. For example, we found that the battery life is only about three to six months, depending on usage. That means we had to charge the battery more often than we’d like. For cameras designed to be put high up on an exterior wall, it’s too much maintenance.

That said, Ring offers an option that is wireless but has that set-and-forget attribute of wired cameras – the Ring Spotlight Cam Solar. It’s the same camera as the Ring Spotlight Cam Battery but connected to a small solar panel. It uses power from the battery at night, and then uses the solar panel to power and recharge the camera during the day.

You can get the solar panel for $50. Check out Ring’s pricing to learn more.

Swappable Battery Packs

Ring has clearly taken convenience into account while designing the Spotlight Cam, because if the solar option isn’t for you, you can opt for an extra battery pack instead. You don’t have to take the whole camera down to recharge it; instead, you only need to remove the battery. If you have a spare battery pack, you can do a quick swap. Just make sure that the spare is fully-charged all the time.

We still think the solar panel is a better option, but in long winter months when sunlight is sparse, having spare batteries can help your security cameras stay running.

LifeTime Theft Protection

We’d also like to just throw it out there that Ring cameras come with Lifetime Theft Protection. This means if your camera ever gets stolen, Ring will replace it for you for free.

That is especially great for wireless cameras, as their wireless setup often makes them easier to steal. With Ring’s theft protection guarantee, you’re not just ensuring your home’s safety from burglars, but also your camera’s safety from theft.

4. Arlo Pro - Best for Video

SecurityScore:

9.0 /10

View on Amazon Links to Arlo Pro

How We Review

View on Amazon Links to Arlo Pro

Pros and Cons

2K HDR Video

Arlo offers a wide range of wireless cameras, from the simple and affordable Arlo Essential line to the pricey but high-tech Arlo Ultras. Between those two product lines is the Arlo Pro lineup, headlined by the Arlo Pro 5S. We like the Arlo Pro in particular because it records in high-definition 2560p resolution. That’s twice the resolution of the Arlo Essential cameras, but not as bandwidth-hungry as the 4K Arlo Ultra cameras. It’s the perfect middle ground.

We also noticed in our review that it uses HDR or high-dynamic range. If you’re an iPhone user, you know how much difference HDR makes in outdoor settings. HDR is a camera feature that balances light and dark areas within a frame, which comes handy for identifying smaller details like license plate numbers.

Night Vision Options

Due to the camera’s spotlight, our night vision was in color, although when we wanted to be less conspicuous, we opted to turn the spotlight off and depend on the infrared LED sensors. Either way, we could see clearly at night, whether it was in full color to greet our friends or in black and white to give directions to the takeout delivery men.

Works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Watch

There were a bunch of ways to control the Arlo Pro 4 aside from using the Arlo app. If we were feeling particularly lazy, we did voice commands through Alexa or Google Assistant, pretty common integrations when it comes to smart security cameras. However, Arlo took it a step further than most. It also worked with our Apple Watch, so whenever the Arlo Pro 4 detected motion, we got alerted and could even speak through the camera right from our wrist. And during our three month trial of Arlo Smart Home, we made it so we only got alerts when the camera detected people or packages, making for less checking of our Apple Watch throughout the day.

5. Ring Stick Up Cam Battery - Best Wireless Camera with Alexa

SecurityScore:

9.5 /10

View on Amazon Links to Ring Stick Up Cam Battery

How We Review

View on Amazon Links to Ring Stick Up Cam Battery

Pros and Cons

Smart Platform Integrations

Yup, it’s Ring again; this time, we’re looking at the Ring Stick Up Cam, a budget indoor/outdoor option with simpler features compared to the Spotlight Cam from earlier.

The Ring Stick Up Cam was originally marketed as a porch camera; it’s not as weatherproof as the Spotlight Cam with only an IP X5 rating. It also works as an indoor camera. What we like about it is its special partnership with Alexa. Amazon owns the Ring company, so it’s not shocking that the Ring Stick Up Cam pairs well with Alexa. We recommend using it alongside the Echo Show 8 or any other Alexa smart display, even a Fire TV or Fire TV Stick.

With the integration, the Ring Stick Up Cam can send live feeds straight to your Echo device. You can even use two-way talk – our favorite feature to use to greet guests or shoo away porch pirates.

Privacy

There were a string of incidents a few years back involving Ring cameras getting hacked, so it’s nice to know that the very cameras we use to monitor our home now come with useful privacy features.

For one, the Stick Up Cam has privacy zones. On the one set up at our balcony, we blocked out windows from the camera’s detection zone so that when we’re at home walking around in our pajamas, we wouldn’t trigger the camera’s motion sensors.

Two-Way Audio with Noise Cancellation

Two-way audio is a feature we’ve come to expect from smart security cameras, but Ring takes it a step further with noise cancellation. When we used the Stick Up Cam Battery outside, we noticed that when talking to our visitors, we couldn’t hear the background traffic noise as much, making for more distinct and easy to understand audio. In New York City, there’s always something going on in the background, so we loved that the Stick Up Cam Battery had that in mind when it came to audio.