Best Indoor Security Cameras

An indoor security camera might sound a little sketch, but it’s very useful and usually lawful to have one

Legally, in most places in the United States, you can have a hidden camera in your house. But you can’t record audio and don’t put the camera in place with a “reasonable expectation of privacy.” Like the bathroom, for instance.

• Motion detection
• Sound detection
• Pan and tilt
• Brand
• Subscription
• Standalone or part of a system

First off, motion detection. If an indoor security camera doesn’t have motion detection, skip it. There’s little point in getting a camera that won’t alert you when someone walks past it.

Some motion detection is more advanced than others. Some cameras have more specific detection capabilities: person detection, pet detection, package detection, and so on. It’s nice to get notifications that tell you exactly what kind of motion is detected—but it’s not 100% necessary, especially inside your home.

Then there’s sound detection. Sound detection is exactly what it sounds like—it picks up on loud noises, like glass breaking or your smoke alarm. Some cameras also pick up on targeted noises, like pet or baby sounds. While noise detection is a bad idea for outdoor cameras, it’s an excellent idea for a controlled, indoor environment. If something loud happens inside your home, chances are, you want to hear about it.

It’s also great to have pan and a tilt aka an indoor camera that can move around. That way, the camera’s not stuck looking at just one angle. Pan and tilt is sometimes paired with sound detection, so that if your camera hears something, it can turn to face that noise.

Some people are brand evangelists, and we understand their position. Take, for instance, Google and Nest products. Although neither the Google Nest Cam Indoor nor Google Nest Cam IQ Indoor made our top five this time, they’re both good indoor cameras.

Nest Cams have some of the leading cameras and advanced features like facial recognition. (Although you need to get a Nest Aware subscription to take full advantage of a Nest camera.) They’re also compatible with other Nest or Google smart home tech you might have, like a Nest Hub. So if you’re already deep into one smart home brand, you might simply want to buy that brand’s cameras for consistency.

What about a features or cloud storage subscription? There are plenty of indoor security cameras that you can use without a subscription. Some features you can use without a subscription for most cameras include push notifications, live video streaming and two-way audio. You'll miss out on additional services like professional monitoring without a subscription plan.

Companies like Arlo, Ring, and Nest generally require monthly fees for cloud and security features. But brands like Reolink and Eufy don't require a subscription.

All of the cameras we recommend in this piece are standalone, but you may want to consider getting a camera that’s part of a company’s smart home suite. Otherwise, there’s no guarantee that your smart indoor security camera will work with your security system.

You might be able to connect them both to a hub or assistant like the Amazon Echo. But they likely won’t communicate directly with each other.

One final note: it’s crucial to recognize that an indoor security camera may have different features than an outdoor security camera. Indoor and outdoor security cameras are vastly different from each other.

Functionwise, an indoor security camera is often used to watch kids or pets when the homeowner is gone. An outdoor security camera is usually used to deter burglars and other intruders.

Featurewise, indoor security cameras typically aren’t rated for outdoor use, and the features are usually more basic. Outdoor security cameras are rated for weather resistance. They also tend to have more security-focused features, like lights, sirens, and package detection.

Okay, that’s enough for now. Let’s talk about the cameras we recommend.

Want a security camera for less than $70? The Wyze Cam Pan not only fits the bill but also has features usually found in more expensive offerings.

This Wi-Fi camera has all the basics (1080p, night vision, two-way audio, motion detection) plus some high-end features (person detection, sound detection, zoom).

If you have just one camera but multiple rooms in your house, sound detection could be especially important. When the camera can hear something but not see it, it will still alert you.

We also love the family camera share. Multiple accounts can use the same camera, making the Wyze a great fit for a home with a family or other multiple residents.

But as the name suggests, the defining feature of the Wyze Cam Pan is its ability to pan and tilt. The camera can twist to capture its surroundings. That gives it a 360º horizontal view—perfect for keeping an eye on an active kid or pet.

The camera also has a year of limited warranty. And you have your pick of cloud or local storage.

Finally, the Wyze Cam Pan has most major smart home integrations. (Apparently, it only works with Google Assistant through specific devices, though.)

Storage

If you choose local video storage, you’ll need a microSD card. You can even buy a card straight from Wyze for $9.99 or in a bundle with the camera.

If you prefer cloud storage over local—which many people do—you get 14 days of free rolling storage. You can pay a small fee to upgrade your service, but you won’t get more storage days. Instead, you’ll get longer video captures when motion is detected.

Note that the people, package, vehicle, and pet detection feature isn’t available without the paid service.

Even when paying a monthly or annual fee, this camera is a steal of a deal. You can get a few Wyze Cams and pay for a subscription plan for each of them and still come under the initial cost of a more expensive camera.

Like a lot of indoor cameras, this one is plug-in only.

We understand why manufacturers make that decision. Plugs are much more readily available indoors than out. But sometimes, you just want to place a camera in a place that a plug can’t reach. It’s a real letdown when you can’t.

Also, this camera has no siren and no light. Again, we get that these features are more prevalent on outdoor cameras. But we’d like to see them on indoor cameras more often, just to give homeowners more security.

“All-in-one” isn’t just a name. The Canary All-in-One Indoor really has almost everything you could want in an indoor camera.

The Canary doesn’t skimp on features typically found in outdoor cameras, like a light, a siren, and 10X zoom.

It also has temperature, humidity, and air quality sensors so you know the exact conditions of your home. That makes it easy to figure out if you’re sniffly because you’re getting sick or because your house needs some environmental tweaks.

With Canary, you’ll also get integration with two of the top smart assistants.

This Wi-Fi camera doesn’t have a local storage option, so you have to use the Free Access plan or pay for the upgraded cloud service.

Apart from the storage upgrades, using the Premium Service gets you full-length motion-activated recordings instead of short clips. It also activates the two-way talk feature and doubles the length of your limited warranty.

Keep in mind that the Canary is a middling price for an indoor security camera, but signing up for the upgraded service quickly increases that price.

We don’t love that you have to pay extra for a basic feature like two-way talk. And we wish local storage was available to bring the overall costs down on this one.

Also, it would be nice if the Canary could pan, tilt, and zoom like the Wyze Cam.

Your Arlo Pro 3 can connect with Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, and the IFTTT smart home platform through its Wi-Fi connectivity. That makes it one of the best if not the best indoor camera for compatibility. For example, Blink only offers Alexa and IFTTT integrations.

No matter how you’ve set up your smart home, your Arlo Pro 3 is likely to connect. If you don’t have an Amazon, Google, or Apple setup, there’s a good chance that you can still link everything together with IFTTT.

The Arlo Pro 3 favors its users with colored night vision, zoom, a light, and a siren. Plus it’s battery-charged, so you aren’t as limited in its placement as you are with other indoor cameras.

It’s also rated for outdoor use, meaning that you can move it outside if you decide that’s a better place for it.

An Arlo Pro 3 comes with local storage capabilities if you want to use an SD card. Or you can always try the cloud storage option. But after your free three months expire, you do have to pay.

Some Arlo features aren’t available unless you have a paid subscription. For instance, you have to pay to get person detection and package detection.

We don’t love the price tag on the Arlo Pro 3, especially since you have to pay even more to access all your features. You also must get an Arlo base station or Smart Hub if you want to use the local storage.

This one doesn’t pan and tilt, either, which means its range is limited compared to the Wyze Cam Pan.

If you’re going to have a camera inside your house with your framed prints and floral chintz curtains, why shouldn’t it look nice? With Netatmo, you get the looks and neat functions that set it apart from other indoor cameras.

This Wi-Fi camera is stunning. Its sleek, bronzed exterior makes it look more like a coveted award than a security camera. It’s good security and a good knickknack.

The Netatmo has motion detection, which is a basic expectation, and sound detection, which is nice to have in an indoor camera. But it also has a unique feature that rarely pops up: facial recognition. Your camera will track the home’s regular residents and let you know if someone unfamiliar appears.

Most cameras are compatible with Alexa, or Google, or both. The Netatmo is one of the few that works with Apple HomeKit’s Siri.

Finally, the Netatmo has a few features that are normally found in a full security suite. It’s compatible with Netatmo sensors and Netatmo sirens. The camera app will give you push notifications when your doors and windows open and close.

At this time, Netatmo doesn’t offer cloud storage. Instead, your videos save to a microSD card (included). This is known as “local storage.”

If you want your saved videos more easily accessible, you can use an FTP server or Dropbox account as added storage.

The Netatmo Smart Indoor Camera doesn’t have two-way audio, which is a pretty standard feature. And it doesn’t have some nice-to-haves, like pan and tilt, zoom, and person detection.

This inexpensive dome camera tells you when your little one is crying, making it a possible baby monitor. But even if you don’t have a baby, this is a good deal for the price.

The YI Dome is cheap and pretty basic, but it has a few surprising features at the low cost. It has pan and tilt, sound detection, and zoom—features lots of cameras don’t have.

This IP camera also has a couple of pluses we rarely see. For one thing, it has a panoramic photo capture. And it can sense a baby’s cry. This potentially makes the YI Dome Camera a good baby monitor as well as a security camera.

YI is compatible with two of the most popular smart assistants.

Like many manufacturers, YI provides the choice of local or cloud storage to camera users. (Speaking of manufacturers, YI also owns Kami. Sometimes you’ll see the names used in connection or interchangeably.)

With YI, you don’t get a discount if you opt to pay annually. Still, paying all at once can be more convenient if you choose to go that route.

With YI, it’s the usual complaints. This indoor camera has no light, siren, or batteries. And there’s no option for person detection, even with the paid subscription service.

We like all five of the cameras we spoke of in this review, just for different reasons. As a reminder, here’s what we think.

• Wyze Cam Pan: Best value—Wyze doesn’t cost much even though it has pan and tilt, zoom, and three kinds of detection.
• Canary All-in-One Indoor: Best features—Canary helps hone your inside space by measuring the quality of your home’s environment.
• Arlo Pro 3: Best compatibility—Arlo connects with four major smart home hubs and protocols.
• Netatmo Smart Indoor Camera: Best look—This stunning Netatmo camera won’t stick out in your beautifully decorated home.
• YI Dome Camera 1080p: Doubles as baby monitor—The YI will sense a baby’s cry and send a notification to your phone.

If you’d like a camera manufactured by a home security company, we suggest checking out the best home security. We can also help if you’re leaning towards an outdoor camera.

We looked at 22 different indoor cameras before narrowing our decision down to five. Not every awesome indoor camera made it into our top picks—it was a tough decision.

Here’s the criteria we looked at when picking the top options:

• Price
• Warranty
• Night vision
• Video quality
• Field of view
• Motion detection
• Sound detection
• Person detection
• Zoom
• Two-way audio
• Light
• Siren
• Mechanical pan/tilt
• Facial recognition
• Power source
• Compatibility
• Storage options

That’s a lot! We took notes on all of these features, then compared them to arrive at our final picks.