Many would agree that peace of mind is priceless. Yet, we’re putting a price on it—and it’s quite reasonable.
An indoor security camera allows you to keep an eye on the things at home that are most important to you, be it your children, pets, or beloved vinyl collection.
We suggest the Eufy Indoor Cam C120, which is usually priced at $35. It offers crisp 2K video, provides four options for video storage, can differentiate between humans and pets, and can even detect the sound of a crying baby. If you’re interested in integrating it with other smart devices, it supports Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit.
Our recommendation
This camera offers a sharp image, four choices for video storage, and a continuous recording option, and it can distinguish between different motions and sounds.
Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home
The Eufy Indoor Cam C120 captures excellent video both day and night, has a decent 125-degree field of view, and can differentiate between various types of movement and sound, such as people, pets, or a crying baby. It also provides more storage options than our other two recommendations. One limitation is that in order to make use of its 2K video resolution, all motion-only triggered recordings must be stored on a microSD card. If you opt for other storage options like capturing 24/7 video to a microSD card, a networked hard drive (NAS device), or cloud storage through a paid subscription to Eufy Cloud or Apple HomeKit Secure Video, your video quality will be downgraded to a lower resolution (although still crisp) of 1080p.
Runner-up
This 2K-resolution camera can produce detailed images and is less expensive than our other recommendations, but it doesn’t include pet detection, and the cost to operate multiple cameras is high.
Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT, SmartThings
The TP-Link Tapo C110 is the lowest-priced indoor camera we suggest. The hardware is less advanced compared to our other recommendations (costing around $25), and the camera allows for local storage of video footage to a microSD card, whether you choose to capture only motion events or continuous motion 24/7. However, cloud storage for the Tapo C110 is slightly more expensive than for our top pick ($3.50 per month per camera), so if you decide on more than one camera, the cloud plan could become costly. The C110 is the sole recommendation that lacks the ability to identify pets, but it can tag people and detect crying as well.
Upgrade recommendation
This 1080p camera distinguishes among various types of motion and has both free and paid cloud storage. The latter adds in face recognition and options for 24/7 recording.
Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home
The Google Nest Cam (Indoor, Wired) is designed for extended and more advanced recordings. It captures the longest clips of our recommendations (up to five minutes), can record 24/7 to the cloud (a subscription is required), and can differentiate among humans, pets, and vehicles. Unlike our other recommendations, it lacks a microSD card slot or any other means to store recordings locally at home, but it’s also the only model that offers limited free cloud storage of recordings, although for just three hours after capture. Nest also provides the most cost-effective subscription pricing for owners of multiple cameras, starting at $8 per month for unlimited cameras—and signing up for a subscription adds facial recognition.
“`
