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The Best Outdoor Security Camera

By Rachel Cericola
Updated
The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, one of our picks for best outdoor security camera, with a modern rounded square shape.
Photo: Michael Hession

An outdoor security camera can keep tabs on welcome (and unwelcome) visitors, package deliveries, and furry creatures helping themselves to a midnight snack in your garden. They can also be a powerful deterrent to prospective mischief-makers.

However, after reviewing dozens of cameras over the past seven years, we have yet to find a perfect model. Some are hard to place, some need frequent charging, and others require a paid subscription to be most effective.

We recommend the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera because it’s completely cord-free, it captures sharp 2K video, and it can accurately distinguish between people, pets, vehicles, and packages. It also works with more smart-home platforms than our other picks, including Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, and Google Home.

Everything we recommend

Our pick

This battery-powered camera captures clear 2K video. The video storage subscription adds the ability to detect people, animals, vehicles, packages, and general motion.

Buying Options

Runner-up

This 2K camera offers excellent battery life, the option to store recordings locally or in the cloud, and the best array of customizations for the money.

Buying Options

$100 from Amazon

May be out of stock

Also great

This camera offers long battery life, a clear 2K image, HomeKit support, and three options for storing video.

Things to consider


  • Storage options

    Being able to store recordings in the camera is common, however we recommend saving video to the cloud so it can be accessed if power goes down.

  • Image limitations

    Wi-Fi cameras can catch action close to your house, but faces and license plates may be unclear—even great cameras may be fuzzy around 20 feet away.

  • Privacy concerns

    Most companies will share your recordings if they receive a court order or determine it’s an emergency. Check your privacy policy and/or opt for devices with end-to-end encryption.

  • Specific alerts

    All smart cameras can detect motion, but some can also tell the difference between a person, pet, car, or package, and record or send notifications on which of those matter to you.

Our pick

This battery-powered camera captures clear 2K video. The video storage subscription adds the ability to detect people, animals, vehicles, packages, and general motion.

Buying Options

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home (with a compatible base station), Google Home, IFTTT, Samsung SmartThings

The Arlo Pro 4 delivers the best combination of detailed video performance, specialized alerts, and easy installation. It requires a subscription to Arlo Secure (starting at $8 per month) in order to record clips and distinguish between people, pets, packages, and vehicles. However, it delivers clear 2K video (2560×1440) day and night, including color video in the dark. The Pro 4 can record up to five minutes of continuous motion, though if the camera does that often, it can quickly drain the battery—we found that it needs to be charged about once a month. The Arlo Pro 4 also offers a 24/7 recording option, but enabling that feature entails a higher subscription fee, requires an extra $150 to $200 in equipment, and is separate from Arlo Secure.

Runner-up

This 2K camera offers excellent battery life, the option to store recordings locally or in the cloud, and the best array of customizations for the money.

Buying Options

$100 from Amazon

May be out of stock

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home

The TP-Link Tapo Wire-Free Magnetic Security Camera is cheaper than any other camera on our list, and it offers the option for free local storage via a microSD card or a cloud subscription that can provide 30 days of storage for $3.50 per month or $35 per year. Even without a subscription, this camera can distinguish between motion, people, vehicles, and pets. And to limit the volume of nuisance recordings, you can create Activity Zones that tell the camera what it should and shouldn’t record—for example, you might have one zone triggered by vehicles and animals, and another zone that records only people. This TP-Link model also has notably strong battery life of up to 300 days, depending on use. In our tests, its image quality wasn’t as sharp as what we got from the Arlo and Eufy cameras. In addition, this TP-Link model is compatible with fewer smart-platform apps and doesn’t support geofencing.

Also great

This camera offers long battery life, a clear 2K image, HomeKit support, and three options for storing video.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home

Although it’s not quite as smart as our other picks, the Eufy S221 EufyCam has the best rechargeable battery we’ve seen on a cordless outdoor security camera. (The company claims that the battery can last a year; we experienced usage from four to 12 months, so it your results will depend on where you place your cameras and how often they’re triggered.) Free perks include the ability to record 2K video to storage in the included base station, as well as the ability to differentiate between humans and other moving things. To have your video sent to and stored in the cloud, you can opt for a paid subscription to either Eufy Cloud Storage ($3 per month) or Apple HomeKit Secure Video (free with iCloud plans that start at $1 per month); note that both services reduce video resolution from the original 2K to 1080p quality.

I first started testing smart-home devices more than 20 years ago, when the only smart-home devices were X10. I’ve been covering smart-home gear for Wirecutter since 2016, and I’ve had my hands on everything from in-wall light switches, smart strip lights, and smart bird feeders to video doorbells, indoor security cameras, and security systems. I’ve also written tech articles for The New York Times, Wired, and Men’s Health, among others.

Having problems with someone stealing packages off your porch, or a family of trash pandas enjoying your garbage cans? A Wi-Fi surveillance camera by your front door, over your garage, or attached to your back deck allows you to see what’s really going on outdoors. A camera not only alerts you to dangers and guests, but also creates a record of the events that happen all around the outside of your home—be it falling trees, floodwaters, or a neighbor’s unkind dog.

While outdoor cameras can do a good job as a sentry, they do have limitations.We found that most outdoor Wi-Fi cameras can detect movement as far as 30 to 40 feet away. But faces and license plates may start to get fuzzy around 20 feet away—and that number could drop substantially depending on lighting conditions.

If that’s not enough peace of mind, and you want to step it up to 24/7, all-bases-covered security, you should go with something that’s connected to a monitoring service. For more information on what’s out there, see our guide to the best home security system.

Video: Rachel Cericola

We’ve been reviewing outdoor cameras for more than eight years, and we’ve tested dozens of them. Here are the most important features that we consider.

  • Image resolution: Most outdoor cameras stream and record 1080p or 2K video. Even at that resolution, however, details may not be as sharp as what you’d get with a typical smartphone camera—especially for subjects that are far from the camera. Also, streaming video chews up internet bandwidth, so be sure your home network is fast enough and has the capacity to support it.
  • Night vision: All outdoor Wi-Fi cameras should have night-vision capability. Some even offer color night vision, which may add a bit of detail missed by cameras that capture only black-and-white video at night. The night-vision range can be a factor, depending on where you plan to place the camera.
  • Alerts: A good outdoor security camera alerts your smartphone or tablet whenever it detects motion. Faster alerts are better, but their speed often depends more on the network you’re connected to than on the camera itself. We also looked for cameras that could distinguish between different causes of motion, such as a person, a vehicle, or an animal.
  • Storage: Cloud storage (with video saved over the internet to a remote server operated by the manufacturer, instead of at your house) is the norm these days. Some cameras store recordings locally on a microSD card or a connected hard drive, but it isn’t of much help if someone steals the camera or you lose power.
  • Audio: A good outdoor Wi-Fi camera should have a built-in microphone so you can hear chirps and chatter. Most also feature a speaker for two-way communication, allowing you to talk to whomever is in front of the camera.
  • Smart-home integration: Most outdoor cameras offer some type of smart-home integration, such as support for Amazon Alexa, Apple Home (HomeKit), Google Home, IFTTT (If This Then That), Samsung SmartThings, and more. Those will allow you to view cameras on smart displays or trigger devices (such as smart lights) when the camera detects motion.

For testing, we connect all cameras to our Verizon Fios network via a Wi-Fi router indoors (approximately 40 feet from the cameras) and our upgrade-pick mesh-networking kit, the Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8). We used an iPhone 12, a Google Pixel 7 Pro, and an iPad to review the cameras and their companion apps. And we used an Echo Show 5, a Google Nest Hub, and an Apple TV to see how each camera can be controlled via third-party apps and viewed on smart screens.

The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, one of our picks for best outdoor security camera, with a modern rounded square shape.
Photo: Michael Hession

Our pick

This battery-powered camera captures clear 2K video. The video storage subscription adds the ability to detect people, animals, vehicles, packages, and general motion.

Buying Options

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home (with a compatible base station), Google Home, IFTTT, Samsung SmartThings

The battery-powered Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera can be placed anywhere you like, so long as it’s within reach of your Wi-Fi signal. It records clear 2K video and has a rechargeable battery, which lasts one to two months, depending on usage. The Arlo Pro 4 also includes features such as color night vision and Auto Zoom and Tracking (which can digitally zoom in on moving objects and follow them while in view).

The Arlo doesn’t include free video storage, so count on adding a subscription to Arlo Secure, the company’s cloud-storage service. In addition to keeping video for up to 30 days, Arlo Secure enables features like Activity Zones and the ability to distinguish between people, pets, packages, and vehicles.

Audio and video please the eye and ear. The Arlo Pro 4 produced some of the best images of any outdoor camera we tested. It records 2K video and has a wide, 160-degree viewing angle. The two-way audio was easy to understand on both ends.

The Arlo Pro 4 records 2K video, except when the Auto Zoom and Tracking feature is enabled. Video: Rachel Cericola
When the Auto Zoom and Tracking feature is turned on, the Arlo Pro 4 focuses in on the main subject in its view and keeps it centered; enabling this feature lowers video resolution to 720p. Video: Rachel Cericola

Arlo’s video-recording options are the best we’ve seen. You can set a recording length from 10 to 120 seconds long, but we prefer the “Record until activity stops” option, which records up to five minutes of continuous motion. If action goes beyond that, a new clip is recorded after a one- or two-second reset period. (According to Arlo, this reset is to keep the camera from creating lengthy clips where nothing happens and to conserve battery life.)

Alerts tell you more about what’s going on than just motion. To record video, you need an Arlo Secure subscription, which starts at $8 per month for a single camera. 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.

The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, one of our picks for best outdoor security camera, in a lawn sitting on a stone wall.
The Arlo Pro 4 uses a removable battery, which will need to be charged every one to two months. Photo: Michael Hession

Installation and maintenance are hassle-free. Sleek, smart design and a removable battery make the Arlo Pro 4 easy to install anywhere outside—so long as it’s in range of a Wi-Fi signal. Arlo claims the camera battery can last six months on a full charge, based on the assumption of 4,000 seconds of use per month, 30 seconds per stream, and day/night events split 2:1. Based on our testing, those numbers seem to be accurate, though if you’re planning to put the camera in a high-traffic area or in super-cold temperatures (which can drain the battery), you may want to buy an extra battery or the Arlo Solar Panel Charger (which we have not tested). If you have a nearby outlet, you can opt to hardwire it with the 25-foot Arlo Outdoor Magnetic Charging Cable.

Advanced camera features work well, but at a cost. The Arlo Pro 4 has a bright, motion-activated spotlight for color night vision, which makes images slightly more vivid than simply using the two infrared LEDs for black-and-white night vision. There’s also an Auto Zoom and Tracking feature, which digitally zooms in on a moving object in the camera’s field of view and follows it around. This is an interesting and sometimes useful feature, though we wish it were slightly more fluid. Also, enabling this feature shortens battery life and lowers the resolution of recordings to 720p or less.

How the Arlo Pro 4 has held up

Video: Joseph Dragan

Senior staff writer Lauren Dragan said that while testing the Arlo Pro 4, she found that the low-battery alert tended to trigger when there was still about 20% left—which for her translates to a few more weeks of battery life. She came up with a good solution to alleviate the hassle of waiting around for the battery to recharge: “We bought a backup battery, and so we swap it with the old one when we get a low-battery alert, which works well.”

Flaws but not dealbreakers

  • Arlo allows you to log in on only one device at a time. If you typically use an iPhone and opt to check cameras on an iPad, for example, it will log you out of your original device—and it requires two-factor authentication for you to log in each time. This is a safety measure, but it’s one that you can bypass by creating a guest login for your separate devices.
  • Support for Apple Home requires adding the Arlo SmartHub. This unit allows you to view and control the camera using Siri and the Apple Home app, but it doesn’t allow use of HomeKit Secure Video.
  • Although the Arlo Pro 4 can distinguish between people, pets, packages, and cars, the camera can tag recordings with only one label at a time. For instance, if a car goes by, it will tag that clip as “vehicle detected.” If a person walks in front of your camera 10 seconds after the car passes, the Arlo Pro 4 will still tag that clip as a vehicle. If you have your system set to deliver alerts for only certain types of motion, such as people, you could potentially miss a visitor.
  • We would love the camera’s battery life to be closer to Arlo’s claims, but you can lengthen the time in between charges by making a few tweaks or turning off the spotlight.
Two EufyCam 2 Pro Wireless cameras, our also great pick for best outdoor security camera, stacked on top of each other.
Photo: Michael Hession

Also great

This camera offers long battery life, a clear 2K image, HomeKit support, and three options for storing video.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home

The Eufy S221 EufyCam, a kit with two identical EufyCam Pro cameras, has the best battery life of any of our picks. The cameras capture excellent 2K images and offer more recording options than our other picks, including free local storage, as well as paid cloud subscriptions via Eufy’s cloud plan or Apple HomeKit Secure Video. However, this system is the only one of our picks that also requires that you use a base station. We also discovered that the system automatically downgrades video resolution to 1080p if you opt to use cloud storage.

Battery life is phenomenal. Eufy claims that its cameras can last 365 days on a full charge, which means you can truly set it and (mostly) forget it. In our original testing, we estimated that the battery could last anywhere between four and 12 months, depending on alert frequency. However, the battery isn’t removable, so it can’t be replaced.

The S221 EufyCam records 2K footage to the included base station, or 1080p when you use cloud storage. Video: Rachel Cericola
The EufyCam 2 Pro Wireless, our also great pick for best outdoor security camera, next to its slightly larger base station.
Even if you opt for cloud storage, the Eufy S221 EufyCam will create a backup to the included base station. Photo: Michael Hession

There’s free storage or a paid option—which we recommend. You can set clips to record in 20- or 60-second increments or customize them for any length up to two minutes. (We preferred the latter, since the system often left gaps in between clips of around 10 seconds.) Footage is then stored for free in the included 16 GB base station, which Eufy says should hold about two to three months’ worth of 2K footage (or four to five months’ worth of 1080p video). We recommend cloud storage, however, which is available through the Eufy cloud plan; it starts at $3 per month per camera. Alternatively, if you have an Apple iCloud plan of 50 GB or more (starting at 99¢), you can use HomeKit Secure Video—although both cloud plans store video at only 1080p resolution, we found the video to be clear and vibrant.

Both audio and video recording are great—object detection less so. Recordings were always sharp (both in 2K and 1080p), audio was clear, and smartphone alerts often arrived within 3 seconds of motion. However, it can only distinguish between people and general motion—and occasionally got that wrong. (A few times, it tagged a tire as a person.)

How the S221 EufyCam has held up

Video: Joel Santo Domingo

Senior staff writer Joel Santo Domingo has been using the S221 EufyCam since 2021. “My only complaint is that over long range (about 25 feet), the garage camera has trouble capturing people’s faces. It’ll report human motion, but many times it can’t resolve a face. I chalk it up to a quirk in my driveway’s layout.”

We tested a number of outdoor security cameras that we didn’t prefer as much as our current top picks but that are still good choices. Note that we do not long-term test these models (which we do with our top picks).

For 24/7 cloud recording: We like the Google Nest Cam (battery) when it’s plugged into an outlet—and if you plan to do that, spring for the optional weatherproof cable or get the Google Nest Cam with Floodlight. The 1080p floodlight has a modern design, a brightness of 2,400 lumens, and a 4,000 K color temperature. If you opt for just the camera, the included cord isn’t weatherproof and is a short 3 feet, which may limit where you can install it. When it’s corded or installed with the floodlight, you can record 24/7 (with a Nest Aware plan), and we thought the camera delivered better, more-reliable alerts overall when plugged in.

If you prefer to stick with Ring: The Ring Stick Up Cam Plug-In is a previous pick with an 8-foot cord for indoor use and a 14.5-foot IPX5-rated extender for outdoor use, and it also supports a battery or a solar panel. It’s no longer a pick because it lacks a few features that our current picks have, yet Ring has raised its subscription costs a bit. Although the Stick-Up Cam can detect people and general motion, it’s unable to differentiate between animals and vehicles. It also doesn’t let you opt to have a clip automatically stop recording after a motion trigger has ended; instead, it limits you to picking from preset lengths.

If you have poor outdoor Wi-Fi range: The Arlo Go 2 works with both Wi-Fi and add-on 4G LTE plans, but the latter cost more and are available only via Cellcom, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon. This 1080p model has a smaller viewing angle than our top cord-free pick (130 degrees versus 160). It adds in the option to record for free to a microSD card, but at the expense of losing Arlo Secure features, which require a subscription.

If you don’t have an existing outdoor light: The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera uses a removable, rechargeable battery to blast a bright 2,000 lumens of light—and up to 3,000 if you hardwire it. In our tests, its daytime 2K video was very good. Nighttime images weren’t as reliable, unless the subject was standing directly in front of the camera (which is fine since this model is best for focusing on a specific area, like a front porch or near trash cans). After months of testing it, we expect the battery to last about three months, depending on usage.

If you want a cord-free upgrade: The EufyCam S330 costs about 50% more than our already-pricey also-great pick but includes the updated HomeBase S380 Hub and two 4K solar-powered cameras, as well as facial recognition and vehicle and pet detection. We had a few issues with the solar panel needing to be in direct sunlight and the battery not being as strong as those in other Eufy models. Also, despite being so smart, the system still manages to tag tires as people—a common issue with Eufy cameras.

We have paused all testing and recommendations of Wyze smart-home devices due to security concerns. For a full explanation, see this article.

The Logitech Circle View and Eve Outdoor Cam both work with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video, a service that has a lot to offer but in our testing missed a lot of action—sometimes for even hours or days at a time.

A number of cameras we have tested were plagued by false alerts, including the Tapo C310 Smart Outdoor Home Security WiFi 2K Camera and the Tapo C320WS Smart Outdoor Home Security WiFi 2K QHD 4MP Camera.

We dismissed the Cync Outdoor Wired Smart Camera, the EZVIZ C3X, the Netatmo Presence, the Nooie Pro Cam, and the Swann CoreCam Pro due to poor audio and/or video performance. And the Abode Cam 2, the Blink Wired Floodlight Camera, the Blink Outdoor, the Swann Wireless 1080p Security Camera, and the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro Battery missed a lot of events and/or left lengthy gaps in between motion recordings. We also dismissed the Reolink Argus 3 Pro because it’s not rated to operate in temperatures of less than 14 degrees Fahrenheit, which means it isn’t useful for a large swath of the country. We also cut the Canary Flex due to its poor battery power and connection issues.

After 20 months of periodic use, our test unit of the Eufy S330 Floodlight Cam suffered a water leak and no longer functions. We contacted customer service, who determined that the unit was defective but would not replace it since it was outside of its one-year warranty period.

Other models we’re planning to test:

  • The Abode Edge Camera is the first to incorporate ultra-long-range HaLow wireless, which has a range of more than a mile. This camera also has a rechargeable battery, object detection, facial recognition, and anomaly detection.
  • The Blink Mini 2, a $40 plug-in 1080p indoor/outdoor camera, offers a 143-degree field of view, a built-in LED spotlight for color night vision, privacy and activity zones, and person detection—but the last feature is available only with a Blink subscription plan, which starts at $3 per month. The Blink Weather Resistant Power Adapter is available for an extra $10.
  • Eufy’s SoloCam S340 is a $200 wireless model that has two lenses: one with a wide-angle 3K resolution and one with a 2K telephoto lens. It also offers a 360-degree field of view, color night vision, and a removable solar panel.
  • The Eufy Floodlight Cam E340 is a $220 camera that offers a 360-degree view, two lenses (one with a 3K resolution and one with 2K), and a 2,000-lumen integrated spotlight. It also features dual-band Wi-Fi and the ability to track people, pets, and vehicles.
  • The Philips Hue Secure Floodlight Camera is a 1080p camera with a tunable color floodlight. Like the Philips Hue Secure Camera, it features E2EE encryption and smart alerts.
  • TP-Link’s Tapo C428 KIT, a 2K QHD camera that uses smart AI detection for people, pets, and vehicles, is powered by an attached solar panel and has an IP66 weatherproof rating. The TP-Link Tapo C402 KIT is a 1080p version of the C428; the TP-Link Tapo C425 KIT is also similar but includes built-in spotlights.
  • The TP-Link Tapo C720 Smart Floodlight Camera is an outdoor 2K QHD security camera with a 2,800-lumen adjustable floodlight, an IP65 weatherproof rating, and smart AI detection with motion tagging for people, pets, and vehicles.

This article was edited by Jon Chase and Grant Clauser.

Meet your guide

Rachel Cericola

Rachel Cericola is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter who has been covering smart-home technology since the days of X10. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Men’s Health, USA Today, and others. She hopes her neighbors read this bio because it would explain why she always has four video doorbells running simultaneously outside her home. 

Further reading

  • Thirteen security cameras we tested side by side.

    The Best Security Cameras for Your Home

    by Rachel Cericola

    Wi-Fi security cameras can help protect your family and possessions. We’ve reviewed and picked the best models for every area of your home.

  • Our picks for best home security system, which are all smart devices, displayed next to each other and a couple of padlocks.

    The Best Home Security System

    by Rachel Cericola

    A good home security system should make it easy to find peace of mind. It can alert you to an open door or window, frighten away prowlers, and call for help.

  • Some of the things you need to clean a home security camera: detergent, a spray bottle, a microfiber cloth and the camera.

    How to Clean Your Home Security Cameras

    by Rachel Cericola

    You should occasionally clean your Wi-Fi cameras to keep them free from dead bugs, water stains, and other debris that might alter their function.

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