Installing a home security camera system used to require a professional and many, many metres of cabling. But now, it’s as simple as connecting a set of wireless devices to your router and controlling them from an app.
Previously considered a lavish purchase only intended for high-end homes, security cameras now cost well under £100 in many cases. Most can also form parts of larger home security systems with spotlights, video doorbells, sensors, motion detectors, sirens and even professional monitoring.
No longer a closed, CCTV-style system, today’s security cameras connect to your wifi router. From there, they can be accessed in real-time from your smartphone. Many also have microphones and speakers for two-way audio. Some record footage to their own onboard storage, while others upload video to the cloud, where you can securely access it from anywhere.
Even more useful is how many outdoor security cameras can be powered with a solar panel. This enables a truly wireless, hands-off experience, with no need to ever interact with the camera once it’s been installed. Set-it-and-forget-it home security has never been so easy, or so affordable.
In this guide we’ve included a broad range of the best home security cameras available today. They come from brands like Ring and Blink (both owned by Amazon), as well as tech brands like Nest, Eufy and Tapo, and security veterans like Yale.
How we tested
Each of the security cameras featured in this article was installed in my home and tested thoroughly. The testing process included exploring all of the camera’s features, assessing video quality, and timing how quickly alerts arrived on my phone after movement was detected.
I also looked at how each camera connects to wider security product platforms and smart home ecosystems, and how well they worked with voice commands. Battery life is also a key component of many security cameras, so this was tested too.
The best home security cameras for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Eufy SoloCam S340: £179.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Blink Mini 2: £29.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best wired camera – Nest Cam: £59.99, Store.google.com
- Best budget solar cam – Tapo C410 (TC82) kit: £99.99, Amazon.co.uk
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Eufy SoloCam S340
The Eufy SoloCam S340 is currently our favourite outdoor security camera. It isn’t as compact as its rivals, and there are more affordable options. But the way it combines powered motion, a pair of lenses, high resolution, a solar panel and free location storage into one, subscription-free package makes it hard to beat.
Powered motion means the camera can pan and tilt, either when you control it manually via the app, or automatically to follow motion. If it spots someone walking into your garden, for example, it’ll follow them as far as its movement will allow. On top of that, the dual lens means this camera records at 1x and 3x zoom simultaneously, showing you both video feeds at once and ensuring you can see the bigger picture and a zoomed-in shot of whatever’s going on.
Then there’s the solar panel, which can be fitted directly to the camera or to a nearby wall or fence. It then provides the S340 with unlimited power, and in our testing we found just a few hours of morning sunshine (or even grey cloud clover) was enough to keep the battery fully charged.
Finally, I love how Eufy doesn’t charge for cloud storage. Instead, recordings are stored in the camera itself, or can be sent to the company’s HomeBase, a hub that is sold separately, adds extra AI-powered functions to the camera, and controls the Eufy Alarm system. This all means there are no ongoing subscription fees.
Buy now £179.00, Amazon
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus
New for 2025, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus is an intelligent home security camera that can be used inside or out. It has the familiar Ring design and is easy to set up and install, especially if you are already invested in the Ring ecosystem.
Ring has finally increased its standard video resolution from Full HD to 2K (2560 x 1440) with this camera. But, while welcome, the upgrade doesn’t make a night-and-day difference to recordings. Ring’s Low-Light Sight function is a form of colour night vision that can work well, but like with other cameras this feature is affected by ambient lighting, and works best when there’s no other light source nearby.
Motion alerts come through to the Ring smartphone app very quickly, and Ring’s software works well. It’s one of the better systems out there, but as ever you’ll have to pay for the privilege. Since there’s no local storage, video recording (and a bunch of other features) require a Ring Home subscription, which starts at £4.99 a month and rises to £7.99 if you have more than one Ring device, and hits £15.99 if you want 24/7 recording.
In summary, this is a great outdoor option if you’re already paying for a Ring subscription, but don’t expect a huge video upgrade with the switch to 2K.
Buy now £99.99, Amazon
Nest Cam (indoor, wired)
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Don’t let the cute Pixar looks fool you, because this is an indoor security camera with plenty of go to match the show. This particularly model of Nest Cam is the indoor, wired version which, while dependent on being placed close to a power socket, is small (since there’s no bulky battery) and, naturally, doesn’t need changing. The lack of a battery also means it can be used 24/7, if that’s what you need, although video is only stored in the cloud for three hours.
That should be enough for most occasions, since you’ll still be alerted as normal, then you can view live footage on your phone and download recordings in those three hours. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay for a Nest Aware subscription, which starts from £6 a month and enables 24/7 recording.
As well as the design, I like this camera for its good video quality (full HD resolution with HDR) and artificial intelligence, which helps it notify you to only certain types of movement, such as people. This is then made even smarter with a Nest Aware subscription, which enables facial recognition and helps the camera identify people, based on your Google contacts book.
Buy now £54.99, Amazon
Yale Smart Indoor Camera
I was really impressed by Yale’s new range of smart security cameras when I first used them in 2024. Both the indoor and outdoor cameras are super simple to set up and use – and, best of all, they work without the need for an ongoing subscription fee. Add that to how this indoor camera sometimes falls to just £44, and it’s quite the bargain.
Instead of paying for costly cloud storage, as is required with Ring cameras, this Yale camera has enough internal storage to hold between two and four days’ worth of recordings. That should be plenty of time to access anything important (like footage taken during a burglary) and download it to your phone for safe keeping. Video quality is decent, the camera itself is nice and compact, and the Yale Home app is easy to use.
All that’s holding this camera back is the middling 110-degree lens (some cameras record a wider view), and how pet owners might need to pay for Yale’s £3.50 monthly subscription, since that unlocks pet detection, among other features. That’s a handy feature if your cat or dog might otherwise trip the camera every time they walk past.
Buy now £44.00, Amazon
EZVIZ H8x
Even at its usual retail price of £100 this motorised 2K camera represents good value for money. But when it’s reduced to just £70, as it is at the time of writing, the H8x is hard to ignore.
An outdoor camera that requires mains power, the H8x records in a higher resolution than many rivals at this price point, while also packing colour night vision, a microSD card slot for local storage (up to 512 GB is supported), and the intelligence to follow subjects as they move through the frame.
This is a great camera for monitoring large outside spaces, such as a driveway or garden, as the motorised tanning and tilting function means it can rotate almost 360 degrees and look up/down by 70 degrees. EZVIZ’s smartphone app isn’t the best, as I encountered some wording that seemed to be poorly translated into English. But once you’ve navigated the settings pages and configured the camera to suit your needs it all works well.
As it isn’t battery-powered, you’ll have to find a spot where the cable can be run safely to a mains socket.
Buy now £69.99, Amazon
Eufy Dual Indoor Cam S350
The Eufy S350 stands out from the crowd thanks to its dual-lens setup, which can record 4K video through a wide-angle lens, then switch to 2K through a zoomed-in telephoto lens for a closer look.
That way, when movement is spotted with the wide-angle lens, the camera can zoom in and switch to the 2K telephoto lens. The combination of lenses means an 8x optical zoom with no loss in image quality.
What’s more, the S350 is a camera with motorised tilt and pan, so it can rotate and move up and down, giving you a 360-degree view. It can even use artificial intelligence to spot a target, like an intruder, from up to 30 feet away then zoom in for a closer look and follow them around the room.
As with other Eufy cameras, I love how the S350 has a microSD card slot for internal storage – this means there’s no ongoing storage subscription fee, as employed by Ring.
Buy now £129.99, Amazon
Yale Smart Outdoor Camera
Yale is best known for its door locks, but it also produces a range of security cameras, alarm systems and a video doorbell. This is a weatherproof outdoor camera that is battery powered and benefits from colour night vision, Full HD video two-way audio and internal storage. The last point is crucial, since it means there is no ongoing cost for cloud storage. This makes the camera better value, on an ongoing basis, than rivals from Ring, since they use cloud storage which requires a subscription.
Yale doesn’t say exactly how much storage the Smart Outdoor Camera has, but claims it will hold between two and four days’ worth of recordings. This will depend on how the camera is set up (recording resolution and length), and how frequently it records motion-triggered footage. Clips can be downloaded onto your phone via the Yale Home app for future safekeeping.
Along with the subscription-free approach to storage, I liked how easy this camera was to set up and use. The Yale Home app is a big improvement over its predecessor. It’s simple to use and, in my experience, reliable too. Accessing the camera and charging the battery (via a USB-C cable) every few weeks is an obvious downside to wireless security cameras. To solve this, Yale sells a solar panel that keeps the battery topped-up.
Buy now £119.99, Amazon
Blink Mini 2
At just £30 – and sometimes reduced to under £20 – the Blink Mini 2 offers excellent value for money. It’s tiny, quick and easy to set up (although I encountered a couple of brief hiccups adding it to my wifi network), records in 1080p Full HD resolution, and even includes a spotlight.
On paper, it’s a very strong offering for the price, but I found video quality to be fairly average and the lack of a privacy lens cover might be a concern for some users.
Blink is owned by Amazon, so like Ring devices this Blink camera can be controlled by speaking to Alexa, and show a live video stream on the retailer’s Echo Show smart displays. Although not as packed with features as some pricier security cameras, the Blink Mini 2 still includes the option to create activity zones and privacy zones, and there’s a new person-detection function, too.
However, that particular feature requires a subscription. This costs £2.50 a month for one Blink camera, or £8 for an unlimited number of Blink devices, and also includes cloud storage for video recordings, and lets you stream live video for up to 90 minutes at a time. The camera still works without a subscription, but only two hours of footage is saved before the oldest recordings start to be overwritten.
Local storage is an option, negating the need for the monthly fee, but that requires the purchase of Blink’s £40 Sync Module 2 and a compatible USB drive.
Buy now £29.99, Amazon
Ring Outdoor Camera Pro Battery
This outdoor camera with weather protection from Ring records in Full HD with HDR. It has a 155-degree lens and benefits from colour night vision and a clever use of radar technology that helps it track objects as they move through its view. This enables 3D motion detection and a bird’s-eye view function that shows the route visitors (and trespassers) took across your path, garden or drive.
It integrates neatly into the rest of the Ring ecosystem, including Alexa smart speakers and display, and the app works well, with near-instant notifications when movement is detected, and a good interface for viewing footage saved on Ring’s cloud storage service.
However, as with all other Ring products, you need to factor in the ongoing cost of a Ring Home subscription. The camera still works without this, but no footage is saved and video can only be viewed live through the app. Some alternatives, like Eufy and Yale, offer local storage without subscription, but if you are happy to pay for Ring Home (or already do so), this camera is a great addition to your smart security system.
As of April 2025, this camera has had its price halved from £160 to £80. This suggests Ring is about to replace it with a new model, but also means a camera that previously felt expensive is now excellent value for money
Buy now £79.99, Amazon
Tapo C410 Kit
The Tapo C410 kit by TP-Link is our favourite outside security camera for solar power on a budget. The panel can either share the same wall mount as the camera, or be fixed further away to gain better exposure to the sun. Even on cloudy days I found the panel generated enough electricity to keep the C410’s battery topped-up indefinitely.
As well as unlimited power, the C410 benefits from sharp 2K video recording, colour night vision, support for the Google Home and Alexa smart home platforms, and person detection.
I also particularly like how this camera has a microSD card slot for up to 512 GB of internal storage. This means there’s no need to pay a subscription for cloud storage – although the option is there if you want to create a back-up of your recordings, and paying also unlocks AI-powered person detection.
Buy now £62.08, Amazon
The Eufy SoloCam S340 is currently my favourite home security camera. It isn’t the cheapest, but I like how it combines high-resolution video recording with motorised movement for target tracking and a solar panel for unlimited power. I’m also a big fan of the Eufy security camera ecosystem more generally, since it has local storage with no subscription fee.
Another good camera is the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus. New for 2025, this is a wireless and weatherproof camera that records 2K video and is a strong option to consider if you already have a Ring security system and are paying for a multi-device subscription.
Lastly, I like Yale’s recently revamped range of home security products. Both the indoor and outdoor cameras included in this guide performed well and are very easy to set up and install, with no ongoing subscription fee.
