With the right security camera, you can watch vulnerable spots around your home to check for attempted burglaries or vandalism, to keep an eye on kids or pets when you are away, or to make sure elderly relatives remain safe and comfortable. Nowadays, most smart home security cameras connect to an app on your phone, which means that you can check the safety of your home no matter where you are.
But high prices can keep people away from today’s smartest cameras, which is why we’ve collected the top security cams that you can find for under $100, with a variety of specialties and features for you to check out. Here’s a list of some of the best home security cameras that won’t completely empty your wallet.
($99)
Blink cameras come with a wireless design and a promised two-year battery life (using basic AAs) that make them easy to install just about anywhere without professional help. The camera features 720p HV video and free storage, or you can watch live video whenever you want. The camera will send out push alerts to your phone when it detects movement with the motion sensor.
You even get compatibility with Amazon Alexa, although at this time Alexa control only includes arming and disarming the camera. It offers all the benefits of a smart cam at an affordable price, although please note that the $100 cost is only for one cam. You can buy multiple camera systems together to bring the cost of individual cameras down.
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Reolink Argus Outdoor Security Cam ($95)
Looking for an outdoor security cam with the quality of the latest indoor models? That’s what the Reolink Argus does. It’s a wireless, battery powered HD cam designed with weatherproofing for outdoor use. The wide-angle motion sensor detects obvious movements, and will alert you if it starts recording anything suspicious (phone, email, and siren alerts are possible).
The built-in microphone allows for two-way communications as well. There’s an onboard SD slot for storage data physically and no cloud option for storing data, so if you want to save video, make sure you also invest in an SD card for this model.
Reolink Argus Outdoor Security Cam
YI 4-Piece Home Camera System ($100)
Are you disappointed that multi-cam systems are so pricey? YI has made an affordable wireless system that includes four 720p resolution cams that you can place around your house or business. All four of the wide-angle cameras provide livestream feeds you can check at any time and zoom in up to four times. You can pan the camera all around just by linking your smartphone and moving it – the gyroscope will sense the movements and turn the camera, too.
Each cam includes a motion sensor that can send alerts if they detect any activity, which includes some useful customization of activity regions and camera schedules that avoid false positive alerts. The cameras also offer the popular two-way audio feature and night vision for dark viewing. The only downside to these cams is that there’s no innate cloud storage without paying a subscription to YI Cloud, which could be expensive for some buyers.
YI 4-Piece Home Camera System
Momentum Cori Wi-Fi Home Security Camera kit ($60)
Momentum’s security cam kit provides a surprising number of features for the affordable price. That includes two 720p cams that are capable of night vision, motion detection, two-way speaker communication, and motion alert notifications. Cloud storage is available, but you will need to pay at least $5 per month to use it. Fortunately, the cams have SD card slots if you prefer to use physical storage. The only significant downside here is that the cams are wired, and a little difficult to install–we weren’t very impresed with the mounting options.
WyzeCam 2 ($26+)
Don’t care much about how your cam looks as long as it does a good job and costs almost nothing? This is the one to go with, then. The WyzeCam 2 sits proudly out on a shelf or table with its box-like camera design and large lens that provides 1080p video, night vision, motion and sound detection, and two-way audio. The field of vision is a little limited at 110 degrees, and mounting options will be a little limited (you can mount it with an included wall plate, but the cam is not wireless and bigger than the alternatives). However, if you can get past that, this WyzeCam offers plenty to consider, and we really liked the setup process.
WyzeCam 2
