Club Benefits
The best outdoor security cameras are designed to pick up wider angles than indoor cameras, can still record at night (either with infrared or flashlights) and help you keep tabs on what's going on in the space around your home.
We've mounted many of these cameras to our walls, installed the companion solar panels and wired them in when needed to test them out to help you find the model that offers the right protection for your home.
The best outdoor security cameras you can buy today
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Best outdoor security camera overall
The well-designed Nest Cam (battery) has a simple shape and is one of the easiest home security cameras to install, thanks to its magnetic base. It's weatherproof, so it can be mounted just about anywhere outside.
Its 1080p camera captures sharp images day and night, and its microphone and speaker made conversations a breeze. The Nest Cam (battery) also offers three hours of rolling video storage for free, as well as person, vehicle, and animal detection.
If you sign up for a Nest Aware subscription (starting at $6/month), you also get familiar face detection as well as the ability to store up to a month's worth of video. However, while it has good battery life, Nest does not make any accessories to extend it, such as a removable battery or a solar panel.
- Read our full Nest Cam (battery) review
Best budget outdoor camera
The Blink Outdoor 4 is the best outdoor security camera for those who want a truly wireless option for around $100. The camera runs off two AA batteries (which should last up to two years), and communicates wirelessly with a small base station that's connected to your Wi-Fi network.
Compared to the previous generation, the Blink Outdoor 4 has much better night vision, a wider field of view, and comes with person detection — provided you sign up for a subscription.
The Blink Outdoor 4 is weatherproof, and comes with a convenient mounting bracket. While not tops — both Nest and Arlo deliver better images — the 1080p video it records is good for the price.
While it lacks free cloud storage, you can save videos locally to a USB drive. Cloud storage starts at $3/month or $30/year. Blink's app is fairly robust, and while it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of more expensive cameras, it has plenty of features for the price.
- Read our full Blink Outdoor 4 review
Best subscription-free outdoor security camera
While the EufyCam 3 has a high upfront cost — $549 for two cameras and the base station — you can make it up on the back end, as you don't need to sign up for a subscription to store video.
But that's not all that impressed us; the EufyCam 3's 4K resolution was sharp and clear both day and night, and the massive battery and built-in solar panels meant we never had to recharge or replace the batteries, even after months of use.
The AI built into the cameras can be trained to recognize familiar faces, as well as vehicle and pet detection. It also works with Alexa and Google Assistant. Video is saved locally on the HomeBase 3, which has 16GB of storage built-in; however, you can increase its storage capacity all the way up to 16 TB using a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD.
A wireless 4K security camera that never needs to be recharged and doesn't require a monthly subscription? That's a winner in our book.
- Read our full EufyCam 3 review
Best dual outdoor security camera
Dual-lens outdoor security cameras, like the TP-Link Tapo C675D, take a best of both worlds approach, with a fixed camera and a tilt & pan cam mounted underneath. Both the cameras here record in 4K, and the fixed head gives 169 degrees of coverage, while the pan and tilt one reaches 360 degrees.
It's a battery-powered camera, and should last up to three months between three charges, though that'll depend how often you connect to it and interact with the cameras. However, we didn't get the opportunity to find out, as we mounted the camera with the included solar panel, so it won't need charging anyway.
Other than all the usual recording features, the thing we liked the most about the C675D was the Smart Dual Tracking. Once the fixed camera detected an object, the second camera would automatically rotate itself to start tracking the object and keep it in view for as long as possible, extending the 169-degree field of view of the fixed lens.
Of course, you'd expect TP-Link to lean hard into all the new AI features, but we found these were annoying at best. The object detection in full field of view mode kept telling us that a silver car had entered the drive, despite our car still being parked there, as it was mistakenly alerting us to cars passing by on the street.
- Read our full TP-Link Tapo C675D review
Best budget spotlight outdoor security camera
The Wyze Battery Cam Pro is the first battery-powered security camera from a company that's made its name with good but inexpensive security cameras. The Battery Cam Pro can record video at up to 2K (at 20 fps) during the daytime and at 15 fps at night; in general, we found the quality to be good, but the picture tended to degrade if the subjects started moving.
Helping its night vision are dual LEDs that beam a combined 187 lumens, which was good enough to illuminate subjects up to 15 feet away. In our tests, the Wyze's battery only dropped by about 10% over the course of a week in a high-traffic area, but your experience may vary based on how often you use its spotlight. Wyze does offer a solar panel separately if you don't want to have to recharge the battery as often.
While you can store video locally and in the cloud without paying for a subscription, there are a bunch of limitations — clips are limited to 12 seconds, and you have to wait a few minutes between recordings. Fortunately, Wyze's subscription is fairly cheap at $2.99/month per camera.
You'll want to go with a camera from Arlo, Ring, or Nest if you want higher quality video, but for the price, the Wyze Cam Battery Pro is a great deal.
- Read our full Wyze Battery Cam Pro review
Best Wi-Fi free outdoor security camera
If you have spotty Wi-Fi, or no Wi-Fi at all, then you're going to need an outdoor security camera that can beam your video over a cellular connection. When we tested the Eufy S330, we were impressed all around. Not only did it deliver clear 4K video, but its pan-and-tilt camera meant that we could see nearly every corner of our yard.
The S330 is designed for off-the-grid use: It has a massive battery and can be hooked up to a solar panel — though, if you plan on using its spotlight, you may have to plug it in once in a while.
As with most all Eufy cameras, the S330 doesn't require you to sign up for a subscription (though you'll need one if you want to store video in the cloud). It even comes with a 32GB microSD card.
About our only issue with the S330 is that it uses LTE, rather than 5G — and keep in mind that it'll cost you around $10 per month to use this feature — but overall, this is an excellent camera for covering every inch of your property.
- Read our full Eufy 4G LTE Cam S330 review
Best floodlight outdoor security camera
Take the excellent Nest Cam (wired) and add two powerful floodlights, and you get the appropriately named Nest Cam with Floodlight (wired). The camera itself records great high-definition video, and has a three-hour local backup in case your Internet connection goes down.
On either side are two dimmable LEDS that can crank out 2400 lumens, more than enough to illuminate anything around. Like the Ring Floodlight, the Nest camera needs to he hardwired to work, so it's less mobile than the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight, which runs on battery power alone.
Still, you get a few niceties for free, including person detection, customizable motion zones, and (limited) local storage. Unless you need a camera that works with Alexa, this is definitely a floodlight camera to consider.
- Read our full Nest Cam with Floodlight (wired) review
Also tested
We've reviewed a lot of outdoor security cameras over the years at Tom's Guide. Here are some other cameras we also liked, but didn't quite make the cut for the best of the best.
How we test the best outdoor security cameras
As with the best home security cameras, we test outdoor security cameras outside our homes. We see how well they record video during daylight hours and at nighttime, and look at the detail of the recorded video, as well as the accompanying audio.
We also evaluate the security cameras' apps and features; you should be able to easily schedule when the cameras turn on and off, as well as set things such as custom motion zones and sensitivity, so that a tree branch or passing car doesn't set it off.
Better cameras will also let you filter for people, animals, vehicles, and packages, so that you only get the alerts you want.
If you have other smart home devices already installed in your house, you'll want to know how a security camera can interact with them, too. Many devices can be linked through Alexa or Google Assistant, so that if a security camera detects movement, it can trigger other lights to turn on, for instance.
What to look for when buying an outdoor security camera
Aside from price, there are a few things you'll want to consider when shopping for an outdoor security camera.
Weatherproofing: Any outdoor security camera should be protected against the elements. While they probably won't take to being dunked underwater, they should have some resistance to rain, sleet, and snow.
Battery powered: Many outdoor security cameras, such as the Arlo and Blink cameras, can run off battery power alone. That makes them easier to install, as you don't have to worry about running a power cord to the camera. However, this also means you'll have to either recharge or replace the batteries on a regular basis. Increasingly, companies are offering solar panels as optional accessories so you don't have to recharge the batteries as often.
Night vision: Almost all outdoor security cameras record good video during the daytime; it's nighttime video that really separates the haves from the have-nots. Most cameras use infrared lights to illuminate their subjects; better cameras will light the scene without blowing out the subject, so you'll be able to see details more clearly.
Extra lighting: Some outdoor security cameras, such as those from Ring and Arlo, have LED lights built in, so that at night time, you'll not only be able to see subjects more clearly, but you'll also be able to see better yourself if you're outside. Some have spotlights, which are good for a small area, while others have floodlights, which helps illuminate a yard.
Storage and storage fees: Most security cameras now require a subscription to either use all their features or to store video in the cloud. You'll want to refer to our best security camera storage plans for more detail, but before choosing a security camera, think about how many other cameras (including the best video doorbells) you're planning to install. The company that offers the best value depends upon how many cameras you want to use on your property.
