Best Motion Sensor Security Cameras

SimpliSafe doesn’t offer professional installation, but its systems are so easy to set up that anyone can do it. During our SimpliSafe tests, we managed to get everything up in less than 30 minutes. It helped that the Wireless Indoor Camera is, well, wireless. Installation was basically just setting it on our mantle.

The outdoor camera wasn’t quite so easy to install, but SimpliSafe has been at this for a long time, and with a basic mounting kit and clear instructions, the whole process was fast and easy.

Setting up Activity Zones was just as easy with the SimpliSafe app. Perfect, since this feature helped us significantly reduce false alerts. We live on a busy street, so we excluded everything outside of our front fence. By default, the camera ignores pets, and you can add regular guests to a facial recognition library, which cuts down even further on notifications.

Our Wireless Indoor Camera knows who we are which is why the privacy shutter is closed.

You need a SimpliSafe professional monitoring plan to access these features, though, and to set up Intruder Intervention and Active Guard Outdoor Protection. The Core Plan, just $31.99 a month, includes Intruder Intervention plus cellular backup and 30 days of cloud storage.

For Active Guard Outdoor Protection, you need the Pro Plan, which is $49.99. That’s on par with ADT’s Complete package for professionally installed systems. However, we think you get a better bang for your buck with SimpliSafe. Their agents are actually trained to deal with intruders while contacting authorities. ADT only dispatches authorities.

>> Keep Reading: SimpliSafe 2025 Packages and Pricing

The Google Nest Cams we bought with our ADT security system sent us alerts telling us who they saw.

ADT is becoming more DIY all the time. All of the company’s equipment can be self-installed, for instance, and the process is almost as easy as that of SimpliSafe. All in all, the ADT system we tested took about 45 minutes to install. We should point out that we didn’t purchase a Google Nest Cam with floodlight. That’s the one ADT device that requires an electrician.

While other cameras on this list offer facial recognition, no one makes better use of it than ADT. The company’s Trusted Neighbor program lets you automate your home security system to let in recognized friends and family. When we had a false alarm while we were at work, one of the neighbors popped over and checked things out. And we set our system up to let our dog walker in every Thursday at 10:30 AM. No wonder ADT sits at the top of our list of the best smart home security systems.

>> Learn About: ADT Self Setup Review and Pricing Plans in 2025

We could write a book on all of Lorex’s camera models, but right now we’re particularly smitten with the A4, which features Lorex’s new Smart Motion Detection system. The A4 doesn’t just detect motion. It can distinguish moving objects based on how they move. Turns out bicycles don’t move like cars, and squirrels don’t move like people. The A4 is smart enough to know what kind of movement represents an actual threat. That means you only get alerts that actually matter. As if that weren’t enough, the A4 also listens for threats so it can detect problems even if they’re off-screen.

Types of Motion Detection Available with Lorex Cameras

One reason Lorex sits near the top of our list is that it’s exclusively focused on home security cameras. It doesn’t offer entry sensors or smoke detectors. It doesn’t sell whole home security packages or provide professional monitoring plans. If you’re looking for cameras that include those features, you’ll need to look elsewhere. If you’re looking to purchase a stand-alone camera, though, or create a home security system made up entirely of cameras, you really can’t do any better than Lorex.

Plus, Lorex makes it easy to self-monitor your system. During our testing, we got real-time alerts as well as access to both live footage and recorded footage. That’s right, we had playback options without having to sign up for a cloud storage plan. Lorex actually offers several different local storage systems, including DVR, NVR, and microSD cards.

With such an extensive inventory, you can always find a Lorex camera that suits your price range. For more, check out our list of Lorex’s prices and products.

Google Nest impressed us with its many high-tech features. The company sells just three cameras — the wired indoor Nest Cam, the battery-powered indoor/outdoor Nest Cam, and the wired Nest Cam with Floodlight – but all three come loaded with sophisticated AI that not only makes you safer but makes home security easier.

Of course, all three cameras include motion detection, and all three can tell the difference between people and other types of objects. As we mentioned earlier, that cuts down on false alerts, and fewer false alerts makes you more likely to pay attention when your system contacts you. Person detection is so last year, though. Google Nest Cams also come with facial recognition. No, they’re not connected to an FBI database or anything like that, but we were able to teach our Cam with Floodlight to recognize our friends and neighbors.

Technology isn’t cheap, and Nest charges about twice what you’d pay for comparable Ring cameras. The Nest Indoor, for example, is $99, while the Nest Spotlight we tested was $279. In addition, you’ll need a a Nest Aware monthly subscription if you want to unlock advanced features like facial recognition. Nest’s lowest-priced plan is $8 a month. You’re never going to get something for nothing, though, and Nest’s value more than justifies its prices.

Check out our Google Nest Cam review to get the full scoop on our live Nest tests.

Ring cameras don’t include facial recognition software, but they do come equipped with People Only Mode, and that’s really more important to your security. Without that, we’d get alerts every thirty seconds or so, all triggered by our neighbor’s cat who likes to lounge on our front porch. At some point, we’d just start ignoring them, and that would put our home’s security at risk. When you only get alerts that matter, you’re going to be safer.

In fact, Ring’s motion detection also includes customized motion zones, so they don’t pick up activity in your neighbor’s yard. And, with customized scheduling, you can make sure motion detection is off at 5 am when the street sweeper comes by. Ring’s cameras are also smart enough to trim video footage for you automatically, so you don’t have to scroll through video to find out what happened. All of these features improved our overall security, and after all, that’s why we buy home security systems in the first place.

Want to know more? Check out our Ring Cam analysis for a complete review.

Motion detection works best when it’s attached to a camera capable of recording in high resolution. After all, what difference does it make if you know something happened at your house if the image is so fuzzy you can’t make it out what it is. As we note in our review of the Arlo Pro 4, this camera’s 2K video gave us a crystal-clear view of absolutely everything in and around our home. It wasn’t just that we knew who was out our door. The Pro 4 captured enough detail to identify the reckless driver who had been terrorizing the neighbors. Once the police had the license plate, we didn’t have to worry about cats – and kids –  on our street being in peril. The new Arlo Pro 5S offers this same 2K clarity.

As a bonus, Arlo’s motion sensor technology and high-resolution cameras are all totally wire-free. That means they don’t need wires to communicate with other system components, and they don’t need wires to receive power. That’s particularly useful outdoors, since it means you can place cameras out of reach of potential burglars. Oh, and did we mention these cameras are stylish? Don’t get us wrong – security is the priority, but if you can get security that improves the look of your home, why wouldn’t you? Find out everything you need to know about Arlo’s equipment costs and monitoring in our complete price guide.

It’s easy to get caught up in all the amazing high-tech that’s making its way into the home security industry these days. We confess, we’re sometimes guilty of focusing on facial recognition software and geographic triggers to the exclusion of more important camera features like field-of-view and resolution. Reviewing Blink always reminds us that a security camera’s first job is to provide clear images of what’s going on at your home. Blink does that amazingly well, and it does it at a price that makes home security affordable for any family.

Make no mistake: Blink cameras come with sophisticated dual-zone motion detection, and they’re smart enough to know when they’re looking at a person. That can cut down enormously on false alerts, and in the end, that’s always going to keep you safer. Too many false alerts can numb you to alerts altogether.

With Blink, though, you get features like enhanced motion detection at an affordable price. No camera in Blink’s inventory costs more than $140. And sure fancy features are nice, and they can make life more convenient, but as long as our cameras protect us, trading extras for money isn’t necessarily a bad deal. Here’s the breakdown:

Like most of the cameras on this list, Kuna cameras know the difference between human and other types of movement, which means you have fewer false alerts to deal with. In addition, they’re smart enough to differentiate between people, pets, vehicles, and packages. This means you can set them to screen out movement that’s less important to you. We get a lot of packages, so we don’t want to know every single time one arrives. On the other hand, if you’re expecting an expensive laptop, you probably want a notification the very instant it arrives on your porch.

Kuna claims that its cameras will eventually be able to recognize burglars solely based on their physical movements. Apparently, thieves move differently from the rest of us. We’ve seen AI do some pretty amazing things, so maybe? The important point is that you won’t have to purchase a new Kuna camera to take advantage of evolutions like these. According to Kuna, your cameras should grow and develop over time. The longer you have them, the more they improve – pretty unusual in the home security market.

We don’t mind Kuna’s unique approach to home security, but we do wish the company offered a few more options. Two models isn’t a lot to choose from, and Kuna doesn’t make any indoor cameras at all. Still, during our Kuna camera live testing, we were impressed by just how many features the company includes in these devices. When our camera picked up motion on the front porch at 2 am, for example, we had the option to shine a light on the situation. Turns out, a neighborhood possum was making its rounds, but once our light came on, it sauntered on its way. Alternatively, we could have kept things on the DL and simply checked out the footage. We like a home security company that lets us decide how to respond to events.