This is the home security of the future. If you need the very best video resolution, with the most detailed video coverage available, a 4K security camera system is the way to go. These high-tech cameras shoot photos in more than eight million pixels, leading to mind-blowing videos that have the ‘real’ look of nature, and can’t be surpassed! Now, that sort of unmatched clarity is what you need to truly protect your home and family.
But picking the right one can be daunting. A brief search will turn up literally dozens of possibilities, ranging from individual wireless cameras to multiple-camera systems. The best 4k security camera can be a bit of a search, with features, value, and video storage to consider.
That’s where we come in. Our team of security professionals has invested significant time in hands-on testing the best 4k security cameras available this year. We’ve pulse-tested them and pitted them against one another in search of clear winners. This guide demystifies everything you need to know so you can have full confidence in your system purchase.
Our Process: How We Tested and Selected the Best 4K Cameras
So we developed a rigorous testing process to deliver you the best picks. We had our five security-camera experts spend several weeks with these systems.
- Real-Life, Hands-On Installation: We bought and installed each 4k ultra HD security camera we wrote reviews about in real-world homes. The majority of these are created as 4k outdoor security cameras, so we set them up to watch driveways, backyards, and doorways.
- Real-World Scenarios: We evaluated how well each camera could help guard against break-ins, how much its features may deter crime (for example, spotlights and sirens), and what you might use its mobile app to do.
- Expert Reviews: Our team has put this 4k surveillance camera through rigorous testing over 5 weeks, and after our jaguar-like scrutiny, we ranked it the best 4k surveillance camera.weixin
Now, onto our top picks and how they fared.
Best 4K Security Cameras Comparison Table: A More In-Depth Look at the Best 4K Security Cameras.
1. Lorex – Higher Resolution and Field of View
SecurityScore: 9.0 / 10
What We Like:
- Revolutionary dual-lens with 180-degree field of vision.
- Crime deterrence with active siren & security lighting.
- Support continuous local recording to the NVR.
- Outdoor design that is resilient to weather, abuse, and everything in between.
What We Don’t Like:
- Most options are wired connections.
- Minimal customer support options.
- Not as many smart home integrations as rivals.
- The user interface and the mobile app are not the most polished around.
What You Should Know About Lorex
Lorex is a colossus in the security camera industry, and there are good reasons for that: this catalog of products is immense in performance and value. The Lorex 4K Dual-Lens Wi-Fi Camera is one such example of their resourcefulness and is a good contender for the best 4K security camera for full view security. Its most impressive aspect is its two lenses, which combine to stitch two very wide video feeds into an ultra-wide-angle 180-degree panoramic view without the usual fisheye distortion. It’s great at covering wide spaces.
For these spots, the best option is the Lorex 4K Dual-Lens. We don’t recommend the Lorex for these areas:
- Front yard or backyard
- The entire side of a house
- Pool areas
- Long driveways
What’s Different About Lorex?
A dual-lens camera was a first for us and is a game-changer. Other cameras, including the Arlo Ultr, give you a 180-degree view, but they use a single varifocal lens, and you’re usually left with a curved, distorted image. The flat, seamless panorama of the Lorex 4K Dual-Lens looks terrifically natural. It’s one of the best 4k outdoor security cameras for those who need to be able to see EVERYTHING.
- Dust/Waterproofing: IP66
- Minimum Temperature: -4°F
- Maximum Temperature Limit: 122℉
- Interface: 2.4G or 5G Wi-Fi
- Power: Wired/Plug-in
Pro Tip: Experience the full potential of your Lorex camera by pairing it with a Lorex Fusion-ready NVR (Network Video Recorder). Just be sure the NVR it connects to supports 4K recording, or the camera’s resolution will be capped at 1080p.
Our Lorex Hands-On: What You Need to Know About Lorex
Although it’s a wired camera, the Lorex 4K Dual-Lens was surprisingly easy to get up and running because it hooks into our network using Wi-Fi. Now, we did use a power drill to make sure its nearly two-pound frame was secure. For a top-of-the-line 4k UHD security camera like this, is one extra step for secure installation of the SV3C 4k UHD Security Camera worth it?
Here are a few of its most important security features:
- Intelligent Security: The center of the camera is equipped with a color-changing LED strip of fully customizable colors. We have ours set to flash red when it detects motion to let anyone outside your home know that they are on camera. Not blindingly bright or anything, but a decent visual warning.
- Lights and Siren: This is where the Lorex takes the cake in crime prevention. The motion-triggered spotlights are bright enough to light up your viewing area, and the siren is capable of being heard several houses down the block. Active Deterrence: This is an awesome feature.
- Intelligent Motion Detection: The camera distinguishes humans, pets, vehicles, or packages. In our testing, this feature was sometimes hit or miss and would occasionally mistake a person for an animal. But when it hit its mark, it delivered useful, specific alerts.
- Auto-Framing: A feature that will zoom into and follow a person, vehicle, or animal around a frame. “It’s incredibly valuable for those identifying details of license plates or faces that can provide evidence in the case of an incident,” he said.
Lorex 4K Camera Cost
The price of the Lorex 4K Dual-Lens Wi-Fi Camera is $249.99. That’s relatively steep for a video doorbell, but the hardware’s dual-lens technology and strong security features explain the price, especially considering there aren’t any mandatory monthly video storage fees.
2. Arlo – Best 4K Camera with Spotlight
SecurityScore: 8.8 / 10
What We Like:
- 100 percent wireless design and installation on location, which can be installed anywhere.
- Waterproof, suitable for indoor and outdoor use.
- Great smart home integration with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri.
- Ability to record locally on a micro-SD card or a USB drive through the SmartHub.
What We Don’t Like:
- No free cloud video storage.
- Advanced A.I. features, such as person detection, cost extra.
- Not compatible with older Arlo base stations, the 4k wireless camera only works with the Arlo Smart Hub.
- Battery life may not last the full six months in high-traffic spots.
What to know about Arlo
Arlo is probably the most well-known name in the world of battery-powered security cameras, and its 4K options — the Arlo Ultra and Arlo Ultra 2 — are top-of-the-line offerings. Indeed, these models offer some of the best video quality we’ve seen from a 4k wireless security camera.
They are proficient in using High Dynamic Range (HDR). HDR technology digitally fills in the light in a scene so that dark shadows don’t overpower the rest of the image, and if all you can see through the window is glaring white over your actor’s shoulder, HDR prevents the outside sky from being blown out. When we tested the Arlo Ultra in our sun-drenched backyard, the HDR worked well, providing clear video that wasn’t ruined by the glare of the sun we saw from some other cameras.
A 180-degree field of view is another feature of the Arlo Ultra; it has a single lens. The extreme degree of fish-eyed distortion above 180 degrees became a significant issue. We felt the 155-degree setting offered the best combination of wide coverage and image clarity.
What’s Different About Arlo?
What sets Arlo apart is the wire-free experience. Groundbreaking battery-powered means 100% without wires! Install this camera in almost any location outside your home in minutes, without the need for drilling or running wires from any power source! This makes the Arlo Ultra 2 one of the easiest 4k wireless security camera systems to set up.
But what impressed us was its AI-enhanced smart motion detection. You’ll need a subscription to get at that, although Arlo’s A.I. worked better than Lorex’s, correctly identifying people, animals, vehicles, and packages in almost every case.
Our Arlo Hands-On Experience
A subscription is required to unlock Arlo’s more advanced features. The Arlo Secure plans are available beginning at $7.99 a month for one camera. It’s an extra expense, but the capabilities it opens are impressive. Upon subscribing, here is what we unlocked:
- Object Recognition: The Arlo Ultra accurately told us what caused each motion alert, which could be a person, our dog, or a delivery van. I especially liked its package detection for my front porch surveillance.
- Smart Notifications: We customized the alert schedule, and alerts can be assigned to individual cameras, so you can know what’s happening when you want to know. 4. It never made a mistake in our testing.
- Animated Previews: We received a mini looping video (a GIF) of the detected activity on our phone. That way, we could quickly see what was happening without even opening the app.
The built-in, motion-activated spotlight on the camera is its own best defence. We programmed it to illuminate whenever motion was detected after nightfall. This is coupled with its awesome 4K Ultra HD Security Camera with Color Night Vision, so in the dead of night, you can have a camera that sees clearer than ever.
Arlo 4K Camera Cost
The Arlo Ultra 2 is a premium product that comes with a premium price. An Additional One add-on camera is $299.99. It also needs a SmartHub to access the internet, which sells for $149.99 on its own. Arlo also offers packages of cameras with a better per-device value. For the set with the SmartHub and two cameras, you pay $599.99 and save roughly $150.
3. Swann – Best 4K Camera with Night Vision
SecurityScore: 8.1 / 10
What We Like:
- Quite inexpensive is valid for multi-camera systems.
- The dependable thermal-sensing VCDS motion detection helps keep false alerts at bay.
- Tremendous long-range infrared night vision.
- Local video storage to DVR with no monthly fees.
What We Don’t Like:
- The field of view is narrower than other brands.
- Hard to configure or wire a BNC is out of date.
- The mobile app has poor rating results and can be clunky.
- It’s pretty hard to make sense of the product lineup.
What to Know About Swann
For those who are on a budget and building a complete 4k outdoor surveillance camera system, and for those who need a cut-and-dry, user-friendly system to fit the bill, Swann is a great investment. Swann is not as flashy as Lorex or Arlo, but focuses on core security, great reliability. We’ve just got our hands on their PRO-4KMSB thermal-sensing camera and put it through its paces.
Its claim to fame is its ability to see in the dark. Infrared can allow the camera to see at a totally dark 150-foot range, orders of magnitude beyond Lorex’s 32. What is more, it relies on the same infrared technology in the form of passive infrared (PIR) to detect motion based on the body heat released by people or animals. This is a cruder tactic than A.I., but often a more precise one, as it is not susceptible to misdirection by swaying trees or shadows.
What’s Different About Swann?
What’s so appealing about Swann is its price point. For a fraction of the price compared to competitors, you can create a hot multi-camera setup. With that in mind and a budget of roughly $600, we were able to create a system using four cameras (two 4K outdoor, two 1080p indoor) and a 4K-capable DVR. A similar Arlo system would have cost $700 and would have come with just two cameras. This makes Swann one of the best 4k CCTV cameras if you need to cover a large area for less.
Pro Tip: Swann sells refurbished DVRs on their website at a steep discount. We purchased it when it was 50% off the original price, which makes it an even better value for our system.
Our Experience With Swann (Hands-On)
Our biggest hurdle in doing the test was the installation of the Swann. The cameras are connected with BNC cables, which are fat, stiff, and a pain to run through walls and around corners compared to modern Ethernet cables. This took us a few hours.
However, the thermal motion detection worked reliably once I had it set up. Here is how it vanquished it in our tests:
- Our dog zooming across the frame: Detected
- Man walking towards camera: Detected
- A basketball dribbling across the screen: Not Detected
- Paper airplane passing by the lens: Not Detected
This system worked perfectly to eliminate movement that doesn’t generate heat, so that we received very accurate alerts. Though our particular Swann system didn’t offer anywhere storage, we did find out that you can set up the DVR to save recorded stuff to your personal Dropbox account.
Swann 4K Camera Cost
And Swann’s price is where it shines. Standalone 4k outdoor security cameras, individual 4k outdoor security cameras like the PRO-4KMSB are priced as low as $119.99. This means you can mix and match to mix exactly the right system for your needs, all at an unprecedented price point.
4. Nest Cam (wired) – Best Indoor Camera for 4K-Like Quality Video
SecurityScore: 9.2 / 10
What We Like:
- Excellent video quality with a 4K sensor and HDR.
- Sophisticated facial recognition if you buy Nest Aware.
- A reasonable cloud plan ($8/month) includes any number of cameras.
- It has a subtle infrared night vision feature that won’t attract notice.
What We Don’t Like:
- No integrated security spotlight.
- Limited local storage; cloud subscription required for video history.
- Activity zones are available behind a paywall.
- Technically, streams and records 1080p, not true 4K.
What to Know About Nest Cam
Although not a 4k resolution security camera, we consider the Nest Cam to be one of the best security cameras with 4k resolution, so we decided to include it in this list. The sensor, coupled with HDR, is capable of capturing vast amounts of detail and gives out a 1080p feed far, far better than other 1080p cameras and just shot off a 4K level entirely. Since actual 4K indoor cameras are few and far between, the Nest Cam is your best bet for keeping an eye on the indoors in stunning clarity.
What’s New About Nest Cam?
The Nest Cam’s standout feature is facial recognition, which Google dubs “Familiar Face Alerts.” This, which is one of the perks of the $8/month Nest Aware subscription, makes the product more than just a camera: a smart security camera.
This is how Familiar Face Alerts played out for us:
- The Google Home app records every new face the camera detects.
- We named the faces of family members and frequent visitors.
- From there, we personalized alerts so that we’d be told only if an unfamiliar face was spotted, or, for our friends and relatives, only if a familiar face, like our dog walker, appeared.
- And when checking out your video history, the timeline was labeled with the names of known individuals, so you could easily track down special events.
Our Hands-On Nest Cam Review.
The Familiar Face Alerts took a few days to really “learn” our faces. We learned that the A.I. is most successful when it captures a person from multiple perspectives and under various lighting conditions. Its accuracy soared to more than 90% after “training” over about three days. The Nest Cam is also a great choice for those who are already in the Google/Nest ecosystem and want smart, person-specific alerts about who is in their house.
Nest Camera Pricing
The Nest Cam (indoor) comes in at a competitive-sounding $99.99. The Nest Aware subscription is one of the best values around as well, and we highly recommend it. The base plan is $8 a month, and it covers all the Nest cameras in your house — it’s a much better priced per-camera plan than Arlo’s.
Is a 4K Security Camera Necessary?
It’s important to weigh whether or not you really need 4k before you pull the trigger.
The main advantage is obvious: Your video will be more lucid. A 4K ultra HD security camera is a great option for capturing detailed images, such as the numbers on a passing license plate or the logo on a burglar’s shirt. This can still be important for evidence.
Though the gulf between the new 2K and 4K cameras can also be small enough to challenge even the naked eye on most general viewing. And there are trade-offs in 4K systems:
- More Expensive: Hardware is costlier.
- Higher Bandwidth: 4K video streaming could consume more bandwidth on the internet.
- Increased Storage Use: 4K video files are huge, and local storage can fill up even faster than you previously thought, possibly increasing cloud storage costs too.
Security cameras in 4k may be impressive, but they can be considered a luxury instead of a need. Our top picks are great options if you’re on a big budget and looking for the best of the best. But for a lot of homes, a good-quality 2K system might represent a better combination of performance and cost.
Final Thoughts
We think that 4k security cameras are well on their way to becoming the norm in a year or two. If you’re eager to be an early adopter or don’t mind investing in the best tech available right now, you won’t be led astray by Lorex, Arlo, or Swann.
Not only do these systems record video, but they can also scare criminals off before they have a chance to break in or alert you to their presence, giving you peace of mind wherever you are. And speaking of that elite, our best recommendation continues to be the four-figure Lorex 4K Dual-Lens Wi-Fi camera with an egomaniacal field of view and high security features.
