Why is the SimpliCam the Best Overall?

The SimpliCam comes from SimpliSafe, and it’s canon camera price  our best overall pick for indoor security. It’s one of SimpliSafe’s three security cameras. It’s the least flashy of the three, but it’s simple and reliable. We set it up in less than three minutes, and it kept watch over our living room alongside our SimpliSafe security system.

Gabe holding the SimpliCam
Admittedly, it’s best used with a SimpliSafe system. That’s true for all three SimpliSafe cameras, especially the outdoor one that doesn’t function at all without the SimpliSafe base station. What we like about the SimpliCam is that it works fine as a standalone camera. It has a 1080p HD resolution, infrared night vision, two-way talk, and motion detection – all for $99. That’s all the features you’ll need to protect the inside of your home.

Connecting the SimpliCam to SimpliSafe and signing up for the $29.99 Fast Protect plan gave us some extra features, like video verification. That feature helps maximize the SimpliCam’s potential as it lets SimpliSafe’s monitoring center temporarily access live video to verify alarms in case of a suspected intrusion. Verified alarms are typically prioritized by police.

What We Like
DIY installation
Privacy shutter
User-friendly mobile app
Two-way audio

What We Don’t Like
Need to pay $9.99 or $29.99 a month to receive cloud storage, notifications and remote control of camera
No person detection
720p HD resolution on older models
No smart platform integrations
SimpliCam closeup
SimpliSafe’s SimpliCam

The SimpliCam is far from perfect. It lacks local video storage, so you need a cloud subscription. But that’s why we recommend using it with a SimpliSafe system. If you have the system and the top-tier monitoring plan ($31.99 per month), you can store footage from up to 10 cameras. That’s better than paying $9.99 for only recording, especially copmared to cheaper cloud plans from the likes of Ring ($10 for unlimited cameras).

SimpliSafe cloud recording options    Monthly cost
Up to 10 cameras    $9.99
Up to 10 cameras (with pro monitoring for SimpliSafe)    $31.99
We also recommend getting the top-tier monitoring plan because of video verification. In case your SimpliSafe system detects a breach, responding agents will view live camera feeds to verify the alarm. In turn, that speeds up police response.

But it gets better. With recording for up to 10 cameras, you can add the other SimpliSafe indoor camera called Smart Alarm for live video monitoring. In addition to seeing live feeds, agents will be able to use two-way talk to scare away the intruder or check on you. It creeped us out a little when the live video monitoring feature kicked in during testing; imagine how a real burglar would feel.

The SimpliSafe outdoor camera supports the same feature in conjunction with facial recognition. So anytime a stranger approaches your house, SimpliSafe will proactively protect it. So yeah, the SimpliCam is our top pick, but its siblings are also awesome.