Compare Our Picks
WIRED TIRED Resolution Angle View PTZ Capabilities Image type Storage Audio Furbo Mini 360° Compact and affordable; 360 degree vision; treat dispensing Treat dispensing noise is jarring; need subscription service to access most features 1080p HD 360 degrees Yes Color, color night vision Extra storage with paid plan Two-Way Petcube Cam 360 Ability to pan up and down; affordable price Need paid care plan for the best features 1080p HD 360 degrees Yes Color, night vision Only live feed; storage with paid Care plan Two-way Imilab C30 Dual Security Camera Dual lens (wide and telephoto); supports local storage; can track people Limited frame rate; app is a little confusing 3K (5MP) high definition resolution 360 degrees Yes (top camera) Color, color and infrared night vision Cloud and/or MicroSD memory card (up to 256 GB, not included) Two-way Tkenpro 2K Pet Camera Treat Dispenser 355 degree pan rotation; treat storage and dispensing; can be used with cloud or memory card No ability to pan up and down 2K high definition 355 degrees Yes Color, night vision Cloud and/or memory card (up to 128 GB, not included) Two-way SiiPet PawTrack AI Camera No subscription required (although Care+ add-on is optional); uses Pet ID to track specific pets individually Auto-tracking feature can be chaotic; didn't always categorize pets or activities correctly; ships only in the US 8MP 360 degrees horizontal; 270 degrees vertical Yes Color, color night vision 32 GB included; extra storage with paid plan Two-way Enabot EBO Air 2 Ability to move around whole house; interactive View can be limited to lower floor area 2K HD resolution 150 degrees No, the whole machine moves Color, night vision Included 32 GB MicroSD memory card Two-way Petcube Play 2 Interactive laser toy Laser doesn't always auto-engage and sometimes short play time 1080p HD 160 degrees No Color, night vision Only live feed; storage with paid Care plan Two-way Petcube Bites 2 Lite Large storage tank for kibble No ability to pan camera and camera angle can be awkward because of tank placement 1080p HD video 160 degrees No Color, night vision Only live feed; storage with paid Care plan Two-way Furbo 360 Dog Camera Can both 360 pan and dispense treats Paid subscription service needed for many of the features 1080p HD 360 degrees Yes Color, color night vision Extra storage with paid plan Two-way Petlibro Scout Smart Camera AI built-in to differentiate and track pets; can recognize and organize videos of up to five pets; 360-degree pan-and-tilt and two-way audio features; works with 2.5- and 5-GHz Wi-Fi Camera disconnected with weak Wi-Fi and had to be manually replugged to reconnect; pricier than similar options on the market; need subscription plan to access most of the AI features; privacy concerns with cloud-stored footage being used to train AI 1080p HD 360 degrees Yes Color, black-and-white and color night vision Paid subscription plan Two-way
Others Tested
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Enabot Rola PetPal Robot Pet Companion for $229 (with no attachments): This rolling pet camera has the best of intentions, but the sometimes glitchy app makes the combo pet camera/toy/feeder a little unpredictable. Through the app, you can watch your pets on the security cam and drive the robot around, pressing buttons to do tricks and dispense treats. You can watch the camera feed live from the app, but you can also schedule recordings, which are viewable via cloud Playback, and it compiles a 30-second “day in the life” compilation. The robot is also supposed to detect abnormal movement or sounds, like barking or broken glass, and send a smart alert to the owner with a timestamp while away from home. Through AI-powered pet recognition, the bot can also snap a picture of your pet, but the AI features were unreliable.
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Petcube Cam for $32: This simple, compact camera doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it’s a great price for being a reliable, basic pet camera. Like others in Petcube's lineup, it has a 1080p HD camera, night vision, and two-way audio. It sits on hinges and can angle upward and downward, with the option to flip the video feed in-app if you want to lay it horizontally. You'll need the brand's subscription Care plan to get any features beyond live feed. You can set a “motion zone” to only get notifications in a specific area, and you connect your phone's location to the app, so that you're alerted more often when away. You can also share the camera feed with others so they can watch remotely and only specify certain times you want shared. This camera is basic, but it has a high-quality camera feed and advanced extras that make it a steal at this price.
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Catit Pixi Smart Mouse Camera for $75: This cutie looks like a miniature mouse with oversized, magnetic feet that attach to a metal stand, and the mouse legs hinge so you can adjust the camera's height and angle. It's cute but expensive for what it is—the lens doesn't move and requires microSD to get video footage beyond a live feed (with the SD card, you can scroll through the video to see the goings-on from past days, record live footage, and save photos and videos to your smartphone’s camera roll). Although it was hard to pinpoint exactly which time you're looking at when reviewing footage, video feed can be laggy, and there were connectivity issues a few times. It's a tad expensive at this price point for its (lack of) capabilities.
Photograph: Molly Higgins
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