Best Hidden Cameras | Indoor, Outdoor, and Portable Spy Cameras

Overview
A hidden camera can help you watch over your home to identify a mysterious cookie thief or even a burglar. Best of all, the camera stays hidden, so there’s less risk of someone swiping it to cover their misdeeds. Check out our list of the best hidden cameras to find one that meets your needs.

While hidden cameras and spy cameras have their uses, they’re rarely as capable as regular security cameras, so we also highlight a couple of discreet security cameras.

Due to the legal issues surrounding hidden cameras, we don’t recommend them as your first choice when buying a security camera. Even if you have the best of intentions, most people would consider a hidden camera disrespectful and a violation of their privacy. Disclosing that you have cameras, even hidden ones, is always the more prudent choice.

We like that the DivineEagle Spy Camera Charger works as a functional USB charger since it helps sell the illusion. It’s an affordable camera with multiple recording modes to fit your needs. The one-year warranty is a nice touch in case something breaks.

While a USB charger is technically a great disguise, it works only if you plug it into a power outlet. An excellent place to use this camera is the kitchen since all the outlets are above the countertop—just make sure your appliances aren’t in the way.

As for other places in your home, unless all your outlets are next to your light switches, you might have trouble catching essential details with the camera’s narrow field of view. Sure, you could plug it into an extension cord or a swivel adapter, but this could give away the camera’s real purpose.

Like many cameras on this list, this camera doesn't include a mobile app. Instead, you need to take the memory card out and connect it to a computer to view your videos. You can also connect the camera directly to your computer with the included USB cable.

As of this writing, the DivineEagle Spy Camera Charger has an impressive rating on Amazon, where it’s the top-selling hidden camera. Clearly, this camera gets the job done.

ASecureLife’s recommendation: Even though the DivineEagle Spy Camera Charger doesn’t have night vision, we think it’s a solid choice for most homes. Plus, it’s a great fit for the kitchen.

>>View on Amazon

The Ehomful Cop Spy Cam has a lot going for it, but the small size and low price are the main reasons to get this camera. You can buy this mini spy camera for around $20, and it comes with a 32GB memory card, something you need to buy separately for other brands we reviewed.

At less than one inch to a side, the Ehomful Cop Spy Cam is tiny. To put it into perspective, this is about the same size as standard casino dice. This small size is great for keeping the camera out of sight, especially if you conceal it near other objects like houseplants.

The spy camera has a 140-degree lens that gives it a wide field of view, so the camera has fewer blind spots than hidden cameras with a narrow view. It also has night vision LEDs that can see up to 20 feet in the dark.

While we like the Ehomful Cop Spy Cam’s small size, it doesn’t come disguised as something else, so a burglar may notice it if you put it in a high-traffic area.

This spy camera has a built-in rechargeable battery that lasts long enough to record 75 minutes of video. This is a very short battery life, but you can also record while the camera’s plugged in if you don’t want to think about battery life.

Ehomful covers its products with a six-month warranty, which is shorter than the one year typical of hidden cameras in this list. There’s no mobile app with this camera, which is just as well because Ehomful’s mobile app for its Wi-Fi hidden cameras has mainly negative reviews.

Current Amazon customer reviews say this camera is reliable enough for most people, even if it’s not the best hidden camera available.

ASecureLife’s recommendation: The Ehomful Cop Spy Cam is so affordable that it might be worth getting a couple for your home. Plus, it’s one of the best hidden cameras to wear thanks to the included clip attachment.

>>View on Amazon

Sengled doesn’t market this product as a hidden camera, but we think it fits the role nicely. We like this camera because it has a wide field of view, automatic night vision, motion detection, and easy mobile access. And the fact that it doubles as an outdoor security light is a nice bonus.

It’s effortless to install in a typical floodlight fixture, though that’s the only practical place you can put it without limiting what the camera can see.

The Sengled Floodlight Camera doesn’t offer any local storage, but you can get 24 hours of free cloud storage. If you want more storage, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee. You’ll also get access to upgraded features like custom motion zones and human detection.

This camera can’t record without an active Wi-Fi connection, so it’s not as independent as the other hidden security cameras on this list. One nice thing about this camera is that it has two-way audio, so you can record audio and even talk with people near the camera using your smartphone.

The two-year warranty is longer than the one-year common on most hidden cameras. It helps make up for the higher price compared to the competition since this camera costs roughly twice as much as the next most expensive hidden camera on this list.

ASecureLife’s recommendation: The Sengled Floodlight Camera is an excellent option if you want a discreet camera for outside your home. The weather-resistant design allows this camera to stand up to the elements in ways other hidden cameras can’t.

>>View on Amazon

Best discreet security cameras

There are unobtrusive, sleek security cameras that can go unnoticed in your home without being completely hidden. This is great if you want a higher-quality camera with better resolution, nicer mobile app control, a wider field of view, or integration with smart home products.

If you’re open to the idea of a discreet but visible camera, these are our recommendations.

This wireless security camera works with Alexa and offers seven days of free cloud storage, two-way audio, custom motion zones, and night vision. It also has a siren to deter any unwanted visitors.

The Nest Cam works with Google Assistant as well as other Nest products. It can be set up almost anywhere in your home without being particularly noticeable. You can use it to keep kids and pets safer by placing it in a dangerous, off-limits area of your home like the storage room or garage.

For this list, we chose hidden cameras you can get on Amazon. We narrowed down our list by selecting cameras with 1080p video resolution, motion-activated recording, and continuous recording.

We also excluded cameras that cost over $150. In our experience, more expensive hidden cameras tend to be of higher quality, especially in terms of disguises. But the extra cost isn’t worth it when more affordable hidden cameras are good enough for most people. Above $150, we think it’s best to buy a proper security camera.

Since many of the best hidden cameras don’t need a Wi-Fi connection or mobile app, we made this optional. Out of the top five, just two products have Wi-Fi.

While we typically test cameras, we did not test these cameras in-house, so we can’t say how the video quality of each nanny cam compared to the others. This is one area where we want to improve in our next update.

Here are some brands that didn’t make the cut because they didn’t meet the requirements for how we chose hidden cameras.

Brickhouse Security makes a nifty black box camera called the Camscura. Black box cameras are a type of hidden camera you hide inside other objects. This is nice because you can make your own disguise.
Unfortunately, none of the Camscura line of hidden cameras has video resolution over 720p, which means these otherwise capable cameras don’t compare well against the 1080p ones in our review.

KJB Security Products manufactures hidden cameras and sells them under brand names like Sleuthgear, Zone Shield, Xtreme Life, and LawMate. The company has an impressive selection of differently disguised hidden cameras, and we think the disguises are probably the best in the business. Some of the best disguises from KJB are a smoke detector, landscape stone, and a USB cable (yes, a USB cable that’s a camera).

The biggest drawback of KJB’s products is that they’re too expensive for the average consumer. The average KJB spy camera costs over $200 on Amazon.

In all 50 states, you’re allowed to install video surveillance equipment in your own home, whether people are aware of it or not.¹

Several states (California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington) have “two-party consent” laws that make it illegal to record a conversation without the permission of everyone involved.²

This means you should be careful about recording audio along with your video footage—it could invalidate your video evidence in court or lead to charges against you. Because of this, many hidden cameras don’t even have a microphone.

If you must use hidden cameras, we recommend putting up signs or stickers stating as much. We also recommend putting your security cameras in full view. By taking these steps, you give people a heads up that they're being recorded and send a strong message that you’re serious about your home’s security.

Using the continuous recording mode on a hidden camera will record video until the storage is full or the battery dies.

Higher video resolutions and frame rates fill up your storage more quickly. For example, one hour of 1080p footage at 30 frames per second usually takes up about 1.5GB of space.

You can get around the full memory card problem by using a feature called loop recording. As the name implies, loop recording deletes the oldest footage to make room for new footage in one continuous loop. This mode is handy but can be a problem if you need to look at footage that's already been recorded over.

The battery life of a hidden camera accounts for the recording time, not time spent on standby. If you set the camera to record only when it detects motion, the battery will last much longer than in continuous recording mode.

You want to maximize the chances of an intruder ignoring it. Place the spy camera in a spot away from valuables, but where it still has a good view of high traffic areas in your home.

If a camera has a disguise, place it somewhere it would blend in with similar objects. Good spots are bookshelves, near houseplants, and on side tables.

Choosing the best hidden camera for you depends on your individual needs, so we can’t recommend any single camera as the best overall. We based our recommendations on each camera's unique strength/purpose:

• Need an indoor spy camera for the kitchen? Get the DivineEagle Spy Camera Charger.
• Need to save money or get multiple cameras? Get the Ehomful Cop Spy Cam.
• Need to keep an eye on the outside? Get the Sengled Floodlight Camera.

If you don’t think a hidden camera is the best option for you, consider looking at our reviews for outdoor security cameras and HD security cameras.

Contributing author: Brianna Jensen

Sources:

1. BrickHouse Security, “Hidden Camera Laws | Laws on Surveillance Cameras at Home & More”
2. Digital Media Law Project, “Recording Phone Calls and Conversations”