The Best Pet Cameras

This food-dispensing camera from Petcube has HD 1080p live streaming video, night vision up to 30 feet, ability to zoom up to 8X, and two-way audio to talk to and hear your pets. There's also an easily detachable plastic treat dispenser that holds up to 1.5 pounds of kibble, and you can toss treats remotely from the app, where you can also control the amount and distance.

With the subscription service, the app alerts you when motion or sound is detected, and logs it with playback video stored in-app. I like the customization capabilities and clear videofeed, but like other Petcube devices, you sort of need the extra Care plan to unlock all of the best features.

This simple, compact camera from Petcube 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 videofeed in-app if you want to lay it horizontally. Like other Petcube cameras, you 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.

This model from Petcube attempts to combine popular laser toys that cats go crazy for with a pet security cam, to mixed results. Like many other cameras from the brand's lineup, it has crystal clear color and night vision, an extrawide view, two-way audio, and fun features available with the paid Care plan, like video history, playback, and a 30-second compilation reel of highlights of the day.

The laser toy is supposed to auto-engage when motion is detected, but very often it didn't, and when it happened to catch my cats' attention, it stopped displaying the laser soon after. Plus, because the camera needed to sit high on a shelf to see the area, the laser was often too high for the cats to attempt to catch. You can manually play with the cat with the laser through the app, although it's often laggy, and my cats ended up being more perplexed than playful when the laser was on. It's a solid camera but the toy aspect falls a bit flat.

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 cats 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. 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 to make anything out of the ordinary easier to monitor while away.

The bot also automatically compiles a 30-second “day-in-the-life”-type video of your pet so you can watch a recap while away, and through AI-powered pet recognition, the bot can also snap a picture of your pet. All of those AI features were unreliable. Although the promised AI capabilities fell flat, I liked being able to move the bot around my house to watch everything going on, since the camera was not just stationary in one spot.

This Furbo 360 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is marketed toward dogs, but like gender, it's a construct—both cats and dogs will like this treat-dispensing cam. Former WIRED reviewer Haley Sprankle praised it for its clear 1080p and color night-vision camera, two-way communication, noise notifications, 360-degree pan abilities, and treat dispensing. It also has Auto Tracking, which follows your pet to make it easier to find them without having to search your phone screen.

Like the majority of pet cams, there's an option to subscribe to Furbo’s Nanny service, which snaps pics and sends safety alerts about things like smoke or fallen objects—even chewing alerts—and can spot intruders too. The video clips are stored in the cloud so you can review the footage at any time.

This solid pet cam from Closer Pets (I've tested a few of the brand's automatic feeders with mixed reviews) features an HD camera, two-way communication, motion detection, a built-in memory card, and 1-cup storage for kibble or treats, which can be scheduled or given at random. The video feed was always crystal clear, although sound was a bit laggy and hard to hear well. The treat portions were huge, dispensing a heaping handful of kibble at even the lowest setting. The alert sound when dispensing is super jarring, and my pets were scared of it—there was no way to silence it.

Because of the placement of the hole for dispensing kibble, the camera is angled low, which made it hard to see the area I wanted while giving enough room for the treats to dispense downward. I ended up nixing the feedings after a while because of this problem. There's an option to wall mount, which would mitigate this problem, but I like being able to move the cam to different areas. This is a solid pet camera whose additional features become a burden rather than an asset.

This cutie doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but if you prioritize having an adorable pet camera, look no further. It 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. The videofeed auto-adjusts from color to night vision, and 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.

Two-way audio is also supported, and you can set the camera to only capture select motion detection. 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. Overall, I still recommend this camera if it's on deep discount, but it's a tad expensive at this price point for its (lack of) capabilities.

While this is primarily an automatic cat feeder (and a damn good one at that), the Petlibro Granary Feeder shot to the top of my list because of its incredible camera surveillance capabilities. The feeder is connected to Wi-Fi and controlled via an app, dispensing food based on a feeding schedule you create. This features a 1080p HD camera in color and night vision, so you can watch and hear your pet eat at all hours when far away, and you can communicate with them via speaker. Through the Petlibro app (for Android and iOs), you set up a feeding schedule or feed snacks; plus, you can store and review pet videos in the cloud with a 30-day video history.

The app also alerts with real-time notifications when the motion and sound sensors are set off, and you can even customize sensitivity and detection range settings based on preference. The camera has a downward-facing 145-degree wide-angle lens, and that customizable range in small, medium, and large surveillance area lets you choose how much of the surrounding area you see. I love closely monitoring how much and often my pets are eating with the camera right on the feeder.

The Petkit Purobot Ultra Automatic Cat Litter Box (8/10 WIRED Recommends) uses a camera and AI technology to monitor litter box usage and the goings-on around your automatic box, and actually lets you see your cat’s stool to help more closely monitor their health. The camera's 210-degree-wide angle is attached to an arm in front of the opening, which swivels 180 degrees and follows your cat when it senses motion and records both the outside goings-on and the inside of the litter box. You can also manually move the camera through the app to pan to the outside or inside of the box. It records in both color and black-and-white, plus it has night vision.

Through the app, you can view the camera footage live or watch short clips of each time your cat—or anyone—walks near the litter box and when a cat uses it. You get a free trial of Premium Petkit Care+ for 30 days from setup, and there are three tiers of subscription plans, starting at $4 a month for Basic and going up to $12 a month for Premium+, so that you can watch any and all footage taken. The automatic litter box also uses AI to identify which cat used the box through the videos taken.