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The Best Smart Cameras That Work With Google Home

Building a smart home around Google’s ecosystem? There are quite a few smart home cameras that “work with Google Assistant,” but not all work the same.

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By Tucker Bowe

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If you’re building a smart home around Google Assistant and you’re looking for one (or multiple) smart home cameras to buy, you’ve got options. Google (who owns Nest) makes a number of its own smart home cameras that work really well with its other Nest smart speakers and Nest smart displays, as well as smart TVs running Google TV. Plus, there are numerous reputable third-party smart home cameras that also work with Google Assistant.

Products in the Guide

A reminder. Most of today’s smart home cameras require a subscription to get the most out of them, such as advanced features (like facial recognition or pet identification) or a lot more video storage. Even though there are a lot of smart home cameras that work with Google Assistant, you can’t share subscriptions between manufacturers — if you buy a Nest, Arlo, Wyze smart home camera, you’re going to need to pay for three different subscriptions to get them all working their best. So when shopping, it makes sense to go all-in on one brand.

The Difference in Google Home Compatibilities

This is important: not every smart home camera that says it “works with Google Assistant” works the same way. There are a lot of third-party companies that make smart home cameras — such as Wyze and Eufy — that work with Google Assistant but aren’t fully compatible with the Google Home app. For these cameras, you can’t view their live feeds from the Google Home app; you need to go through that third-party company’s proprietary app or, if you have one of Google’s smart displays, like the Nest hub, you can summon a live feed on a smart display with a Google Assistant voice command.

The best smart home cameras for Google smart home are fully compatible with Google Assistant and the Google Home app. All of Google’s lineup of Nest cameras are fully compatible. Several of Arlo’s latest smart home cameras as fully compatible as well.

More Smart Home Guides

The Nest Cam Indoor is the company’s entry-level smart home camera that’s available in four different colors: white, pink, beige or green.

The Nest Cam can be used either inside or outside and in either wired or wireless modes (its battery can last roughly three months). It comes with a magnetic mounting base.

This is essentially a souped up version of the Nest Cam. It has a IP65-water-resistant rating and comes attached to a floodlight (2400 lumen) that will go off when motion is detected. There’s no wireless model.

The Wyze Cam V3 captures 1080p video, supports two-way talk, and it will automatically record video clips (up to 12 seconds) if it detects motion or hears a loud sound.

The Wyze Cam Pan V2 is a more advanced smart home camera that adds motion tracking and the ability to “pan”; open the Wyze app and you can control what the camera is looking at.

The Wyze Cam is a wireless and weather-resistant version of the Wyze Cam v3. The rechargeable battery can last between 3-6 months.

The Ultra 2 Spotlight is the company’s most advanced smart home camera. It shoots 4K video with HDR and has the widest field of view. And it works with HomeKit. It requires a smart hub.

(Note: The price of this is a one-camera kit without the smart hub.)

The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight is a more affordable version of the Ultra 2 Spotlight. It captures 2K video (instead of 4K) and lacks the same wide field of view. It doesn’t require a hub, either.

The Essential Indoor is Arlo’s most basic smart home camera. It also does not require a smart home hub.

The Essential Spotlight is Arlo’s entry-level battery-powered smart home camera. It’s one of the company’s few options that can be used by itself and without a smart home hub.

The Solo IndoorCam C24 is Eufy’s most entry-level smart home camera that captures a 2K video, has motion detection and has on-board video storage (via microSD, sold separately) if you don’t want to pay for a subscription. It works with all major smart ecosystems.

The Solo IndoorCam P24 has all the same capabilities as Eufy’s Solo IndoorCam C24 (above), but adds the ability to pan (side-to-side) and tilt (up-and-down), which you can control via Eufy’s companion app. It works with all major smart ecosystems.

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