Do you need the Nest Cam IQ or should you just go for the Nest Cam?

We love smart home tech, and we test as many connected security cameras as possible to give you the best recommendations for keeping your home safe.

Nest Cam

Simple and affordable

$167 at Amazon

Pros

• Continuous recording
• Conversational audio
• Nearly half the price

Cons

• Image is less sharp than Cam IQ
• No facial recognition

The Nest Cam is a relatively inexpensive security camera that offers continuous recording, two-way audio, and 1080p video. With a Nest Aware subscription, you can save up to 30 days of video history. However, the image isn't nearly as clear as on the Cam IQ, and it doesn't have some of the more advanced features.

Nest Cam IQ

Smarter security

$300 at Best Buy

Pros

• 4K sensor allows for lossless zooming
• Facial recognition
• Doubles as Google Assistant speaker

Cons

• Nearly twice the cost
• Nest Aware subscription is expensive

The Cam IQ has all of the Nest Cam's great features, plus a 4K sensor for lossless zooming in 1080p and facial recognition for smarter motion alerts. With its built-in speaker, it can even work as a Google Assistant device. It's expensive, however, at least compared to the standard Nest Cam.

A Wi-Fi-connected security camera is one of the best and smartest ways to protect your home and belongings. Nest is a popular brand within the field, and while its two tiers of security camera seem similar at first glance, there's a good argument to be made for picking up either one over the other.

Cost versus smarts

The Nest Cam was the company's first Wi-Fi-enabled camera, allowing you to check in on your home from anywhere with your phone or computer. It notifies you immediately when it detects motion and can differentiate between humans and other moving things like animals to reduce unwanted alerts. The built-in microphone and speaker mean you can also converse with anyone nearby the camera, though it's one-way at a time, so you'll need to take turns.

With a Nest Aware subscription, you can store 1080p video history from the Nest Cam — five days worth at a time for $5 per month, 10 days for $10, or 30 days for $30 (easy to remember, right?). That pricing also applies to the Cam IQ, Nest's newer, smarter security camera with a 4K sensor and two-way audio.

That 4K sensor doesn't mean the Cam IQ actually exports in 4K; instead, you get the same 1080p resolution as the original Nest Cam with a much sharper image. You can zoom into subjects without losing much, if any, detail, and the Cam IQ will even zoom in automatically if it detects a person in its line of sight and pans the image to follow their face.

	Nest Cam	Nest Cam IQ
Video	1080p (30fps)	1080p (30fps)
Camera	3MP 130° (8x zoom)	8MP 130° (12x zoom)
Person detection	Yes	Yes
Facial recognition	No	Yes
Night vision	Yes	Yes
Weight	213g	357g

Speaking of faces, one of the Cam IQ's defining features is its ability to identify faces for smarter notifications. Once you've labeled a face within the Nest app, you'll see their name in consequent motion alerts, and you can choose not to be notified of familiar faces. Along with a sharper sensor, the Cam IQ supports HDR, which prevents direct sunlight from completely blowing out your image, and its improved infrared LEDs help it see better at night, too.

The Cam IQ is smarter, but the original Nest Cam is still great — and much cheaper.

Thanks to its three-micro array, you can also use the Cam IQ as a Google Assistant speaker, able to carry out all the same voice commands as a Google Home — though don't expect the integrated speaker to outperform a standalone Google Home or Bluetooth speaker.

While the Cam IQ is a much more powerful camera than the Nest Cam, it's also significantly more expensive. At $300, the Cam IQ costs nearly twice as much as its predecessor, and with bundle deals, you can pick up three Nest Cams for under $400 — by comparison, a two-pack of Cam IQs is $500.

If you value the ability for your camera to identify faces, or need the sharpest possible image, the Nest Cam IQ is easily one of the best-connected security cameras around. But there's power in numbers, and some may prefer having more cameras over smarter cameras. For those shoppers, the original Nest Cam is still a worthwhile buy.

Nest Cam

Simple and affordable

$167 at Amazon

Cheap enough to buy in bulk

The Nest Cam can alert you whenever motion is detected and differentiate between humans and animals. With Nest Aware, you can store up to 30 days of recordings at a time.

Nest Cam IQ

Smarter security

A powerful, feature-heavy security camera

$300 at Best Buy

The Cam IQ can identify the faces within its line of sight, and its sharp sensor lets you zoom into unknown faces without losing detail. It can also act as a Google Assistant speaker in a pinch.