We like the Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor's breathing and tracking technology, crisp night vision, and diverse mounting options.
The Nanit's smartphone app lets you see and talk to your cutie pie from anywhere in the world, but sometimes it's nice to have a separate audio feed from a parent unit. We've narrowed down the best baby monitors on the market so you can find what you need.
Baby monitor | Best for | Price* | Breathing and movement monitoring | Maximum range | View from | Learn more |
| Best overall |  Yes | Unlimited | Mobile app | View on Amazon | ||
| Best for screen and app | Movement only
| 1000 ft. (screen) Unlimited (app) | Parent unit Mobile app | View on Amazon | ||
| Best for budgets |  No
| Unlimited | Mobile app | View on Amazon | ||
| Best closed circuit baby monitor | No
| 984 ft. | Parent unit | View on Amazon | ||
| Best audio alerts | No | 460 ft. | Parent unit | View on Amazon |
*Amazon.com prices as of post date. Read full disclaimer.
One of our favorite smart baby gadgets, the Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor tracks just about everything: sleep patterns, movement, breathing, and even nursery temperature and humidity. Plus, it connects to your smartphone to stream a continuous audio feed—even if your phone's locked.
Honestly, the Nanit Pro would still top our list if that's where it stopped. But the list of features keeps going: it's also a white noise machine, a night light that gradually dims, and a portable nanny cam.
That Nanit Pro is also the safest baby monitor in terms of low EMF levels,1 and is the best smart baby monitor with Alexa integrations since its video feed can be displayed on any Echo Show device.
Sleep-tracking app
Temperature and humidity sensors
Photo/video saving and sharing
Gradually dimming night light
Sharp infrared night vision 
No pan and tilt
App drains phone battery Unlike other baby monitors—which tend to have standard definition 720p video displays—the Nanit Pro streams in 1080p. It also rocks top-notch infrared night vision and lets you zoom in.
The Nanit also lets you save and share photos and videos from the app.
We know some parents prefer closed-circuit baby monitors due to privacy concerns, but the Nanit takes safety seriously. It sends data from the camera to your phone using 256-bit encryption. You can also check out our other tips for keeping your cameras safe from hackers to make sure no one's being creepy.
There are just a couple things we don't like about the Nanit Pro: it's a sleep, breathing, and movement monitor only when the baby wears certain clothing and only when the camera is mounted to specific stands. Plus, the app will drain your phone battery.
Nanit's movement, breathing, and sleep tracking functions only work if your baby wears clothing with a special pattern. The camera locks onto this pattern and analyzes its movements to make sure your baby is breathing and moving normally. These wearables cost extra, and since babies aren't known for their exceptionally clean laundry, you'll need to buy several.
Here's a list of Nanit's patterned wearables and accessories:
Second, the sleep, movement, and breathing monitoring features don't work when the camera is attached to the multi-stand. This portable stand turns the Nanit into a nanny cam and automatically increases its field of view. If your baby naps in more than one area of the home (or often goes to a caregiver's house), grab an extra floor stand instead of the multi-stand.
Learn more in our full Nanit Pro review.
Most baby monitors use a closed-circuit parent unit or a smartphone app to display video footage. The VTech VM901 Smart Baby Monitor gives you the best of both worlds.
For example, your babysitter can use the screen, and you can check in on your smartphone app.
Pan-and-tilt
720p on screen, 1080p on app
Motion and temperature sensor
Lullabies and white noise
4x zoom on screen, 10x zoom on app
No breathing monitor
Poor battery life The VTech VM901 has excellent audio and video quality and even looks great in night vision mode. Everything looks crisper on the app versus the traditional monitor, and you can also zoom in further on the app.
The camera can play lullabies or white noise and alert you if the nursery gets too hot or cold. Other than that, there aren't too many smart features on this baby monitor.
You'll need to charge the VTech parent unit every day because its battery lasts just a few hours at a time.
If you want to skip all the high-priced extras and just get a Wi-Fi camera with crystal-clear video footage, check out the Reolink E1 Pro. It's a pan-and-tilt camera that records in clear 1440p with night vision up to 40 feet.
No-contact sensors
Pan-and-tilt camera
Two-way audio
Prone to false alarms The E1 Pro has two-way audio, but you can't leave it running in the background as with some of the baby monitor apps. This is an all-purpose camera better suited for manually checking in on your little one than for getting specialized alerts.
Reolink cameras have some of the best visual clarity we've ever seen in cameras under $100, so your little one won't just look like a blob on the screen.
Learn more about the Reolink E1 Pro in our review of the best cheap security cameras. Or head over to our review of the Reolink brand to see some of its other top models.
The Infant Optics DXR-8 Pro is a simple, user-friendly video baby monitor with solid features like two-way audio, a room temperature sensor, and a remote pan-and-tilt capability. You can rest assured that the video feed is completely private, as this closed circuit baby monitor doesn't connect to Wi-Fi.
High-quality night vision
Remote pan and tilt
Two-way talk
Room temperature sensor
6x zoom
Short battery life
Long charge time
Loud out-of-range and low-battery alarm
No movement or breathing monitoring We like that it comes with multiple, easy-to-swap lenses so you can choose between standard and zoom, or you can purchase a wide-angle lens for about $12 on Amazon. If that doesn't provide enough coverage, you can add up to three additional cameras.
It comes with a wall-mount kit for your baby's room, but you can also purchase a flexible arm to mount it to the crib. The parent monitor unit is lightweight with intuitive controls.
The only downside to this monitor is its less-than-stellar rechargeable battery. You can expect to keep it on the charger for about seven hours for a full charge, and it'll only last about six hours off the charger. We recommend purchasing the external battery pack for all-night coverage.
The alarm feature can also be a hassle—expect a noisy alert if the battery is low or if the monitor gets too far out of range of the camera.
The Eufy Video Baby Monitor knows the difference between background noise and your baby's gurgles or whimpers. You won't get alerts every five seconds, nor will you accidentally tune out your baby while listening to a constant audio stream.
5 in. screen
Remote pan and tilt
Two-way talk
Room temperature sensor
15-hour battery
Lullabies
Wall mount included
Shorter range
No movement or breathing tracking This non-Wi-Fi, closed-circuit unit is similar to the Infant Optics Pro in terms of features and specs, but it has a smaller range. The company notes that the parent unit has a range of up to 1,000 feet if there are no obstacles (like walls) in the way. The unit's practical range is around 460 feet, which is sufficient for most homes.
Like the Infant Optics Pro, the Eufy is a pan-and-tilt camera with an optional wide-angle lens, and you can connect a total of four cameras to the parent unit.
Although we haven't had a chance to test this baby monitor hands-on, we're pretty impressed with the quality of Eufy cameras in general. Read more in our Eufy cameras review.
Eufy has several other baby monitors up for grabs. Here are the main differences compared to the basic Eufy Video Baby Monitor:
Coming in from left field is the Eufy Care Baby Monitor 2. Unlike the other Eufy baby monitors, this one's a Wi-Fi monitor that uses your phone as a display. It streams in much higher quality (2K), zooms in closer, and has a slightly wider field of view than the other Eufy video baby monitors. It comes with a wall mount and crib mount.
We think the Nanit Pro Smart is a great baby monitor that matches the budget and expectations of many parents, which is why it earned the top spot in our list. But we found each of these baby monitors to be high-quality and well-reviewed. There's enough variety on this list that you're sure to find the one that meets your needs.
We often think of night vision technology as something intimidating that soldiers and spies use, but it’s completely harmless and very useful for a baby video monitor.
Night vision video monitors do the same thing that amplifiers (like microphones or hearing aids) do with sound, only with light:
This helps you see your little one clearly even while they’re sleeping soundly in a dark room. They don’t pose any threat to your baby’s health.
Parents are all different, and the best way to determine what’s right for your baby is to consider your own concerns and needs as a parent.
Answering these questions can help you determine what type of baby monitor will best fit your needs:
Or you might decide on some combination of any of these.
Unfortunately, yes. As convenient as Wi-Fi video baby monitors are, they can be hacked, so you should take safety precautions if you choose to use one in your home:
If you don’t have a reason to access the video monitor from outside your home, we recommend playing it safe and sticking with a camera without a Wi-Fi connection.
Yes. The good news is that the rise in concerns over hacking has manufacturers putting tougher safeguards on video monitor software and programming. Every baby video monitor we’ve featured in this list has those safeguards in place.
To choose the best baby monitors with cameras, we considered video quality, audio quality, night vision, and zoom. We also prioritized baby monitors that provide a live audio stream so parents can know right away when their baby needs them (before the crying reaches ear-splitting levels).
We also looked at Wi-Fi and closed-circuit units to make sure we could recommend units with a balance of convenience and privacy. Units with low EMF readings from third-party tests also grabbed our attention.
Features like white noise, lullabies, a room temperature monitor, smart home integrations, or a cute design were considered nice to have but not essential.
To learn more about our research and testing methods, take a look at our methodology.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product. Safewise.com utilizes paid Amazon links.
Certain content that appears on this site comes from Amazon. This content is provided “as is” and is subject to change or removal at any time.
Subscribe to SafeWise for updates on safety news, product releases, and deals!
