24/7 HD recording, remote live view from your phone, smart motion detection, and license plate recognition — all managed from the same dashboard as your intercom and access control.
UniFi Protect turns your building's security cameras into an intelligent, always-on monitoring platform. Footage is recorded locally to an NVR (with optional cloud backup), stored reliably for 30–90 days, and instantly searchable when something happens.
When access and cameras are on the same platform, you can click an access log event and immediately jump to the synchronized camera footage — no manual timestamp matching required. That's hours saved when you need evidence fast.
Schedule a camera site assessmentWe assess your building's coverage needs and specify the right camera for each location — indoors, outdoors, lobbies, garages, and stairwells.
Our workhorse for exterior entries, garage gates, and parking areas. 8MP with a 3-lens optical zoom system and built-in IR night vision. Ideal for license plate capture at vehicle entry points.
Low-profile dome camera for lobbies, hallways, mail rooms, and common areas. 5MP, wide 97° FOV, flush ceiling mount. Discrete enough for luxury buildings, capable enough for evidentiary footage.
The local recording hub. Stores footage from up to 24 cameras on swappable 3.5" hard drives. Runs UniFi Protect software natively. RAID support for redundancy. Typically installed in your mechanical room or IT closet.
Every camera records around the clock to your local NVR. No motion gaps. No missed moments. Footage is retained based on your storage configuration — typically 30 to 90 days for a standard multifamily building. Scrub back to any moment in seconds.
Property managers, building owners, and supers can view any camera live — or scrub back through recorded footage — from the UniFi Protect app on their phone or laptop. No VPN required. Fully encrypted over the internet.
Automatically reads and logs vehicle license plates at garage and service entrances. Search by plate number in the Protect dashboard. Set alerts when specific plates arrive or when unrecognized vehicles enter. Invaluable for buildings with parking.
UniFi Protect uses on-camera AI processing to detect people, vehicles, and animals separately. Configure motion zones so you only get alerted when someone enters the service entrance after hours — not every time a pigeon lands on the parapet.
Every building has different retention requirements. Here's how we configure storage for different building types and budgets.
| Feature | Local NVR Recommended | Cloud (UniFi Cloud) | Hybrid (NVR + Cloud) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $0 after install | $5–15 / camera / mo | $3–8 / camera / mo |
| Footage retention | 30–90 days | 7–30 days | 30–90 days local + 30 cloud |
| Off-site backup | No | Yes | Yes |
| Remote access | Full via app | Full via app | Full via app |
| Best for | Most multifamily buildings | Smaller buildings, no IT room | High-liability buildings, co-ops |
| Hardware required | NVR ($600–$1,400) | None | NVR + cloud plan |
We recommend local NVR storage for most NYC multifamily buildings. It's the most cost-effective at scale and keeps your footage under your control — not dependent on an internet connection to retrieve it.