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Many baby monitors with video screens lay on an aqua background Credit: Reviewed / Lisa Lawrence

The Best Baby Monitors of 2023

Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission. Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

Many baby monitors with video screens lay on an aqua background Credit: Reviewed / Lisa Lawrence

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Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.

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Editor's Choice Product image of Nanit Pro Camera with Flex Stand
Best Overall

Nanit Pro Camera with Flex Stand

This smart baby monitor has a user-friendly, feature-packed app and wearables to track breathing. You can also sync it with a smart home device. Read More

Pros

  • Compatible with Amazon devices
  • Crystal-clear picture
  • Split-screen for more than one monitor

Cons

  • Subscription ends after one year
  • No hand-held unit
2
Editor's Choice Product image of Vava VA-IH009
Best for Siblings

Vava VA-IH009

Parents of multiples or children in two separate rooms have reason to rejoice for the Vava Split Screen Baby Monitor, which offers a larger-than-average parent unit allowing adults to both see and hear two different rooms or cameras at the exact same time. Read More

Pros

  • Large parent unit
  • Vivid picture clarity
  • Extreme zoom
  • Fantastic battery life

Cons

  • No app
3
Product image of Owlet Cam

Owlet Cam

The Owlet Cam supports high-definition, wide-angle video, background audio, a temperature sensor, and integration with the Owlet Smart Sock app. Read More

Pros

  • Pairs with Owlet Smart Sock wearable
  • Good video quality

Cons

  • Poor sound quality
4
Product image of Eufy SpaceView Baby Monitor

Eufy SpaceView Baby Monitor

With intuitive button placement, impressive video quality, and excellent battery life, this baby monitor is a joy to use. Read More

Pros

  • Remote pan and tilt
  • Good video quality
  • Long battery life

Cons

  • No motion alerts
5
Editor's Choice Product image of Cubo Ai Plus Smart Baby Monitor

Cubo Ai Plus Smart Baby Monitor

This monitor offers sleep analytics, temperature alert, two-way audio, smart home compatibility, cry-detection alerts, and a built-in nightlight and lullabies. Read More

Pros

  • Multiple stand options for easy mounting
  • Auto-capture of baby photos
  • Flawless video quality

Cons

  • Expensive
  • No handheld unit

We've heard it said that parents have eyes in the back of their heads. We think there's some truth to that. Once we become responsible for keeping alive little humans who seem bent on self-destruction, our senses heighten.

No matter how vigilant you are, little ones always manage to get away with things, like smearing the contents of their dirty diapers all over their cribs. It's for situations exactly like this that the best baby monitors—like our top-rated Nanit Pro Camera baby monitor (available at Amazon for $199.99) —are crucial to parenting. Babies need to be watched, not just listened to.

Deciding on the right video baby monitor for your family’s peace of mind can be challenging: Do you need one that can remotely pan and tilt? Do you need one that has memory card storage? Do you want a smart baby monitor or a Wi-Fi baby monitor? Is night vision the same from one camera to the next? Does price matter?

Read on and see what you think.

Nanit Pro Smart Wi-Fi Baby Monitor next to smartphone with Nanit app on screen.
Credit: Reviewed / Timothy Renzi

The Nanit Pro baby monitor stands out due to its breath-tracking capabilities.

Best Overall
Nanit Pro Camera with Flex Stand

The Nanit Pro is one of the best smart baby monitors on the market. With easy setup, a user-friendly app and basic subscription features that provide must-have information to parents, the Nanit provides value most in that first year of life.

Parents can expect high-resolution views of the baby's crib from their smartphone, and, for those with two babies, the Nanit offers a split-screen view for simultaneous monitoring of both children. It also features a night light, and temperature and humidity readings.

The Nanit's biggest boon is for parents looking for peace of mind against SIDS and just in general. The Nanit features breath monitoring, thanks to its breathing band that counts breaths per minute and sends data alerts to the camera and app, in real time. On Nanit’s website, parents can also purchase wearables for older babies and toddlers, such as sleep sacks and pajamas.

Unfortunately, the Nanit offers a significant drawback: Its subscription ends after just one year, only continuing as a paid service thereafter, and the app only offers access to two people, which means additional caregivers are a no-go.

Read the full Nanit Pro baby monitor review.

Pros

  • Compatible with Amazon devices

  • Crystal-clear picture

  • Split-screen for more than one monitor

Cons

  • Subscription ends after one year

  • No hand-held unit

These are the best baby video monitors available today.
Credit: Vava

An ideal choice for parents of multiples, the Vava monitor comes with two cameras.

Best for Siblings
Vava VA-IH009

Parents of multiples or children in two separate rooms have reason to rejoice for the Vava Split Screen Baby Monitor, which offers a larger-than-average parent unit. The screen is five full inches of 720-pixel picture quality, allowing adults to both see and hear two different rooms or cameras at the exact same time.

The Vava’s charms are ample, including two-way audio, seven volume levels, real-time temperature monitors, and a communication range up to 900 feet. Parents have the ability to add up to four cameras, while the cameras themselves can zoom in up to three times.

The parent unit features an extraordinarily long battery life—24 hours of audio, and 10 hours of live video. You can also choose how long you want the screen to be live before it powers down: 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or you can have the screen be constantly on.

Minuses are few, but include the fact that if you take too long while working on settings, you’re kicked back to the home screen. There’s also no accompanying app, despite Vava having apps for other products. If there were an app, we genuinely think this monitor might be perfect.

Read the full Vava Split Screen baby monitor review.

Pros

  • Large parent unit

  • Vivid picture clarity

  • Extreme zoom

  • Fantastic battery life

Cons

  • No app

Other Baby Monitors We Tested

Product image of Owlet Cam
Owlet Cam

With high definition 1080p video, background audio, a wide-angle camera, temperature sensor and two-way audio, the Owlet Cam will help you keep dibs on your little one no matter where you go. It does lack features that other cameras have, like smart alerts for motion and air quality.

You may already know the name Owlet from the brand’s Owlet’s Dream Sock, a sleep quality monitoring sock. (Owlet discontinued its classic Smart Sock line in 2021 that measured heart rate and oxygen levels after a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration that it needed to be approved as a medical device.)

Part of the Owlet Cam’s draw was the integration with the sleep sock so that you could monitor your baby’s vitals and keep an eye on them in one app. We have not yet had the opportunity to test the Dream Sock.

Pros

  • Pairs with Owlet Smart Sock wearable

  • Good video quality

Cons

  • Poor sound quality

Product image of Eufy SpaceView Baby Monitor
Eufy SpaceView Baby Monitor

From the makers of some of our favorite security cameras, the Eufy SpaceView baby monitor is extremely pleasant to use. The buttons and their placement make sense, the video quality is awesome, and the battery life is great. It even has a memory card slot in the parent unit.

If you’re looking for a no-frills video monitor with a sharp image to track your baby, remote pan and tilt, and sound-activated alerts, you will love the Eufy. It doesn’t offer motion alerts, but it’s a solid monitor with a larger screen for a reasonable price.

Pros

  • Remote pan and tilt

  • Good video quality

  • Long battery life

Cons

  • No motion alerts

Product image of Cubo Ai Plus Smart Baby Monitor
Cubo Ai Plus Smart Baby Monitor

The adorable, owl-designed baby monitor means it looks less like a piece of technology and more like a charming design choice in your baby’s nursery.

The Cubo AI Plus comes with both a crib stand and a floor stand, for parents who want to position the monitor directly above the crib. Those who would rather place the camera directly on a shelf, meanwhile, can use the mobile stand—all included. This smart monitor also allows parents to zoom in on the baby’s face with stunning clarity. The 1080p HD camera provides a flawless view, including exceptional night vision quality.

This baby monitor offers lots of features, including sleep analytics, temperature and humidity alert, two-way audio, smart home compatibility with Amazon and Google devices, cry-detection alerts, no visible red light, and a built-in nightlight and lullabies. Sleep analytics, which provides data on your baby’s total hours of sleep, and the number and duration of wakings. It also provides 18 hours of video playback to scroll through nighttime highlights.

Parents can also get covered face and rollover alerts by setting a Detection Zone within the crib, in case the baby might be in need of attention ASAP. Other AI settings include alerts when the baby is not detected in the crib, as well as auto-capture of photos throughout the night for an awww-inducing gallery of snaps.

Pros

  • Multiple stand options for easy mounting

  • Auto-capture of baby photos

  • Flawless video quality

Cons

  • Expensive

  • No handheld unit

Product image of Infant Optics DXR-8
Infant Optics DXR-8

Although the Infant Optics DXR-8 is highly rated and frequently touted as one of the best baby monitors available, we were not very impressed with it, especially considering how many truly excellent options exist right now. The image quality isn’t stellar, and the range is poor. We frequently got an Out of Signal coverage warning (despite living in a smaller townhouse).

The positives: the monitor features 100-degree and 330-degree remote pan/tilt/zoom, so that in addition to watching your baby closely, you can easily scan the rest of the room, as well.

It also bills itself as the first baby monitor to feature interchangeable lenses. You can switch between a zoom lens and a wide-angle lens, though the wide-angle lens must be purchased separately. Battery life is approximately 10 hours—not overly impressive, but not horrible, either.

Luckily, the monitor is on the cheaper side, making it an alternative for cost-conscious parents.

Pros

  • Remote pan, tilt, and zoom

  • Interchangeable lens available

Cons

  • Poor image quality

  • Unreliable

How We Tested Baby Monitors

The Testers

We've had many moms and writers contribute to our baby monitor coverage, including Nadine Jolie Courtney, a journalist, novelist, and former magazine editor, Alyssa Cohen, a former television news producer, and Reviewed's Accessibility editor, Sarah Kovac.

The Tests

We go through a thorough testing process to determine what we like, what we don't, what's useful, and what's not about every smart, Wi-Fi-enabled, video baby monitor that goes into this article.

We set up and install the monitor, download and set up apps as needed, use the baby monitor across days and weeks, moving it to different spots in the home both inside and outside. We also try out any special features, accessories and attachments, and examine the image and sound quality.

What You Should Know About Baby Monitors

First Question: Do I Need A Baby Monitor?

We recommend getting a baby monitor, even in small-space living or co-sleeping scenarios. As there are many types, you should research before picking the right baby monitor for your family.

Every baby sleeps lightly for the first six-months or so of life, which means that if you sneak into their nursery to check up on them, they may wake and think it’s time to play. This not only takes them rapidly off a structured sleep schedule, it disrupts important sleep training. With a video baby monitor, you can peek in without even getting up from your chair or out of your own bed.

Most baby monitors also record the temperature and humidity readings of the room their placed in, so you can tell if your baby may be too cold or too hot.

Where Is The Best Place To Put A Baby Monitor?

If you’re standing in your baby’s bedroom asking yourself where to put the baby monitor, we’ve got answers.

Many attach to floor stands or wall mounts, while some are ready to just sit on a shelf. What you should consider though, is the optimal viewing angle, and whether or not you’ve got a baby or a toddler.

You want to be close enough to see the baby, but also may want to see a wider angle of the room. Most importantly, keeping the monitor out of your child’s reach is just a safe practice; keep it at least 3 feet away from the baby. A good idea is to mount it high up on a wall or on a ceiling.

Do Baby Monitors Record Video?

Some do, and some don’t. In order for your baby monitor to record video, you need to have an SD or micro SD card inserted into the monitor, or the monitor has to be connected to an app that facilitates recordings, whether free or through a subscription.

Do I Need A Wi-Fi Baby Monitor?

Not sure whether you need a local-video monitor or one that can connect to your smartphone via Wi-Fi?

Local-video baby monitors communicate directly from the camera to the portable display (often called the “parent unit”). Often the camera and display are already paired right out of the box. All you have to do is turn them both on, and you'll immediately get the video feed on the parent unit. Because they don't use Wi-Fi, they're also good for families who may live in places with unreliable or slow internet.

Wi-Fi baby monitors, on the other hand, are connected, sending the video feed to the internet on a wireless server, which then streams to your smartphone or tablet, and the signal is often delayed by a few seconds.

Despite the delay, Wi-Fi baby monitors have their merits, primarily that you can check in on your little one from anywhere. If you’re at work or enjoying a night out and want to see if the babysitter got your kid to nap, you can peek in remotely, as long as you’re connected to a phone network or Wi-Fi, too.

Many of these connected cameras also offer the ability to give temporary app access to somebody who doesn't regularly babysit for you. You can invite other people to the account so that they can also monitor your little one from their phone.

The best Wi-Fi baby monitors also offer the ability to capture photos and video from the camera feed to save or share with friends or social media.

The big determining factors that set standard, non-connected monitors apart from each other are range, video quality, and battery life of the parent unit. We tested for all of these factors and more, so you can feel confident that our best recommendations really are the best.

Smart Baby Monitors vs. Wi-Fi Baby Monitors

Smart baby monitors can do everything Wi-Fi baby monitors can do, and more. Mainly, this includes syncing with your smart home platform, like Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Can Wi-Fi Baby Monitors Be Hacked?

Many parents have concerns that their connected baby monitor could be hacked. Plain and simple, yes, baby monitors can be hacked.

But, really, if the app that you use with your connected camera requires you to set up a unique username and password, any potential hacker would need some serious know-how to access your video monitor’s feed. Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? No.

You should note that it’s also possible to hack standard baby monitors that aren’t even connected to the internet. The difference is that the hacker would have to be physically close to an unconnected monitor in order to hack it—say, parked across the street from your house.

There is no monitor that is absolutely hack-proof, unfortunately.

Here’s When To Stop Using A Baby Monitor

You spend the first year of your baby’s life watching them sleep on a little screen for 16 hours per day. Fast-forward to the year your kid stops napping and you have to ask yourself, is it time to stop using a baby monitor?

Largely, this is a personal choice or one affected by chronic health issues of your child. However, in general, pediatricians and psychologists recommend between the ages of 3 and 4 years old. If you’re unsure or uncomfortable, consult your child’s pediatrician.

What Are The Best Audio Baby Monitors?

Audio monitors are affordable and effective at letting you know if your kid is awake and making lots of noise, but having video can have huge benefits. Most parents these days prefer video baby monitors, but if you're looking for the best audio baby monitors, we've tested those, too.

Meet the testers

Sarah Kovac

Sarah Kovac

Editor, Accessibility

@thesarahkovac

Sarah Kovac is an award-winning author and accessibility editor for Reviewed. Previously, she worked with a multitude of outlets such as Wirecutter, TIME, PCMag, Prevention, The Atlantic, Reviews.com, CNN, GOOD, Upworthy, Mom.me, and SheKnows.

See all of Sarah Kovac's reviews
Nadine Jolie Courtney

Nadine Jolie Courtney

Contributor

@nadinecourtney

Nadine Jolie Courtney is a freelance writer based in Santa Monica, California. A former magazine editor, her work has appeared in Town & Country, Vogue, Oprah, Good Housekeeping, and Angeleno, among many other outlets. A graduate of Barnard College, she is the author of four books, including Romancing the Throne and All-American Muslim Girl, a Kirkus Best YA Book of 2019. Find her on Instagram @nadinejoliecourtney.

See all of Nadine Jolie Courtney's reviews
Alyssa Cohen

Alyssa Cohen

Contributing Writer

Alyssa Cohen is a freelance writer with a passion for honest reviews and packages on her doorstep. She's a mom to two babies under two years old, which makes her the perfect contributor to Reviewed's parenting content.

She is a former television news producer and public relations professional who loves storytelling. Alyssa earned a regional Edward R. Murrow Award in 2014 for breaking news while at WMTW-TV in Maine, and has been in the control room for some of the biggest stories of the last decade at WESH-TV in Orlando, including the Pulse Nightclub massacre in 2016 and Hurricane Irma in 2017.

She is a Massachusetts native and graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University (go Orange!). Alyssa resides in Orlando with her family.

See all of Alyssa Cohen's reviews

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