UniFi Protect
Ranked 2 of 3 nvr software by recommenders
Records camera footage locally and works offline, and people praise its camera system and steady improvement. Critics find face detection unreliable and cite a lack of temporary access controls.
Records camera footage locally and works offline, and people praise its camera system and steady improvement. Critics find face detection unreliable and cite a lack of temporary access controls.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 65%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs fully local and offline
“I connect directly to the ip address of the unvr. You can cut internet access off on the vlan and everything works fine.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash” “Offline and air gapped the whole time they were there but did exactly what it was installed to do.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Ubiquiti: Enterprise NAS, Built on ZFS” “This is entirely local and private.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Ubiquiti: Enterprise NAS, Built on ZFS” Overall satisfaction with cameras
“protect is light years better than it had been”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Ubiquiti: Enterprise NAS, Built on ZFS” “I am extremely satisfied with UniFi”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash” “Their camera system is wonderful.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Ubiquiti: Enterprise NAS, Built on ZFS”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
No temporary camera access for others
“there's no way to give a babysitter temporary access to the cameras in the kids' rooms”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Ubiquiti: Enterprise NAS, Built on ZFS” “I couldn't and can't figure out how to give my wife access to their Protect app”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Ubiquiti: Enterprise NAS, Built on ZFS”
Other nvr software people recommend
The two most recommended other nvr software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frigate NVR | 54 | 4 | 93% | 12 | — | Approved |
| UniFi ProtectThis page | 13 | 7 | 65% | 5 | — | — |
| HomeKit Secure Video | 5 | 2 | 71% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
18 of the 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It works great but I have no AI features”
“since you have to bind your network to their cloud just to accept the EULA”
“Their camera system is wonderful.”
“there's no way to give a babysitter temporary access to the cameras in the kids' rooms”
“Offline and air gapped the whole time they were there but did exactly what it was installed to do.”
“We haven't found the face detection to be very reliable in outdoor security applications.”
“she has the same access to the cameras as me”
“The cost is just insane though.”
“protect is light years better than it had been”
“I found Protect to be extremely laggy, taking often 30+ seconds to open the camera stream”
“I couldn't and can't figure out how to give my wife access to their Protect app”
“This is entirely local and private.”
“enabled any RTSP-based video stream to be connected into it, rather than just their own cameras”
“the value looks incredible”
“You're supposed to do that through their NVR appliance (Unifi Protect).”
“I connect directly to the ip address of the unvr. You can cut internet access off on the vlan and everything works fine.”
“we had to purchase a UniFi Protect NVR with less storage and less power/network redundancy than what I built”
“I am extremely satisfied with UniFi”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.