UniFi Protect vs. Verkada: Camera Licensing Costs Compared
Understanding the Licensing Differences
When evaluating business security cameras, ongoing licensing is a major factor. The UniFi Protect camera page states licensing is $0 at any camera count, carrying no per-camera license while providing AI detections on the camera and free remote access. In contrast, third-party sources report that Verkada requires a per-camera license. Unconfirmed reports read on October 26, 2026, place this Verkada license at about $199 per camera per year on a one-year term, and about $1,099 for five years, which averages about $220 per year.
The status of your subscription directly impacts camera functionality. A reply in a licensing thread notes that Verkada cameras go dark when the subscription lapses, while UniFi equipment keeps working without a subscription. One sysadmin replacing Verkada reported that renewals after their first five years more than doubled, and a lapsed renewal takes every camera dark at once.
Comparing Long-Term Costs and Hardware
Evaluating licenses only and excluding hardware, 16 cameras on Verkada at about $220 per year costs about $17,600 over five years, against $0 for UniFi licenses. For larger deployments, a Reddit buyer pricing 100 to 130 cameras estimated UniFi AI cameras on an Enterprise NVR at about $150,000, compared to Verkada with cloud storage at about $300,000 over five years. In the UK, unconfirmed Reddit reports indicate Verkada hardware costs several thousand up front plus about 7 pounds per camera per month.
Hardware and add-on costs vary significantly between the two platforms. Based on information read on October 26, 2026, a UniFi G6 Turret is about $199 from reseller quotes, and an NVR Instant kit with an NVR, four G5 Turret Ultra cameras, and a 1 TB disk is $699 on the Ubiquiti store. Verkada offers additional storage options, but a 60-day retention add-on is reported at about $199 per camera per year.
Feature Trade-Offs and System Limits
Each platform has specific limitations to consider before buying. UniFi recordings are local by default, so footage is lost if the recorder is stolen or burned unless an off-site copy is planned. Verkada addresses storage limits by offering cloud archive as a paid add-on. Camera analytics also differ, as one Verkada user reported that switching a camera to license plate mode disabled its other analytics, meaning license plate reading plus detection needed two separate cameras.
Management and maintenance responsibilities vary between local and cloud-managed systems. With UniFi, the business or its IT provider owns patching and uptime, whereas cloud-managed vendors push updates themselves. Additionally, UniFi support is thinner than from large enterprise vendors, and an automatic Protect update once left cameras offline until static addresses were set.
Camera Deployment in Charleston and the Lowcountry
CloudCentric is a managed IT provider in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, serving businesses across Charleston and the Lowcountry. We help business owners and managers evaluate camera platforms based on hardware costs, ongoing licenses, and system capabilities.
Whether you need to maintain local recordings on an NVR or want to assess the total cost of a cloud-managed system over a five-year term, we manage the deployment and ongoing maintenance. Call us at (844) 422-7000 to discuss your technical requirements and hardware options.