Lorex vs Night Owl

Lorex wins when it comes to Lorex vs. Night Owl. While both offer a wide range of security camera systems that feature local storage, Lorex had the advantage:

• Better compatibility
• Better doorbell camera
• More battery-powered options
• Proprietary smart home hub

Night Owl security options were solid enough and more affordable than Lorex, but Lorex still took the cake.

Lorex is best for, well, just about everyone. We love its variety of camera options, fantastic doorbell camera, and its home center for viewing camera footage.

Learn more in our Lorex cameras review.

Night Owl is best for those on a budget—especially if you want a video doorbell. Night Owl’s doorbell is almost $100 cheaper than Lorex’s. But if you’re looking for a multi-camera package, Night Owl beats Lorex only by a small margin.

Learn more in our Night Owl camera review.

Lorex and Night Owl offer just about every type of camera video surveillance setup you can think of. Here’s what their offerings have in common:

• Abundance of camera-bundling options
• Indoor and outdoor cameras
• Doorbell cameras
• Local storage
• Wireless and wired systems
• DVR, NVR, and microSD local storage options
• Color night vision

As for negative shared traits, both brands lack cloud storage and have shoddy apps.

• Best price: Night Owl
• Best cloud storage and apps: Lorex
• Best power sources: Lorex
• Best doorbell cameras: Lorex
• Best bonus device: Lorex

Lorex wins in almost every category. Though both brands have glitchy apps, Lorex’s one decent app cinches its win in that category. The only thing Night Owl wins at is price, and only by a tiny margin.

• Night Owl is slightly less expensive.
• Lorex has more battery-powered camera options.
• Lorex has the best doorbell camera.
• Lorex lets you see video footage and interact with cameras through a smart home hub.

In this category, Night Owl takes the win. Its cameras and systems are consistently cheaper than Lorex, but not by much. For example, we compared a Lorex four-camera 4K DVR system with a similar system by Night Owl and found that Night Owl was slightly more affordable. The difference was only $30. If you’re watching your wallet, that could be a big factor, though.

Since Lorex has one app that works well, we’re calling this category in favor of Lorex. Its app Lorex Home lets you view footage and interact with cameras. It’s easy to navigate and garners good customer ratings.

While Lorex doesn’t support cloud storage, it does have another app—one where you can connect to your system through the cloud to view footage and interact with the cameras remotely. 

Some of Lorex's cameras come with a MicroSD included too. 

The Lorex Cloud app has terrible reviews and a very low rating in both the Google Play Store and the Apple Store. It seems to glitch out a lot. When we gave it a try we found that it wasn’t very user-friendly either. The icons were cluttered and confusing.

Currently, Night Owl doesn’t have cloud storage because it’s under maintenance as of the writing of this article. There are several Night Owl apps for viewing camera footage and interacting with the cameras, including Night Owl Connect. They all have one- and two-star ratings for crashing, connection issues, and overall glitchiness.

Both Lorex and Night Owl security systems have wired, AC-powered, and battery-powered cameras. If you want to choose from a variety of wireless cameras, Lorex is the clear choice.

Lorex has single indoor and outdoor cameras that run on battery power. This gives you the choice of building out your system in a way that best suits the size and needs of your home.

Night Owl has only two battery-powered options and they are multi-camera systems with three to four cameras. Not a great pick for renters or small houses.

The doorbell camera has become a popular way to watch the front walkway and defend packages from would-be thieves, so we’re comparing Lorex and Night Owl’s doorbell camera options for you. We think both are pretty great, but the Lorex video doorbell wins it. Even though it’s pricey, it has more features, comes with storage, and has better quality video.

For an apples-to-apples comparison, let’s take a look at their best doorbell cameras side-by-side.

The Lorex 2K GHD Doorbell Camera is more expensive than the Night Owl Doorbell Camera, but it’s worth it. Lorex comes with a MicroSD card, unlike with the Night Owl doorbell, and it packs some useful features.

We love that with the Lorex you can use pre-recorded messages to greet visitors or alarm and warning lights to scare off package thieves. These are features rarely found on doorbell cameras.

Night Owl’s one strength is its false-alert prevention. The doorbell won’t send a push notification to your phone unless it senses movement and heat.

One of the biggest differences between Lorex and Night Owl is that Lorex uses a smart home device called the Lorex Home Center. The Home Center looks a lot like an Amazon Echo Show, but it’s designed exclusively for your Lorex cameras.

Through the device, you can see live and recorded footage, talk using your camera’s two-way audio feature, get notifications, and more. It also responds to voice commands.

You can buy the Lorex Home Center alone or as a bundle with a variety of different cameras. We particularly like the bundle with two cameras, floodlight, doorbell camera, and Home Center. It’s a great starter pack to get your home’s security up and running.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and learn how to protect your home, loved ones, and belongings.

We compared two indoor/outdoor four-camera 4K Ultra HD DVR systems by both brands, and Lorex is the winner. Though the Night Owl system is slightly cheaper, it doesn’t have smart home integration. That means you can’t arm or disarm the cameras with Alexa or Google Assistant voice control.

Night Owl also can’t “see” as far as the Lorex camera security system at night. Just 20 feet can mean a lot when it comes to identifying an intruder.

Night Owl didn’t swoop in and snatch the win like we thought it would with its edge on prices. Lorex has better features and compatibility that make it worth the price. We also love its nifty Lorex Home Center to watch your video footage in a central location.

Lorex:

• More battery-powered security camera options
• Better smart home compatibility
• Large camera selection
• Better app
• Home Center

Night Owl:

• More affordable
• Large security camera selection

Still undecided? Read our picks for best wireless security cameras and best home security cameras.

Our choice for the top pick in the Lorex vs. Night Owl debate came from a perfect storm of more than two decades of security/safety training and research combined with reading online reviews, hands-on testing, studying product specs, and many years of tech know-how.

To learn more about how we review products and services, take a look at our Safewise methodology page.

• Arlo Security Camera Review
• Best Outdoor Security Cameras
• What's the Difference Between Indoor and Outdoor Cameras?
• Swann Security Cameras