CCTV Cloud vs Local Cost Calculator
Cloud has no hardware but a forever bill; local is a one-time buy you own and protect. Compare the two over five years — upfront, monthly and total — and see where they cross over. Ballpark figures for planning, not a quote. Runs in your browser.
Local sizing uses ~2 TB of surveillance-grade disk on an 4-channel NVR.
Over five years, local storage is cheaper here. Cloud passes local's upfront cost at about 10 months of subscription. Best of both: keep footage on a local NVR and pay only to back up your most important cameras to the cloud.
Planning estimate only — cloud plans vary widely by provider and features, local needs power backup and a secured recorder, and prices move. Treat this as a starting point for comparing quotes.
Decide with the full picture
Related Guides — Deep-dive reading
Security Cost Planning Guide for Indian Homes
How to budget a home or building security system sensibly in India — the real cost drivers, tiered budgets with honest rupee ranges for a flat and an independent house, the ongoing costs people forget, prioritising spend by risk, and the 5-year total cost of ownership instead of the sticker price.
SecurityCloud CCTV in India: Footage That Survives a Stolen Recorder
How cloud-stored CCTV works, its genuine advantages for Indian homes and shops, the real trade-offs of subscriptions, upload bandwidth and third-party data, and why hybrid local-plus-cloud is usually the smart middle.
SecurityLocal Storage CCTV in India: NVR, DVR and Your Own Hard Disk, Explained
How on-site CCTV recording works, why a one-time recorder-plus-disk setup with no monthly bill still suits most Indian homes and shops, and how to counter its one real weakness — a stolen recorder.
SecurityRelated Tools — You may also find these useful
CCTV Camera Coverage & Count Calculator
Estimate how many CCTV cameras you need, the NVR channels, storage in TB for your retention period, and an indicative all-in cost with GST.
CCTV CalculatorCCTV Storage & Bitrate Calculator
Cameras, resolution, frame rate, codec and retention days to per-camera bitrate, daily footage size, total NVR storage and a suggested disk.
Storage & BitrateBefore vs After — Cost Reality Check
Compare what you expected to pay vs what you actually paid, category by category.
Reality Check