You can skip the camera subscription and still keep a copy off the camera.

A memory card inside a camera has one weak spot: if someone takes the camera, the footage can go with it. A paid vendor cloud fixes that, but it is not the only way. The goal: keep a copy somewhere a thief cannot reach.

The easiest version is a hub that stays indoors. Blink's Sync Module 2 can save clips to a USB drive plugged into it, and an Arlo SmartHub or Base Station can record to a USB drive too. Put the hub out of sight, and the clips stay home even if a camera is pulled off the wall.

If you have a home storage box, often called a NAS, more brands can send footage to it. Reolink cameras can upload over FTP, Amcrest cameras can save to a NAS, and eufyCam systems with a HomeBase and many wired Tapo cameras can feed recording software like Synology Surveillance Station.

A NAS can then copy new files to your own Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox automatically, with no camera subscription. Synology's Cloud Sync and QNAP's Hybrid Backup Sync are free apps that do this. Choose the setting that keeps cloud copies when the NAS deletes old clips. Synology suggests its Hyper Backup app (Google Drive or Dropbox), not Cloud Sync, for Surveillance Station recordings. The USB drives on Blink and Arlo hubs do not offer this.

Skipping the NAS? Of the brands we checked, only UniFi Protect, which records to Ubiquiti's own recorder, can archive straight to Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. Reolink says its cameras cannot upload to them directly.

Before you buy, check which models support the method, whether it saves only motion clips or everything, and whether the hub or NAS sits somewhere safe.

Pick where the backup copy lives first, then compare cameras.