Home Security Planner

One per outdoor area you want watched, plus a video doorbell for the front door. A typical house watches the driveway, backyard and one or two side yards, so 3 to 4 cameras and a doorbell.

Yes. Pick cameras and doorbells that record to a microSD card or a local hub, and an alarm the maker says works without a paid plan. You lose professional monitoring and some cloud features, but you still get recordings, alerts and a siren.

One per exterior door and per window someone could reach from the ground. Starter kits include a few, so most houses add a sensor pack.

They play a barking dog sound when they detect movement nearby, which can make a house seem occupied and guarded. They do not record or call anyone, so pair one with cameras or an alarm.

Go by power at each spot. With no outdoor outlets the planner picks battery or solar cameras, which record on motion. If you can run cable to 3 or more areas, it picks a PoE recorder kit that records 24/7 to its own drive with no batteries to charge.

Nothing that needs drilling outside: one indoor camera watching the entry, a smart lock that fits over the existing deadbolt so the landlord's keys still work, and a small alarm kit for the door. The eufy 5-piece kit includes 2 entry sensors, a motion sensor and a keypad and works without a plan.

Add PoE cameras to the spare channels. The Reolink RLK8-800D4 kit includes 4 cameras on an 8-channel recorder, so a house with 5 outdoor areas adds one more PoE camera and still has 3 channels free.

Not to get a siren and phone alerts, which no-fee kits like abode and eufy provide. Monitoring adds someone who calls for help when the alarm trips, and Ring Alarm and SimpliSafe pair it with cellular backup so the alarm still gets out if your internet is down. Without it, you call 911 yourself from the alert.

The planner counts ground-floor windows because those are the ones someone can reach. Add a sensor to any upper window reachable from a porch roof, deck or garage roof, and consider a glassbreak sensor for large panes; SimpliSafe's covers glass within 20 ft.

One on each approach someone would use: typically the driveway, the backyard and each side yard with a gate. The front door is covered by the video doorbell, so the planner does not add a separate camera there.