Figuring out where to put security cameras is harder than most people expect. It’s not just about covering the front door, it’s about understanding how an intruder would actually approach your property, where your blind spots are and matching the right type of camera to each location. Get it wrong and you end up with expensive hardware pointed at the wrong angle, or gaps in coverage you won’t discover until something actually happens.
This free security camera placement tool takes the guess work out of the process. Answer four quick questions about your property and it will generate a personalized camera placement plan mapped directly onto a satellite view of your actual home, along with specific camera recommendations for each zone. No generic advice, no one size fits all diagrams. Just a setup built around your property.
How to use this tool
Using teh placement tool below takes about two minutes. Select your property type, choose the zones you want to cover, set your budget range, then enter your address. The tool will load a satellite view of your property and drop a camera pin on each zone you selected color coded by location so it’s easy to read at a glance.
Each pin is draggable. The suggested positions are based on typical property layouts, but your driveway might be on the left instead of the right, or your side gate might be at the back drag the pins to where they actually belong on your property. Click any pin to see the specific camera recommended for that zone at your chosen budget, with a direct link to check the current price on Amazon
When you are done you will have a clear picture of exactly how many cameras you need, what type suits each location, and which products to look at, all tailored to your actual home rather than a generic floor plan
What type of property are you securing?
This helps us recommend the right camera types and quantities.
Why camera placement matters more than the cameras themselves
Most homeowners spend hours researching which camera to buy and five minutes thinking about where to put it. That’s the wrong order of operations. A $35 camera in the right position will outperform a $200 camera in the wrong one every single time.
Placement determines what your camera actually captures. A camera mounted too high loses facial detail. One pointed at a window gets washed out by daylight. A wide-angle camera in a narrow side passage misses half the frame. These aren’t edge cases, they’re the most common mistakes DIY installers make, and they’re almost always invisible until you need the footage.
Good placement also works as a deterrent. Cameras positioned at a natural entry point, front door, driveway, side gate, are visible enough to discourage opportunistic intruders before they ever try anything. A camera hidden around the back of the house might capture great footage, but it won’t stop anything.
The six zones every home should consider
Every property is different, but most single family homes have the same six vulnerable areas. Understanding what each one needs will help you make sense of the recommendations our tool generates.
Front Door
The most important zone
Around 34 percent of burglars enter through the front door, so this is where you want your clearest footage. A video doorbell or wide-angle camera mounted at face height (around 7-8 feet) gives you the best chance of capturing a usable image. Avoid mounting too high, the top of a head is not useful evidence.
Driveway
The second most important zone
A driveway camera serves two purposes: deterrence and license plate capture. For plate capture you want the camera positioned at roughly bumper height and angled toward the street end fo the drive, not pointed down from the garage. A floodlight camera does double duty here. The light itself deters, and the motion trigger ensures you capture anyone approaching before they reach the house.
Backyard
Large open spaces lead to coverage gaps
A PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) camera in a corner can cover a lot of ground, but for larger yards two fixed cameras placed in opposite corners with overlapping fields of view is more reliable. A PTZ pointed one direction misses everything else until it is panned around. Night vision range matters here mor than anywhere else. Test it in darkness before committing to a mount postion.
Garage
Garages are usually high value targets.
Tools, bikes and vehicles are usually stored here in addition to usually having a direct entry point into your house. A corner mounted camera gives you the widest view of the bay. If your garage has a side door into the hoe, point the camera at that door rather than the main garage door. That internal entry point is the higher value target.
Side gate / Alley
narrow passages are easy to overlook
This area is often the least visible part of a property from the street. A bullet camera with a tighter field of view suits this zone better than a wide angle, since you are covering a corridor rather than an open area. Motion alerts from side gate cameras are often the earliest warning you’ll get of an approach.
Interior
Not everyone wants cameras inside
For those who do, a small indoor camera with two-way audio is useful for keeping an eye on entry points from inside. Particularly the door from the garage into the house as well as for checking in remotely. Keep interior cameras pointed at doorway and stairwells rather than living areas to balance coverage with privacy.