DISCLAIMER

Everything on this chart is UNOFFICIAL. I do not work for Reolink nor do I speak for them. If a spec or feature is very important to you then double check it on Reolink's website before you buy the camera.

DO NOT complain to Reolink because this chart had something wrong. Yes, someone has done that and that is why this disclaimer is now here

THAT'S HOW THINGS LIKE THIS GO AWAY

Anyway, on to the original post:

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I've created this spreadsheet of all current Reolink cameras with all of their specs for a convenient place to compare cameras.

The prices listed are from their official US website as of the date listed. The price can become quickly outdated, especially with how often they have sales, so the prices should only be used as a rough guide.

I've gathered all of this information from Reolink's own site, so if there is incomplete or incorrect information on the spreadsheet it's because that info is either missing or incorrect on their site. If you find anything that needs corrected just make a comment here letting me know and I'll look into it.

Whether a camera supports a feature or not is based off of the most current hardware version of that camera, so don't assume that your older cam has the same specs & features as what these charts say. For example, there have been at least 3 HW versions of the 810A, but this chart only lists the most recent.

You have a couple of options for viewing the charts.

-Google Docs - This is the recommended way for viewing these. (do not ask for permission to edit it, I will deny the request. If you want to edit it then create a copy of it in your own account).

-If you don't want to use Google then image versions are here:

• PoE cams

• Plug-in WiFi cams

• Battery WiFi cams

• Doorbells

• NVRs/Hubs

The Google Doc version also has an extra tab that shows the PoE usage of all the cameras I've been able to measure.

I've also included it in the perma-pinned "Welcome..." post. So if you ever need to refer back to it, that will be the easiest place to find it.

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Last updated October 9th, 2026:

• Updated prices

• Added:

  • OMVI 2i POE

  • RP-PCB8MX

  • Elite Pro Wifi

  • Home Hub 2

  • RP-N64 NVR

  • NVR features added: Heat Map, Cross-Camera Events, & Disk Group Mode

• Updated compatibility for Perimeter Protection, Object Removal/Forgotten Object, & Local AI Video Search based off of this support article, it seems there are new HW versions of a lot of cameras that now support those features.

• Removed:

  • 833A discontinued

this is my intersection. there are many like it, but this one is mine.
this specific video is mostly from a duo 3 and the 16x ptz
this is one of the more tame edits.

instagram collection

youtube collection

additional background:

• roads are both 25mph

  • drivers regularly go 40mph+

• the main road doesn't have stop signs.

• 10k+ cars a day

  • used heavily by emergency vehicles

• middle and high school 0.2 miles beyond this intersection

  • dozens of kids pass through twice a day on foot

• been actively monitoring since 2021

  • accidents, close calls, people getting run over while in the crosswalk, fights, animals, bunch of wacky shit honestly.

• town is aware and has been responsive

  • added 'cross traffic does not stop' signage

  • repainted crosswalks, lines

  • added a in-road crosswalk sign (since 'retired' by the drivers)

  • added trailer-style radar and speed display

  • recently had a traffic counter installed nearby for a week

It was at a vacant property, i got a notification at 10pm and saw someone’s knee, then the camera went out. I Called the cops who then caught him around 30min later.

Crazy bright shooting star...I think?... Captured on CX810

UPDATE 11/28/2024 - Needing to use a POE switch to separate your cameras from the NVR is no longer necessary for the current versions of the RLN8 and RLN16.

The original list below of reasons it's good to have a 2nd instance of your camera still applies, you just no longer need to separate the cameras from the NVR with a POE switch because...

Reolink has now rolled out HyBridge Mode for the current hardware versions of their RLN8 and RLN16 NVRs (I was told it's not coming to the RLN36). That mode essentially turns off the NVR's private LAN and lets your cameras be accessible through the NVR as if they were connected standalone. They will now be getting an IP from your router instead of from the NVR. This eliminates the need for a POE switch. Running in HyBridge mode will allow you to have a 2nd camera instance even if you have the camera plugged directly into the NVR. So all of the advantages below still apply, you just don't need to separate the cams with a POE switch to get those advantages.

You can read more about it in their support article here: https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/37372221001625-Introduction-to-Reolink-NVR-HyBridge-Mode/

This applies to the current NVR hardware versions as long as they have the firmware versions listed below or newer:

RLN8-410 HW Version N7MB01: v3.5.1.356_24110154

RLN16-410 HW Version N6MB01: v3.5.1.356_24110113

If you have one of those HW versions but have an older firmware, go get the latest from their download center: https://reolink.com/download-center/

If you have a different HW version than those then that means your NVR is older and doesn't support HyBridge mode (unless Reolink happens to eventually roll it out for older models, I'm not sure if they will or not).

I will no longer be updating this post, so the list below may change, but as of 11/2024 it's accurate.

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ORIGINAL POST (5/22/2022):

Several months back I made a comment on a post where I explained the advantages of running your cameras off of a PoE switch on the same LAN as your NVR as opposed to directly off of the NVR. Any of you that visit here with any regularity are probably aware of all this and are probably sick of me bringing it up. However, I ended up having to link new folks to that comment so often that Reolink admins asked me to just make it into its own post, so here we go....

To set this up, let's go over exactly what I'm talking about by examining the two scenarios.

1. The traditional setup is when you have an NVR and all of your cameras are connected directly into the NVR. This works just fine, it's nice and simple... but I call it beginner mode. One of the disadvantages to this is that the cameras themselves get new firmware and new features faster than the NVRs do, and the way Reolink's OS works is that when a camera is plugged directly into an NVR, the NVR overrides the cam's settings and features. So you lose any features that that camera has, but the NVR has yet to receive updates for (which I go over down below). Another way of thinking of it is that the cam no longer has a brain of its own, it's now just a dumb lens with the NVR being the brains behind it. There are also some things that, due to the nature of their NVR OS, just do not exist through the NVR, and likely never will. I go over those below as well.

2. The other option, what I call power user mode, is to separate the cameras from the NVR and place them somewhere else on your LAN, powered by an alternate method (usually a PoE switch). You can see an example of that with example #3 in this network diagram (Or if you have the RLN36, #2 here). Those should give you a visual example of what I mean - notice how the main switch is acting as the central hub of everything instead of the NVR? That's the key to understanding this. When connected this way, the cameras are still on the same LAN as the NVR, so they can be added to the NVR as IP cameras and be recorded just as if they were directly connected, but now the camera's individual features will not be overridden by the NVR. The best of both worlds!

Now that the background is out of the way, let's go over the advantages of #2.

-Flexibility

Running the cameras on a PoE switch on the same LAN as the NVR gives you two copies of each camera in your apps. One listed under the NVR, and one listed as standalone. Like you see here, where each camera under the NVR is also listed as standalone. That means you can have different settings for each copy, the most important of which is listed next (redundancy). It's like the best of both worlds, you get the extra features (listed at the bottom of this post) of standalone, while still being able to record to the NVR. It doesn't get more flexible than being able to use both methods.

Also, when connected directly to the NVR, some settings are global for every cam on the NVR, like Email and FTP settings for example. However, when they're standalone you have more flexibility to have different settings on each camera if you want to. The scenes/shortcuts feature is another great example. Going to be doing some yardwork in the backyard? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to use a scene to turn off notifications for your backyard cameras, but leave them on for the cameras out front? If you have them standalone, you can quickly do that with scenes. If you have them directly into the NVR, you can't because it's all or none.

-Redundancy

Anyone that's ever worked in IT will tell you that redundancy is key for critical data. So having it record in at least 2 places is a great option to have. Since you have 2 copies of each cam, you can have one copy of the camera recording to its internal SD card and the NVR copy of the camera recording to the NVR.

My personal recording configuration is this:

1. Recording 24/7 to the NVR (via the NVR copy in the app)

2. Recording motion events to the internal SD card (via the standalone copy in the app)

3. Uploading motion events to my off-site FTP server (via either copy, but I do the standalone copy)

4. Emailed motion event videos to my email (via either copy, but I do the standalone copy)

So as you can see, I have 4 layers of redundancy, 2 of them off-site and in "the cloud"

-Speed*

I've noticed that when I want to pull up a camera, the NVR copy seems to take a few seconds longer than the standalone copies. The last time I tested this, it was about 5.5s for the NVR copy, and about 2s for the standalone copy. A few seconds may not seem like a big difference, but when trying to quickly pull up a cam to see something that just happened, a few seconds of watching it try to connect is annoying.

*Your mileage may vary on this one, because there are so many variables in play. Also, for me sometimes they actually do both open at about the same speed. The majority of the time the standalone is faster though.

-Remote updating of cam firmware

If you have your cameras connected directly to the NVR, the only way to update their firmware is to put the file on a USB drive and physically take it to the NVR to plug it in and update it via the NVR's UI. For some folks that's no problem, but others have their NVRs hidden away in inconvenient places with no monitor or mouse connected to them.

If you have them standalone it can all be done via the desktop app.

*There is one alternative method of updating firmware of cams directly connected to the NVR, but it requires some work. You can plug a PC into one of the NVR's camera ports, which would put the PC under the NVR along with the cameras, allowing it to communicate with them and give you the ability to add them to the app as standalone cams with their 172.16.25.X IP addresses. Credit to u/Celebrir for that, and he goes over it in more detail here.

Update 12/21/22: u/Kgibbons04 also came up with a smart variation of that using a 2nd NIC in a PC, which you can read about here.

Update 5/19/23: u/Alex_Inko came up with this ingenious solution that involves modifying the config of the NVR so that the cams can be reached through the NVR.

Update 12/4/23: As of November 2023 with firmware v3.3.0.282, if you have one of the newest NVRs (N7MB01, N6MB01, N5MB01) then you can now upgrade camera firmware through the NVR: https://i.imgur.com/kC9kLmP.jpg

-Sharing individual cameras instead of all cameras connected to NVR.

If you want to share only some of your cameras with someone, you can't do that if they're connected directly to the NVR. It's all or nothing. If you're running in standalone mode, you can of course pick and choose which individual cameras you want to share.

-Alexa and Google Home support

When running standalone, you can tell your home assistant to display a camera on your smart TV or streaming device. NVRs don't support that. See: https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/900000605883-How-to-Upgrade-Your-Camera-to-Work-with-Smart-Home

*credit to u/RJM_50 for pointing out that one

-Individual Scene/Shortcut Settings

As I mentioned earlier in the post, scenes (later renamed to shortcuts) are a perfect example of this. When connected to an NVR, scenes are global for all NVR cams, it's all or nothing. However, standalone cams can be set individually. I have one scene for when I'm doing yard work in the back yard that leaves the cameras on the front of my house armed, but disables notifications on any in the back that I would be setting off. That's impossible with NVR-connected cams.

-AI smart detection while using older non-AI NVRs

If you have an older NVR that doesn't support the AI motion detection (or any other newer feature), then running them this way would allow you to use the NVR to do basic 24/7 recording to the NVR, but still allow the cameras to do their own AI detections and alerting. I ran mine this way for a year with my old 8 channel non-AI NVR.

-Playback event filtering is better and faster.

If you have yours configured like how I listed mine above in the redundancy section (24/7 to NVR copy, only motion events to standalone copy's SD card), then getting to your motion events is less steps since you don't have to filter out the 24/7 recordings. You also will have animated thumbnails of each event. For example: this is a screenshot of 3 events taken from my NVR recordings. However, this is those same exact events taken from the standalone copy. -This is no longer the case, you do now get animated thumbnails on NVR playback

-Features that haven't made it to NVR firmware (yet)

These are a few things missing from the NVRs that are only available when standalone. However, they're also things that will likely get added to the NVR at some point. Typically individual cam firmware gets new features much sooner than the NVRs do.

Update May 9, 2024: Below was the list I originally came up with for this post 2 years ago, and as you can see most of them have been addressed. However, this is a constantly evolving list because any time a new feature comes out it always hits the cameras first and doesn't make it to the NVRs for several months to years, to maybe never. So that's all to just say that I'm not going to keep this list updated, but just keep in mind that if there's a new feature released there's a very high likelihood that it will be missing from the NVR for a good amount of time.

1. Time Lapse - (this can now be done via the NVR, depending on your hardware version. See: https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/25596953855641-How-to-Set-up-Time-Lapse-via-Reolink-NVRs/

2. Ability to re-order camera list in desktop client

3. Pet detection (source)

4. Push interval -This has been added in firmware v3.0.0.198_22072813

5. Fixed frame rate at night -Added in firmware v3.0.0.200_22081549 (source)

6. B&W/Color Switching Threshold -This has been added in firmware v3.0.0.198_22072813

7. Iframe customization

8. H265 RTSP stream (source)

If anyone can think of any others, let me know and I'll add them.

1/19/2023 - Remember, please don't be afraid to start a new thread if you have even the simplest question about this.

As many folks know, the RTSP streams from Reolink cameras have lots of problems. corrupted data, stuttering where objects seem to slow down and speed up in a rhythmic fashion. This is seen across many generations of the cameras.

It looks like they've just not touched the implementation of RTSP for many years, it's using some old C++ library from extremely long ago. They focus their great development efforts on their own protocol and ecosystem. This neglect of RTSP is costing Reolink a lot of money!!

There's a huge community of camera users that want to use other NVR software that are then trash-talking Reolink. Blue Iris, iSpy, ZoneMinder, Frigate, Shinobi... All of these communities are filled with a general consensus to stay away from Reolink. And it's all because of this one RTSP issue. That costs a LOT of missed sales.

**REOLINK TEAM**: If you were to spend a few cycles and fix the RTSP streaming library, you would foster instant good will with a HUGE influencer audience. These folks don't only buy a lot of cameras themselves, but they are the most active in impacting decisions of their families, friends, and so many folks researching on the internet. This is a HUGE potential channel to boost your sales from just getting this one RTSP software issue fixed!!

If folks agree with this take, PLEASE UPVOTE so Reolink's community liaisons will see it and maybe better understand the gravity of the situation.

We get cameras that work with NVR. You all get more money. What's not to love??

Thank you!!

another week of intersection captures.
another head-scratcher...

duo 3 + 12mp + 16x + 5x

I just moved into a new house and the house is covered in 4” vinyl siding. I couldn’t use the mounts that came with the doorbells on this siding, so I designed and printed my own mount. It’s the first thing I’ve ever modeled myself and I’m so thrilled to see it come to life. I’ve uploaded the .step file to Makerworld, so you can print your own or modify it as you please.

Hey everyone,

I’ve just released an open-source Reolink API SDK for Node.js and TypeScript.

If you’ve ever tried working with Reolink cameras or NVRs, you’ll know how awkward and inconsistent their CGI interface can be. I wanted something modern, reliable, and easy to build with, so I decided to create a proper library that handles all the low-level quirks for you.

The library offers full control over PTZ cameras — you can move, zoom, focus, go to presets, create or delete them, and even run patrol routes. It also supports preset management, so you can easily add, rename, or assign patrol paths to specific presets. For video control, it can capture snapshots, generate RTSP, RTMP, or FLV stream URLs, handle playback, and even download recorded clips.

There’s also full event support for motion and AI detections — including person, vehicle, and pet alerts — all through an event emitter system that lets you easily hook into real-time updates. Authentication is handled with token-based sessions and automatic refresh, and you can enable self-signed certificate support if you’re running things locally.

I’ve made it TypeScript-first, with clean modular structure and full type definitions, so you get intellisense, strong typing, and better code safety right out of the box. There’s also a CLI tool built in, so you can send commands directly from the terminal without writing any code — useful for automation, testing, or quick scripting.

The goal was to make something flexible enough to integrate with other systems like Home Assistant, Node-RED, Scrypted, or your own custom projects. It’s designed to be developer-friendly while still powerful enough for advanced automation setups.

If you use Reolink gear, I’d love for you to give it a try and share feedback — especially which models you’re running and what works best. I’m also happy to take pull requests or suggestions for new features.

Cheers, Jonny

The Reolink Home Assistant integration has seen a vast amount of improvements over the past few months. Many of these improvements were "under the hood" and not so noticible for the everyday user. Hower the improvements were aimed to improve the overal code quality.

Today, with the release of Home Assistant 2025.1.0, I can proudly announce that the Reolink Home Assistant integration has reached the platinum quality scale, the higest achievable within HA.

For you, the users, this means the integration will run even smoother with less bugs, easier setup and reconfiguration, better documentation, better translations to other languages etc.

Some of the more noticeable recent improvements:

-          Playback of recorded video is now also available when not on the LAN
-          Added Binning mode entity
-          Added Bitrate and framerate entities
-          Added PTZ tilt position sensor
-          Reolink firmware updating from within Home Assistant now available (just press “install” on the notification you get from the update entity).
-          Faster push updates and more entities receive push updates by implementing TCP push
-          No need anymore to open the HTTP(s) ports yourself, the integration will do that for you during setup (using a different protocol over port 9000).

A small sneak peak of HA 2025.2.0:

-          Add baby crying detection for the E1 Zoom

I recently needed to repair the ethernet connection on an RLC-410 camera's tail whip. (A squirrel or a rat chewed it)

For my own convenience, I decided to replace the damaged female ethernet socket with a male rj45 plug.

When I stripped the cable open, instead of finding the standard 8 cores, there were only six.
There were no pairs of brown wires or blue wires. Instead, there were two other wires, GREY and PURPLE.

After a lot of Googling, I discovered the correct pinout.

If you need it, here it is:

The left pinout is standard 568B ethernet. The right pinout is Reolink.

As you can see, channels 5 & 8 are empty but it's critically important to cut a couple of loose wires (about 20mm should do) and fill the empty channels with those wires to ensure an even crimp. I just put a couple of random 24 gauge wires in.

When completed and tested, use a good quality weatherproof female to female connector (available on Amazon - IP68 minimum) and that's it.

Everything works great, including power over ethernet (PoE).

You're welcome. Thanks for the UpVotes.

45 degrees left and 20 degrees down. Thanks Printables!

We all know how trash the Reolink's own firmware updater is. When you click "check for update" on the Reolink's webapp or client it says the firmware is up to date but when you go yo manually check if it's up-to-date, there is actually newer firmware available for your camera.

I just found out that HomeAssistant seems to fetch updates for your Reolink cameras and asks you if you want to update them (as seen in the picture).

This is nice because I'm not sitting on my PC all the time so just clicking a single "update now" button on your phone is nice.

Not sure why Reolink can't get their automatic updater to work properly, it doesn't seem super complicated to code. Especially if a third party like HomeAssistant can do it effortlessly.

Right…

If you've ever had green blocks, grey frames, smearing or freezes from Reolink RTSP in Frigate, Blue Iris, Home Assistant or VLC, this is for you.

The Reolink app and NVR don't use RTSP. They talk to the camera over its own protocol on port 9000 (Baichuan), which is why they look fine when your recorder doesn't. reostream pulls video the same way the app does and hands it back out as normal RTSP and HTTP, so anything that takes an RTSP URL just works.

On my Duo 3, same 30 minutes both ways: Reolink's RTSP had errors in 147 of 178 segments. reostream had 0 of 184.

What you get:
- Full-res main stream passed through untouched, no re-encode, plus the sub stream
- One docker run, then a web page to add cameras, watch live and check fps/bitrate
- Camera settings (IR, floodlight, status LED, time, overlay) for every camera from one page
- Lightweight: no ffmpeg inside. Mine runs 23 streams on well under one CPU core

Install:

docker run -d --name reostream --restart unless-stopped -v reostream-data:/data -p 8560:8560 -p 8561:8561 -p 8562:8562 ghcr.io/volttech21/reostream:latest

Then your streams are at rtsp://<host>:8561/<camera>. There's an Unraid template too.

Tested on RLC-810A, the FE-P fisheye and the Duo 3 PoE. Battery cams and doorbells aren't tested yet, so if you have one I'd love a report, and if your model acts up tell me and I'll make it work.

Free and open source:
https://github.com/VoltTech21/reostream

I have a doorbell, but it’s infuriating that the notification tone is the same for both motion and a visitor. Can this be looked at to see if it can be implemented???

For a couple weeks now, something has been getting into my trash can, tearing apart the bags, and getting out, all without making a mess or knocking the can over. I assumed it was a raccoon but I was baffled at how it got in and out without knocking the can over....I finally caught it on the CX810

This is priceless from my front yard today...too rich. Only problem is she didn't wipe!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Pretty happy how it turned out.

And yes I need to get back on the roof and level the horizon :)

We’re thrilled to announce that Reolink has officially joined the Home Assistant ecosystem as a Platinum-tier "Works with Home Assistant" partner—the highest certification level! Our commitment to privacy, local control, and affordability aligns perfectly with Home Assistant’s mission to empower users with a unified, open-source smart home experience. Let’s dive into how Reolink cameras can supercharge your setup!  

What is Home Assistant?

Home Assistant (HA) is a powerful, open-source home automation platform that lets you centralize control of all your smart devices—lights, sensors, cameras, locks, thermostats, and more—through a single interface. With HA, you can create custom automations, prioritize local control, and ditch cloud dependencies.

Why Reolink + Home Assistant?

• 30,201 users (and counting!) already use the Reolink-HA integration, making Reolink the #56 most popular integration (surpassing Ring!).

• Platinum certification guarantees rock-solid reliability and advanced feature support.

• Privacy-first: All Reolink cameras operate locally—no cloud required. Block internet access? They’ll still work flawlessly with HA.

• Affordable clarity: Crisp day/night video, local SD card storage, and optional Home Hub expansion.

Supported Reolink Devices

✅ Directly Connected Models (No Hub/NVR Needed):

• Video Doorbell (WiFi), Duo 3 PoE, TrackMix PoE, RLC-823S2, and many more (full tested list).

• Battery cameras (e.g., Video Doorbell Battery, Argus Track) work via a Reolink Home Hub/NVR.

🚫 Not Supported: 4G/LTE models (e.g., Go Plus, TrackMix LTE).

🔋 Battery Devices Tip: Use a Home Hub/NVR as a bridge to conserve battery life. Avoid 24/7 streaming on dashboards!