Low-res 720p (and even some 1080p) webcams don't cut it anymore. These top 1080p and 4K webcams are perfect for meetings, videoconferencing, streaming games and more.
Updated Dec. 5, 2023 1:30 p.m. PT Endoscope Camera Module
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A good 1080p webcam will cost between about $100 and $150, though you can find some decent ones below $100. For 4K, you'll need to spend at least $140 or so to get a decent one and probably upward of $200 for a really good model.
If you're on a budget, stick to 1080p (1,920x1,080 pixels, aka FHD). If you can afford it, 4K will provide a lot more flexibility, if not now then in the future.
For typical laptop or desktop videoconferencing, an FOV of 75-90 degrees should work well. If you need to fit more than just you in the frame, look for more than 90 degrees. And if you want to be able to use a high level of zoom (say, to focus on small objects on your desktop), then look for less than 75.
As long as you don't care about how good the mic is, a built-in mic is a nice-to-have feature. If you want excellent sound quality, then get a standalone mic or dedicated headset. In between the two choices, it's a little harder: Look for reviews that mention whether the audio sounds overprocessed, tinny, noisy, muffled or other potential issues.
Get a size that matches your computer; in other words, a desktop monitor can handle a large webcam, but a big one won't be terribly steady on a laptop monitor. And thought most offer one, if you want to mount the camera to a tripod, make sure it has a threaded socket to do so.
The Insta360 Link webcam is my current favorite thanks to a great combination of video quality, performance and feature-rich software. But it's also expensive at $300 (sometimes available on sale for closer to $250), and 4K may be overkill for a lot of people. My top 1080p pick, with a much more palatable of $120, is the Razer Kiyo Pro. Razer's software, which is key to most of its features, runs only on Windows, though, so a good alternative for Mac users is the Obsbot Tiny 2.
I'm continually evaluating new models as they become available and I'll update this list regularly with more advice and picks as I test them. As I can't test every webcam on the market, I prefilter the potential list of products to those I think will offer best-in-class performance, excellent value or that people will be curious about; more complex or expensive models may get full reviews, while less complicated or cheaper models worthy of recommending are only covered here.
With excellent video quality, intelligent operation and software and a good built-in, noise-canceling mic, Insta360's debut webcam stole my heart. It's got nearly all the must-have features of competitors -- including 1080p/60fps streaming, a vertical video mode, a gimbal with automatic tracking, custom presets plus tons more -- and is as good or better at everything.
It's not perfect, though most of my gripes can likely be fixed in software or firmware; they're not necessarily hardware flaws. There's no way to change the default sleep timer or initial framing state, you can't save image-related presets (like exposure compensation or white balance), the app doesn't let you rotate the camera vertically and it can get pretty hot.
Oh, yeah. It's also really expensive: not overpriced for what you get but more than a lot of people can or are willing to pay for a general purpose webcam. If being polished on camera is part of your job, though, it might be worth it to you.
I had my doubts about this at first: There are so many small, unfamiliar brands on Amazon that it takes a lot more than a four-plus star review to pique my interest. But I was quite surprised at how good this basic webcam is for the price, much of which has to do with the software. It also supports Macs, something the camera it replaces doesn't. (It's the Creative Live Cam Sync 1080p V2, which remains a fine choice for Windows at an attractive $30 to $40.)
There's only so much you can do with the image quality on a basic 1080p 30fps webcam, but the Nexigo still delivers better video quality than many 720p laptop webcams, with relatively solid white balance and autoexposure, even across various lighting conditions. Don't expect great 1080p picture quality at full-size viewing or in low light, though. There you can see noise and softness, though it's no worse than most 1080p webcams under $100. Scaled down to a typical laptop viewing size, it looks good.
Nexigo's software isn't pretty, but some of it's a lot more functional than much of what I've used. For instance, the manual white balance actually works well along a continuum rather than just giving you a choice between too pink or too green. It also allows you to save presets for all the adjustable settings. It doesn't currently work with MacOS Monterey, so I couldn't test that, but the company promises an update to support the latest version of the OS within the next couple of months.
It's got a built-in mic, though the audio quality is disappointing. The mic performs noise cancellation, but you can't turn it off or adjust it, and I heard quite a bit of popping and tinniness on my end.
The build feels about what you'd expect for a cheap webcam, plasticky but not fragile, and the mount supports tilt and swivel. Nexigo includes the typical loose cover. I hate those and have already lost it. Other trade-offs for the price: a captive USB-A cable and a nonremovable mount. It also has a 110-degree field of view, which is kind of wide for your usual web conferencing. You can zoom digitally, but as with any 1080p webcam, that gets ugly fast.
Razer replaced its Kiyo with the Kiyo X at a lower price, a level that the Kiyo used to drop to when on sale. It did so by cutting out the ring light (which is useless, anyway) and the mic (the built-in mic in your laptop is better than most webcams'), as well as switching to a simple, nonswiveling mount. There isn't a lot to differentiate these entry 1080p 30fps from each other, but Razer's stands out a bit for its accurate white balance and decent exposure -- as long as your lighting doesn't vary wildly.
The 1080p Obsbot Tiny, a PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) model, replaces the Anker PowerConf 300 as my pick for the peripatetic. Though it's larger overall than most webcams, it's smaller than it looks, and it's worth the extra bulk for the built-in gimbal that lets it tilt and rotate to track you. That means it can cover you over 180 degrees without requiring zooming out until you're just a tiny head in the frame. And it tracks quite well. It also has limited gesture controls -- to control face lock for tracking and to zoom -- which come in handy. The design is great as well, with a magnetic attachment to the mount and a large LED that not only tells you if it's on, but that indicates if it's currently focused on anything. Instead of a cover, you can tilt the camera down, so you don't have to worry about losing a cap.
It has all the essentials covered as well, including solid video quality and a surprisingly good mic (though it lacks features you might be used to from the mic in your laptop or headset, like noise cancellation), as well as a lightweight utility to control the camera position and zoom in software.
There are some aspects I don't like as much. In software, you can zoom continuously between 1x and 2x, but the gesture control only takes you all the way in or out, while 1.5x is probably your best general choice. And since it's 1080p, the 2x digital zoom doesn't look great. While the auto white balance and exposure works pretty well, it doesn't handle low light as well as the cheaper Anker, which can also do 1080p at 60fps (the Tiny is limited to 30fps). The latter wouldn't be as much of an issue if the utility had some image controls, but the Obsbot relies entirely on Windows' meh settings dialog, and even then supports onlywhite balance and exposure. You can change aperture, but that setting doesn't seem to do anything on any webcam I've tested thus far.
Because it's so tall, you may not like mounting it on top of a big monitor, though I've got it perched on top of a 32-inch without issue. And it's actually a benefit if you're using it atop your laptop, since the way most people use their laptop cameras, it sits well below their eyeline.
Now that the Elgato Facecam Pro has evaporated, there's no 4K 60fps choice -- but the next best thing is the 4K 30fps Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra. It's expensive like most 4K models, but it's one of the better models for handling 4K, with excellent color, exposure and focus, partly thanks to a large sensor and adjustable settings to fix problems you'll encounter with other webcams. Though most people won't want to stream at 4K, if you do, or if you want to drop to 1440p, you can adjust the Pro Ultra's streaming compression for better performance in conjunction with software that uses MJPEG, like OBS.
Even if you don't need it for 4K streaming, when you need better detail, say for prerecorded segments or zooming in to your head and shoulders, it can come in handy. Plus, if you're embedded in the Razer ecosystem, it should fit right in.
It does have some distinct flaws, which is why it's a qualified recommendation given the high price. Most significantly, you can't adjust most of the settings while previewing in your recording, streaming or conferencing application, and it can be a bit glitchy. Those could conceivably be fixed in a future firmware or software update.
Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra review
This tiny webcam is designed for streaming (in case the name didn't give it away), but it has some perks that make it appealing for general-purpose use. You can mount it horizontally or vertically, which makes it nice for video chatting with folks on phones or for shooting quickie TikTok or Instagram videos. It shoots in 1080p at 60fps, which can frequently give you better looking video than 30fps. Plus, it's small, so it can fit in cramped spaces.
More about the Logitech Streamcam.
Razer's unconventional-looking webcam supports 1080p at 60fps, and because it doesn't compress the stream it can produce some nice-looking video. It also has a sensor and autoexposure capabilities optimized to compensate for dim and harsh lighting, plus automatic white balance that preserves more natural-looking skin tones. And it comes with a cover; not as convenient as a lens shutter but better for keeping dust off the front of the camera.
These previous top picks have lost out to newer, shinier models, but that doesn't mean they're not still recommendable.
Like the other 4K models, the Dell UltraSharp Webcam's higher resolution lets it zoom in on your face with less degradation than a 1080p model, and it's a respectable webcam for streaming or a quick-and-easy option for shooting 4K video direct to your PC. Its cylindrical, all-metal body with magnetic mounts and lens cover feels more premium than those of competitors and makes a nice change from typical webcams, and it allows the webcam's multi-element lens to deliver its excellent distortion-corrected views. Like the Brio, it supports 1080p 30fps and 60fps for low-bandwidth connections and streaming.
There's no microphone, but the mic array on a decent recent laptop should be better than any mic you'll get on a webcam. And the software, which allows you to save custom presets and provides a lot of the features, doesn't work on the Mac.
The Tiny 4K was one of my favorite webcams before I met the Insta360, but like that model it's quite expensive. As with its 1080p sibling, the 4K model has AI and a swivel body, which it uses to follow you as you move. This makes it more effective than cameras that simply crop to the part of the sensor that's picking you up. And with updates to the software that let you set a few preset positions as well as put it to sleep and wake it, Obsbot has added some necessary features for both this and the 1080p model. Plus, the built-in mic sounds as good as most add-on webcams.
Like most 4K webcams, it lacks the tonal range of a good 1080p model, so the image contrast is a little higher than I like -- HDR helps with that. But thanks to the 4K resolution, you can zoom in more than you could with 1080p, without or with less degradation. (That lower resolution normally makes you look blurry or blocky.)
Not all webcams are good enough to be considered "best," but not everyone cares about the same things. Here are some that stand out for coming close or having novel characteristics you may care about.
The Tiny 2 4K is a great PTZ (pan/tilt//zoom) webcam, and I really like being able to tell it to “sleep Tiny” thanks to voice controls. It has good tracking and autofocus performance and solid Mac support, but it’s relatively expensive and should be a little better and offer more for the money in some ways, such as the just-okay mic.
The Brio 500 stands out as the most interesting design I've seen; not just for the cylindrical shape and nonstandard color -- it comes in pink as well as white or black -- but for the clever camera cover. You just rotate the section on the right side and the cover rolls up or drops down. Logitech doesn't go all the way with the aesthetic, though, since all of the colors come with the typical black monitor mount, which is annoying. And it's otherwise a pretty unremarkable webcam, though the software does come in a Mac-compatible version.
On one hand, you don't need to worry about too many specifications to figure out what you want; on the other, it helps to understand what you're looking at to prevent being blindsided by marketing claims. For instance, all webcams are plug-and-play, despite frequently being called out as a novelty, and claims like "DSLR-quality video" are meaningless. AI is not magic -- it doesn't automatically make a camera (or even a particular feature) better and the term is used excessively and very loosely in marketing. And your new external webcam won't necessarily be better than the one integrated into your laptop; integrated models increasingly are tuned to work with the operating systems in a way that third-party cameras aren't.
Improving your environment with good lighting or a better angle can often enhance the quality of your webcam video more than upgrading the camera itself. And even in an ideal environment, the best webcam won't necessarily deliver great video and audio quality on the other end -- that can depend on the consistency and quality of your network connection as well as the software you're using. Videoconferencing software, for example, tends to aggressively process the video for smoother and more consistent transmission over the network rather than looking great.
The webcams range from $20 to about $300, and the best models usually go for $200 and up. In general, price rises as resolution, features and quality gets better. There are some good 1080p models under $100, but if you want to save money on the admittedly pricey high-end models, you can frequently get the previous model at a good price and they tend to go on sale at the usual times of the year, like Black Friday season.
It's important to separate sensor resolution from video resolution; A lot of webcams with high resolutions (greater than 4K, which is equivalent to about 8 megapixels) don't actually produce video at it, instead using the extra pixels to get better results when scaling down to the effective resolution of 1080p, 1440p or 4K, zooming and changing the field of view, low-light performance and more. That's why it's worth considering a 4K model to better frame yourself without looking soft, crunchy or blocky or to demonstrate physical objects.
But don't assume a camera with a high-resolution sensor can output video as, say, 4K. While all software supports 1080p (1,920x1,080 pixels, equivalent to 2 megapixels), other resolutions frequently require specific support -- notably by videoconferencing software. Zoom, for instance, maxes out at 1080p. Plus, keep in mind that software can take a good image and make it look... less good. It does that by compressing the hell out of it for transmission across the software's low-bandwidth pipeline.
Keep in mind that 4K and above webcams can generate a lot of heat, which might be an issue for you if you work in hot environments (prolonged heat may decrease image stability). The metal bodies may be sturdier and sometimes look more attractive, but they also draw heat away from the inside and get hotter to the touch than plastic.
And avoid 720p unless you're desperate and have no money. Even then, you can get a no-name 1080p model for about $20 (maybe less) that will at least be marginally better.
Most webcams usually have a fixed field of view (which from your perspective is zoom or the amount of the view the lens covers); that's fine as long as it covers the amount you need. It's specified in degrees, typically in the range of about 65 degrees (narrow, covering roughly your head and shoulders) to 90 degrees (which can accommodate another person in the view). Conference room webcams tend to have much wider angle of views, unsurprisingly.
Webcams with that list multiple fields of view will frequently use digital zoom in order to achieve it, which means you want to go for a high-resolution webcam; it can look really bad when you start with a 1080p camera.
If the webcam has a wide FOV, then it will likely have distortion that makes straight vertical lines on the sides curve. If that will bother you, look for a narrower FOV, or for a webcam that uses multiple lens elements, which can combat distortion.
Not all webcams have built-in microphones. Models targeted at streamers usually don't, for instance, since the assumption is you'll be using a high-quality headset or standalone mic instead of the webcam's. Built-in mics tend to be intended for everyday videoconferencing, and you rarely have any control over the characteristics of the sound.
But some are definitely better than others. Noise cancellation sometimes works well, but it often makes your voice sound a little (or a lot) processed, and you can't always control how aggressive it is. Many of the mics are omnidirectional, meaning they pick up sound from multiple locations, but that can generally be compensated for computationally.
Bottom line: If you care about sound quality and can tell good from bad, opt for a non-integrated mic or assume you'll need to supplement it with a dedicated mic. If you just want something "good enough," look at user reviews just to verify that a given webcam doesn't have relevant complaints about the mic.
These come in a billion different sizes and shapes, but the mounts -- the physical clip that lets you perch it on your screen -- are all very similar and tend to be stable but cumbersome. There's no "best" design, but if you want to use it on a laptop, you may want to avoid the big, clunky models.
One advantage bigger models have is the ability to remove the mounts or attach the mount itself to a tripod: Even a small tabletop tripod sitting behind your laptop screen can help avoid the weird looking-down angle you see with a lot of laptop webcams, by raising it to eye level. You'll probably still look down occasionally, but it feels more natural for the people on the other end.
The covers vary a lot, and the ones that completely detach and are fiddly to attach can be annoying and I lose them about 10 minutes after unboxing. But if you're tossing the webcam in a bag and carrying it around, you should definitely use something to protect the front.
Most of a webcam's features are only available via software. Almost any camera will work when you plug it into your USB-C or USB-A port (though 4K webcams frequently need a high-speed USB-C connection to get full resolution). And many of them work well this way.
But these features are essential and they're provided only by software: the ability to override exposure settings when they need correction; some small white balance control (auto usually delivers the best results, but I like to be able to make it slightly warmer or cooler); manual focus and the ability to save the changes as presets. Presets are doubly important for cameras modeled off commercial PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) webcams like the Obsbot and Insta360 models.
One thing to consider when buying a webcam for a Mac is that there are no controls built into the operating system and Windows doesn't really expose the settings (for good reason). If you want to adjust exposure, zoom, white balance -- anything really -- then the support needs to be built into the specific application or into a utility that comes with the camera. And autoexposure can be wrong at unexpected times.
All the cameras focus automatically, but unless you move around a lot, manual focus will let you set it and forget it, and even if you move a bit you don't have to deal with the webcam trying to lock onto you again. At best, it'll snap into focus after a slight delay; at worst, it will pulse unattractively searching for a focus lock. At its worst, it will fail to lock entirely. Although it's starting to change a bit on the higher end, webcams basically focus on the whole view.
Unfortunately, few manufacturers offer MacOS-compatible utilities; the Elgato FaceCam and FaceCam Pro and the Opal C1 and Tadpole are notable exceptions. The only settings you can control on the Mac natively aren't really intended for webcams -- Portrait mode (to blur the background) and Studio Lighting (to change the foreground-background exposure balance), neither of which works as well on the Mac as it does on an iPhone. And not all the software is as full featured on both platforms, or maintained over time.
For Windows, consider whether you want to use Windows Hello for face recognition. Some external webcams support it, but not all; usually if a webcam supports it the manufacturer mentions it in the marketing materials.
To test webcams, I record uncompressed video under various controlled lighting situations (optimal, typical, dim as well as any special cases the webcam is specifically intended for) and with most of the adjustments available in any bundled software, along with a running commentary captured from the webcam's mic if it has one, using OBS software. I also use the webcam for work to suss out any compatibility issues and adapt and expand my testing to cover any special uses the camera may be designed for.
To judge the quality, I play the video back at 1:1, evaluating exposure, white balance, noise, distortion and any other potential artifacts; for audio, I judge it by how natural the tone is and voice pickup, background noise cancellation (and the effect the NC has on the naturalness of the sound) and more.
Beyond the basic capabilities of any good webcam, there are several capabilities you need to think about.
You definitely want the camera to be able to handle at least 60fps in 1080p, and I suggest you opt for a 4K model if you can afford it (for greater flexibility) even if you're only streaming at 1080p. That will In a perfect world, you want some independent processing to take place in the camera, to take some of the load off of your PC. And the higher resolution will also allow you to produce better video when you're recording yourself rather than streaming.
Some more expensive webcams -- especially the PTZ-based models from Obsbot and Insta360 -- include features like the ability to shoot from above without needing to physically reposition them (to show your hands or objects on your desk) and have hands-off controls via a remote, gestures or in the case of the Obsbots, voice.
There are also some software-based capabilities like whiteboard modes, which automatically shoot at the widest angle or frame just the whiteboard and clean up the video for easier viewing.
Robot Camera Module Autoframing can be useful if you move around, but if you don't have a webcam that physically tracks you (in other words, a PTZ), you can get some temporary degradation of the video quality and meh results.