Security & low voltage
Security Camera Storage Cost Calculator
How much recording space a camera system needs and what it costs, from a bitrate or from resolution and frame rate.
Result
Bitrate drives everything here and it is not a fixed property of a camera: it rises with scene complexity and motion, so a camera watching a busy road records far more than one watching a storeroom. Manufacturer bitrate figures are usually quoted for undemanding scenes. The estimates from resolution and frame rate are planning numbers at a moderate quality setting rather than measurements. Recording only on motion is by far the largest lever on the total, and it is also the one that loses footage nobody knew they wanted, which is a retention policy decision rather than a storage one.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Bitrate drives everything. Either you know it per camera or it is estimated from resolution, frame rate and codec, where pixel count and frame rate raise it and H.265 roughly halves it against H.264. Converting megabits per second to gigabytes per day is multiplying by the seconds in a day and dividing by eight for bytes, then the recording share accounts for motion-triggered rather than continuous recording. Multiply by cameras and retention days for the space, then add redundancy overhead to get drives to buy.
What moves the number
- Bitrate, which is the dominant input and rises with scene complexity.
- Codec, since H.265 approximately halves storage against H.264.
- Recording share, as motion-triggered recording cuts storage dramatically.
- Retention days, which scales the total linearly.
Where this one goes wrong
Manufacturer bitrate figures assume undemanding scenes, and a camera watching a busy road or a windy car park records far more than one watching a storeroom. Sizing from a published figure and finding the recorder full in three weeks is the common outcome. The redundancy distinction also catches people out: the recording space is what you can fill, while the drive capacity is what you have to buy, and a mirrored arrangement gives you half of what you purchased. Motion-only recording is the largest lever and also the one that loses footage nobody knew they wanted, which is a retention policy decision.
Before you quote
- Allow for scene complexity above the manufacturer's bitrate figure.
- Distinguish usable recording space from drive capacity purchased.
- Treat motion-only recording as a policy choice, not just a saving.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
How much storage do I need for eight cameras for thirty days?
It depends almost entirely on bitrate, which is why this asks rather than assuming. Switching from H.264 to H.265 roughly halves it, dropping frame rate reduces it proportionally, and recording on motion rather than continuously can cut it by most of the total. Enter your own settings to get a figure you can buy against.
Why is the drive capacity larger than the recording space?
Because redundancy consumes capacity. A mirrored pair gives you half of what you bought, and a parity arrangement gives up roughly one drive's worth. The recording space is what you can actually fill; the drive capacity is what you have to purchase.
Is cloud storage cheaper than local drives?
Local is normally cheaper per terabyte over a few years, since the drives are bought once, while cloud is a recurring cost that continues indefinitely. Cloud buys offsite resilience, which local storage in the building being monitored does not provide. Compare the annual cloud figure against the one off drive cost over the years you expect the system to run.
Does H.265 really halve the storage?
Roughly, at comparable visual quality, and that is the single easiest reduction available if the cameras and recorder both support it. The trade is more processing work to encode and decode, which older recorders and some browsers handle poorly.
The formula
GB per day = Mbps x 3600 x 24 / 8 / 1000; space = GB per day x cameras x retention days; drives = space x (1 + redundancy)
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How to use this calculator
- Number of cameras. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 8.
- Work the bitrate out from. Enter your own figure; the page starts at A known bitrate per camera.
- Bitrate per camera (Mbps). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 4.
- Share of the day actually recording (%). Continuous recording is 100%. Motion triggered recording is much lower, and is the largest single lever here.
- Days of footage to keep. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 30.
- Storage. Enter your own figure; the page starts at Local drives, bought once.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to storage cost, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of cameras | 8 |
| Work the bitrate out from | A known bitrate per camera |
| Bitrate per camera (Mbps) | 4 |
| Share of the day actually recording | 100% |
| Days of footage to keep | 30 |
| Storage | Local drives, bought once |
| Cost per terabyte of drive | $45 |
| Cloud cost per terabyte per month | $18 |
| Redundancy overhead | 25% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Storage cost main result | $583.20 |
| Recording space needed (TB) | 10.4 |
| Drive capacity to buy (TB) | 13.0 |
| GB per camera per day | 43.2 |
| Bitrate per camera (Mbps) | 4.0 |
| Cloud cost per year | $2,239 |
At 4.0 Mbps each, 8 cameras record 43.2 GB per camera per day, so 30 days of retention needs 10.4 TB of recording space, or 13.0 TB of drives once redundancy is allowed for. That costs $583.20.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only cost per terabyte of drive, this is what happens to storage cost. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Cost per terabyte of drive ($) | Storage cost |
|---|---|
| $23 | $298.08 |
| $34 | $440.64 |
| $45 example above | $583.20 |
| $68 | $881.28 |
| $90 | $1,166 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Number of cameras
- A number, between 1 and 1000, starting at 8.
- Work the bitrate out from
- Choose from A known bitrate per camera, Resolution, frame rate and codec.
- Bitrate per camera (Mbps)
- A number, between 0 and 100, starting at 4.
- Share of the day actually recording (%)
- Continuous recording is 100%. Motion triggered recording is much lower, and is the largest single lever here.
- Days of footage to keep
- A number, between 1 and 365, starting at 30.
- Storage
- Choose from Local drives, bought once, Cloud, paid monthly.
- Cost per terabyte of drive ($)
- A money amount, between 0 and 2000, starting at $45.
- Cloud cost per terabyte per month ($)
- A money amount, between 0 and 500, starting at $18.
- Redundancy overhead (%)
- Space given up to redundancy. A mirrored pair is 100%, a single parity drive in eight is around 14%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Storage cost | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Recording space needed (TB) | A decimal figure. |
| Drive capacity to buy (TB) | A decimal figure. |
| GB per camera per day | A decimal figure. |
| Bitrate per camera (Mbps) | A decimal figure. |
| Cloud cost per year | A money figure. |
Keep going
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