Best Baby Monitors for 2023

The Miku Pro is one of the best baby monitors available because of its real-time breathing monitoring, which appears as a waveform atop the live video feed, alongside a live respirations-per-minute readout. Unlike its competitors, the Miku Pro measures your baby's vitals without any wearables, using a technology the company calls SensorFusion. No wearables means no laundry, no charging and no worrying about middle-of-the-night dislocation. And you don't have to buy any peripherals either. Miku's approach adds convenience to peace of mind, making it a truly premium experience -- with a premium price tag to match.

It differentiates itself from the Nanit Pro by offering cloud storage free, no annual subscription fees required. This is a big deal, and a major consideration if you're looking at smart monitors and plan to use one for more than the first year. (Nanit's most basic subscription is free for a year but then costs $50 annually.) The Miku will record events (sound, movement and so forth), and clips are saved for seven days, or you can download them to your device for posterity.

Setup and mounting: The Miku Pro baby monitor packaging is as premium as its array of features, and each monitor includes everything you need for wall-mounting. Yep, even the screwdriver. But the floor stand is $99 extra, which is a pretty hefty upcharge for a product that already retails for $399. (Then again, you do save money on wearables and cloud subscriptions.)

Audio and video quality: The Miku's 1080p HD video is as clear as its competitors', and you can toggle between low, standard and high video quality in the app. But despite its many competitive advantages, the Miku Pro stumbles when it comes to the app itself. I found the alerts and recorded video snippets a little inconsistent, and on my Android phone, I experienced issues with a spotty, laggy feed and had to reset the connection. Even once it was fixed, the app takes a few seconds to load the feed every time I open it, and the audio cuts in and out, which is impossible to sleep through. All the features in the world can't compete with a reliable video feed.

As its name suggests, the Cubo Ai monitors your baby with more than just a video feed: It uses artificial intelligence to alert you when your baby rolls over or has their face covered. The camera is bird-shaped, with various cheeps and chirps when the device boots up or pairs with your Wi-Fi, and the whole aesthetic gives the product a bespoke feel. This baby monitor would blend right into a well-designed nursery, nixing the whole surveillance vibe that most cameras bring. Where the Cubo Ai really stands out is in its photo and video capture. The app will automatically save photos to your "Moments Wall" every once in a while, and you can manually save your own photos or videos, too. And with 18-hour video playback, you can scroll back in time to see what happened at any point in the night. Creepy or cute, you be the judge.

Setup and mounting: Of all the Wi-Fi monitors I tested, I had the most trouble setting up the Cubo Ai. It was really tricky to connect, and I had to go through the setup process multiple times before it took. Even once it was connected, the camera would lose signal halfway through the night and shut off without alerting me. Outside my apartment, I still experienced issues connecting to Wi-Fi, but the camera stayed connected once it was paired. The base package comes with a wall mount that requires a moderate amount of effort (and a drill) to install. For $60 more, Cubo Ai sells a three-pack of mounts: one for the crib, a floor stand and a tabletop mount for traveling.

Audio and video quality: Cubo's video and audio quality are both decent, compared to other Wi-Fi baby monitors I tested, but the feed is laggy at times and it lacks the noise-canceling feature of other models, making background noise a small irritation.

For Wi-Fi monitoring on a (slight) budget, check out the Lollipop baby monitor, which stands out with its unique design and three fun color options. Though I found the app to also be less intuitive than its competitors, it's still chock full of cool features. For a Wi-Fi baby monitor with lots of bells and whistles, you can't beat the price. The Lollipop is the Goldilocks Wi-Fi baby monitor, and a great value for the budget-conscious who still want a few extras.

Setup and mounting: Unfortunately, I also experienced Wi-Fi issues with the Lollipop baby monitor at more than one location and had to delete the app from my phone entirely one night to get the alarm to stop ringing. But mounting was a breeze. Shaped like its namesake, the Lollipop camera comes on a bendable silicone stick, which can be attached to a crib railing, molded into a table stand or wrapped around… pretty much anything. This makes it ideal for traveling because you can get creative about placement without sacrificing view (or breaking out a drill).

Audio and video quality: The Lollipop's picture and sound were as expected for the price -- not the best, but could be worse. The picture was a bit too washed out, with a short delay in the feed, and the camera had some trouble switching between night mode and color. The audio was fuzzier than other models, but certainly not a deal-breaker.

The Lollipop's built-in sound machine includes a selection of classical lullabies and white noise options. Weirdly, temperature and humidity tracking is not included with the Lollipop camera, but you can get a separate sensor for an additional $55. This would bring the total cost of the Lollipop closer to its competitors.

Active Noise Reduction is the feature of note for the Infant Optics baby monitor, which is largely considered the gold standard of non-Wi-Fi baby monitors. ANR filters out background noise from fans, humidifiers and so on without silencing your baby's cries. This feature is especially welcome on the Infant Optics, which seemed to have the most trouble with interference of any of the analog monitors I tested. After one night of staccato secondhand white noise from an intermittent signal, I was eager to switch to ANR mode. (Notably, Infant Optics doesn't actually recommend ANR mode for use with white noise machines. The result is a bit of an alien-like warble, but I still found that more tolerable.) As with Wi-Fi baby monitors, interference with an analog monitor will largely depend on your particular home, the position of the monitor, and how many competing signals are nearby.

Setup and mounting: The Infant Optics DXR-8 Pro monitor is plug-and-play: Plug the camera into a wall outlet, plug the parent unit into a wall outlet (at least until the battery charges), and you're good to go. Infant Optics also has one of the simplest mounting solutions, a single screw that connects to the base of the camera unit. 

Battery life: The parent unit has 6 to 10 hours of battery, depending on how often the screen is turned on. I found that it's a bit risky to leave it unplugged overnight (it'll wake you with an annoying, but welcome, beep when the battery is low), but it's sufficient for evening use.

Audio and video quality: The Infant Optics has a dedicated volume control button on the top of the parent unit, and its loudest setting was much louder than the other units I tested. Audio was a bit more distorted than the Wi-Fi models but the clearest of all non-Wi-Fi monitors. Video is displayed in 720p resolution, which is more than sufficient, but not quite the best quality I've seen.

The Hellobaby Video Baby Monitor will do what a monitor is supposed to do, and it's significantly cheaper than most other models. Its no-frills approach means you're not paying extra for features you won't use. Small, lightweight and a little outdated-looking, the Hellobaby monitor is a cinch to set up and would make a good non-Wi-Fi travel monitor. Compared to its competitors, the Hellobaby baby monitor has a tiny screen -- only 3.2 inches, compared with the average 5-inch display. And unlike the other non-Wi-Fi video monitors I tested, Hellobaby doesn't have remote pan or tilt, so what you see is what you get. 

Setup and mounting: Hellobaby is plug-and-play at its finest, and mounting only requires a single screw that attaches to the base of the camera. It doesn't get any simpler than that. Because there's no remote pan or tilt, however, you'll have to get the camera in a good position when you mount it, not after your baby hits the hay. This was the Hellobaby's biggest drawback for me.

Battery life: Hellobaby doesn't specify a battery life, but the parent unit lasted overnight with power to spare. 

Audio and video quality: Of the monitors I tested, Hellobaby's had the lowest-quality picture -- especially in the dark, which is probably how you'll use it most. Similarly, the audio output is quieter than I'd like, though Hellobaby is by no means alone in this. Still, both the audio and video quality were good enough for the price, in my experience.

When you only need audio, VTech DM211 is the baby monitor of choice. VTech hits all the marks here: Easy setup, low price, portability and, most importantly, decent audio output. While the lack of a camera is an instant deal breaker for a lot of parents, team audio-only will love the few features that VTech's monitor does include. This monitor is basically foolproof, which makes it a good choice for traveling or backup.

Setup and mounting: Since there's no video component, there's no need to mount the VTech DM221. And since there's no Wi-Fi and no apps to download, setup is as easy as plugging in the baby unit and the parent unit and placing them near enough to link, which they do automatically.

Battery life: VTech says this audio monitor will last up to 16 hours on a charge, and I had no trouble keeping it unplugged all night.

Audio quality: I wouldn't want to listen to music through the VTech speaker, but as a baby monitor, it accomplishes its purpose. The audio was a little quieter than I'd prefer at max volume, but the unexpected audio features more than make up for that.