Avigilon camera license cost for Unity Video Core, Standard and Enterprise

One license per camera, one edition per site.

The edition decides the price, the camera ceiling and the features. All cameras on a site use the same edition.

Avigilon sells Unity Video on premises by camera channel. Each IP camera, encoder channel or third party ONVIF camera that records to an Avigilon server takes one channel license. You buy the license once and it stays valid on the version you activated it on. Avigilon does not publish a price list, so the figures here come from Bluff City Electronics, a US reseller that shows its sale price next to the list price for every Avigilon part number.

What a license does not include is the next major version. ACC 7 sites found that out when Unity Video 8 shipped as a paid upgrade. Staying current takes a Smart Plan per camera, which is the second line on every Avigilon quote and the one buyers most often leave out of the budget.

For fifteen cameras the license alone is $1,252.35 on Core, $2,025 on Standard and $4,272.90 on Enterprise. Add a five year Smart Plan and Enterprise lands at $5,892.90.

Which Avigilon edition your site needs.

Limits and features from Avigilon's Unity Video editions page. The edition is fixed per site, so the largest need on the site sets the price for every camera.

Most single building businesses fit Standard. Core works for a small office or shop under 24 cameras that needs no rules, no audio and no maps, but the zero rule triggers means no automated actions at all. Enterprise is for multi server sites, failover, Appearance Search and the Avigilon AI Appliance. Moving up later costs the difference per camera: UNITY8-COR-TO-STD $103.14, UNITY8-STD-TO-ENT $171.90, UNITY8-COR-TO-ENT $221.01.

Avigilon license cost for fifteen cameras, once and over five years.

Reseller prices from the tables above. Server hardware, Windows licenses and labor are separate lines.

The last row is where most quotes balloon. A Unity license records a third party or older Avigilon camera, but it does not make that camera classify people and vehicles. Avigilon does that on non analytic cameras through a video analytics channel (UNITY8-VAC, Standard or Core only; Avigilon's support library describes VAC channels as included with Enterprise licenses) running on an Avigilon AI NVR or AI Appliance, which is new hardware. Our AI NVR software comparison prices that route against the others.

How to order Avigilon camera licenses without overpaying.

1. 1

   Count channels, not cameras

   Each camera, each encoder channel and each multi sensor head that records separately is a channel. Count what the server will actually record.

2. 2

   Pick the edition for the whole site

   All cameras on a site share one edition. If one requirement needs Enterprise, such as failover, every channel is priced at Enterprise.

3. 3

   Decide on the Smart Plan now

   A plan bought with the licenses is cheaper per year than catching up at the next major version. The 5 year plan is the lowest yearly rate.

4. 4

   Compare the quote to list

   Ask for part numbers and unit prices. A quote at or above the list prices in the tables above has room to negotiate.

If you are still choosing between Avigilon and another recording platform, the video management software comparison prices DW Spectrum, Wisenet WAVE, AXIS Camera Station and exacqVision per camera on the same basis. You can also check what our classification does on one of your own clips in the demo at the top.

Avigilon license questions buyers ask before ordering.