Dahua DSS Pro license price per channel, the DSS Pro base license and the DSS Express license
- Prices read from US reseller listings
- Written by a detection product that works beside DSS
Interior, after hours
Fixed camera, low light, two subjects
Analysing the clip
Clip
Decoded in your browser. Your video is never uploaded.
Sets the luma delta threshold and the smallest region that counts.
Kills the one frame flicker that no operator wants paged about.
Exclude zone
Put it over the road, the tree, the neighbour's window. Events inside it stop alerting.
The frame an event was found on shows up here.
Nothing selected yet
Hover a row in the event table to preview its frame, click it to hold the frame and jump the clip there.
- Length
- 0.0s
- Confidence
- 0%
- Area
- 0.0%
0
Motion events found
0
Dropped by zone
0
Dropped, too short
0
Alerts you would get
| # | Start | Length | Class | Conf. | Area |
|---|
Reading the clip. Events appear here as they are found.
Get these alerts from your own cameras.
A DSS Pro quote has three parts. Only the first two are required.
Part numbers and license rules are from Dahua's DSS license quick guide for version 8. Prices are US reseller listings.
The base license
Required once per system. DSS8PRVB
Every DSS Pro system starts with the video base license, which includes 16 video channels and is the prerequisite for buying any more. It lists at $1,315.78, so for a site with 16 cameras or fewer it is the whole license bill, about $82 a channel.
Channel licenses
Required from camera 17 on. DSS8PRV
Each video channel past the first 16 needs one DSS8PRV, whether it is an IP camera, an NVR channel, a face recognition or an ANPR camera. US listings run from $69.98 to $98.98 each, and the license is perpetual, with no yearly fee to keep recording.
Care and modules
Optional. Per channel or per system
A year of care service (DSS8PRCS1Y, bug fixes and patches) is $14.38 a channel. Multi-site costs $3,661.18, hot standby $9,448.18, the access control base $500.39 and each door $35.98. Most small sites buy none of these.
What each DSS Pro V8 license costs, by part number.
One time prices at Network Camera Store unless noted. Other US dealers quote the channel license lower, and integrators price the whole system as a project.
DSS8PRVB
- What it is
- Video base license, includes 16 video channels
- US price
- $1,315.78
- Needed when
- Always, once per system
DSS8PRV
- What it is
- One extra video channel (IP camera, NVR channel, FR or ANPR)
- US price
- $69.98 to $98.98
- Needed when
- From the 17th channel
DSS8PRCS1Y
- What it is
- One year of care service for one channel or device
- US price
- $14.38
- Needed when
- Optional, per channel per year
DSS8PRDB
- What it is
- Access control base license, includes 16 doors
- US price
- $500.39
- Needed when
- Only if DSS runs your doors
DSS8PRD
- What it is
- One extra access control door
- US price
- $35.98
- Needed when
- From the 17th door
DSS8PRMSITE
- What it is
- Multi-site license, link remote DSS sites
- US price
- $3,661.18
- Needed when
- Several sites on one client
DSSHOTSTANDBY
- What it is
- Hot standby, one main plus one standby server, 3 years warranty
- US price
- $9,448.18
- Needed when
- Only for failover
| Part number | What it is | US price | Needed when |
|---|---|---|---|
| DSS8PRVB | Video base license, includes 16 video channels | $1,315.78 | Always, once per system |
| DSS8PRV | One extra video channel (IP camera, NVR channel, FR or ANPR) | $69.98 to $98.98 | From the 17th channel |
| DSS8PRCS1Y | One year of care service for one channel or device | $14.38 | Optional, per channel per year |
| DSS8PRDB | Access control base license, includes 16 doors | $500.39 | Only if DSS runs your doors |
| DSS8PRD | One extra access control door | $35.98 | From the 17th door |
| DSS8PRMSITE | Multi-site license, link remote DSS sites | $3,661.18 | Several sites on one client |
| DSSHOTSTANDBY | Hot standby, one main plus one standby server, 3 years warranty | $9,448.18 | Only for failover |
The part that surprises people is the base license. You cannot buy four DSS Pro channels. The smallest DSS Pro system is 16 channels at $1,315.78, which is why a shop with six cameras pays the same as one with sixteen, and why Dahua sells the free Express edition below it.
The channel license is perpetual. Recording keeps working if you never buy care, and the care service ($14.38 a channel a year) covers bug fixes, patch delivery and help for third party developers rather than a right to keep using the software. Video intercoms, POS feeds, radar and emergency call stations each take their own device license with no base license needed.
Per channel, by system size
8
- License total
- $1,315.78
- Per camera
- $164.47
16
- License total
- $1,315.78
- Per camera
- $82.24
32
- License total
- $2,899.46
- Per camera
- $90.61
64
- License total
- $6,066.82
- Per camera
- $94.79
| Cameras | License total | Per camera |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | $1,315.78 | $164.47 |
| 16 | $1,315.78 | $82.24 |
| 32 | $2,899.46 | $90.61 |
| 64 | $6,066.82 | $94.79 |
Base license plus DSS8PRV at $98.98. At the $69.98 channel price, 32 cameras come to $2,435.46 and 64 to $4,674.82.
The DSS Express license costs nothing for 64 channels. Here is what the limits mean in practice.
Both editions run on your own Windows server. The difference is scale, storage and the modules you can add.
License to start
- DSS Express V8
- None, 64 video channels free
- DSS Pro V8
- DSS8PRVB base, $1,315.78, 16 channels
Extra video channel
- DSS Express V8
- DSS8EXV, $35.98
- DSS Pro V8
- DSS8PRV, $69.98 to $98.98
Maximum video channels
- DSS Express V8
- 256 in total
- DSS Pro V8
- 2,000 per server, 20,000 distributed
Storage on the free tier
- DSS Express V8
- 7 days and 2TB
- DSS Pro V8
- No free tier
Face recognition and ANPR
- DSS Express V8
- Up to 8 of each on the free tier
- DSS Pro V8
- Counted as video channels
Parking and entrance module
- DSS Express V8
- DSS8EXVEM, $1,081.78
- DSS Pro V8
- DSS8PRVEM
Moving up later
- DSS Express V8
- Each license converts one to one to Pro
- DSS Pro V8
- n/a
| DSS Express V8 | DSS Pro V8 | |
|---|---|---|
| License to start | None, 64 video channels free | DSS8PRVB base, $1,315.78, 16 channels |
| Extra video channel | DSS8EXV, $35.98 | DSS8PRV, $69.98 to $98.98 |
| Maximum video channels | 256 in total | 2,000 per server, 20,000 distributed |
| Storage on the free tier | 7 days and 2TB | No free tier |
| Face recognition and ANPR | Up to 8 of each on the free tier | Counted as video channels |
| Parking and entrance module | DSS8EXVEM, $1,081.78 | DSS8PRVEM |
| Moving up later | Each license converts one to one to Pro | n/a |
For most single sites under 64 cameras, the honest answer is that Express does the recording job and the license costs nothing. The catch is the storage cap Dahua attaches to the free version: 7 days and 2TB. A site that has to keep 30 days, which is common for retail, cannabis and anything insurance driven, outgrows it quickly.
Buying a single Express channel license lifts the channel count to 65, and Express tops out at 256 channels. Past that, or when you need hot standby, multi-site federation or a large access control deployment, you are in DSS Pro territory, and Dahua's upgrade licenses move each Express license to Pro one for one.
What fifteen cameras cost on DSS, and where a detection layer fits.
License and care only. Server hardware, disks, cameras and installation labor are the same whichever row you pick, so they are left out.
DSS Express, 15 cameras
- Up front
- $0
- Per year after
- $0
- Five years
- $0
- What it includes
- Recording, live view and playback on your server, capped at 7 days and 2TB on the free tier.
DSS Pro, 15 cameras, no care
- Up front
- $1,315.78
- Per year after
- $0
- Five years
- $1,315.78
- What it includes
- Recording with no storage cap, room for one more camera before a channel license.
DSS Pro, 15 cameras, with care
- Up front
- $1,531.48
- Per year after
- $215.70
- Five years
- $2,394.28
- What it includes
- The same, plus Dahua bug fixes and patches every year.
DSS Pro, 30 cameras, no care
- Up front
- $2,701.50
- Per year after
- $0
- Five years
- $2,701.50
- What it includes
- Base license plus 14 channel licenses at $98.98.
MotionDetection, Operate tier
- Up front
- $888
- Per year after
- $888
- Five years
- $4,440
- What it includes
- Person, vehicle, animal and package classification on 15 cameras, 30 day event history, 5 users, webhook and Slack. No recording.
| Option | Up front | Per year after | Five years | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSS Express, 15 cameras | $0 | $0 | $0 | Recording, live view and playback on your server, capped at 7 days and 2TB on the free tier. |
| DSS Pro, 15 cameras, no care | $1,315.78 | $0 | $1,315.78 | Recording with no storage cap, room for one more camera before a channel license. |
| DSS Pro, 15 cameras, with care | $1,531.48 | $215.70 | $2,394.28 | The same, plus Dahua bug fixes and patches every year. |
| DSS Pro, 30 cameras, no care | $2,701.50 | $0 | $2,701.50 | Base license plus 14 channel licenses at $98.98. |
| MotionDetection, Operate tier | $888 | $888 | $4,440 | Person, vehicle, animal and package classification on 15 cameras, 30 day event history, 5 users, webhook and Slack. No recording. |
The honest reading
DSS is a recorder and a management platform. We are not, and on price alone DSS wins every row, because a perpetual license is cheap next to any subscription. If your cameras are Dahua WizSense or WizMind models, they already label people and vehicles themselves and DSS shows those events. Buy DSS and stop there. This comparison only matters for the site whose alerts are still noise after the license is paid: older Dahua cameras with pixel motion, cameras from other brands, or a team that needs events in Slack or a ticket queue rather than in a desktop client.
What DSS Pro gives a camera that is not a Dahua AI camera.
DSS Pro adds third party cameras over ONVIF, and each one takes a normal video channel license. It records them, shows them live and plays them back like any Dahua camera.
Detection is a different matter. In Dahua's documentation, the human and vehicle alarms, target search and face or plate features in DSS come from analytics running in Dahua devices: AI cameras, AI NVRs and IVSS servers. A camera from another brand sends DSS the events its own firmware produces, and on most older cameras that means pixel motion, the kind that fires on headlights, rain and swaying trees.
So a DSS license on a mixed fleet buys recording and a single client. It does not turn a five year old camera into one that knows a person from a shadow. That gap is the one we sell into: our person detection camera software reads the same RTSP stream DSS records and classifies each event, whatever brand the camera is.
Two things a US buyer should check before a Dahua purchase order.
Federal contracts
Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act bars federal agencies from buying Dahua video equipment and from contracting with companies that use it. If your business bills a federal agency, ask your contracts officer before expanding a Dahua system, software included.
Most private businesses are not affected.
New Dahua hardware
Since November 2022 the FCC has refused new equipment authorizations for Dahua video products, so new Dahua camera models are scarcer at US dealers than they were. DSS licenses are still listed by US resellers, and existing cameras keep working.
Plan camera replacements with that in mind.
Who installs it
DSS Pro is usually sold and set up by an integrator, who quotes the server, disks, licenses and labor together. The license lines above are the part you can check yourself.
Ask for the part numbers on the quote.
Classification on the stream DSS already records, with no second recorder.
Connect
Give it the RTSP URL of each camera, or let it find them over ONVIF. It reads the low resolution sub stream, so DSS keeps the main stream and nothing on the server changes.
Detect
Our own background model finds regions that really moved and joins them into events. Sensor noise, compression shimmer and single frame flicker are removed before anything is classified.
Classify
Crops from each event are labeled person, vehicle, animal, package or other motion, with a confidence value. Continuous video never leaves your network.
Alert
Only events outside your exclude zones, longer than your minimum duration and in a class you chose reach you, by email, webhook or Slack.
If you are still choosing the recording platform, the video management software guide compares license models across vendors, and our breakdowns of the DW Spectrum license price and the Synology Surveillance Station license total per camera costs the same way this page does. For stream URLs and sub streams, see RTSP camera software.
Four things DSS does that this product does not.
-
Recording
DSS records every camera to your own disks. We keep events and their crops, not video, so a site with no recorder needs DSS, an NVR or something like it first.
-
Live view and video walls
DSS runs live grids, video walls, e-maps and fisheye dewarping. Here you get the event list and the crops, and you open footage in the recorder you already have.
-
Access control, intercoms and parking
DSS Pro manages doors, video intercoms, parking lots and POS overlays in one client. We classify motion events for alerts and do none of that.
-
Price for a pure Dahua AI fleet
On WizSense or WizMind cameras, DSS shows human and vehicle events for a one time license. Our Operate tier is $888 a year for fifteen cameras.
Dahua DSS Pro license questions that come up before the order.
01
How much is a Dahua DSS Pro license?
A DSS Pro V8 system starts with the DSS8PRVB video base license, which includes 16 video channels and lists at $1,315.78 at a US reseller. Each extra video channel license (DSS8PRV) costs $69.98 to $98.98. Licenses are perpetual, and an optional care service is $14.38 per channel a year.
02
Is Dahua DSS Pro free?
No. The DSS Pro software download is free and comes with a 90 day trial, but running it past the trial needs the base license and any extra channel licenses. The free edition is DSS Express, which runs 64 video channels with no license, limited to 7 days and 2TB of storage.
03
How much is a Dahua DSS Express license?
The base DSS Express license is free and covers 64 video channels, with up to 8 ANPR and 8 face recognition channels and a 7 day, 2TB storage cap. Each extra Express video channel license (DSS8EXV) is $35.98 at a US reseller, and Express stops at 256 channels in total.
04
Is DSS Express free for commercial use?
Yes. DSS Express is Dahua's VMS for small and mid sized sites, and its base license for 64 video channels costs nothing. The limits are scale and retention: 7 days and 2TB of storage on the free tier, 256 channels at most, and no hot standby or multi-site federation, which stay in DSS Pro.
05
Does DSS Pro have a trial license?
Yes. DSS Pro comes with a 90 day trial license, which you apply for on Dahua's website and activate online, or offline by exporting a request file from the server and importing the license file it returns. After 90 days you need a paid base license to keep recording.
06
What is the difference between DSS Express and DSS Pro?
DSS Express is free for 64 video channels, adds channels at $35.98 each and stops at 256 channels, with a 7 day and 2TB storage cap on the free tier. DSS Pro starts with a $1,315.78 base license, scales to 2,000 channels per server and adds hot standby, multi-site and large access control.
07
Does DSS Pro work with third party cameras?
Yes. DSS Pro adds third party cameras over ONVIF, and each takes one video channel license. It records and plays them back normally, but human and vehicle detection in DSS comes from Dahua AI devices, so a non Dahua camera usually sends only its own motion events.
08
How many cameras can DSS Pro handle?
Dahua rates DSS Pro V8 at up to 2,000 video channels, 1,000 doors and 400TB of storage per server, and up to 20,000 channels in a distributed setup. DSS Express tops out at 256 channels. Real capacity depends on the server hardware, bitrate and how much analytics runs on it.
09
Can I get person alerts on non Dahua cameras without DSS Pro?
Yes. A detection layer can read the RTSP sub stream of each camera, whatever the brand, and label every real motion event as a person, vehicle, animal or package before alerting. MotionDetection does this from $49 a month for four cameras, or $888 a year for fifteen, alongside the recorder you already run.
Related pages
HikCentral Professional license price
The other large platform: a $120 base and per camera licenses.
DW Spectrum license pricing
Another perpetual per channel VMS license, priced by pack.
Synology Surveillance Station license pack
Per camera keys for a NAS based recorder.
Axis Camera Station license cost
Core and Universal Pro licenses per camera for 1 or 5 years.
GeoVision VMS license pricing
Free for GeoVision cameras, per channel keys for everything else.
Video management software for IP cameras
VMS platforms compared on license model and published price.
Video analytics software price
Four tiers, the per camera arithmetic, and no sales call attached.
Person detection camera software
Person alerts on the cameras you already own.
Keep DSS. Fix the alerts.
One field, one 6 digit code, and your console opens on that address. Pick the tier by camera count and pay by card, with no quote to wait for.