Synology Surveillance Station vs UniFi Protect cost for 15 cameras over five years
- Prices read from named US reseller listings and the Ubiquiti US store in September and October 2026
- Both systems priced for the same 15 cameras and five years
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
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- Area
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Motion events found
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Dropped by zone
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Dropped, too short
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Alerts you would get
| # | Start | Length | Class | Conf. | Area |
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Reading the clip. Events appear here as they are found.
Get these alerts from your own cameras.
Synology sells licenses for hardware you own. UniFi sells hardware and gives the software away.
That difference is why the two never land on the same invoice, and why comparing them takes some care.
Synology Surveillance Station comes with two free camera licenses on a NAS and more on its NVRs. Past that, each IP camera needs one license, sold in packs of one, four or eight. A pack is a one time purchase tied to your Synology account, and it can be moved to another NAS later.
UniFi Protect charges nothing for the software, the app or remote access. You pay for a console (UNVR at $299), drives and, ideally, UniFi cameras, because Protect only runs person and vehicle detection on its own cameras. A third party ONVIF camera gets live view, playback and motion events, and nothing smarter unless you add a $199 AI Port.
If you already own the NAS, Synology is the cheaper path. If you own nothing, UniFi is cheaper than buying a NAS, drives and a license stack.
Synology and UniFi Protect cost for fifteen cameras, once and over five years.
Neither product has a recurring software fee, so the five year column repeats the first. The Synology rows leave out the NAS, which the first scenario assumes you own.
Surveillance Station, four CLP4 packs on your NAS
- Up front
- $832
- Five years
- $832
- What it includes
- 2 free plus 16 purchased covers 15 cameras with 3 spare. Any ONVIF or RTSP camera.
Surveillance Station, CLP8 + CLP4 + CLP1
- Up front
- $888
- Five years
- $888
- What it includes
- Exactly 15 licenses with the 2 free. Costs $56 more than four CLP4.
Synology DVA1622 plus two CLP4 packs
- Up front
- $1,016
- Five years
- $1,016
- What it includes
- DVA1622 at $599.99 includes 8 licenses and tops out at 16 cameras.
UniFi UNVR, 16TB drive, 15 G5 Bullet cameras
- Up front
- $2,793
- Five years
- $2,793
- What it includes
- Five 3-packs at $359. Person and vehicle detection on the console. PoE switch extra.
UniFi UNVR, 16TB drive, 8 AI Ports for 15 existing 2K cameras
- Up front
- $2,590
- Five years
- $2,590
- What it includes
- Cameras stay, the old recorder goes.
Keep your recorder, MotionDetection Operate tier
- Up front
- $888
- Five years
- $4,440
- What it includes
- Person, vehicle, animal and package classification on 15 cameras. Records nothing.
| Option | Up front | Five years | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surveillance Station, four CLP4 packs on your NAS | $832 | $832 | 2 free plus 16 purchased covers 15 cameras with 3 spare. Any ONVIF or RTSP camera. |
| Surveillance Station, CLP8 + CLP4 + CLP1 | $888 | $888 | Exactly 15 licenses with the 2 free. Costs $56 more than four CLP4. |
| Synology DVA1622 plus two CLP4 packs | $1,016 | $1,016 | DVA1622 at $599.99 includes 8 licenses and tops out at 16 cameras. |
| UniFi UNVR, 16TB drive, 15 G5 Bullet cameras | $2,793 | $2,793 | Five 3-packs at $359. Person and vehicle detection on the console. PoE switch extra. |
| UniFi UNVR, 16TB drive, 8 AI Ports for 15 existing 2K cameras | $2,590 | $2,590 | Cameras stay, the old recorder goes. |
| Keep your recorder, MotionDetection Operate tier | $888 | $4,440 | Person, vehicle, animal and package classification on 15 cameras. Records nothing. |
One time hardware and license cost. The Synology bars exclude the NAS and its drives.
License pack prices are CLP1 $90.05, CLP4 $207.99 and CLP8 $589.99 at US resellers, with the full rules on the Synology Surveillance Station license page. The UniFi figures come from the UniFi Protect cost breakdown. Reseller prices move, so confirm before you order.
Pick by what you already own, then by how smart the cameras need to be.
Synology wins when
You own a Synology NAS or plan one for file storage anyway, and your cameras are a mix of brands. The license is a one time $832 for fifteen, and the packs move to a new NAS if you replace it.
UniFi Protect wins when
You are starting from nothing and want one box that records and runs detection. Software, app and remote access cost $0, and a UNVR, a drive and fifteen cameras is $2,793 with every piece included, which is the figure to set against a NAS purchase.
Synology loses when
You need person and vehicle alerts without extra hardware. Detection on Synology depends on the camera or a separate AI task, and the DVA1622 caps at 16 cameras and 2 AI tasks.
UniFi loses when
Your cameras are Axis, Hanwha or Hikvision and you want to keep them. Protect adopts them over ONVIF but gives no person detection, so fifteen of them need AI Ports at $199 per one 4K, two 2K or three HD cameras.
If you are looking past these two, the video management software comparison prices DW Spectrum, Wisenet WAVE and AXIS Camera Station on the same fifteen cameras.
Neither one makes motion alerts mean something on a camera that cannot classify.
Many buyers compare recorders because the phone buzzes at spiders, headlights and rain. The recorder only receives what the camera decides is motion.
Stays on your recorder
Recording, the client, the licenses you bought. Nothing is replaced.
Added beside it
Classification of each motion event as person, vehicle, animal or nothing, read from the RTSP stream the recorder already uses.
Where alerts go
Email, Slack or a webhook with a cropped still. The Operate tier keeps 30 days of events for 5 users.
What it costs
$888 a year for 15 cameras, $2,988 a year for 60, published on our pricing page. No hardware.
On a Synology NAS the detection layer works beside Surveillance Station without touching it. On UniFi it is the alternative to buying AI Ports, as set out on the UniFi Protect third party cameras page.
How to compare quotes for these two systems.
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1
Count what you own
A NAS with free bays and ONVIF cameras favors Synology. Bare walls and no recorder favor UniFi.
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2
Check the camera ceiling
DVA1622 stops at 16 cameras. A UNVR is rated for 60 HD or 18 4K cameras. A NAS model has its own limit in the Synology spec sheet.
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3
Price storage the same way
Both need drives. A 16TB drive is $699 on the UniFi store. Both systems need drives for the same footage, so price them the same way on each side.
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4
Price the alert layer separately
If false alarms are the reason for switching, test classification on your own streams before buying new hardware.
Synology Surveillance Station vs UniFi Protect cost questions buyers ask before ordering.
01
Is Synology Surveillance Station cheaper than UniFi Protect?
If you already own the NAS, yes. Fifteen cameras need four CLP4 packs at about $832 once. UniFi Protect has no license, but a UNVR, a 16TB drive and fifteen UniFi cameras cost $2,793. Starting from nothing, the NAS and drives narrow the gap.
02
Does UniFi Protect charge a monthly fee?
No. Ubiquiti charges no license, per camera fee or subscription for Protect or for remote access. You pay for the console, drives and cameras once. Optional items like UI Care and an AI Key are one time purchases.
03
How many cameras does Synology Surveillance Station include?
A NAS includes 2 camera licenses, a Synology NVR 4, and a Deep Learning NVR 8. The defaults cannot be moved to another device. Each extra camera needs one license, sold in packs of 1, 4 or 8.
04
Can UniFi Protect use cameras I already own?
Yes, over ONVIF, with live view, playback and motion events. Person and vehicle detection stay off for third party cameras unless you add an AI Port at $199 per one 4K, two 2K or three HD cameras.
05
Do I need a new recorder to fix false motion alerts?
Usually not. Alerts come from the camera, so a new recorder receives the same noise. Classifying each event on the camera stream as person, vehicle or nothing fixes it and runs beside either system.
Related pages
Synology Surveillance Station license
CLP1, CLP4 and CLP8 prices and transfer rules.
UniFi Protect cost
Consoles, drives and a fifteen camera total.
UniFi AI Port price
What one $199 port covers on third party cameras.
UniFi Protect third party cameras
Person alerts on ONVIF cameras.
Video management software compared
More platforms priced per camera.
Video analytics software price
Every tier and the per camera arithmetic, no sales call.
Keep your recorder running. Get alerts that mean something.
One field, one 6 digit code, and your console opens on that address. Pick the tier by camera count and pay by card.