Software Alternatives & Reviews

Alarm VS Blue Iris

Compare Alarm VS Blue Iris and see what are their differences

Alarm logo Alarm

Connected home security platform that works with Apple Watch

Blue Iris logo Blue Iris

Blue Iris is a high end security monitoring system that lets you view and control the feeds from all the cameras at your home or place of business.
  • Alarm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-11
  • Blue Iris Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-19

Alarm videos

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Blue Iris videos

Blue Iris Software Security Camera - Why I Recommend it

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Blue Iris Detailed Tutorial - The Best Security Camera Software
  • Review - Is the Synology Surveillance Station better than Blue Iris?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Alarm and Blue Iris)
Productivity
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Security
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100% 100
Tool
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3D
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100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Alarm and Blue Iris

Alarm Reviews

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Blue Iris Reviews

  1. Terrible Experience

    I have tried this software and it was the worst experience I have had. First, I had so much trouble connecting up my IP Cameras. I would error messages multiple times and the application kept crashing. Once I finally got everything up and running, I would periodically loose connection to my cameras. I had contacted customer support regarding my issues and they would never respond. There are many other better products than Blue Iris.


10 Best ZoneMinder Alternatives: Free and Paid Video Surveillance
Blue Iris is a commercial option that charges a yearly license, starting at $39.95 for one camera. The full version supports up to 64 cameras and goes for $79.95 per year. If you want to try the software there is a 15-day demo available. This company also offers support plans costing up to $99.95, which gets you phone and remote desktop support.
15 Best Blue Iris Alternatives 2024
However, it is not the only software in the category that gives excellent performance. Among the more popular Blue Iris alternatives are ZoneMinder, Shinobi, YawCam, and others. However, iSpy is the best Blue Iris alternative thanks to its affordability and feature-packed design.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Alarm should be more popular than Blue Iris. It has been mentiond 524 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Alarm mentions (524)

  • Streaming reliability on ADC-V521IR indoor camera
    I have a ADC-V521IR indoor camera and it's behaving sort of weird. The camera is going to both my alarm.com (brinks) account and a local SVR. The local SVR recordings are fine and don't have any quality/lag issues. But the live streaming capability will only stream for about 2 seconds or drop to extremely low quality. I have 5 other cameras on the network and none of them are doing this. Source: 6 months ago
  • Homebridge and Professional Monitoring
    I have an extensive homebridge setup with ring equipment mostly. I'm looking for the best way to get away from ring and onto something else like alarm.com, something self-hosted. Source: 6 months ago
  • Is it possible to delink IQ Panel/Skybell/MyQ from "alarm.com"?
    I recently purchased a DR Horton home (resell, not new construction). I performed factory resets on all of the smart home equipment, IQ panel, skybell, garage door opener. When I begin new setup, all are still linked to the previous owners "alarm.com" account and I get nowhere- similar to a locked iPhone. Source: 8 months ago
  • ADT Owners - Can you switch panels to one that works with Home Assistant?
    My company recently signed a 36 month contract with ADT unbeknownst to me and are now past the 3 day cool-off period to cancel it. We inherited the panels and wireless sensors for the business we acquired and I really wanted to integrate it with Home Assistant to perform some local operations, such as disarming the alarm when a specific lock code was entered into the door. Lo and behold, it doesn't appear there is... Source: 8 months ago
  • DMP Quote and Security Cameras
    My other option that I was thinking of was purchasing either a DSC Neolink or Qolsys IQ4 with PowerG sensors and using https://alarm.com or https://alarmgrid.com for monitoring. Source: 10 months ago
View more

Blue Iris mentions (55)

  • Security cams
    Frigate https://frigate.video/ and ZoneMinder https://zoneminder.com/ come to mind. Blue Iris https://blueirissoftware.com/ is not open source but is what I prefer to use for my PoE systems ($80/yr). Source: 5 months ago
  • unable to activate-- blueirissoftware.com down?
    I've had BI running for years-- something went haywire with my setup this morning and now I need to re-activate my license. However, I'm unable to do so within BI, and it appears that blueirissoftware.com is down. Anyone else having issues or know what's going on? Source: 10 months ago
  • Trying to get a Blue Iris license - no response from IPcam-central
    Blue Iris' official site is blueirissoftware.com and the company is Perspective Software. Source: 11 months ago
  • Looking for an alternative
    Could look into a diy solution like https://blueirissoftware.com/ See what cameras are compatible. Might be some Ethernet based or wifi based cameras out there that would do what you need. Keeps it all local no clouds. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Alternative "Reolink cameras" clients
    Blue Iris is said to work well. https://blueirissoftware.com/. Source: about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Alarm and Blue Iris, you can also consider the following products

Protect America - Protect America is an online security system software that permits your home and organization security.

ZoneMinder - ZoneMinder is a free and open-source piece of security software that can be used at home or in your business. The software puts you in control of all of your data, and it is exceptionally easy to setup. Read more about ZoneMinder.

Xfinity Home Security - Xfinity Home is a total security solution providing software to your home via smart security tools.

iSpy - iSpy is software that allows the user to view and control video surveillance cameras. The software began development in 2007 and now has over 2 million users around the world, according to the software's website. Read more about iSpy.

LiveWatch - LiveWatch is online security monitoring software that allows your home and business to remain secure and to remain alert in any situation, and it provides advanced security features that can not be available anywhere else.

MotionEye - motionEye is a web frontend for the motion daemon, written in Python.