The best webcam looks a little different for everyone - and I'm not just talking about image quality. Depending on your needs and budget, the right webcam for you might not be the right webcam for someone else; but have no fear, as I'm here to help you find the perfect computer camera to suit your needs.
Here at TechRadar, we all became unofficial webcam experts during the pandemic lockdowns, with the rise of working-from-home necessitating a degree of expertise with tools like webcams, headsets, and conference call software. But I've been testing and reviewing webcams for longer than that, and kept doing so after we were allowed back out into the sun - I'm more at home hunkered behind a keyboard anyway.
I've tested out dozens of different webcams over my eight-ish years as a tech journalist, and those that I don't review personally are handled by our trusted freelancers under my watchful eye, like some sort of fearsome webcam Panopticon. Okay, I promise I'm not that scary - but I do know what makes a good webcam, from resolution and capture rate to fancy features like AI-powered head-tracking and autofocus. So whatever kind of webcam you're looking for, read on: I've got you covered.
The quick list
The best webcam for you might not be the most kitted-out option, which is why I've gathered the top models we've tested here at TechRadar and put together this list. Below, you'll see a summary of my top picks, but if you want to know more about each option, hit that "Read more" link to find about more about its features and performance.
The best webcam overall
An excellent 1080p webcam with sharp image quality, great color reproduction, and a reasonable price tag, the Meet SE is a fantastic choice.
The best budget webcam
A no-nonsense webcam with 1080p resolution and absolutely no frills, the HP 325 is one of the best-value webcams money can buy.
The best premium webcam
Undeniably very expensive, but the Kiyo Pro Ultra is one of the single best 4K webcams available, with a rich feature set too.
The best for content creation
Though pricey, that 4K resolution, sleek design, and wealth of software features makes this a great pick for streamers and content creators.
The best for professionals
A video-conferencing beast, the Logitech MX Brio offers 4K resolution, dual beamforming mics for noise reduction, and other work-focused features.
The best for travel
An almost ridiculously tiny webcam, the ultra-portable Opal Tadpole lets you hop on a conference call in Full HD wherever you are.
The best webcams 2025
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Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the webcams I've selected for this list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that my recommendations can be trusted.
The best webcam overall
✅ You want plenty of bang for your buck: The Meet SE offers fantastic image quality and a range of nifty features, all for a very reasonable price.
✅ You want to try streaming: The comparatively low entry price of the Meet SE makes it a good choice for anyone looking to dip their toe into the world of streaming.
❌ You want ultra-high-quality video: With a fixed 1080p resolution, the (admittedly very good) picture quality of the Meet SE loses out to rivals offering 4K video.
❌ You want something super cheap: While it's still very good value for money, there are more affordable webcams out there if you just need the basics.
Priced at $69 / £65 / AU$119 and delivering 1080p resolution at up to 100 frames per second, the Obsbot Meet SE offers truly exceptional value for the price - enough to finally unseat the legendary Logitech C920 from its long-standing position as the best webcam overall.
It significantly outperforms the similarly priced C920 in terms of image quality, features, and overall performance, and its incredibly compact design (with three colors available) looks great too, able to slot unobtrusively into any setup. It also boasts some clever AI-powered features, like effective autofocus and auto-framing, as well as gesture controls - and while the latter might not be for everybody, they're easy to turn off via the bundled Obsbot software.
Read our full Obsbot Meet SE review
The best budget webcam
✅ You have casual video call needs: If you don't need anything with high-resolution footage and special features, this is the stripped-down webcam for you.
✅ You're on a tight budget: Cheap but reliable, this webcam does the job without costing you more than $50/£50.
❌ You need high-quality footage: Despite offering 1080p resolution, the sharpness and color reproduction here are just okay.
❌ You want something for content creation: There are fairly affordable webcams out there that offer better quality videos for content creation and streaming.
No longer shall budget webcam users be consigned to the misery of a 720p video feed; the HP 325 FHD Webcam is here, bringing 1080p camera goodness to users without too much cash to splash on their home setups. If you just want something simple and reliable, this is the one to pick.
Sure, not all 1080p webcams are created equally - the HP 325's video quality isn't as sharp or bright as the Obsbot Meet SE I've listed above, and I'd recommend a headset with a mic for better audio performance - but for video calls with friends, family, and coworkers, it gets the job done. Typically available for less than $30 / £30 / AU$50, it's a solid no-frills pick for anyone who wants something decent but doesn't want to break the bank.
Read our full HP 325 FHD Webcam review
The best premium webcam
✅ You can afford it: At the end of the day, this is an absolutely incredible webcam - even at its sky-high asking price.
✅ You're a serious streamer: The Kiyo Pro Ultra's phenomenal picture quality and rich feature set make it the perfect weapon for any online content creator's arsenal.
❌ You’re on a budget: If you don’t need the best of the best and also don't have money to burn, it's safe to skip this one.
❌ You need 4K at 60fps: The Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra's 4K shooting mode is capped at 30fps, so if you need a high framerate and 4K video, you'll need something else.
The Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra is one heck of a camera, sporting one of the largest sensors on any webcam, which means you're getting a wider dynamic range and better low-light performance. It also helps that its aperture is a massive f/1.7, which will help to produce attractively blurred backgrounds in your streamed content, and that it has both HDR and 3D noise reduction via the Razer Synapse app.
In our tests, its autofocus proved snappy, and Synapse gives you full control over focusing, exposure, digital zooming and panning, and more for a level of customization most other webcams lack. You're also getting a built-in privacy shutter and omnidirectional mic. The singular downside - aside from the hefty price tag - is that at 4K your framerate is capped at 30fps, but that's literally the only criticism I can level at this webcam.
Read our full Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra review
The best webcam for content creation
✅ You want 4K quality: With sharp 4K resolution capture, the HP 960 offers fantastic picture quality.
✅ You want something versatile: With a wide range of useful features, this webcam can happily pull double duty for both content creation and video conferencing.
❌ You want an affordable webcam: Although this webcam offers a lot of bang for your buck, it's still far from cheap.
❌ You want something portable: The chunky design of the HP 960 4K Streaming Webcam makes it unsuited for use on the go with a laptop.
A webcam that looks and feels premium, the HP 960 4K Streaming Webcam sports a somewhat unusual barrel-shaped design with a magnetic snap-on privacy cover and a wealth of powerful AI-powered features. These include auto-tracking and auto-framing, which work great, supplementing the fantastic 4K video quality.
Performance in dynamic lighting conditions is great, and the camera offers three different FOV modes, ideal for capturing more than one person at a time. The dual-mic setup offers some of the best audio performance we've ever seen on a webcam, too. While the $219.99 / £180 / AU$295 price tag will deter some users, this is nonetheless an excellent webcam for anyone looking to create video content.
Read our full HP 960 4K Streaming Webcam review
The best for professionals
✅ You want something simple but effective: While the Logi software gives you plenty of tweaking options, the MX Brio is incredibly easy to just plug and play.
✅ You want to look good in meetings: With 4K resolution and AI video enhancement, this webcam ensures that you look your best while video conferencing.
❌ You're not doing important meetings over video: If you're only using your webcam for internal discussions with coworkers, this is frankly a bit overkill.
❌ You don't want a separate mic: For the price point, the microphone on this webcam is merely okay; I'd encourage you to use a headset or freestanding mic instead.
A professional-grade webcam, the Logitech MX Brio is a strong choice for any remote worker who wants to look good - and perhaps share some physical documents - on video calls. While the 'Desk Mode' option that lets you flip down the camera to display the space in front of your monitor is a little fiddly in practice unless you have a large desk, this is still a generally excellent premium webcam.
The video quality is a sharp 4K, with some AI image enhancement features baked into the Logitech software, but it's equally easy to just connect and use it with virtually no setup. Although it's fairly large, the universal mount can be used with a laptop as well as a desktop monitor, or attached to a tripod. Finally, the privacy shutter works by rotating the ring around the lens - a mechanically satisfying little feature.
Read our full Logitech MX Brio review
The best for travel
✅ You're constantly on the go: The lightweight design and universal snap-on mount of the Opal Tadpole, combined with solid low-light performance, make it easy to use virtually anywhere.
✅ You want straightforward performance: Despite its tiny design, the Tadpole offers great plug-and-play 1080p video and surprisingly good noise-canceling audio too.
❌ You want lots of features: The Tadpole is breathtakingly simple, but that means it's unsurprisingly quite feature-light.
❌ You want something super cheap: Although it's perfectly sound value for money given the unique design, there are more affordable 1080p webcams out there.
Thanks to a Sony-designed mirrorless internal camera, the adorable Opal Tadpole webcam delivers excellent 1080p performance in a phenomenally tiny package. Thanks to a sharply focused directional mic, it's great at picking up audio from you and only you, and the all-in-one design uses a clip rather than a folding or magnetic mount - in other words, there are no removable parts to go missing here.
It might not offer the rich feature sets seen from other webcams on this list, but that's sort of the point: portability and simplicity are the name of the game here, and the Tadpole nails those two pillars of design effortlessly. Plus, the Opal Composer software lets you make a good amount of adjustments to your recording. With its tiny design (and the optional carry case), it's perfect for clipping onto your laptop or even your phone or tablet for a better video call experience while you're out and about.
Read our full Opal Tadpole review
Best webcams: FAQs
What about those cheap webcams on Amazon or eBay?
Our list is heavy on big brand names such as HP and Obsbot for good reason. Reputable brands have been tested across many different devices to make sure that the products are compatible with different graphics software. This is why you may see different quality if you use the same camera on a desktop and a laptop - the webcam hardware communicates differently with different devices.
Logitech, Obsbot, Razer, and other well-known webcam manufacturers can provide a product that is more likely to work well across a wide range of different machines, so whether you're looking to run your camera on a new gaming desktop or an old Chromebook, you should see similar results.
A cheap 1080p/30fps webcam from Amazon or eBay may disappoint you if the drivers and sensors are not up to the same standards as trusted products on our list, so don't take the resolution and framerate as gospel that you'll be getting great video quality. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
If you're buying a Logitech webcam, though, you can check out the latest Logitech promo codes for ways to get money off your purchase.
What should you look for when buying a webcam?
It's easy to feel a little overwhelmed when looking at webcams to buy – after all, all these cheap models on Amazon look the same right? Webcams are usually marketed with resolution (720p, 1080p, 4K, etc.) and framerates because this is the most important factor for most people when buying a product, but there are many other considerations that make a webcam 'good' or 'bad'.
The first thing to consider is what you need your webcam for. For working professionals or office staff, most conference calling software such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams will restrict your broadcast quality to 1080p resolution and 30fps to preserve bandwidth.
If you're planning on using a webcam purely for these work-related calls then there isn't any point in buying a powerful 4k model as you simply won't see the benefit with most software. The light and color detection will vary for each model though, so you'll still see a variance in recording quality depending on what webcam you buy.
For content creators such as YouTubers or Streamers, there is a range of powerful webcams available, with some reaching 4K resolution and 60fps for buttery smooth video. These webcams are overkill for occasional use, but with features like a variable field of view (or FOV) and adjustable resolution and zoom, the extra cost could be a worthy investment in your hobby.
How to choose the best webcam for you
As the world returns to something resembling normalcy, the best webcams for laptops and PCs are finally back in stock. Whether they’re from Microsoft, Razer, Logitech, or one of the cheaper brands whose products punch above their weight, there’s a plethora of choices to pick from to help you upgrade your streaming or video conferencing.
Since more communication is happening online these days, it’s crucial to have your Zoom calls with friends and video conferencing meetings that are crystal clear. And, that means you need to invest in one of the best webcams for your computer setup. It’s true that most laptops or all-in-one computers already come with a webcam installed but having a dedicated one will offer more features and higher resolutions.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to keep in touch with your extended network, putting together the perfect work-from-home setup, or getting ready for back-to-school season, invest in one of these made-for-computer cameras to make sure your family and colleagues can see your bright, shiny face. From the webcams ideal for game streaming to excellent webcams for Zoom, we’ve collected our top picks here as well as included our price comparison tool to help you find the best deal.
How we test the best webcams
Here at TechRadar, we don't use any specific testing programs to benchmark a webcam as their quality differences should be visually noticeable. Instead, models will be stacked up against products with similar specifications and prices to see how they compare, as well as running through a few real-world testing scenarios.
We keep lighting levels consistent and test for well-lit and low-light conditions to put the webcam sensor through its paces. Webcams with unsatisfactory sensors struggle if a subject isn't well-lit, resulting in a fuzzy 'static' like interference known as background noise. We make note of how accurate the colors are in any recorded footage and the overall clarity of video and photographs taken on the webcam.
We also compare features like field-of-view (often abbreviated to FOV), frame rate, and resolution, as well as any supporting software that ships with the product. Operating systems like Windows 11 have a camera application capable of making minimal adjustments to contrast and hue, but there are branded applications like Razer Synapse and Logi Tune that can better adjust your footage.
The hardware itself will also be checked for mounting options and available movements, such as a swivel ball joint or fixed positioning. Finally, any onboard microphone will be checked for clarity and its ability to filter out background noise, though it's worth mentioning that most webcams on the market have quite poor-quality microphones when compared to the best headsets or the best USB mics.
Today's best webcam deals
