Cameras and Alarms
UniFi Protect vs. Wisenet
Both are professional camera systems that record on site. Wisenet adds a WAVE license for every camera.
How they compare
What each one costs, and what it does.
Learn more on Ubiquiti’s siteUniFi Protect
How to choose
It comes down to cost and ease of use, against Wisenet’s longer warranty and specialty cameras.
Choose UniFi Protect if
- Cost mattersProtect hardware costs less, and there’s no license to buy for each camera.
- Staff need to find footage fastProtect runs in a browser and an app, so anyone can find a clip without installing software or training.
Choose Wisenet if
- You want the longest warrantyHanwha warrants Wisenet cameras and recorders for five years.
- You need thermal imagingWisenet makes thermal and bi-spectrum cameras that measure temperature, which are outside the UniFi lineup.
Common questions
Yes. Protect runs 4K cameras with AI search, records to a recorder in your building, and scales from one camera to a campus of many buildings.
Yes. Protect cameras run on the same network cable as Wisenet’s, so most runs carry over. The old recorder can stay on, keeping its footage until you no longer need it.
Some. Protect can add ONVIF-compatible cameras for live view and playback, and we check each model at the site visit. UniFi cameras do more in Protect, so we recommend replacing the recorder first, then the cameras as your budget allows.
Recording and viewing carry no subscription and no per-camera license, because the footage is stored on equipment you own. Our support plan, which comes with every business system, is billed on its own.
No. Protect runs on a UniFi recorder, with no server or video management software to install. Larger Wisenet systems run WAVE on a server.
We install UniFi Protect. If Wisenet is the right fit for your site, we will tell you.
Sources
- Wisenet WAVE Licenses, Hanwha Vision
- Hanwha Vision launches Bi-Spectrum AI Radiometry Thermal Cameras, Hanwha Vision, May 2024
- Warranty and Repair, Hanwha Vision
- Limited Warranty, Ubiquiti
- WAVE: Why does the WAVE Server only support 256 streams?, Hanwha Vision Support
- WRR-5501 Wisenet WAVE Rack Server, Hanwha Vision
- Exporting Clips and Cloud Archiving with UniFi Protect, Ubiquiti Help Center
- UniFi Protect Evidence Authenticity and Visible Watermarks, Ubiquiti Help Center
- UniFi Enterprise NVR Core: Tech Specs, Ubiquiti
- Professional Alarm Monitoring Powered by Noonlight (Coming Soon), Ubiquiti
See what your building could do
Start with a short call. Then we come out, look at the space and design a system that fits your building.