How much does CCTV installation cost in the UK?
Working out a fair price for CCTV is harder than it looks, because the market covers everything from a single wireless camera on a porch to a fully cabled, professionally monitored system across a commercial site. As a general benchmark, domestic CCTV commonly runs around £100-£350 per camera installed, and a typical four-camera home system lands somewhere around £600-£1,800 depending on the property and the equipment chosen. Business and commercial installations sit meaningfully higher, typically around £300-£750 per camera for a standard system including equipment, cabling and labour, rising to £750-£3,000 or more per camera for higher-end options such as 4K resolution, thermal imaging or automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.
The single biggest factor in the final price is simply how many cameras are needed and how the site is laid out. A small business installation of around four to eight cameras commonly runs £1,000-£2,500 in total, while a larger site, a multi-building premises, or a retail unit needing six to twelve cameras can commonly run £1,500-£4,500, and a genuinely large or multi-site commercial job commonly starts around £2,500 and can exceed £6,000 once cabling runs, network infrastructure and installation labour across multiple locations are factored in. None of these figures are fixed prices — they're a starting point for comparison, since the actual cost for any specific site depends on layout, access, and exactly what's being asked for.
Wired versus wireless is the next major factor, and it isn't simply a case of one being cheaper than the other in every situation. Wired cameras generally cost more to install upfront because of the cabling work involved — running cable through walls, ceilings or conduit takes time and, on an older or larger building, can be the single biggest line item in a quote — but they tend to offer a more reliable connection and don't depend on a strong Wi-Fi signal reaching every camera position. Wireless cameras are quicker and cheaper to fit since there's little to no cabling, which makes them popular for retrofitting an existing home or a smaller business, but picture and connection quality can suffer at range or through thick walls, and battery-powered models need periodic charging or battery replacement unless mains-powered.
Beyond the cameras and cabling themselves, a full CCTV quote should account for several ongoing costs that are easy to overlook when comparing headline installation prices. Cloud storage for recorded footage commonly costs around £3-£15 per camera per month depending on resolution and how long footage is retained, while a remote monitoring service — where a third party actively watches or reviews footage rather than it simply being recorded for later — commonly costs around £15-£100 a month depending on the level of cover. Ongoing maintenance, covering things like lens cleaning, firmware updates and fixing faults, is commonly budgeted at around 5-10% of the original installation cost each year for a commercial system, though a simple domestic setup may need very little beyond occasional checks.
A handful of practical questions help make sure two quotes are actually comparable rather than superficially similar. Does the quote include cabling and any necessary network hardware, or is that priced separately? Is footage stored locally on a hard drive or NVR, in the cloud, or both, and for how long is it retained before being overwritten? Is the system genuinely monitored by a person, or does it simply record for you to review later if something happens? And for a business specifically, does the installer factor in the signage and data protection registration steps that come with running CCTV on commercial premises, since these aren't purely optional extras once cameras are recording the public or staff?
As with most trade quotes, it's worth getting the same specification — same camera count, same resolution, same storage and monitoring expectations — priced by two or three installers rather than comparing a single number found online, since a cheaper quote covering fewer cameras, lower resolution, or no ongoing monitoring isn't really a like-for-like comparison with a more expensive one that includes all of that. Checking whether an installer is NSI- or SSAIB-approved is also worth doing at this stage, particularly for a business or a higher-value home, since that approval can matter for both insurance and any future move towards a monitored alarm system alongside the cameras.
Frequently asked questions
Domestic CCTV commonly runs around £100-£350 per camera installed, while commercial CCTV typically costs around £300-£750 per camera for a standard system including equipment, cabling and labour, rising to £750-£3,000+ per camera for higher-end options like 4K, thermal or ANPR cameras.
Usually yes to install, since wireless cameras need little to no cabling work, but wired systems tend to offer a more reliable connection and are less dependent on Wi-Fi signal strength, so the cheaper upfront cost of wireless is a trade-off rather than a straightforward saving.
Cloud storage commonly costs around £3-£15 per camera per month, a remote monitoring service commonly costs around £15-£100 a month depending on the level of cover, and maintenance is commonly budgeted at around 5-10% of the installation cost annually for a commercial system.
A small business system of around four to eight cameras commonly runs £1,000-£2,500 in total, while a larger or multi-site commercial installation commonly starts around £2,500 and can exceed £6,000 depending on cabling, site layout and equipment specified.