Shelly unveils a €39.90 indoor security camera at IFA 2026, emphasising local storage, privacy controls, and interoperability to disrupt traditional subscription-based home surveillance models.
Shelly has used IFA Berlin to enter smart video monitoring with a compact indoor camera priced at €39.90 in Europe, built around local recording to microSD rather than mandatory cloud billing. In the company’s IFA material and live product listing (shelly.com), it presents the device as its first camera and stresses privacy controls and optional cloud use. TechRadar (techradar.com) and several European outlets quickly framed it as a low-cost answer to the subscription model that has become standard across much of the home-surveillance market.
The launch matters because it is not an isolated gadget announcement. Computer Bild (computerbild.de) said Shelly is using IFA 2026 to widen a business better known for relays, switches and retrofit hardware, while Shelly’s own show briefing (shelly.com) tied the camera to a broader push around interoperability, local control and new partner deals with Miele, WeWash, Hörmann and Rademacher. In other words, the camera is being used to bring video monitoring into a much larger home-automation platform.
That platform argument only works if the first camera is useful without extra spending. CoreTechDaily (coretechdaily.com) said the Shelly Camera offers “full access to local video storage at no monthly cost” and “no forced cloud plan” for essentials such as motion detection, remote access and live viewing. The same report said Ring’s indoor cameras still require a monthly fee for video history and some smarter alerts. OSnews.pl (osnews.pl) argued that this no-subscription approach fits a growing preference for simpler, cheaper monitoring, especially among less technical buyers, while CoreTechDaily added that the model should also appeal to renters and privacy-conscious households.
On hardware, the compromises are obvious but deliberate. Frandroid, Netzwelt and Automatización del Hogar describe an indoor-only 1080p camera with a 110-degree horizontal and 70-degree vertical field of view, black-and-white night vision and two-way audio (frandroid.com). Frandroid noted that it runs from USB-C rather than a battery, so placement depends on a nearby socket, while the Spanish site added that there is no long-range infrared or optical zoom. Automatización del Hogar also said Shelly is offering the camera in black and white with a two-year warranty. This is clearly aimed at room coverage, pets, nurseries, small offices and flats, not long-distance identification at a gate or across a drive.
Shelly is still keeping its more advanced analysis behind a paid layer. Frandroid and Shelly’s Premium pages (frandroid.com) say buyers get three months of Premium free, after which cloud storage for one camera costs €3.99 or $3.99 a month. Those paid features include AI recognition that can separate people, pets and vehicles. Netzwelt’s reporting notes say owners can also connect the camera to their own AI models without charge, and Shelly’s technical material (shelly.com) adds support for RTSP, WebRTC, MQTT and WebSocket, plus a low-resolution stream designed for local AI processing. Local storage, according to Shelly’s specifications, extends to microSD cards up to 512GB.
The privacy pitch goes beyond simply letting users avoid the cloud. Shelly’s product documentation (shelly.com) says the camera supports up to 10 motion zones, blackout zones and a dedicated Privacy Mode that disables video recording, the microphone and the speaker, while cloud footage is stored in an EU-based service and encrypted at rest. Compatibility extends to Home Assistant, Frigate NVR, Alexa, Google Home and SmartThings. Frandroid’s main reservation (frandroid.com) is that Matter support is absent, which makes the camera a less tidy fit for households trying to standardise on one cross-brand protocol, especially at the same trade show where Shelly is promoting ThreadLink and wider interoperability.
The rollout, however, still looks slightly uneven. Netzwelt reported immediate availability in Europe, and Automatización del Hogar said the official shop had already sold out earlier in the week (automatizaciondelhogar.com). By Sunday, Shelly’s European store (shelly.com) was showing the camera as in stock at €39.90, while the US product page (us.shelly.com) still marked it as “Coming Soon”. That split suggests Shelly is still in the middle of a staged regional launch rather than a fully settled worldwide release.
For now, the Shelly Camera looks less like a specification leader than a strategic statement. OSnews.pl (osnews.pl) argued that products which do not force subscriptions are gaining ground in the smart-home sector, and Computer Bild (computerbild.de) reported that an outdoor version is already planned. If Shelly can keep the local-first approach intact, make the software dependable and extend the line without locking basic functions behind paid services, it will have found a credible way into a category where recurring fees have become almost as contentious as image quality.
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