There's a particular kind of disappointment that comes from catching sight of yourself in the corner of a video call screen: washed out, slightly fuzzy, lit from below by whatever your laptop happens to be angled at. Built-in webcams are built around thinness and cost, not quality, and it shows the moment a window or lamp does something unhelpful to your face.
A dedicated webcam fixes most of that, and it needn't cost much to make a real difference. Our picks below range from a cheap upgrade that still beats a laptop's camera, right up to webcams with physical gimbals that pan and tilt to follow you round the room. We've also got 4K options for sharpness, and picks built for streaming, where camera and mic both need to pull their weight.
Not every home worker needs the same thing: someone on the odd Teams call has very different needs to someone running daily training or building a Twitch audience, so we've covered that range, rather than just ranking by spec sheet.
Tom May is a freelance writer and editor specializing in art, photography, design and travel. He has been editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. With in-depth knowledge of imaging tech, he's the perfect choice to help us nail down the best webcams for home working.
The best webcam overall
The Razer Kiyo Pro is our pick as the best webcam for home working overall. It offers Full HD at 60 frames per second, which means the video quality this webcam will provide is much better than an internal laptop cam. If you're willing to turn down the frame rate to a still-high 30fps, you can also get HDR. The field-of-view ranges from 80 to 103 degrees, and autofocus is on the menu too.
Our reviewer found the image quality from the Kiyo Pro was excellent, once tweaked to his preferred look. Using this webcam, rather than the inbuilt one in his laptop, meant Zoom and Teams meetings felt like they'd been treated to a major upgrade.
All in all, this is a camera that will help home workers look their best in meetings, conferences, interviews and more, at a very reasonable price. If money's no object, however, and you want Razer's absolute best, the Kiyo Pro Ultra goes further still with a much larger sensor and true 4K capture, at a significantly higher price.
For more details, read our full Razer Kiyo Pro review.
See also: Best Mac webcams
The best budget webcam
Short of money? The Logitech Brio 100 isn't as highly specced as the first webcam on our list. But it is a lot cheaper, and will still improve markedly on your laptop's internal webcam.
Our reviewer was immediately impressed with the Brio 100’s image quality. He found it handled tricky exposure really well, while sitting at a desk with a window behind him, and there was very little graininess in moderate lighting conditions.
Its Full HD video footage is sharp and accurate, with good color balance, and the universal monitor mount is nicely versatile. Audio quality is also acceptable, and while we would have like to see a detachable USB cable, for this price you'll be getting everything most people need out of a webcam. For more details, see our full Logitech Brio 100 review.
The best 4K webcam
If you want the ultimate in picture quality, you'll want a 4K webcam, and here's the one we recommend right now for home working. Boasting a large, 1/2.8-inch Sony Starvis CMOS sensor with an 8.2-megapixel resolution, F2.7 aperture and HDR, this webcam offers superb video quality.
Thanks to the large sensor and high resolution, our reviewer found the video quality to be absolutely superb. In fact, when viewed from the other end of a video call, is wasnn’t too far behind that of a DSLR hooked up to a PC. Bear in mind, though, that you'll need a fast and stable internet connection to make the most of the 4K resolution on video calls. For more details, see our full Dell UltraSharp Webcam review.
Best small webcam
The Obsbot Tiny 3 takes a different approach to the rest of this list: rather than a fixed webcam, it's a tiny pan-tilt-zoom camera with a tripod screw on its base, small enough to sit on a monitor clip or full tripod depending on your setup. What sets it apart is the microphone system: a triple-mic array (one omnidirectional, two directional) offering five audio modes, which Obsbot claims is good enough to replace a separate microphone entirely.
In testing, we put that claim to a working musician rather than take Obsbot's word for it, and the results were genuinely impressive: vocals over a keyboard came through clearly and warmly, with the mic handling the combination without issue. Image quality held up well too, including in low light, thanks to the larger 1/1.28-inch sensor and dual native ISO.
It's not without friction. The companion Obsbot Center software is powerful, covering everything from beauty modes to a teleprompter, but it takes time to learn, and voice control can occasionally clash with gesture control if you're talking about the camera while it's listening for commands. The camera also ran a little warm during extended use. At $349 / £299, it's not cheap for a webcam, but if the microphone quality means you can skip buying a separate mic, the value proposition holds up.
See our full Osbot Tiny 3 review for more.
The best webcam with advanced features
If you want a webcam that genuinely tracks you rather than just digitally cropping into a wide shot, this is the one to get. The Insta360 Link 2 Pro has a real two-axis gimbal that physically pans and tilts to keep you in frame as you move around a room, holding on until you're nearly behind it before it loses track. Holding up your palm for a couple of seconds is enough to switch tracking on, and there's a companion phone app if you'd rather control it that way.
The 1/1.3-inch sensor is larger than most webcams in this price range use, and dual native ISO means detail holds up across the frame rather than blowing out highlights or losing shadow detail, the kind of thing cheaper webcams routinely get wrong. In testing, low-light footage stayed clean with minimal noise, and the directional, noise-cancelling microphones performed well above what most webcams offer. The bundled software includes handy extras like Whiteboard and DeskView modes, along with AI beauty effects, though effects like background replacement and makeup do require dropping to 1080p, and can show some fringing around fast motion.
It's not the smallest gimbal webcam on the market, and the gimbal itself works best on a flat, level surface rather than propped at an angle. But for the price, it undercuts several rival premium PTZ webcams while matching or beating them on tracking smoothness and audio quality.
For more details, read our Insta360 Link 2 Pro review.
The best quality video and audio
The Logitech MX Brio replaces the older Brio Ultra HD Pro in this guide. That original 2017 Brio is still sold today, but Logitech's own newer MX Brio is a genuine step up: an 8.5MP Sony STARVIS sensor with 70% larger pixels delivers noticeably sharper, cleaner video in tricky lighting, and it's backed by AI-enhanced image processing that Logitech says gives roughly twice the fine detail and face visibility of the old Brio. Worth being clear about what the AI does and doesn't do, though: it sharpens and cleans up the picture, it doesn't pan or auto-frame you the way the Obsbot Meet 2 above does.
It captures Ultra HD 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps, and pairs that with dual beamforming, noise-reducing mics for genuinely good audio, not just an afterthought bolted onto a good camera. The built-in privacy shutter rotates closed on the lens itself, rather than relying on a separate clip-on cover that's easy to misplace, and "Show Mode" lets you tilt the camera down to share what's on your desk mid-call.
All that might be overkill for many people, but if you're looking for high quality picture and audio together, and want Logitech's current rather than 2017-vintage hardware, this is what you need.
FAQs
Do I need a webcam for working from home?
Why you can trust Digital Camera World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out how we test.
This answer to this question depends on your job, and the culture of your company. But in general, if you have regular video meetings or need to collaborate with colleagues visually, a webcam is essential. Even if you don't use it every day, it's good to have one on hand for occasional calls or presentations. And while your laptop may already have an inbuilt webcam, any of the external webcams on our list will instantly lift the quality of your audio and picture.
What resolution webcam should I get?
A 720p webcam offers decent video quality that's usually good enough for Zoom calls with friends or video conferencing with colleagues. However, to make professional-looking videos or create streaming content for a public audience, a webcam with 1080p or higher resolution is a better option.
Is a built-in microphone important in a webcam?
Yes, a built-in microphone will allow you to produce clear audio during virtual meetings or conferences. For the best sound quality, look for webcam models that include noise-canceling features.
How to choose the best webcam
Here are some key factors to think about when choosing the best webcam.
• Resolution. While a resolution of 720p is basic high definition, if your laptop is a cheaper or older model you may well be surprised at the jump in quality. In any case, 720p is Standard HD, while 1080p is Full HD, and beyond that you're getting into 4K territory (see Best 4K webcams). While it might seem like a no-brainer that more resolution is better, in practice, you may find that your internet connection struggles to broadcast a 4K or even Full HD image without stuttering. Ideally, a webcam with multiple resolution options is the best buy.
• Audio is probably even more important than video when it comes to conferencing. If you find you are tinny and difficult to understand when talking into your laptop, it's worth knowing that most webcams have a better microphone to help improve sound recording. Some will even offer stereo, allowing your voice to come through nice and clearly, with background noise filtered out.
• Do check compatibility with your laptop - as not all have the same connection sockets. And if you are an Apple user, do check our guide to the best Mac webcams.
• Controlling your background, as well as how your head is framed, is key to setting a good impression at home. This means that being able to angle/position the camera is really useful, as is the option to zoom in and out.
How we test webcams
We test the best webcams by putting each model through its paces, carrying out tasks such as video calls, conference sessions, streaming video and making recordings of ourselves. Image quality is a cornerstone of our testing process, and so we pay attention to what the picture looks like in practice, and don't just rely on the specs on paper, such as resolution and frame-rate. We look at color and clarity under varying lighting conditions, including natural and artificial light, bright and dark, as well as scrutinising sound quality.
