Almost every new installation is IP. The question that actually comes up is what to do with an analog system already in the building, and whether replacing it is worth what it costs.
The short answer
Install IP for anything new. Keep analog where it is working, the coax is sound and the views do not need to identify anyone, and plan its replacement rather than performing it in one go. If you need recognition quality, analytics, or remote access on a view, that view needs to be IP.
Where they differ
Image detail
This is the difference that matters. IP cameras resolve enough detail to identify a person at a useful distance; traditional analog cameras generally do not, which is why so much older footage shows that something happened without showing who. High definition over coax has narrowed the gap for existing cabling, but the ceiling is still lower.
Cabling and power
Analog runs coax for video and a separate power supply for the camera. IP runs one cable carrying both. That single difference is why IP is cheaper to install in a new building and why analog persists in old ones: the coax is already there. Either way the cable path decides the design, which is the subject of video surveillance and structured cabling.
What the camera can do
An IP camera is a computer that processes video before sending it. Analytics, event detection, flexible compression and on-camera storage follow from that. An analog camera sends a signal and everything else happens at the recorder.
What the camera exposes
The same fact cuts the other way. An IP camera is a networked device with an operating system, credentials and an update requirement. NIST's device baseline applies to it directly: device identification, device configuration, data protection, logical access to interfaces, software update and cybersecurity state awareness. An analog camera has none of those capabilities and also presents none of those risks, because it is not on your network. The recorder is, which is where an analog system's exposure concentrates.
The practical consequence is that moving to IP moves surveillance into scope for network management. Under the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, cameras become assets to IDENTIFY and PROTECT rather than fittings. That is a gain, provided somebody accepts the work.
Growth
Adding an IP camera means adding a switch port and a license. Adding an analog camera means running coax and power to it. This is where the cost difference compounds over years.
When each is right
IP is right for any new installation, anywhere you need to identify rather than merely observe, anywhere you want analytics or remote viewing, and anywhere the system will grow.
Analog is defensible where a working system covers views that only need to show general activity, where coax is in place and the building is difficult to re-cable, and where the budget is better spent on the three views that need to identify someone than on replacing the twenty that do not.
A hybrid is the usual answer. Encoders bring existing analog cameras into an IP recorder, so one system manages both while cameras are replaced view by view. It also means the software, search and export are consistent while the migration happens, which is what staff actually notice.
How to choose
- Start from the purpose list, not the camera list. Any view that must identify a person is an IP view. Anything that only needs to establish that an area was occupied can wait.
- Survey the existing cabling. Usable coax changes the economics of keeping analog, and the presence of pathways changes the cost of replacing it.
- Sequence the replacement by risk. Entrances, cash handling and restricted doors first. Corridors and general areas last. Building a roadmap covers turning that into a funded sequence.
- Budget the network, not just the cameras. Switching, power budget and segmentation are part of moving to IP.
- Decide who will manage the devices before you install a hundred of them. That answer, more than any specification, determines whether the system is healthy in three years.
To find out which views in your building genuinely need replacing and which are fine as they are, request a free site security assessment. For the components involved, see what video surveillance is, for what drives the numbers in a quote what drives the cost, and for what we install our video surveillance solutions.
Sources
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, IR 8259A, IoT Device Cybersecurity Capability Core Baseline. Establishes the six device cybersecurity capabilities that apply to a networked camera and not to an analog one. nvlpubs.nist.gov. Accessed 18 August 2026.
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 (NIST CSWP 29). Establishes the IDENTIFY and PROTECT Functions referred to in treating IP cameras as managed assets. nvlpubs.nist.gov. Accessed 18 August 2026.