Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor Review

The Nanit Pro is a baby monitoring camera that takes sleep tracking to a whole new level with custom tips based on your baby’s sleep patterns.

The downside is its dizzying price—just getting started with the Nanit Pro costs around $300, and the sheets and wearables required for tracking (of which you’ll need several to have clean spares) can easily shoot the total bill above $400. And there’s an app subscription to factor in too.

But if you’re thinking, “That’s what grandparents and baby registries are for!” then read on, my friend. The Nanit packs a punch. You’ll probably have more data than you’ll know what to do with, but there’s a sobering advantage to all that tech: the Nanit could help you save your baby’s life by sounding an alarm if they stop breathing.

On a lighter note, you’ll also get a ton of super cute footage to look back on and can share app access with grandparents and other caregivers.

The Nanit app is free to use, but most of its features, including Breathing Motion Monitoring, require an upgraded Nanit Insights plan. Here’s the good news: buying a Nanit Pro camera gets you one free year of Nanit Insights Basic.

We recommend upgrading to Nanit Insights Ultimate to get the full picture of your baby’s data trends. Otherwise, you’re limited to 2 or 30 days of data history.

Paying for a whole year up front gives you a discount of about 17% off the monthly price if you pay on the Nanit website. You may see a different annual price on the app.¹ 

• Nanit camera
• Wall mount with attached 14-foot power cord
• Cord cover units: 11 straight, 2 corner, 1 end cap
• Wall mount bracket
• Mounting hardware
• Mounting template
• Power adapter
• Quick start guide

Nanit’s claim to fame is its Breathing Motion Monitoring technology. The Nanit Pro camera senses subtle movements in the baby’s fabric (more on that in a second) to make sure they’re breathing normally. You’ll get an alert if Nanit senses that your baby isn’t breathing, and you can also track breaths per minute in the app.

Now onto the special fabric: The Nanit Pro locks on to a specific pattern of squares and diamonds. This pattern moves slightly with the rise and fall of your baby’s chest, allowing the Nanit to count each breath.

The most economical fabric option is the Nanit Breathing Band. It goes over your baby’s usual nightwear, so you have more options for keeping your baby comfy-cozy. You’ll need a size small until your baby’s at least 3 months old. After that, a large Nanit Breathing Band should last until your baby turns 2.

Nanit also sells swaddles, pajamas, and sleeping bags with the Breathing Motion Monitoring pattern built in.

A word of caution about used Nanit wearables: make sure those squares and diamonds are well-defined so the camera can still lock onto the design. If the fabric seems worn out, don’t use it for Breathing Motion Monitoring.

Nanit provides a plethora of sleep data—even without Breathing Motion Monitoring or Growth Monitoring.

The app’s Sleep Dashboard tells you whether your baby had a good night’s sleep based on how long it took your baby to fall asleep, how much time they spent asleep, and how many times you or your partner had to visit them.

The Night and Day summaries show you a fast-forwarded version of each sleep session, letting you see for yourself how restless your baby is or how well they’re able to self-soothe themselves back to sleep.

Nanit uses artificial intelligence to figure out what’s going on in each video clip and compiles similar clips for your convenience. For example, you can see all the times you came to get your baby in the morning—a cute memory to look back on or share with the family.

Nanit also earns its “smart” name by showing personalized tips based on how your baby’s been sleeping. If those don’t cut it, you can also talk to other parents through the Nanit Community tab.

The Nanit Pro camera does pretty much everything except rock your baby back to sleep:

• A dimmable, ceiling-oriented nightlight that you can control from the app
• Two-way talk to soothe your baby or communicate with your partner
• White noise or nature sounds to create a peaceful sleep environment
• Temperature and humidity sensors

Nanit sells three camera stands. Two position the Nanit over your baby’s crib for optimal Breathing Motion Monitoring and Growth Monitoring. The third option—the travel stand—turns the Nanit into a basic nanny cam and triggers its 130° wide-angle lens.

• Floor mount—great for renters and parents who plan to use multiple sleeping areas (bed-side bassinet, nursery, etc.)
• Wall mount—a more stable, long-term solution
• Travel stand—best for general surveillance, not compatible with Breathing Motion Monitoring or Growth Monitoring

You’ll choose either a floor mount or a wall mount camera when you first buy the Nanit Pro, but it makes sense to have a back-up option if you co-parent. An extra Nanit Wall Mount costs about $100 on Amazon. At the time of publication, replacement Nanit Floor Stands are only available directly from Nanit and cost about $150.

Use the same Nanit Pro camera to keep all of your settings and data in one place, no matter where your baby sleeps. Nanit sells travel cases to protect the camera on the go.

It’s easy to share access to the Nanit Pro’s video feed with other caregivers like grandparents, aunts or uncles, and even the babysitter. But if that also makes you nervous about sharing too much, don’t worry—you can restrict each person’s access however you see fit:

• Live audio
• Recorded video and audio
• Push notifications
• Night and day summaries
• Night light control
• Nature sound control

But you still don’t have to sacrifice your privacy just to have a care team—you can disable everyone’s access with a single touch.

That means your babysitter can use the Nanit app during their shift but can’t drop into the video feed at random times.

Plus, Nanit uses 256-bit AES encryption to keep your data secure.

Nanit integrates with Amazon Echo and Echo Show devices, but don’t get too excited just yet—the general consensus among users is that the integrations don’t work most of the time.

In theory, you can stream the Nanit Pro’s camera feed to an Echo Show device by enabling the Nanit Show skill and saying, “Alexa, show me [baby’s name].” The Echo Show then acts like a second video monitor, but you won’t be able to use two-way audio or get alerts through the Echo Show. It’s just a video feed—and a laggy, glitchy one at that.

It’s unclear whether that’s an issue that Amazon should fix or that Nanit needs to work on. Either way, it’s disappointing. And there’s no way to stream audio from the camera feed to an Alexa device.

The separate Nanit skill lets you turn on the nightlight with a voice command (“Alexa, ask Nanit to turn on [baby’s name]’s nightlight.”) and ask about basic sleep stats.

Nanit led the charge for smart baby monitoring technology, but other companies are catching up.

One competitive product to watch is Cubo Ai Plus Sleep Safety Bundle, which offers the same core features as Nanit (sleep analytics, movement monitoring, two-way audio, nightlight, noise) but builds onto that foundation with a ton of extras: cry detection, cough detection, a crib mount, and covered face and rollover alerts, and motion detection.

Nanit still wins in terms of its Breathing Motion Monitoring technology, but if you just don’t want to use wearables, check out CuboAi’s motion alerts.

Miku is another competitor gaining a foothold in the smart baby monitor market. Miku doesn’t use wearables to track breathing and movement, is a little more expensive than Nanit, and doesn’t offer personalized tips based on your baby’s sleep habits.

Eufy—one of our favorite camera brands in terms of video and audio quality—also launched a line of baby monitors, including one that pairs with a wearable sock to track vitals and sleep quality. The Eufy Baby S340 costs about as much as the Nanit Pro and lets you see all of your baby’s sleep data with no monthly fees.

Finally, there’s the Owlet Dream Duo. Like the Eufy Baby S340, the Owlet combines a wearable sock with a camera to provide data analytics. And like Nanit, Owlet translates that data into personalized sleep tips.

The Nanit Pro baby monitoring system does what it sets out to do, but a quick look at the competition shows that the Nanit’s ready for an upgrade. Some of the Cubo Ai Plus alerts would be great to have in the Nanit Pro, as would pan-and-tilt functionality.

And while the Nanit Pro costs around $300 just to get started, that’s actually a decent deal when you compare it to other smart baby monitors. We also like that the sleep data are turned into actionable tips and that there’s a community of other data-driven parents ready to support you.

We reviewed the Nanit Pro by comparing its features to other smart baby monitors and reading real user reviews. We looked through Nanit’s manuals, FAQs, and community forums to understand the nuances of this product. Learn more about how we review products on the Safewise methodology page.

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1. Nanit, “What Is the Difference Between the Different Subscription Plans?” April 2022. Accessed September 22, 2022.
2. BetaBrad, Nanit Community, “Nanit to Chromecast or Work With Google Nest Hub,” October 2021. Accessed September 22, 2022.
3. Nanit Community, “Can I Put the Nanit Band Over SNOO Swaddles?” August 2021. Accessed September 22, 2022.