A documented comparison for teams that shortlisted Lumana for being camera agnostic and publishing its pricing model. Both of those are real and rare. The question is what the appliance in the middle replaces, and what the AI is documented to do once it has seen something.
Lumana is camera agnostic in its own words, and its Core device replaces your DVR or NVR while storing and processing video on site. It publishes the shape of its pricing, an annual license priced on camera feeds, days of storage and term, with every feature included and no tiers. Teams shop for an alternative when they want the recorder decision left open, a named detection list they can read before a demo, or an action on site after the alert. The five below split on exactly those three.
Both platforms run on the cameras a site already owns. They differ on what happens to the box those cameras record to, and that is the part of the project a per-camera price does not show.
Every cell is something the vendor publishes, or an explicit not publicly specified.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Lumana's row was read off lumana.ai and its pricing page on August 12, 2026, including the camera-agnostic wording and the licensing model, which appears on the pricing page rather than the product pages. The other five rows come from each vendor's public documentation reviewed in July and August 2026 on the same five columns. Gaps are marked as not publicly specified rather than guessed.
Start by discarding the wrong reason, and give Lumana credit twice on the way. It is not a hardware-first vendor trying to sell you cameras: it states plainly that it is completely camera-agnostic and was designed to transform any camera into a smart device. And it publishes the shape of its commercial model, an annual recurring license set by camera feeds, days of storage and term, with all features standard so there are no tiers to negotiate. Most platforms on this page publish neither.
The first real reason is what sits in the middle. Lumana's own answer to whether Core works alongside an existing recorder is no: Core replaces your DVR or NVR, and Core devices store and process the video. That is a clean architecture and for a site with an ageing recorder it is an advantage, because one box leaves and one box arrives. It is a different project from one where the recorder is additive, and if your NVR is new, under warranty, or feeding something else, the swap is a cost the quote will not show.
The second is that the AI is described rather than listed. Lumana says its cameras become AI agents that perceive context, reason, and act in real-time, and that Core detects events with speed and precision. What is not on the public pages is which events: no detection catalog, no agent count, no custom-detection path, and nothing about what happens on site when something is found. Ask for the shipped list in writing before the first demo, and ask specifically what act in real-time does at 02:00 with nobody watching.
Camera compatibility and pricing disclosure will not separate these platforms, because Lumana is strong on both. What the AI ships with, and what replaces your recorder, will.
What each one is, where it is strong, and what to check before you commit.
Spot AI is a software-led video AI platform that turns the IP cameras a business already owns into AI coworkers. An on-site Intelligent Video Recorder keeps full-resolution video in the building and sends only event metadata to the cloud, so search and multi-site management stay cloud-based while footage does not leave the facility.
Verkada is a cloud-managed platform that sells its own cameras, access control, sensors, alarms and intercoms under one console, and publishes per-device MSRPs, which is unusual in this market. Third-party cameras come in through Command Connector, which Verkada states is an ONVIF Profile S conformant client and can also ingest RTSP feeds.
Eagle Eye Networks is a cloud video management system that connects to virtually any ONVIF-conformant camera and digitises analog feeds through analog-ready Bridges and CMVRs, then layers cloud analytics on top of the estate. Its documentation names ONVIF Profile S and dual codec streaming as the integration path.
Coram AI is a camera-agnostic platform built around AI search and investigation across cameras a business already owns, with named detections for firearms, falls and PPE violations, and alerts that can be built in plain English. An on-site appliance called Coram Point is purchased upfront.
Rhombus sells cloud-managed cameras, sensors, access control and alarm monitoring as one system, described by the company as a cloud-edge system that operates offline. Third-party cameras come in through the Relay Connector N100, and the company publishes SOC 2, NDAA, GDPR and TAA compliance badges.
Six questions that separate these platforms faster than any feature list.
This is the question that separates the shortlist. Lumana states that Core replaces your DVR or NVR. Spot AI's Intelligent Video Recorder is added alongside the cameras and covered by the subscription. Coram Point is bought upfront. Eagle Eye moves the video to its own data centers. Four different answers, four different first-year costs, so ask each vendor what leaves the rack and what joins it.
Get the shipped detection list in writing, not a capability described in a demo. Coram and Eagle Eye name theirs. Spot AI ships 15+ pre-trained agents plus Iris for custom detections. Lumana describes cameras that perceive context, reason and act, without publishing the catalog. A list you can read before a demo beats a capability you have to infer from a category name.
Pin down what happens after closing, when the alert has no one to reach. Eagle Eye documents sirens and talk-down alerts. Verkada gates automated audio to the BZ11 or an Intercom. Spot AI runs talk down, strobes and horns through standard speakers already on site. Lumana, Coram and Rhombus publish no deterrence behaviour, so the honest move is to ask rather than assume.
Lumana publishes the model without figures: an annual license set by camera feeds, days of storage and term, all features standard, no tiers. Coram publishes a comparable shape. Verkada publishes per-device MSRPs. Everyone else here, Spot AI included, publishes nothing. Give each vendor the same site list and make them itemise it: software, hardware, installation, storage. A single blended figure hides where the cost actually sits.
Lumana prices on days of storage, and so does Coram, which tells you retention is negotiated rather than published. Ask where the file sits, how long it stays, what it costs to keep it thirty days longer, and what happens to the footage already on Core if you leave. Retention that moves with the invoice belongs in the contract, not in the demo.
If your list includes forklift near-misses, hazard-zone crowding, PPE compliance or SOP adherence, ask which of those ship pre-trained. Lumana's public pages are security shaped, and none of the catalog vendors here publishes an operations or safety agent set, so a platform that arrives with them answers a question the others route to a partner product.
Spot AI fits when the cameras are already mounted, the recorder should be additive rather than swapped, and the questions span security, safety and operations. It runs on any ONVIF or RTSP camera plus legacy analog through the Intelligent Video Recorder, keeps full-resolution video in the building, and ships 15+ pre-trained agents including PPE, forklift near-miss, falls and hazard-zone crowding.
Lumana stays a strong call for a site whose recorder is due for replacement anyway, that wants AI on the cameras already mounted, and that values a licensing model with no tiers and every feature included. On camera-agnostic positioning and pricing transparency it is ahead of most of this page, and a comparison pretending otherwise would not survive your first vendor call.
A camera-agnostic platform lets you test the AI on your own cameras before any hardware decision, which is the cheapest way to de-risk the choice.
Watch the AI coworkers work on your live feeds, not a demo reel.
Customer-reported outcomes from named Spot AI customers.
Bridge33 Capital standardized video across 25 plus commercial properties on whatever cameras each acquisition already had, and cut footage search from hours to minutes.
Cambridge City cut the time it takes to find footage from two hours to thirty seconds.
Don Franklin Family of Dealerships lifted camera utilization 60% as the system became an analytical tool across departments rather than a security archive.
"With Spot AI, we were able to standardize video surveillance across existing and newly acquired assets, regardless of what cameras were already installed."
The five covered here are Spot AI, Verkada, Eagle Eye Networks, Coram AI and Rhombus. Spot AI fits teams keeping their cameras and their recorder while adding named agents and deterrence. Verkada suits a greenfield single-vendor build. Eagle Eye Networks suits mixed and partly analog estates. Coram AI suits investigation-first teams. Rhombus suits mid-market teams wanting one vendor.
Yes, and it is unusually direct about it. Lumana states it is completely camera-agnostic and was designed to transform any camera into a smart device. It does not publish a protocol or conformance profile on the pages read, so ask for the stream requirements in writing and check them against your oldest cameras rather than your newest.
Yes. Lumana's own answer is that Core replaces your DVR or NVR, and that Core devices store video data and process footage on site. So the recorder is not left in place alongside it. If your NVR is new or feeds another system, price that swap explicitly, because it is a project cost that a per-camera figure will not show.
It publishes the model but not the figures. Lumana states pricing is an annual recurring license determined by the number of camera feeds, days of storage and license terms, that all features and capabilities come standard so there are no licensing tiers, and that pricing typically includes Core devices plus the VMS+ software. That is more disclosure than most platforms here offer, Spot AI included.
Lumana describes rather than lists. Its pages say it transforms cameras into AI agents that perceive context, reason, and act in real-time, and that Core detects events with speed and precision, but no detection catalog, agent count or deterrence behaviour appears publicly. That is an absence of published detail rather than evidence of a weak product, and it is the same question worth asking every vendor here.