Synology Surveillance Station: How to Maximize Free Licenses

The free license of Synology Surveillance Station is an excellent way to begin your journey into home or small business surveillance. It provides a robust set of features and the flexibility to upgrade as needed. Whether you're looking to monitor your home, office, or other premises, Surveillance Station's free license offers a compelling solution. Consider your needs, and if your setup requires more than 2 cameras, don't hesitate to explore the upgrade options available.

The free license offers several benefits:

Have you successfully run Surveillance Station without licenses? Share your setup in the comments below.

• May require more technical setup and maintenance.
• May not integrate as smoothly with Synology hardware or DSM features.
• Can have different performance and feature sets (motion detection, notifications, mobile apps).

iSpy / Agent DVR: Open-source surveillance software that provides a free tier for local use on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Method 2: The “Camera Swap” Technique (Sequential Recording)

This is a little-known trick. Surveillance Station allows you to have more cameras in the device list than active licenses. You cannot record or view live all at once, but you can rotate which cameras are active.

: The secondary NAS units must remain powered on and connected to the CMS host to verify the license source. License-Free Camera Exceptions