Shobdo | AI agent for monitoring security cameras in small businesses

The most humane tool
to take over
the shrink problem.

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From $39 a month7 days freeNo contractKeep your cameras

Associate member of MASSPACK, the Massachusetts Package Stores Association

Keep the cameras you have.

Dahua, Hikvision, Frigate NVR, and anything supporting ONVIF or RTSP protocols. One small box plugs into your router and finds them on its own. Its software is free, so a Debian or Raspberry Pi OS computer you already own can do the same job. No new cameras, no renovation.

Read your store like a story.

Every camera writes down what it sees, minute by minute, in plain English. Read it, search for it, hand the video clip to an insurer or the police.

Know minor from major.

Every event gets a severity score. The important ones rise to the top.

Get a second opinion on every alert.

A fast AI watches everything and flags what it thinks you should be alerted about. A bigger and better AI then watches the actual clip and confirms the alert or drops it.

Say it in your own words.

What’s the point of detecting people, vehicles, or cats if the AI doesn’t understand what they are doing? Type in exactly what you want AI to keep an eye on, for one camera or the whole store.

Watch instructionTell me when the lottery terminal is used with no customer.

Keep your video on-site. Nowhere else.

The video stays on your recorder. We store words in our cloud, plus the alert clip, which expires within 24 hours. A small box plugs in to your router to make your cameras talk to our AI system.

Written into our privacy policy, and into the architecture.

How Shobdo compares.

What matters to an owner, side by side. Every claim about others links to their public pages.

What matters to a store owner
Shobdo
Cloud camera platforms
Your cameras
Keeps the ones you own. One small box by the router.
Usually new cameras or a new recorder, installed by a technician.
Where the video goes
Stays in your store. Video is not stored in the cloud.
Uploaded and kept on their servers.
What you receive
A text with the clip, only after a second AI checks it.
A dashboard and app notifications; you do the checking.
How you tell it what to watch
A sentence in your own words, per camera.
Preset rules and zones set up in a console.
Price and contract
From $39 a month. Month to month. Leave anytime.
Quote-based; often multi-year, with hardware up front.
Who you talk to
The people who built it.
A sales team, then a support queue.
What matters to a store owner
Shobdo
A monitoring service (people watching your feeds)
Who watches
An AI, every camera, every minute, with a second AI checking each alert.
A guard at a wall of screens; attention fades after about twenty minutes.
Where the video goes
Stays in your store.
Streamed to their monitoring center.
What you receive
A text with the clip and a written record of the day.
A phone call when the guard notices something.
How you tell it what to watch
A sentence in your own words.
A briefing to the operator, per shift.
Price and contract
From $39 a month, no contract.
Billed by the hour of watching, usually on contract.
Who you talk to
The people who built it.
An account manager.
What matters to a store owner
Shobdo
Recordings nobody watches
When you find out
While it happens, by text.
After the loss, often weeks later.
Finding the moment
Search the written log by time or by what happened.
Scrub hours of footage by hand.
False alarms
Checked on video before you hear about them.
Motion alerts cry wolf until you turn them off.
Evidence
The clip and the written record, ready for an insurer or the police.
Whatever the recorder has not yet overwritten.
Price and contract
From $39 a month, no contract.
Free, and paid for in losses.
Who you talk to
The people who built it.
Nobody.

Honest about the gaps

Large platforms do things we do not yet, like multi-site dashboards and door access control. The FAQ says what is coming and when.

Every claim has a source

The blog's pricing posts compare named products against their public pricing pages. Read them.

Not sure which fits?

Fifteen minutes on a call, on your own cameras.

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Pricing plans by store size.

Works with the cameras you already own. The first 7 days are free.

Pay as you goPer cameraBase rate$39a camera, a monthmonthly billing only
Cameras watchedincluded in the price1 or more+
Each extra camera watched$39 a month
Works out toper camera$39 a month$1.28 a day
Member logins3
Watch instructionsstore + per camera3 + 1
Small shopsStarter$117 Save 49%$1,404 Save 54%$59a month$637a year, paid upfront
Cameras watchedincluded in the price3
Each extra camera watched$39 a month$421 a year
Works out toper camera$19.67 a month65¢ a day$17.69 a month58¢ a day
Member logins3
Watch instructionsstore + per camera3 + 1
Most popularStandard$312 Save 42%$3,744 Save 48%$179a month$1,933a year, paid upfront
Cameras watchedincluded in the price8
Each extra camera watched$29 a month$313 a year
Works out toper camera$22.38 a month74¢ a day$20.14 a month66¢ a day
Member logins5
Watch instructionsstore + per camera10 + 5
Best valuePro$624 Save 50%$7,488 Save 55%$312a month$3,369a year, paid upfront
Cameras watchedincluded in the price16
Each extra camera watched$25 a month$270 a year
Works out toper camera$19.50 a month64¢ a day$17.55 a month58¢ a day
Member logins10
Watch instructionsstore + per camera20 + 10

Crossed-out prices are the same cameras at the per-camera rate. More than 24 cameras or several locations? Book a call for a custom plan.

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Shobdo. Beyond Retail Stores.

Any site with cameras. Behind each card is a watch instruction an owner could type in, word for word.

Schools & universitieshover or tap for the instruction
Schools & universitiesSend an alert if a fight breaks out or anyone is seen with a weapon.
Warehouses & yardshover or tap for the instruction
Warehouses & yardsLet me know if a dock door is left open with nobody around.
Apartmentshover or tap for the instruction
ApartmentsWatch for anyone dumping furniture by the dumpsters.
Car dealershipshover or tap for the instruction
Car dealershipsText me if keys leave the cabinet and the sales desk is empty.
Elderly care homeshover or tap for the instruction
Elderly care homesAlert the nurse on duty if a resident falls or walks out alone at night.
Gymshover or tap for the instruction
GymsIf someone is down on the floor alone, alert me right away.
Laundromatshover or tap for the instruction
LaundromatsLet me know if someone pries a machine open or sleeps inside.
Car washeshover or tap for the instruction
Car washesWatch the pay station for anyone with tools.

Also hotels, pharmacies, self-storage, parking lots and barns. More than 24 cameras or several sites: quoted on a call.

Frequently asked questions.

Straight answers, in plain English.

No. Shobdo has no investors, and the price covers what it costs to run, with a margin; no investor is paying the difference. A product sold below cost has to collect the difference later: the price goes up, or what you get goes down, once you depend on it. Cory Doctorow calls that pattern enshittification, and we built the company to stay out of it. The price you sign at stays your price for as long as you stay.

Not at Shobdo. Nobody here watches your cameras: the AI reads the video and writes down what it sees, the only video that travels is the short clip attached to an alert, and it expires within 24 hours. Video is not stored in the cloud, so there is nothing for anyone at Shobdo to watch. That is enforced by the design, not by a promise. You and the people you add can open the live view from your account whenever you want.

No. Shobdo does not recognize faces or identify anyone. It describes what happens, like a person walking down an aisle with a drink or a delivery left at the back door, not who. Following one person from camera to camera is on the roadmap; recognizing faces is not. Why we think store AI should never recognize faces.

Your footage stays on your recorder. Our system looks at short segments as they happen, writes down what it sees in plain English, and discards the video. The only video clips that ever get stored in our cloud are the brief ones attached to an alert on your phone, and those expire within 24 hours. Beyond those clips, video is not stored in the cloud.

No. Shobdo does not capture or record audio from your cameras.

Two AIs, not one. The first watches every camera and writes down what is happening. When something looks serious, or matches an instruction you wrote, a second AI pulls the actual clip and watches it before anything reaches you. If it cannot confirm it on video, it does not message you. A false alert costs more trust than a missed one, so precision comes first.

Yes, in your own words. Write an instruction for one camera or for the whole store, like "tell me if anyone goes behind the counter after 9" or "alert me if someone eats food inside the store". Anything matching your instruction is checked on video and sent to you.

No. Shobdo works with the cameras and recorder you already own. Dahua, Hikvision, Frigate NVR, and anything supporting ONVIF or RTSP protocols will work. It connects through your existing recorder, so nothing on the wall changes.

A small dedicated Linux computer (Debian or Raspberry Pi OS) that stays on 24/7, connected to your camera network and to the internet. If you have one already, there is no extra cost. If not, you can order the Shobdo Edge Regular for a one-time $199 plus shipping. It installs itself when you plug it in. Ordered during your free trial, the $199 is a deposit that comes back if you cancel in the trial and return the box within 14 days.

By text message with a short GIF of the moment and a link to the footage, and by Telegram if you prefer. Text alerts follow carrier rules: reply STOP to stop, HELP for help, START to resume.

In a limited way today. On Telegram you can ask what a camera sees right now and what happened recently, and your account keeps the written log, which you can search by words and by time. Asking questions over months of history in plain language is a separate tier that is coming later.

The owner and anyone the owner adds, such as family or staff, each with their own permissions. Every phone number is verified before it receives anything, and each person controls whether they get text alerts and whether those texts include the GIF.

Plug in the box and it installs itself. A setup wizard in your account walks you through connecting your recorder and choosing which cameras to watch. Most stores are live the same day, and we are available to help.

You cancel at any time from your account, and cancelling stops future billing. Your cameras and recorder keep working as before, because they were never ours. Prepaid terms are not refundable. If you cancel during your free trial and send the edge box back within 14 days, its $199 is refunded; after the trial the box is yours to keep.

Yes. The first 7 days are free. A card goes on file at signup; cancel inside the trial and you pay nothing. The price you sign at stays your price. If you order the box during the trial, the $199 is a deposit that comes back when you cancel in the trial and return it within 14 days.

Your recorder keeps recording as it always has. Alerts pause until the connection returns, because the analysis needs to reach our service. Nothing is lost on your recorder.

Yes, through the written log. On a camera's page, or across the store on the Reports page, you search the descriptions by words and by time; open the moment and the clip plays if your recorder still has it. What is coming is an AI agent that does that search for you from a plain question.

Full history search, cross-camera person tracking and business analytics are on the way. Every plan keeps the same privacy promise: video is not stored in the cloud.

The service works anywhere in the United States with a compatible recorder and an internet connection. We currently offer in-person setup help around Greater Boston.

Yours could be next.

Live in stores across the greater Boston area.

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