Tapo vs Kasa cameras: it came down to ONVIF

The short version

Both are TP-Link. Buy the Tapo.

The Kasa cameras are closed to third-party monitoring tools — you reach the footage and the controls through their app and nowhere else. The Tapo speaks ONVIF, so it plugged into iSpy in a few minutes and I can record and control it from whatever I like.

Two years on, and this is the update worth reading

I wrote the above in 2024 after buying a Kasa Cam Outdoor and a Tapo C210 and finding out they were the same company. Rechecked in September 2026:

• Tapo still supports ONVIF and RTSP. Kasa still does not. TP-Link sells an ONVIF range under the Tapo name and publishes a guide for wiring one into an existing NVR or NAS. There is no equivalent for Kasa because there is nothing to wire.
• TP-Link is phasing Kasa out in favor of Tapo. Existing Kasa devices still get updates and the brand has not been formally discontinued, but the direction is not ambiguous.
• Kasa devices can now be managed in the Tapo app, which tidies the two-app problem. The Care subscriptions stay separate: a Tapo camera cannot be added to a Kasa Care plan.
• IFTTT support ends for both lines on August 1, 2026. If you automated either through IFTTT, that stops working.

So the recommendation held, and for the reason given: the closed camera is the one being retired. That is not a victory lap so much as a useful rule — on cheap hardware, buy the one that speaks a standard, because the one that only speaks its own app is the one whose app can be discontinued out from under it.

Getting a Tapo into iSpy

The part that trips people: use the camera's ONVIF setting, not its Network setting. With ONVIF selected you get the stream and full pan, tilt and zoom control from the browser. TP-Link's community has a thread walking through it, and their own ONVIF and RTSP guide covers pointing it at an NVR or NAS instead.

You will need to create a camera account in the Tapo app first — the ONVIF credentials are separate from your TP-Link login, which is the other thing that stops people on the first attempt.

Why this matters beyond these two cameras

I do not review products here as a rule; this site is for solutions. The reason this one earned a page is that the lesson generalizes past the hardware. A camera that only talks to its own app is a camera you are renting the use of. When the app changes, the subscription changes, or the line is retired, the device on your wall is worth what the vendor decides it is worth.

A camera that speaks ONVIF or RTSP keeps working with anything that speaks the same, including free software you already run. It is the single specification worth filtering on before price.