The Types Of Video Analytics Software for CCTV

What is CCTV Video Analytics Software?

Video analytics software sits between cameras and outcomes. It turns raw video into structured events that a monitoring team, a SOC, or an operations platform can act on.

The market is fragmented because “video analytics” covers multiple jobs: perimeter intrusion detection, forensic search, people counting, vehicle intelligence, safety compliance, and more.

It also spans multiple deployment models: analytics running on the camera itself, analytics running on a server next to the VMS, and analytics delivered via cloud.

This guide covers the main types of video analytics software, plus the common vendor groupings you will encounter. If you’re new to this subject, you can learn more about what video analytics is and how it works in our introductory guide.

TLDR

Video analytics software falls into several types: intrusion and perimeter analytics, object detection and tracking, behaviour analytics, vehicle analytics such as ANPR, forensic search and investigation platforms, and specialised analytics like thermal based classification. Products also differ by deployment (edge, server, cloud) and integration method (VMS native, third party plugins, open APIs). Choosing the right type depends on risk, environment, network constraints, and operational workflow.

What You Will Learn

• how the main categories of video analytics differ

• what each type is best at

• how edge analytics differs from server and cloud

• which vendor families typically serve each use case.

What Are the Types of Video Analytics Software?

Now, let’s look into the various Ai powered video analytics solutions that integrate with surveillance and intruder detection systems.

Each application is designed to fulfil specific objectives and requirements. All in all, learning about the types of video surveillance analytics software is key for those in charge of security.

Intrusion Analytics Software

Perimeter analytics is focused on early detection along boundary lines, sterile zones, and approach routes. The typical outputs are intrusion events, line crossing events, loitering events, and zone entry events, usually with metadata such as object type, confidence score, direction of travel, dwell time, and a snapshot or clip for verification.

Detection rule families

Common rule primitives include line crossing, region entry, region exit, fence line approach, dwell time thresholds, direction of travel constraints, and time of day schedules. Many modern packages also support “sterile zone” logic, which treats certain regions as never valid for human presence at defined times.

Where it runs and why it matters

Edge perimeter analytics (on camera) reduces bandwidth because the system can transmit event metadata and a short clip rather than streaming everything at full resolution. Server based perimeter analytics can run heavier models and fuse multiple camera views, but demands compute and stable network paths.

Thermal based perimeter detection is often deployed where lighting is poor or where visible cameras struggle. FLIR, for example, positions thermal cameras with onboard analytics as suitable for long fence lines and difficult conditions, including poor weather and darkness.

Line Crossing Detection Technology

Line crossing detection triggers an alert when a person or vehicle crosses a defined virtual boundary. It is one of the most widely deployed analytics rules in perimeter and approach-route security.

Unlike region-based rules, line crossing is directional and time aware. This allows systems to distinguish between inbound and outbound movement, apply schedules, and reduce nuisance alerts from normal traffic flows.

Line crossing analytics software is often used on fences, gates, vehicle entrances, and internal sterile boundaries where early detection is critical.

Thermal CCTV Analytics Software

Thermal CCTV analytics uses heat signatures rather than visible light to detect people, vehicles, and animals. This makes thermal CCTV analytics an effective tool to improve detection. Altogether, it’s an effective solution in darkness, fog, smoke, and challenging weather where standard cameras struggle.

Long range and low visibility detection

In security settings, thermal analytics is commonly used for long-range perimeter detection, sterile zone protection, and early warning in low-light environments. Because thermal imagery reduces visual clutter, false alarms caused by shadows, headlights, or lighting changes are significantly lower.

Early, accurate detection and verification

Thermal analytics is frequently deployed at the edge, directly on the camera, to enable early detection without continuous video streaming. It is often paired with visible cameras for verification and evidential footage.

Object Detection, Classification, Tracking

This category is the engine room of modern analytics. Object detection identifies entities in each frame, classification labels them, and tracking keeps identity across frames. Outputs include bounding boxes, tracks, counts, and object attributes.

Primary functions

Object detect and classify people, vehicles, faces, and other classes the model was trained for. Hanwha describes its AI cameras as detecting and classifying people and vehicles in real time using deep learning algorithms.

Why object tracking matters

Tracking is what turns detection into actionable security. A single detection can be noise. A consistent track across a fence line is a likely intrusion. Tracking also supports PTZ handoff, where a detection on a fixed camera cues a PTZ to auto track the target.

Facial Recognition CCTV Solutions

Facial recognition analytics identifies and compares facial features against enrolled databases or watchlists. In security environments, it is typically used for access control, investigation support, and threat identification rather than wide-area surveillance.

A range of use cases

Use cases include identifying banned individuals, verifying authorised personnel, or searching recorded footage for known persons of interest. Accuracy depends heavily on image quality, camera positioning, and lighting conditions.

Ethical and legal considerations

Facial recognition analytics raises legal and ethical considerations, particularly around data protection and consent. As a result, deployment is often restricted to controlled environments and governed by strict policies.

Behaviour and Activity Analytics

Behaviour analytics attempts to infer intent or abnormality based on movement patterns rather than simple presence. In security, the main value is early warning and prioritisation.

Security oriented behaviour patterns

Loitering, repeated approach to an access point, reverse movement, lingering in a no stop zone, clustering in restricted zones, and abnormal dwell time. These are useful in car parks, service yards, access routes, and boundary approach zones.

Safety and compliance behaviours

Hard hat detection, high visibility clothing detection, restricted walkway detection, and fall detection appear in some vendor portfolios, mainly where safety is a primary KPI.

Heat Detection and Fire Analytics Software

Heat detection analytics monitors thermal changes to identify abnormal temperature rises, hotspots, or early signs of fire. Unlike traditional flame detection, it can detect risk before visible flames appear.

Applications for a range of settings

This type of analytics is used in industrial sites, energy infrastructure, waste facilities, and battery storage environments. It supports early intervention by triggering alerts when temperature thresholds or growth rates are exceeded.

Security and safety

Heat detection analytics is typically deployed on thermal cameras and integrated with safety systems rather than security monitoring alone.

Vehicle Analytics and ANPR

Vehicle analytics includes detection and tracking of vehicles, direction analysis, and classification by vehicle type. ANPR, also called LPR, extracts licence plates and often includes make model recognition when supported.

Where ANPR fits

ANPR supports access control, audit trails, and investigation. In perimeter security, it also supports threat intelligence by identifying repeated vehicle visits, tailgating patterns, or suspicious approach behaviours.

Forensic Search And Investigation Platforms

Some analytics products are designed less for live alerting and more for compressing investigation time. They generate searchable indexes over recorded video: attributes, object types, time ranges, and zones.

BriefCam is a well known example of analytics positioned around rapid review, real time alerts, and data analysis modules.

Why this is different

Forensic platforms are not always the right tool for perimeter intrusion detection. They can support investigations and provide operational intelligence, but real time perimeter protection typically needs low latency alerting and strong false alarm resistance.

Benefits of Video Analytics Software in CCTV Systems

For those looking to improve detection and all round security, CCTV video analytics offers a wide range of benefits. In summary, CCTV video analytics software reduces reliance on continuous manual monitoring by automatically detecting relevant events. This allows security teams to focus on verified incidents rather than watching screens.

Furthermore, video analytics software improves response times by generating structured alerts with context such as object type, direction of travel, and confidence scoring. It also reduces false alarms caused by weather, lighting changes, or benign activity.

At scale, these AI based solutions enables consistent security coverage across multiple sites, supports investigation and audit workflows, and improves return on investment from existing camera infrastructure.

Analytics Software Platform Vendors vs Feature Vendors

In procurement, you will typically see two vendor families.

Platform level providers

These are VMS and unified security platforms that ingest video, manage cameras, and provide analytics integration points. Milestone XProtect is often positioned as a VMS platform with a wide device ecosystem and analytics integrations.

Analytics specialists

Specialists provide advanced analytics that plug into VMS platforms or run as standalone. This includes companies focused on forensic search, perimeter detection, or specific vertical analytics.

Who Are the Main Video Analytics Software Companies?

The video analytics software market is shaped by a mix of camera manufacturers, specialist providers, and perimeter security vendors. Each video analytics software provider approaches analytics from a different technical and operational angle.

For a comprehensive overview of the leading providers, our guide to the best video analytics software companies will offer detailed insights and information.

Axis Communications

Axis focuses on open-platform analytics technology designed to run at the edge on cameras. Its analytics are commonly used for object detection, people and vehicle classification, and basic perimeter use cases, with strong integration into third-party VMS platforms.

Hikvision

Hikvision delivers a broad portfolio of AI-powered analytics embedded directly into cameras and recorders. Its strengths include people and vehicle detection, facial recognition, behaviour analysis, and large-scale deployment across cost-sensitive environments.

Hanwha Vision

Hanwha specialises in deep learning-based analytics software focused on accuracy and false alarm reduction. Its AI cameras emphasise people and vehicle classification, attribute extraction, and security-focused detection rather than business intelligence.

Senstar

Senstar is primarily a perimeter intrusion detection specialist. Its analytics are designed for high-security environments such as critical infrastructure, utilities, and industrial sites, often combining video analytics with radar, fibre, or sensor-based detection.

FLIR (Teledyne FLIR)

FLIR specialises in thermal imaging and thermal analytics. Its solutions are widely used for long-range perimeter detection, low-light environments, and early fire or heat anomaly detection.

BriefCam

BriefCam focuses on forensic video analytics software rather than perimeter protection. Its strength lies in rapid video review, searchable metadata, and investigation workflows across large volumes of recorded footage.

Avigilon

Avigilon combines camera hardware with proprietary analytics, including object detection, behaviour analysis, and facial recognition. Its solutions are typically deployed as part of a vertically integrated security platform.

Summary: The Types of Video Analytics Software

Video analytics software is best understood as categories of outcomes plus deployment architecture. Perimeter intrusion detection analytics is not the same as forensic search. Edge analytics is not the same as server analytics. The right selection depends on what events you need, how you verify them, where compute will run, and how the analytics integrates with your VMS and monitoring workflow.