Nx Witness vs Milestone XProtect: Which is the Superior VMS?

Nx Witness and Milestone are two VMS commonly used in CCTV systems across various industries. Nx Witness offers a one-stop VMS solution, allowing users to easily access all its features without additional costs.

On the other hand, Milestone requires a deeper technical knowledge to determine the needed features and how the application will be used, integrated, and maintained.

To further explore this topic, our team at Surya Prima Sakti has conducted a comparison between these two VMS.

At A Glance

Parameter	Nx Witness	Milestone XProtect
Pricing	Can be used for free to view live feeds. Requires a license for recording. Licensing is based on the number of cameras but isn’t bonded to individual cameras. All features can be used, and cameras can be replaced.	Requires purchasing a license for use. Licensing is bonded to features, servers & cameras. Requires buying a new license to add cameras/servers/features.
UI	Single desktop application with an easily understandable UI that can be used by anyone without extensive training or deep technical knowledge.	Consists of two applications (Management & Smart Client), both of which have a UI that requires deeper technical knowledge and extensive training.
Performance	Compact desktop client size and faster application performance. Surveillance processes become more efficient.	Desktop client requires considerable storage and has standard performance.
System Structure	The “HIVE” system structure has a concise, compact, and very clear concept.	The system structure is more complex and consists of many components that are not intuitive
Security	Components are interconnected with https and OpenSSL. Desktop application is password protected, and video streaming is encrypted. Free Failover features.	Components are connected only using HTTPS. Video streaming is not encrypted. Failover is a premium feature.
Features	One license unlocks various useful features such as motion search, image rotation, image enhance, export replay, and software fish-eye de-warping.	Need an additional license to unlock several features. Still, the performance is slower.
Integration	Open API & SDK for public	Open API & SDK for public
Scalability	Supports installations up to 10,000 cameras. If you want to add servers, the HIVE structure will easily discover and merge with them.	For usage up to 250 cameras, we need to buy an additional license. Adding camera is also somewhat tricky.
Maintenance	Free maintenance.	Paid maintenance per year.

Pricing Comparison

Nx Witness’s Pricing

Nx Witness provides a free version of the application that can be used without any time limitations. This free version can be downloaded directly from their website

However, the free version is limited to live viewing only. To use more cameras, record videos, and access other features, you need to purchase a paid license.

Once we buy a license, those licenses will be tied to the number of cameras used, but they are NOT tied to a specific camera unit.

This means that if you need to replace a damaged camera, you do not need to add or renew the license.

These licenses also unlock all the features available in the application. Additionally, these license comes with free updates for each new version.

Milestone’s Pricing

On the other hand, Milestone does not have a free version. Instead, they provide a demo license which will expire in one month. But to use the application for a more extended period and unlock all features, you must purchase a license.

Their licenses are tied to the number of servers, cameras, and application features. This licensing system allows companies to choose the number of features, servers and cameras that they need, so they don’t have to pay for features they never needed anyway.

The key difference here is that these licenses are tied to each installed camera unit. So, if you need to replace or add cameras, you must ask the seller for help to renew the existing license.

The biggest downside in pricing (in our opinion) is the fact that Milestone requires users to pay for upgrades to their application version.

Takeaway

In terms of pricing, Nx Witness has a more one-license-to-unlock-them-all concept, equipped with free upgrades, and the ability to replace the camera units without any hassle. It’s better suited for companies that are willing to pay upfront to unlock all the features they need

Meanwhile, Milestone has a more build-your-own-license concept that can somewhat feel restrictive. The upgrade is not free, and replacing the camera needs you to renew the license. They fits a business that wants to progress gradually, although this gradual upgrade can cost them more in the long run.

UI’s Comparison

Milestone’s UI

Milestone is often considered as a more complex-to-use VMS. Their user interface (UI) is indeed more complicated and requires a considerable amount of time to learn.

With that said, once they understand the ins-and-outs of it, the UI does grow on you.

Users can easily move camera views using drag and drop. However, this drag and drop movement is limited by a fixed layout system and cannot create custom views for two cameras in the same layout.

We think their UI can be improved in terms of intuitiveness and navigations.

Because of the non-optimal UI, basic functions such as video search and camera configuration can time-consuming, especially for users who are not familiar with the app.

Additionally, there are several types of software that users must access (Management App and a Smart Client), which makes using the VMS even more complicated.

Nx Witness’s UI

Nx Witness highlights its user-friendliness in almost all their promotional materials. Fortunately for them, this ease of use is proven through their intuitive and highly user-friendly UI.

The UI is indeed very easy to understand. In fact, during our research process, our marketing team tried the application. Within about 10 minutes, they were able to use the app to view real-time feeds and recordings.

Here, users can easily arrange camera views using drag and drop. However, the camera layouts can be customized according to preference.

Additionally, they also allow users to create custom views for specific areas on a single camera.

Navigating to various features feels very intuitive and logical which leads to a much more friendly experience.

True to their marketing, the UI is designed to be easy to use so that users can put all their focus on how to survey the areas, rather than on how to use the application itself.

Takeaway

The Nx Witness UI is designed to allow people to easily use its features.

Performance Comparison

Milestone’s Performance

Milestone’s installer file has a size of 1.9 GB. The client-server also requires hardware specifications that are demanding both in terms of RAM and CPU.

Fortunately, the speed is sufficient to meet user needs.

However, what surprised us the most in our research is the fact that XProtect can only be installed on Windows. Apparently, this is because the application’s code is heavily dependent on Microsoft runtimes (.NET, Vc++, etc.)

So, to install it on other operating systems such as Mac or Linux, we need to use emulators like Parallel, VMWare, or WINE.

Nx Witness’s Performance

With an installer that’s less that a gigabyte, Nx Witness’s performance is lightning-fast.

Every action the user takes is responded with quick. This fast performance makes performing any surveillance action very easy and can be done very quickly.

Their client can be run on various operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

Takeaway

Although Milestone can do its job description quite well, their competition just does it all better and using less resource. Hence, Nx takes the trophy when it comes to performance in general.

System Structure Comparison

Why do we care about the System Structure?

Well, for a system as crucial as a VMS, using a client with a solid and simple structure can be beneficial since it allows easier configuration and testing for each component.

When a system breaks and we need to figure out what’s wrong, it’s easier to dissect a simple system than a complicated one.

Nx Witness’s System Structure

Nx Witness has a simple modular structure called “Hive.” Here are the components of the system architecture:

Server Component	Client Component	Additional Component
Nx Server Nx Cloud	Nx Desktop Nx Mobile Nx Web	Plugins

Milestone’s System Structure

Meanwhile, Milestone has a more complex and intricate system structure. Here is the system structure:

Server Component	Client Component	Additional Component
Management Server Recording Server Media Database Event Server Log Server Service Channel SQL Server	Management Client Smart Client Web Client Mobile Client	Software Manager XProtect Smart Wall Xprotect Access Xprotect Transact Milestone Interconnect XProtect LPR XProtect DLNA Server Milestone ONVIF Bridge

In addition to being more complex, Milestone also requires the creation of a Master Server for login, while Nx Witness treats all servers as all-in-one.

Takeaway

With fewer components and a much cleaner communication between components, Nx Witness’s HIVE structure system is easier to understand than Milestone’s structure.

Security Comparison

Nx Witness’s Security

Each component of Nx Witness is interconnected to each other using OpenSSL and HTTPS. These two communication methods make the system more difficult to hack.

Additionally, the user interface is protected with a secure password. Video streaming and storage between client and server are also encrypted. We can schedule our data backups every day or manually. And each backup creates two copies of our recordings.

There is also failover feature with a revolutionary system: all recording servers can act as failover for each other. This eliminates the need to buy additional servers for failover.

(*Failover is the ability of a server to take over the tasks of another server if that server suddenly fails/breaks down.)

Milestone’s Security

On the other hand, connections made by Milestone’s components are done only through HTTPS.

Furthermore, while video storage is encrypted, video streaming is sadly not the same.

Failover is also a feature, but we must prepare a backup server that designated specifically as the failover server. And even then … this failover feature is only available in two versions: XProtect Corporate and XProtect Expert which are one of the more expensive versions.

So, not only do we need to buy a more expensive license, we also need to buy a server designated specifically for failover. Yikes.

Takeaway

With more security features that the users can take more value from, once again, Nx Witness takes the spot of the VMS with the better security.

Features Comparison

Milestone’s Features

There are 7 versions of the Milestone application. Each version has different feature sets, and these features also determine the type of license required.

In general, the VMS can display 100 views in its layout, which is already quite sufficient.

If we want to find a specific moment of movement in a view/recording, we can use the motion search feature. However, this feature can take quite a bit of time, especially if we perform multiple searches.

If you use the high-end versions, you will get access to more features like a desktop recorder, and a fish-eye de-warping feature, where fisheye cameras equipped with de-warping hardware can be converted into normal views.

Nx Witness’s Features

Nx Witness only has 1 version of the application, meaning there is only 1 type of license that unlocks all of its features.

The app can display 100 views in its layout, and features a Motion Search feature as well. In fact, this motion search is faster. So, we don’t need to waste a lot of time just to do a search.

using the motion search to filter the time

The desktop recorder feature is also present, along with other features after purchasing the license such as a fisheye de-warping feature. However, this fisheye de-warping is NOT limited by camera hardware, as the de-warping process is done digitally.

There is a range of other features that the competitor does not have, such as image enhancing, which can increase the brightness of images to make them clearer.

There is also a very simple but highly important feature that is our favorite here at Surya Prima Sakti, and the feature is called “Focus Window.”

With this feature, users can create a focused view in one area of one camera only. This feature has made us more relaxed because we don’t need to look at the camera recording, which is quite wide, just to monitor a single point of area.

In addition to these features, Nx also provides several other qualities of life features such as image rotation, which allows users to rotate images as they please, and export replay, which allows users to play exported videos in mp4 format and so on within the application itself.

So, we don’t need to rely on third-party applications to do these two simple actions.

Takeaway

Milestone has good features.

But Nx just does it all better … and more.

Integration Comparison

Nx Witness’s Integration

In their various promotional materials, Nx positions themselves as a VMS solution that is easy to integrate with various other systems. So … is this just a marketing technique or were they telling the truth?

Nx Witness allow their users to configure their own integrations with third-party applications/devices. In fact, they support us to integrate so much that they even have plugins (v4.0) to facilitate this integration process.

Users can also access Developer Tools for free from the Server Web interface.

There, we can directly access all the Server API and SDK that we need.

Milestone’s Integration

Milestone XProtect’s integration is also supported well. Because it has been around for longer, the number of third-party in the market are significantly higher. The community of third-party integrations is also very supportive

Takeaway

Integration in both VMS is similarly supported and easy with Milestone having an edge due to its mainstream presence.

Scalability Comparison

Milestone’s Scalability

When it comes to scalability, we want to see the capabilities of both VMS to integrate new components such as servers and cameras.

For servers, if we want to add a new server into our system, then we can do it with quite long & somewhat complex process. Fortunately, Milestone does provide users with a guide for this process.

For cameras, if we want to we use more than 250 cameras, the company recommends using the “XProtect Professional+,” “Expert,” or “Corporate” versions, which means users need to purchase additional licenses (again!).

However, Milestone’s best strength in scalability is its capability to integrate a wide range of surveillance equipment brands.

Nx Witness’s Scalability

In Nx, if we need to add a server, the Hive system architecture will automatically discover and add that server to our system architecture. This speeds up the process of scaling up significantly, and it’s highly beneficial for business that are growing rapidly.

When it comes to camera, the VMS supports the use and configuration of up to 10,000 cameras in one software, with a simpler licensing system.

Takeaway

In terms of scalability, both VMSs have their advantages. Milestone can integrate more non-CCTV security equipment from many brands, while Nx offers a simpler and more supportive scaling process.

Maintenance Comparison

Milestone’s Maintenance

Milestone provides a support service for maintenance and upgrade called “Milestone Care” which is an annually-paid subscription. For us, this is such a huge drawback especially compared to their competition’s free maintenance and upgrade.

Also, remember their system structure with its various components? That structure makes testing and maintenance very difficult to do manually.

So, companies that want to do maintenance seem to have no choice but to pay for maintenance if there are problems with the application.

Moreover, we must remember that Milestone only provides users with a month-long demo. This means that sometimes companies do not have the opportunity to experiment first with the application and whether they want to commit to the brand or not.

Nx Witness’s Maintenance

On the other hand, Nx Witness maintenance and upgrade fee is FREE. The system structure is also easy to understand, so we can find out where the problem is manually.

Additionally, Nx Witness provides a free version that last a lifetime, so users have more time to try out whether they like the performance and usefulness of this application.

Takeaway

With a free maintenance and a simpler structure, Nx Witness is much easier and cost less to maintain as a VMS.

Final Take

When comparing the two VMS, it’s clear that Nx Witness stands out as the more user-friendly and reliable option, making it perfect for rapidly growing companies. Its open concept and intuitive design cater to security teams, offering a seamless integration and operation process.

On the other hand, Milestone, with its more limited and complex system, is better suited for companies that prioritize basic functionalities. However, accessing more advanced features requires additional licenses, adding complexity and cost to the overall system.