Which is better Cat5 or RG59?

Which is better, Cat5 or Coax ?
The answer is neither. Each has it’s own benefits. For simplicity coax wins, it is also a more rugged solution and for self install comes in pre-made lengths, often with the DC power attached.
Cat5 is particulary well suited to situations where you need ot run a number of feeds to the same place. We had a customer who had a DVR located in his main workshop and office but who had a satellite workshop some distance away in the same building where he wanted to install a number of cameras. In this instance Cat5 was perfect. Run a 4 camera feed in a single wire from the DVR to a distribution hub in the satellite workshop and feed the cameras into the distribution hub. It saved running 4 long coaxial cables. The cameras were all powered locally.
That’s the one downside of cat5 cable, it’s relatively small cross section makes running power over long distance impractical if voltage drop is to be avoided, particularly with powerful infra red cameras.