And you’ll always know when someone’s at your because you’ll receive notifications on your phone when they press the doorbell. And even if they don’t, most smart doorbells will detect a person and alert you anyway. If you miss the notification or can’t answer the door, Wi-Fi doorbells can often speak a standard reply such as “I can’t answer right now” and record video of the person so you can see who it was later. The snag is that most manufacturers require you to pay a subscription to do anything other than see the live video feed and get notifications when the doorbell is pressed. This, of course, adds to the overall cost and must be factored in: don’t just look at the price of the doorbell itself. However, not all smart doorbells require a subscription. Eufy and Ezivz doorbells don’t rely on cloud storage, and they don’t lock away useful features behind a subscription. Many of the best doorbells can limit notifications to specific things, such as a person, vehicle, parcel or animal, rather than alerting you when a tree branch is moving in the wind or some other motion you don’t care about. Prices vary a lot, as do features and video quality. Below, you’ll find our pick of the best smart doorbells available right now for all budgets, but scroll down to find more expert buying advice.
Smart doorbell buyer’s guide
As you’ve seen, prices and features vary considerably, but in general, you should expect two-way talk along with a live video feed, night vision and motion detection as a minimum.
Dedicated parcel camera HomeBase with 16GB of storage included
Expensive Whole unit must be removed for charging
It offers great control over motion detection so you only get notifications that you care about. Better still, it comes with an indoor module called the HomeBase which acts like a range extender and means you don’t need a strong Wi-Fi signal at your door as with most other smart doorbells. The HomeBase has 16GB of built-in storage for recording video, meaning there’s no need to pay a subscription as you do with Ring, Google and other doorbells that offer no local recording option. Video quality is impressive both day and night, and you have a choice of using the built-in battery to power the unit or using a transformer for continuous mains power. If you want the simplicity of battery power, just note the whole doorbell must be removed from its mounting bracket to be recharged: you can’t buy spare batteries and swap them over.
Superb motion detection Wide viewing angles Great quality video
Expensive No face recognition / package detection
3D motion detection, using radar, allows you to choose how far away motion should be before you get an alert and, along with custom zones, you can practically eliminate any false motion alerts. Night vision is pretty good (no smart doorbell is truly great in the dark) and quality during the daytime is excellent. The Ring app isn’t quite as good as Nest’s but it’s still better than most, and the rich notifications you get with a Ring Protect subscription are great.
Face & package detection Excellent HDR video Great app
Expensive No power supply included
The only area we’d like to see improved is motion detection, but you can set up custom zones to avoid lots of false notifications. It’s expensive to buy, but if you have other Nest security cameras, then a single Nest Aware v2 subscription cost covers them all and is better value than Ring’s equivalent. A subscription is required for recording (unlike the newer Nest Doorbell (battery) but it also gives you some useful features such as face and package recognition, and the Nest app is better than Google Home, which you’re forced to use if you opt for the lower-resolution battery-powered model. The app makes it easy to see events as you scroll through the timeline, even if you don’t pay extra for continuous recording (something that isn’t an option with Ring doorbells, or the Nest Doorbell (battery) for that matter). Installation isn’t difficult if you have a mains socket near your door, as you can buy an AC adapter – but it’s a shame Nest doesn’t include one in the box given the high price. It works with most existing wired chimes and you can also get notifications from Alexa and Google Assistant on your smart speaker and other devices.
Inexpensive Slim Pre-roll
No power supply included Doesn't work with existing chimes
It requires AC power at your door, which is great if you already have it, but will cost you extra if you don’t. The Doorbell Wired works with Ring’s plug-in mains adapter, so a DIY install is possible if you have a socket somewhere near your front door. Surprisingly, it gives you six seconds of pre-roll, just like Ring’s most expensive doorbell, and this means you see a few seconds of footage before the motion began. While it requires the same Protect subscription to enable recordings, rich notifications and other features, it’s a bargain at this price.
Improved pre-roll Good motion detection
Requires subscription for recording
It offers great-quality 1080p HDR video, though unlike the Video Doorbell Pro 2 its wide-angle view doesn’t show your doorstep so you won’t be able to see a package that’s been left there. Motion detection is a step down from the Pro 2, so there’s no 3D feature but you can use motion zones to select what part of the frame to monitor. There’s also a People Only mode which helps eliminate false alarms. Pre-roll provides up to four seconds of video from before the event began – an impressive feat for a battery-powered smart doorbell. Being battery powered means it’s simple to install, but you will have to keep on top of recharging it and ensuring it’s not going to run out while you’re away. It is possible to connect the Doorbell 4 to mains power, but if you’re going to do that, you may as well buy one of Ring’s mains-powered doorbells.
No subscription required HomeKit support
Expensive to buy Not the best video quality
But, once you’ve got this out of the way, you’ll never need to worry about recharging batteries or enabling more advanced, power-hungry features like night vision or live viewing. It’s not the only way that the Netatmo system differentiates itself either – it also records exclusively in portrait mode, making it much easier to capture a person from head-to-toe. The downside is that you don’t capture as much of the environment, and you might miss the action completely depending on doorbell placement, so it’s not a clear-cut win. The main highlight is that the doorbell doesn’t require a monthly subscription to access video footage – something required by most other smart doorbells on the market right now – and instead records video to a built-in microSD card.
Inexpensive Can record video to Sync Module 2
Average video quality Won't monitor doorstep for parcels
It’s basic, as you’d expect at this price, with unimpressive video quality, but it does the job. The best feature is the option to buy it with a Sync Module 2 which allows it to record video locally to a USB stick. This saves you paying a subscription to Blink Plus, which would otherwise somewhat negate the whole point of a budget doorbell.
Usable without subscription Battery or mains powered
Lower resolution than Nest Doorbell (wired) Google Home app needs work
But there are good reasons it doesn’t feature any higher up this list. For one thing, the Google Home app isn’t nearly as nice to use as the Nest one, and if you have older Nest cameras, you’ll have to use both, which is silly. Those older Nest products don’t offer free storage so you probably subscribe to Nest Aware anyway, in which case the free storage isn’t a benefit. And because it’s a rolling three-hour window, anything that happened more than three hours earlier will have already been deleted. There are other drawbacks, too, such as the fact that resolution is lower than the Doorbell (wired), and the fact there is no IFTTT or HomeKit support. (It does work with Google smart speakers and there’s now Alexa integration.)
Can record video locally Works with mechanical & digital chimes
Costly cloud storage
It uses a PIR for motion detection and you can set how far away someone should be before you get alerts of their presence. The sting in the tail is in the price of cloud storage, although you don’t need to pay a subscription fee as you could add a 128GB SD card for a fraction of that cost. However, if you want access to more advanced features, you’ll usually have to pay a monthly fee. Few smart doorbells will record any video clips unless you pay, so if you miss a notification that someone has pressed the button, you won’t be able to see who it was later on. It’s worth noting that the latest Google Nest Doorbell will record for three hours for free, but you still need to subscribe for longer history. On the more expensive Ring models, the inclusion of close-range motion sensors allows them to detect movement between 1 and 4.5 meters away. That’s ideal for city-dwellers where most smart doorbells would send notifications constantly because of people and cars driving by. Even the Ring Video Doorbell Wired supports Pre-Roll, which is the ability to record a few seconds of video before the doorbell has been pressed. Nest offers person, package and animal detection for free, but only facial recognition if you pay for Nest Aware. This means you can choose to only get alerts if an unfamiliar face is spotted and is preferable to the annoying generic ‘there’s motion!’ alerts which many security cameras bombard you with. And, neatly, a Google Home can announce the name of the person who is at the door for familiar faces. The main decision, though, is whether to opt for a battery-powered model or a hard-wired bell. A hard-wired doorbell can be connected to a chime, but will typically need an electrician to visit and install a special power supply. This adds to the cost but also means there are no worries about batteries running out at a critical moment. Don’t overlook your broadband speed either. The video feed requires a minimum of around 2Mb/s upload speed. Upload speeds are usually slower than download speeds, so check yours with an online speed tester before you buy, and make sure your doorbell is in comfortable range of your Wi-Fi router. If the Wi-Fi signal is weak, you’ll find it difficult or impossible to watch live video, and it might cause delays in notifications, too. Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
