Ring Doorbell Alternatives

While Ring might be one of the biggest names in the game when it comes to video doorbells, that doesn’t mean they’re the only option you should consider.

While it’s true that Ring makes some pretty killer doorbells that can fit the needs of pretty much any security need or budget, the fact of the matter is not everyone — the author included — is wild about their design. Add to that the privacy issues the company recently dealt with along with increasing monthly subscription prices, and you’ll see why it makes sense to consider some video doorbells from other manufacturers.

Ring Video Doorbell 3, Installed

Our experts have worked with countless video doorbells over the years and we’ve used that experience to develop this list of the three best Ring alternatives. So before you click “buy now,” make sure you read up on the competition.

• Lorex Doorbell Camera – Our Choice for Best Video Quality
• Nest Video Doorbell – Or Choice for Best AI Features
• Arlo Video Doorbell – Our Choice for Top Features and Tech

So let’s take a closer look at these three alternatives and see why we’d recommend them for consumers considering something other than Ring’s offerings.

Expert Examined

From Joshua Lee, Active-duty Police Sergeant

“With self-monitoring systems, if the homeowner is paying attention, the dispatch times are actually quicker than professionally monitored systems. However, if the homeowner is not monitoring their system, the alarm will only be dispatched when the homeowner notices. We just had a case where the homeowner caught a burglary on camera. His alarm sounded but was never dispatched because the homeowner was at a family event. When the homeowner finally noticed, it was too late.”

Lorex Doorbell Camera — Best Picture Quality

Let’s not beat around the bush. The primary reason you want a video doorbell is to be able to tell what’s going on beyond your front door with some reasonable amount of clarity.

That’s where the Lorex Doorbell camera really shines.

Lorex Doorbell Camera on the table

In our review of the Lorex 2K QHD Wired Video Doorbell, we were pretty blown away by the picture quality this unit provided. If you haven’t seen the difference between 1080p and 2K resolution, it’s not negligible. This doorbell is able to pick up details other doorbells might miss, especially at long distances. This is really crucial when you consider the fact that video doorbells aren’t just a novelty — they’re functional pieces of security equipment.

But the resolution isn’t the only thing worth talking about here. Lorex’s doorbell captured a frame that spanned 164 degrees — that was more than enough to capture details across our entire front porch without any blind spots.

Lorex Doorbell Camera Field of View

One last point on the picture quality and we’ll move on. We do need to point out that the Lorex Video Doorbell is one of the few doorbell cameras that records in color night vision. When the sun went down, we were still watching a video feed that was sharper than a lot of the daytime footage we’ve seen from top-of-the-line security cameras.

In sum, if you’re looking for a video doorbell that’s going to deliver the highest quality recordings possible, this is a model to consider. With that in mind, though, let’s talk a little about the drawbacks.

First, out of Lorex's four flagship video doorbells, only one is battery operated. That means the other three are going to have to be hardwired. Now before you start immediately scrolling down, we do want to say that this isn’t as big of a job as you might think. The wired versions of Lorex’s doorbells work with your existing doorbell wiring — you just need to unscrew the old unit, connect two wires, and you’re off to the races.

Installing the Lorex Doorbell Camera

The other drawback is the price. While we wouldn’t say Lorex doorbells are prohibitively expensive, they aren’t necessarily cheap, either. Here’s a quick breakdown of their four video doorbells, their specs, and their prices.

Lorex Video Doorbell Prices

The good news is most homes won’t need multiple video doorbells — one is plenty for most folks — and Lorex is pretty consistently offering deals. We have more on that in our guide to Lorex’s pricing, but with a little shopper savvy, you can pick one of these units up for significantly less than the retail price.

Looking for a video doorbell that offers more than just crystal-clear picture quality, though? Let’s talk a little about the Google Nest Video Doorbell.

Google Nest Video Doorbell — Best AI Features

If you’re looking for some technological bells and whistles, may we direct your attention to the Google Nest Video Doorbell.

The Google Nest Doorbell

This follow-up to the Nest Hello Doorbell offers improvements on both design and functionality. It also refined some of the more interesting features, namely the Nest Video Doorbell’s facial recognition feature.

Now notice that I didn’t say person detection. Person detection is an AI feature that pretty much any higher-end video doorbell is going to offer these days. Google’s facial recognition, though, takes things a step further. Not only does it recognize people approaching your property, it learns who they are.

Approaching the Nest Video Doorbell

With a subscription to Nest Aware – $8 per month — your doorbell will start recognizing faces that show up at your door frequently. For us, that meant our partner, our friends, and the delivery guy from the pizza place in town. What can we say — it’s the best slice around.

Now why would you want this functionality? Aside from the “cool” factor, it actually helps you quickly determine whether or not you need to respond to a smart notification on your phone. Being told that our partner was walking up didn’t raise any suspicion, while “unrecognized person” raised an eyebrow. Nine times out of ten it was just someone dropping off an Amazon package, but having your doorbell know the difference between a known party and a stranger is pretty impressive when it comes to security.

The Nest Doorbell installed

Now that we’ve heard the highlights, though, let’s talk about some of the drawbacks you might want to consider.

Having personally tested the Nest Video Doorbell for a number of weeks, we can tell you that the battery life isn’t ideal — especially right out of the box. After we installed the Nest Video Doorbell on our front door, it was only about three weeks before we were taking it down again to charge up. A lot of this, though, had to do with the sensitivity settings. After setting some activity zones and decreasing the trigger thresholds for events, we were getting about a month and a half of juice out of the unit.

Price is also a consideration. At $179.99 retail, it’s one of the more expensive video doorbells out there. For context, Ring’s cheapest model is about $60, but you’re not going to get anywhere near the functionality you’d see with the Nest unit. For folks who are just looking for core features like person detection and package recognition, this doorbell might be more than you need.

If so, let’s have a look at our third and final Ring Alternative — the Arlo Video Doorbell.

Arlo Video Doorbell – Best Value

Arlo Video Doorbell

If you’re looking for an alternative to Ring’s line of doorbells, you shouldn’t overlook Arlo. It has some of the coolest features we’ve seen this year in a video Doorbell, and you can’t beat the price point. At only $150, this sleek little doorbell still outperforms most of its counterparts that cost twice as much.

One of Arlo’s tag lines is that their doorbells “sees what others can’t,” which we found to be true. Its 1536×1536 resolution gets the job done, and more importantly, it gets it done reliably. While testing the Arlo Video Doorbell, we found it never skipped a beat.

Arlo Doorbell

We were also impressed with Arlo’s two-way talk functionality that worked through our phone rather than push notifications from an app which can be easy to miss. While using the Arlo Video Doorbell, we were always able to know exactly when a visitor was at our door.

Expert Examined

From Joshua Lee, Active-duty Police Sergeant

“I recently went out of the country on vacation and my pest control company needed to get into the backyard. Unfortunately, we have a stubborn back gate. Instead of trying to call him, I used the two-way communication feature on my camera to tell him how to get in. Once he was in the backyard, I used the two-way communication feature again to tell him where our trouble areas were. I did this all from over 3,000 miles away.”

The Arlo doorbell also offers some interesting advanced features like smart notifications, which can differentiate between people, vehicles, animals, and other types of motion. Although the technology isn’t perfect, this feature was helpful for us, as we live on a pretty busy road. Without being able to differentiate between different types of movement, our phone would be going crazy all day with false alerts, picking up motion of cars driving by, people walking their dogs, you name it.

Arlo Doorbell Video Quality

Also worth noting is the e911 function. This puts the Arlo Video Doorbell in a class of its own. If there’s an emergency, with a few clicks you can dial 911 from the app and be connected with a first responder. But what if you’re out of town and something happens? Don’t worry — Arlo knows. No matter where you are, the e911 call routes to the dispatch center closest to the address where the unit is located, meaning first responders will be able to help as quickly as possible, even if you’re on vacation in the Bahamas.

Arlo Doorbell Call Options

We also found that the Arlo Video Doorbell packages and add-ons are pretty unique, and for the price, there’s not an alternative Ring product that offers what Arlo does. At the end of the day, we can say that Arlo is a really impressive smart doorbell camera, and we think it’s a great alternative for anyone looking for non-Ring entryway monitoring and protection.

The Bottom Line: Ring Doorbell Alternatives

While your mind might immediately go to Ring when you’re thinking about video doorbells, you can see that there are plenty of options out there for people who are looking for features Ring simply doesn’t offer.

We personally use a Nest Video Doorbell at our home — we like the facial recognition and the sleek look — but there are definitely other options out there that we’d encourage you to explore. One of the best starting points is our guide to the best video doorbells of 2024.

When it comes to security needs everyone is unique, so don’t feel like you need to go with the one-size-fits-all option. Do some research, and above all, stay safe!