6 Best Video Doorbell Cameras (2024): Smart, Battery, AI, Budget, and No Subscription Required

Honorable mentions

Photo: Simon Hill

We tested several other video doorbells. These are the ones that narrowly missed out on a spot above.

Doro Hemma doorbell for £150: A simplified smart doorbell for the elderly is a solid idea, and Swedish manufacturer Doro has done a great job with Hemma. This is a battery-powered doorbell that’s easy to set up and use, offers a resolution of 1,440 x 1,440 pixels with a decent frame rate (30 fps), local recording via microSD card, and a fully pluggable chime. loud to hear. all over the house. It worked reliably in testing, and the app is intentionally simplified, with a handy option to transfer calls to a trusted friend or family member (they’ll also need the app). ). The two-way audio works well, there’s a handy zoom function when you’re streaming, and there’s a siren to scare people away. It’s simplified so there’s no privacy zone or package alert, and it may be too sensitive for busy front doors, although you can set it to alert only when the doorbell rings. Battery life is decent, although the battery isn’t removable so you’ll need to remove the doorbell to charge it or use a portable charger. Sadly, it’s only available in the UK and Europe.

SimpliSafe Pro Video Doorbell for $170: If you’re looking for a solid security system, SimpliSafe may be on your radar, and for those with a SimpliSafe setup, the Video Doorbell Pro will be a great fit. Former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano found it touchy at first, but after updating, she says it works almost flawlessly, sending alerts quickly and providing a clear view of her porch. Footage maxes out at 1080p, but the camera supports HDR to eliminate glare and has a 162-degree field of view. It must be wired and you need a subscription from $5 per month to record video, but SimpliSafe also offers a professional monitoring option (from $32 per month), which is rare for doorbells and can makes sense if you have a complete security system with them.

Ring Pro battery video doorbell for $230: Amazon’s Ring brand flagship battery-powered doorbell is close to earning a full recommendation. It delivers sharp, high-quality video with HDR support and color night vision. Announcements are quick and accurate, and the two-way audio is of relatively high quality. I appreciate the option to set multiple motion zones, including a handy bird’s eye zone that lets you determine range. The preroll feature records a few seconds before each clip (albeit at a lower resolution), which can be useful. Since there’s no local recording option, you have to subscribe to Ring Protect for $5/month ($50/year) for one camera, but that also gets you 180 days of ample video storage, rich notifications as well as the ability to detect people and packages. But all these bells and whistles come at a high price, and the battery life is disappointing (three weeks). You can mitigate this by purchasing a second battery instead, as it’s removable, or opt for the Wired Doorbell Pro instead (although we haven’t tested it).

TP-Link Tapo smart video doorbell (D230S1) for $120: For those looking for a local storage option that doesn’t require a subscription, this Tapo doorbell is worth considering. Notifications appear quickly and include still images, video quality is excellent, even at night, and the home hub uses a microSD card and acts as a chime. On the downside, it’s too cumbersome, and the built-in AI (which is said to be able to recognize people, pets, vehicles, and packages) is unstable.

Hard to recommend

Photo: Simon Hill

We disliked every video doorbell we tested. These are the ones we do not recommend.

Reolink Video Doorbell (Battery) for $146: We liked the Reolink wired doorbell listed above, so I was excited to try its first battery-powered model, but it was a disappointment. It offers up to 2K footage with a 1:1 aspect ratio that gives you a panoramic view of your porch, but it lacks HDR and has a relatively low frame rate (15 fps ). I like the subscription-free option, but that means having to put a microSD card in the doorbell itself, and it’s a relatively easy doorbell to remove. Reolink suggests a battery life of up to five months, but mine died in less than two months, and the internal rechargeable battery can’t be removed so you have to remove the doorbell to recharge. Factor in the somewhat confusing app, relatively slow loading times and glitchy connectivity and this cannot be recommended.

Ezviz EP3x Pro for £133: This is a much nicer doorbell than Ezviz’s previous models, and it’s great to see solar panels as an option for the doorbell, although you’ll need an awning capable of taking some ray. Video quality is good, and you get a split view (like Eufy above) that includes packages or cats waiting at your door. Distortion correction works well and there’s a color night vision option with a built-in light, although it only works at very close ranges. I appreciate the 2FA feature, with fingerprint login and 32GB of internal storage (cloud storage is an additional option). Sadly, if you use a solar panel, you cannot connect to a wired bell. The lack of HDR is disappointing, human detection is a bit poor (it frequently alarms my cat), and I had problems with not receiving alerts on some Android phones (even after when following Ezviz instructions they never worked reliably on my Xiaomi). 14 super). This model is not currently available in the US.

Botslab 2 Pro video doorbell for $170: The unstable setup process required a few reboots, and the physical installation was no better, as the supplied screws were so cheap that one of the heads actually broke off. The camera has a fisheye effect but you can fix it with different viewing angles. I like the VR mode, which provides a 180-degree view of your front porch. It comes with a handy add-on bell, the alerts seem reliable, there’s an HDR option, and you can record locally (32GB included) or in the cloud. You can also set the detection range, which can be useful for cameras facing the street. However, the app is confusing with the AI ​​tab listing various skills available for purchase. There’s a login history and a limit of two devices logging in at once, but there’s no 2FA, which makes this impossible to recommend. It’s very versatile but also relatively expensive.

Wyze Pro video doorbell for $100: Wyze Pro Video Doorbell (7/10, WIRED Review) is our budget recommendation but with caveats. It reliably alerts, provides clear video, and has accurate AI to detect people, but you need a Cam Plus subscription (from $3/month). This camera model is not one of the affected models security vulnerability that Wyze cannot fix or reported to customers for three years, but after multiple security breaches from Wyze, most recently display thousands of camera feeds to other customersIt’s hard to recommend its camera anymore.

Swann SwannBuddy Video Doorbell for $150: This doorbell comes with a battery-powered wireless chime and a local storage option, but the pros stop there. Video quality is poor, the app loads slowly and crashes, and the doorbell frequently fails to record movement. I found the battery life disappointing. I also have to question the decision to provide local storage via a MicroSD card inserted into the doorbell (a chime would make more sense and be safer).

Ezviz DB2 Video Doorbell for $180: An affordable video doorbell that comes with a plug-in chime, the Ezviz DB2 works quite well, but it’s very bulky and a bit ugly. Video footage is very detailed but I had issues with blown out highlights when the sun was shining. The app works reliably and loads quickly, pressing the doorbell will trigger a call to your phone, and you can record locally by inserting a MicroSD card into the chime. Sadly, it only offers a very limited option for defining motion zones—a big problem if you live on a busy street. I also found the battery life to be below average and it was difficult to remove the battery.