Buying a smart video doorbell camera answers one of the biggest questions of the smart home: if someone calls at your house and youâre not there to answer, did they call at all?
With a camera doorbell, theyâre connected straight through to your smartphone or video device within the home. You can get a live video feed and see whoâs calling, and use two-way audio to speak to them.
This can make dealing with deliveries a lot easier (âchuck it over the fenceâ, âput it in the garageâ) and enables you to keep tabs on whoâs calling. It's also a lot more natural than just using a smart home camera.
Below, we'll run you through our pick of the best video doorbells as well as letting you know about some interesting new camera doorbells that are set to launch in 2021.
We'll then explore some of the things you need to know before buying your first smart doorbell.
There are now heaps of "smart" doorbells you can buy, but we've been busy testing â separating the heroes from the zeroes â to bring you this guide. Here are our top picks.
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Buy now: Amazon, ring.com | $199
Our top pick of smart doorbells right now, Ring Video Doorbell 3 works superbly well, is available globally and you wonât have to worry about cables, given that it works via a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. If you do have wires hanging out of your door frame, you can still attach them to ensure you don't have to recharge.
The Ring 3 and Ring 3 Plus keep the 1080p HD live streaming, 160 degree field of view, HDR video, night vision, motion detection, motion and privacy zones, and two-way audio of the Ring 2 and add support for 5GHz Wi-Fi, an extra motion detection zone, and an optional new solar charger.
The Plus model adds a feature whereby you can see a few seconds of pre roll footage from before the doorbell is actually pressed.
The build is a bit big and bulky in order to hold that big battery and we wouldnât say Ring is the most aesthetically pleasing doorbell on the market.
You'll need a plan. Basic costs $30 per year.
Youâll also need to purchase a Chime, if you want to hear the doorbell in the house. Of course, itâs optional, as you have your phones, a noise from the Ring unit itself, plus you can have your Echo speakers announce when someone is at the door.
Our one beef is the charges for storing video, and weâd like to see 24 hour playback thrown in for free. Otherwise, Ring is a superb system that comes highly recommended.
What we love
What we don't love
Check out our full Ring Video Doorbell 3 review.
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Buy now: store.google.com | $229
While we marked down Ring for being big and bulky, the Nest Hello is slim and good-looking. When it comes to standard features there's the 1600 x 1200 HD video at 30fps that's nice and clear, with HDC to make things easier to see at night. It's also set up at a 4:3 aspect ratio rather than 16:9, which will help you see people head to toe.
Where the Hello shines with its smart features. You have quick replies that you can select from the app, that can do things like tell your UPS deliverer to set the package at the door, there are also motion sensors, sound, person and package alerts at your disposal.
If you've got the $5 monthly Nest Aware subscription, there's also facial recognition, which will learn the faces of people who frequent your place the most and let you tag them in the app. If you've got a Nest Cam IQ or Google Home, they'll even announce them.
There's a wireless chime in the box, which is good, but you'll still need a wired connection to work this one â that might stump some people. Nest Pro installation is recommended, though it will cost you a couple of hundred dollars or less depending on how much work your home needs done.
Overall, the Nest Hello is a great choice for those who want to put the smart in smart doorbell. It's got high-end features including facial recognition, pre-recorded responses, and full 24/7 video streaming (not just clips that start recording based on motion or sound). But it's also expensive, from the upfront cost to installation to the Nest Aware subscription.
What we love
What we don't love
Check out our full Nest Hello review.
Buy now: Amazon, arlo.com | $150
Arlo is pretty late to the doorbell party, having only launched its first model in 2020. However, the Arlo Video Doorbell is worth considering given that the company's excellent range of cameras make for a powerful smart home security system, and the Arlo Doorbell fits neatly into that ecosystem.
It boasts an impressive 1536 x 1536 resolution, 180-degree diagonal field of view, and a 1:1 square aspect ratio, which works so well for capturing what's happening on your doorstep.
Unlike the company's cameras the Arlo Doorbell doesn't require the hub, so you don't need to be part of the Arlo club, nor pay for extra hardware. However, you will need to buy a chime if you want to hear your doorbell in the house.
You will need existing wires, however. Like most systems, with the exception of Ring, the Arlo Video Doorbell doesn't use a battery.
Arlo's cameras are big on smart features, so captured video will automatically spot packages, animals, cars or people. It doesn't use facial recognition, so it won't be able to tell you who called, but it can help you filter out motion alerts that aren't of interest.
You'll need a subscription to have footage saved for playback, and $3 gets you 30 days of storage (but this jumps to $10 if you have Arlo cameras as well.
Footage was great quality in our review testing, during the day and night, but we did think audio quality lagged rivals.
Be aware that a battery powered Alro video doorbell is coming soon,
What we love
What we don't love
Check out our full Arlo Doorbell review.
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Buy now: Amazon, ring.com | $129
A unique entry into the doorbell space, the Ring Peephole Cam previously called the Door View in the US) fits in the peephole of your door â making it a great option if you canât install a wired doorbell or drill holes into the outside of your home.
Battery-powered, this Ring has the easiest install, taking under five minutes as thereâs no wiring or drilling. Once installed you get nice, clear, full HD video, with a 155-degree angle view (slightly narrower than its big brother Ring 2), and nighttime infrared recording.
All the standard Ring features â motion sensor controls, a snooze alert option, and privacy areas â are here, plus the Ring cloud plan for storing and playing back video, and Alexa integration (no Google Assistant or HomeKit).
A new feature is knock detection that catches people who donât ring the bell. However, there's no option to set activity zones and we found the video to be slightly jerky, unless we turned on HDR, which reduces battery life.
Speaking of batteries, youâll be charging this three or four times a year so you might want to buy a backup battery, plus pick up a Ring Chime (or Chime Pro if you need to extend Wi-Fi to your front door), as you wonât hear the noise out of the small speaker inside your home.
The biggest drawback of the Ring Door View Cam is actually its biggest advantage â its unique positioning. Because itâs in the door, when you open the door you lose the video footage of your front doorstep, instead you get a nice view of the side of your head.
Still, you get all of the features and reliability that weâve come to expect from Ring, in a package that can be installed in a matter of minutes. For those that canât fit a regular doorbell or that arenât allowed to drill holes, thereâs nothing that works this well.
What we love
What we don't love
Read our full Ring Peephole Cam review.
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Buy now: Amazon | $99
The smart doorbell that kick started the connected front door revolution has been revamped for 2020. The second generation Ring Video Doorbell boasts a budget price-tag and some pretty impressive specs.
It takes the original Ring Video Doorbell and adds Full HD 1080p video, improved motion detection, privacy zones, audio privacy and crisper night vision.
You'll still have to take the whole doorbell unit off of the wall when it needs charging; although there's a $49 solar base where you can mount the Doorbell on, which charges it.
The key job of a video doorbell is to send a quick alert when someone approaches your door or presses your doorbell. The Ring delivers well here, the alert came almost instantly and the video feed took about 6 to 8 seconds to show up on our phone and the Echo Show 8 we tested it with.
While the video quality is 1080p, the same as all the other Ring doorbells, it's definitely not as bright or crisp. But it's fine for general viewing, and the zoom is okay.
What we love
What we don't love
Read our Ring Video Doorbell (2nd-gen) review.
Buy now: logitech.com| $199.99
The Logitech Circle View Doorbell is one of the best smart doorbells that we've tested, thanks to speedy notifications, zero lag time, high-quality audio and video, and excellent smart alerts.
However, it does come with a big caveat: it's a HomeKit Secure Video camera, relying on a HomeKit hub to do all the heavy lifting.
If you're all in with Apple's smart home ecosystem then this could well be the doorbell for you.
Alerts for a ring, motion or activity come in almost instantaneously and there is no lag time when pulling up a live view. There is no delay in streaming, so no "back of the head" problem (when the video just catches the back of the visitors head as they walk away).
With HKSV the Logitech is always recording and analyzing motion, so when it detects something there's no time spent waking up or sending footage to the cloud for analysis.
Color night vision is very good thanks to the 4000K LED strip that illuminates your visitor brilliantly, although at the expense of their eye balls.
What we love
What we don't love
Read our Logitech Circle View Doorbell review.
Buy now: netatmo.com| $299.99
The Netatmo is a wired doorbell offering, that is compatible with most electrical installations, from 8-24 volts up to 230 volts.
When it was first announced - almost 2 years ago now - the Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell had the honor of being the first HomeKit compatible doorbell but in the many months that have passed, the likes of the Yobi Video B3, the Robin ProLine and the Logitech Circle View Doorbell have gone live; the latter boasting full HomeKit Secure Video features, as well (which, Netatmo assures us, is incoming for its doorbell soon, too).
Netatmo's video doorbell can be controlled via the Home app or using Siri - you can ask Apple's assistant to show you who's at your door.
You'll be able to see a live video feed on your phone if someone comes ringing, while the doorbell will send you an alert if it detects people loitering around your home.
Thanks to the built-in microSD card slot, no ongoing subscription fees; which may do something to alleviate the high purchase cost.
What we love
What we don't love
Read our Netatmo Smart Video Doorbell review.
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Buy now: Amazon, eufylife.com | $159
Eufy offers a great balance between excellent value for money and exceptional performance, and it does it all without any monthly cloud storage fees - as it stores your video locally.
We love the responsiveness of this doorbell - there's no waiting for endless buffering, and the video quality is excellent, serving up 2K (2560 x 1920) resolution with HDR technology for clearer images, and offers a 160-degree field of view and 4:3 aspect ratio â totally comparable to Nest's Hello.
Person detection means you can choose not to be bombarded with notifications when trees sway in the wind or a cat or car crosses by your front door, and quick responses let the doorbell do the talking for you, you can even create custom ones.
It's slightly more expensive than our Budget Pick, the Remo S Bell, but it comes with an indoor Chime (you have to buy one separately for the Remo), and its performance is better - especially on the software side. Notifications are super speedy and the app is polished and very user-friendly.
The downsides? No decent smart home integration beyond basic Alexa and Google Assistant integration (you can view your doorbell feed from their screen-enabled devices and Alexa can act as your indoor chime). There's also none of the high-end features such as face recognition or being able to trigger other cameras around your home, and no integration with smart door locks.
What we love
What we don't love
Read our full Eufy Doorbell review.
As well as the smart doorbells listed above it's worth noting that a number of devices are incoming - CES 2021 was a hotbed of video doorbell launches.
There were, probably not surprisingly, a couple of interesting launches that had the pandemic in mind... i.e. doorbells that you don't need to touch.
Alarm.com announced a touchless doorbell that activates your indoor chime when a visitor stands on the doormat. Itâs not doing this with motion detection as you would expect, what itâs doing is using ârapid and accurate person detection.â This means you wonât get a chime when a cat wanders up.
The Arlo Touchless Video Doorbell activates a notification when a visitor stands in front of it, so they can have a completely touch-free interaction.
Arlo states that it uses a a "precise Proximity Sensing Technology" in order to determine how close a potential knocker is to your door.
Elsewhere, there were more traditional video doorbell launches from the likes of TP-Link and Kami (pictured above).
And, probably the biggest news for incoming doorbells is that Ring has just announced its smallest, cheapest video doorbell yet - the the Ring Video Doorbell Wired (pictured above) costs just $59 and starts shipping at the end of February 2021.
Despite its diminutive form factor and that low price, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired packs in plenty of smart tech, including Full HD video footage, night vision and two-way audio with noise cancellation.
If youâre sold on the idea of a smart doorbell and are now looking at the cold reality, there are a few key considerations.
The first is how the doorbell is connected. If youâre replacing a doorbell on the front of the house, which is wired in, youâre already winning as you can make use of the existing doorbell wiring.
Most video doorbells are designed to support this system, and you can wire them in using these connectors, and ignore the need for batteries forever.
Read this: A beginner's guide to smart home wiring
If you donât have a wired set up, you're going to be limited. You can either wire in a doorbell, which is less than ideal: chasing home electrics back to a junction box, installing a transformer to step down the power, finding somewhere to chase the wire and then drill through your doorframe. Or you can buy a battery-powered version.
Brands such as August, Ring, Arlo and Eufy all now have battery powered video doorbells on sale.
There is also the option of Power over Ethernet (PoE). These doorbells, Ring has the Elite for example, are powered by an Ethernet cable that goes directly to your router; an Ethernet cable that also transmits the data and, as such, makes for a more reliable connection.
The next consideration is cloud storage and accessing recorded motion and rings. While answering a ring at your doorbell is part and parcel of the smart doorbell experience, watching video back of missed calls or detected motion usually (but not always) comes at a price.
This can cost in excess of $25 per year, and is an ongoing cost for having a doorbell, not something that everyone wants to enter into.
Increasingly, smart doorbells aren't just being used to screen callers, but to let the person in. That could be a cleaner, dog-walker or tradesperson â but this requires the doorbell to work together with your door.
For example, Nest's Hello doorbell plays nice with the Nest x Yale smart lock, and the companion app will let you both see who's at your door and unlock it simply.
As for Ring, it now has integration with Z-wave locks from Schlage, Kwikset, Yale, and others, which means that you can now unlock your door from the Ring app if you have the two paired.
HomeKit has been painfully slow to feature on any smart doorbell. Robin, Yobi and Netatmo are, so far, the only brands offering HomeKit compatible video doorbells.
However, with the arrival of HomeKit Secure Video we hope this will soon change, as there's an incentive for both Apple and smart home companies to make it work.
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