6 Best Video Doorbell Cameras (2024): Smart, Battery, AI, Budget, and Subscription-Free

Honorable mention

We tested several other video doorbells. These are the ones who almost miss the place above.

Doro Home doorbell on sale for £150: Designing a simplified smart doorbell for seniors is a great idea, and Swedish manufacturer Doro got a lot of mileage out of it with the Hemma. It’s a battery-powered doorbell that’s easy to install and use, offers 1,440 x 1,440 pixel resolution and a good frame rate (30 fps), local recording via microSD card, and a plug-in chime loud enough for the entire home. It worked reliably during testing, and the app is deliberately simple, with a convenient option to pass calls to trusted friends or family members (who also need the app). The two-way audio works great, there’s a handy zoom feature when live streaming, and there’s a siren to scare people away. It’s streamlined so there’s no privacy zone or package alarm, and may be too sensitive for busy front doors, although you can set it to only sound an alarm when the doorbell rings. Battery life is decent, but the battery isn’t removable, so you’ll need to remove the doorbell to charge or use a portable charger. Unfortunately, it’s only available in the UK and Europe.

SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro for only $170: If you’re looking for a reliable security system, SimpliSafe may be on your radar, and for those with a SimpliSafe setup, the Video Doorbell Pro is a great fit. Former Wired reviewer Medea Giordano initially found it sensitive, but after updating, she said it worked almost perfectly, sending alerts quickly and providing a clear view of the porch. Lenses go up to 1080p, but the camera supports HDR to eliminate glare and has a 162-degree field of view. It does have to be wired, and you need a $5 per month subscription to record video, but SimpliSafe also offers professional monitoring options (starting at $32 per month), which is rare for a doorbell if you have complete security with them system.

Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro for only $230: Amazon’s Ring brand of top-rated battery-powered doorbells gets nearly universal recommendations. It delivers high-quality, clear video and supports HDR and color night vision. Notifications are quick and accurate, and two-way audio quality is relatively high. I appreciate the option to set multiple motion zones, including a potentially handy bird’s-eye view zone that lets you define ranges. A preroll feature that captures a few seconds before each clip (albeit at a lower resolution) can be helpful. Since there’s no local recording option, you have to subscribe to Ring Protect for a single camera for $5/month ($50/year), but that also gets you 180 days of video storage, rich notifications, and person and package detection. But all those bells and whistles come at a price, and battery life is disappointing (three weeks). You can mitigate this by buying a second battery to replace, since it’s removable, or opting for the Wired Doorbell Pro (although we haven’t tested that yet).

TP-Link Tapo (D230S1) smart battery video doorbell now on sale for $120 USD: For anyone looking for a local storage option that doesn’t require a subscription, this Tapo doorbell is worth a look. Notifications are sent quickly, including for stills, the video quality is very good, even at night, and the indoor hub takes a microSD card and doubles as a ringtone. The downside is that it’s bulky and the onboard artificial intelligence (which is supposed to recognize people, pets, vehicles and packages) is fragile.

Hard to recommend

We don’t like every video doorbell we test. These are not recommended by us.

Reolink video doorbell (battery) for $146: We love the Reolink wired doorbells listed above, so I was excited to try its first battery-powered model, but it was disappointing. It offers up to 2K footage with a 1:1 aspect ratio, giving you a full view of the porch, but it lacks HDR and has a relatively low frame rate (15 fps). I like the subscription-free option, but it means putting the microSD card into the doorbell itself, and it’s a relatively easy doorbell to remove. Reolink recommends a battery life of up to five months, but mine died in less than two months, and the rechargeable battery inside isn’t removable, so you have to take the doorbell off to charge it. This is impossible to recommend given the slightly confusing app, relatively slow loading times, and connection glitches.

Ezviz EP3x Pro £133: This is a much better-looking doorbell than Ezviz’s previous models, and it’s nice to see solar panels as an option for the doorbell, although you’ll need a porch to catch the sun. Video quality is good, and you can get split views (like Eufy above) that include a package or a cat waiting at your door. Distortion correction works well, and there’s optional color night vision with built-in lights, although it only works at very close ranges. I really like the 2FA, fingerprint login, and 32 GB of onboard storage (cloud storage is an optional extra). Unfortunately, if you use solar panels, you cannot connect to a wired bell. The lack of HDR is disappointing, human detection is a bit off (it pinged my cat a lot), and I’ve had issues with alerts not working on some Android phones (even after following Ezviz’s instructions, they worked fine on mine) Also does not work reliably on Xiaomi phones) 14 Ultra). This model is not yet available in the United States.

Botslab Video Doorbell 2 Pro for $170: A shaky installation process that required a few reboots, and the physical installation wasn’t much better, as the supplied screws were so cheap that one of the screw heads actually broke off. The camera has a fisheye effect, but you can correct it using different views. I love the VR mode which gives a 180 degree view of the front porch. It comes with handy plug-in ringtones, the alerts seem reliable, there’s an HDR option, and you can record locally (32 GB included) or in the cloud. You can also set the detection range, which is handy for street-facing cameras. But the app is confusing, with its AI tab listing various skills available for purchase. There is a login history and restrictions on being logged into two devices at the same time, but there is no 2FA, which makes it impossible to recommend. It’s versatile, but also relatively expensive.

Wyze Video Doorbell Pro is only $100: Wyze Video Doorbell Pro (7/10, “Wired” review) is our budget recommendation, with some caveats. It sounds alerts reliably, delivers clear video, and has accurate artificial intelligence for people detection, but you’ll need a Cam Plus subscription (starting at $3 per month). This camera model is not one of the affected camera models Security flaw Wyze failed to fix Or reported to customers for three years, but after repeated security breaches at Wyze, most recently Expose thousands of camera messages to other customersit’s hard to recommend its camera any more.

Swann SwannBuddy Video Doorbell $150: This doorbell comes with a wireless battery-powered chime and local storage options, but that’s where the benefits end. The video quality was poor, the app was very slow to load and glitchy, and the doorbell frequently failed to record movement. I found the battery life to be disappointing. I also have to question the decision to offer local storage via a MicroSD card plugged into the doorbell (chimes make more sense and are more secure).

Ezviz DB2 visual doorbell now on sale for $180 USD: The Ezviz DB2 is an affordable video doorbell with a plug-in chime that works well, but it’s very bulky and a bit ugly. The footage was detailed, but I had issues with bright areas being overexposed when the sun hit it. The app is stable and loads quickly, pressing the doorbell triggers a call to your phone, and you can record locally by inserting a MicroSD card into the doorbell. Unfortunately, it only offers very limited options for defining movement areas – 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.