Ring is raising the price of its cheapest subscription plan by 25 percent

In what is fast becoming a trend, another security camera company is raising the price of its subscription plan. According to a Ring support article, starting March 11th, 2024, it will cost $4.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly to subscribe to the Ring Protect Basic plan, an increase of $1 a month or $10 a year.

The Basic is Ring’s cheapest plan and gives you access to cloud storage of recorded videos from one camera or video doorbell. If you subscribe, you’ll see the bump on your next renewal date after March 11th unless you cancel before then.

Just last month, Arlo increased its single-camera subscription price to $7.99 monthly from $4.99. Google Nest’s cheapest plan went up to $8 a month from $6 late last year, but that covers all cameras on your account. On balance, Ring’s increase is small, but unlike when it raised prices in 2022 (from $2.99 to $3.99), subscribers aren’t getting any new features — just higher costs all around.

Without a subscription, all you can do with a Ring camera is view a livestream and get alerts for motion from your camera.

The hikes feel designed to push users to subscribe to the company’s higher-priced plans, which are not increasing. The next tier up — $10 a month or $100 a year — covers unlimited cameras and now makes more sense if you have two or more Ring devices. Then, it’s an easier jump to add yet another camera since it won’t cost you any more per month.

If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, Blink and Wyze offer some of the cheapest plans for viewing cloud-recorded video from a single camera. Both cost $3 a month, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on those prices staying that way.

Local storage of videos is the way to avoid price increases like these. Blink and Wyze offer local storage, as do cameras from Eufy and Reolink. Video doorbells that support Apple HomeKit Secure Video record to your iCloud account, but Apple’s subscription services aren’t immune to price increases.

My current pick for the best video doorbell is the Nest Doorbell Wired, which has three hours of free event-recorded video, so you don’t have to pay to see who was at your door — unless it was over three hours ago.