Which is right for you?

• Ring Video Doorbell 4

  Best for security

  Keeping things on lock down

  The Ring Video Doorbell 4 offers excellent performance and a handful of useful features, including its unique pre-roll recording. It features 1080p video with HDR, which uses a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio with a relatively narrow vertical field of view. While you can’t position it to pick up both of your visitor’s faces and all packages delivered, it’s our favorite option for security, as it offers more reliable notifications than the Nest.

  Pros

  • Both battery and wire powered
  • Great image quality
  • Customizable face plates

  Cons

  • Big and bulky
  • Pretty much required to get a paid subscription
  • No real assistant support

• Nest Doorbell (Battery, 2nd Gen)

  Smartest doorbell

  Versatile, at a good value

  The Nest Doorbell (Battery) is easy to install and seamless to use. It offers vertical video, allowing you to see people from head to toe, and also to keep an easy eye on packages left on your porch. Smart notifications allow you to quickly assess or dismiss them depending on if an animal passed by or someone just stole your new phone. It doesn’t perfectly double as a security camera, though, as it can’t record permanently.

  Pros

  • Easy to install
  • Bright video at night
  • Works well with other devices
  • Wire or battery option

  Cons

  • No continuous recording
  • Narrow field of view
  • Some features are subscription based

Smart video doorbells are one of the most convenient ways to check on deliveries and interact with visitors, even when you’re not home. Most of them also double as security cameras and integrate with your overall security system, adding an extra layer of safety to your home.

Amazon’s subsidiary, Ring, is a market leader when it comes to doorbells thanks to its advanced features and reliability. Google has also been working on a range of smart devices that offer excellent features and integrate seamlessly with its smart home ecosystem.

Both brands have great smart video doorbells that are easy to install due to their wireless connectivity and battery power. Today, we’ll compare the Ring Video Doorbell 4 to the Google Nest Doorbell (Battery) and see which one is best for you according to your needs. Both brands also offer other doorbells, especially Ring, which has cheaper and more expensive ones; however, we’ve picked these two models as they’re the latest battery-powered doorbells from both manufacturers at relatively similar price tags.

Design

This part is personal, but both products look very different. The Ring’s design is a bit less pleasant, at least in my opinion, despite being easily customizable with faceplates.

The Nest doorbell has a much more original design, with four different color options. Its shape is also very futuristic and makes a statement, especially considering it’s one of the first things people see when they visit you. The Nest’s build quality is superior and more durable, even though I had no issues using the Ring Video Doorbell 4 under pouring rain and freezing temperatures.

Video and sound quality

A smart doorbell is as good as its video quality. The Ring Video Doorbell 4 and the Nest Doorbell offer HD video, allowing you to recognize people and objects clearly. Both also support HDR, which provides better colors, sharper pictures, and night vision thanks to built-in IR lights.

Looking at the exact specifications, The Ring Video Doorbell 4 comes with a slightly higher image quality and a standard 16:9 format. The Nest Doorbell, on the other hand, has a vertical format, which lets you see people from head to toe.

Depending on your needs, the difference in aspect ratio can be a dealbreaker. For example, if you’re planning on using your smart doorbell as a security camera to keep an eye on your front yard, a horizontal format is more useful, as it offers a wider field of view to see more than what’s in front of the sensor.

A vertical format (Nest) lets you see what delivery people are carrying and allows you to keep an eye on a package left at your door while you’re away, which the Ring model can’t do.

Notifications

A key aspect of picking the right doorbell is how it notifies you when someone’s at the door and how it doubles as a security camera to detect motion, people, and packages. Both let you know when someone presses the doorbell button, but in different ways.

Ring does a much better job at doing so on your phone, as it vibrates the same way your handset does when receiving a call, making it hard to miss. The Nest vibrates only once, potentially causing a delivery to go unnoticed.

Luckily, both work with smart speakers, allowing them to double as chimes. Ring lets you buy chimes individually, but you’ll need to grab a Nest speaker to chime with Google’s doorbell. Also, both can automatically show the live feed on a compatible smart display as soon as someone presses the doorbell.

When it comes to using them as cameras, both offer extensive features, including motion zones, people detection, and even package notifications. The Nest Doorbell can also recognize animals and vehicles, allowing you to set specific notifications for those.

If you pay for a Nest Aware membership, the doorbell can even recognize familiar faces and send notifications accordingly. In addition, Ring lets you set privacy zones if you need to black out specific zones to avoid filming the street or your neighbors.

Software and features

It’s also important to consider each doorbell’s extra features and whether they’re useful to you. As we’ve seen above, both cameras offer a wide range of features, but they slightly differ when it comes to handling visitors. For instance, both offer quick or smart replies — allowing the doorbell to play preset messages to make people wait while you answer — but Ring’s implementation doesn’t make much sense, as you have to define a preset timer so that the message can be played automatically if you don’t pick up within that timeframe.

Unfortunately, you can’t manually play them if you’re stuck in a meeting, for example. And you can only pick one from the list, meaning you can’t use a different one depending on the situation.

Nest has done a better job, as you can pick from three different preset messages and use the appropriate one according to the situation. However, these can’t be played automatically; you still have to check your notifications to have the doorbell play one of them.

Ring also offers a pre-roll feature, which lets you see what happened the last few seconds before someone rang the doorbell. It’s not a revolutionary feature, but it lets the camera record in low quality while it’s in standby so you can see where someone came from or if they dropped your package before pressing the button.

Battery life and charging

Although both doorbells can be hardwired, they also come with an easy-to-install built-in battery. Both products offer relatively similar battery lives, ranging from a month with heavy usage to six months with minimal interactions. However, they have a different philosophy when it comes to charging.

When it comes to the Nest Doorbell, you have to unmount the whole doorbell and plug it into a USB-C cable to give it a charge. This is far from practical, as you’re left without a doorbell for a few hours.

Ring ships its Video Doorbell 4 with its removable battery pack, meaning you can easily take it out and swap it with another one you may have. This is particularly convenient if you have other Ring products because you can put one of your camera’s battery packs in the doorbell and continue using it normally.

Subscriptions

Both doorbells can be used with additional subscriptions. Without the Protect membership, Ring’s Video Doorbell 4 offers real-time video, pre-roll, motion-detection notification, and two-way audio. The more advanced features, such as cloud recording, event history, quick replies, smart motion alerts, and advanced notifications with a preview, require a paid subscription that costs $4 a month or $40 a year.

Regarding the Nest Doorbell, most features don’t require a Nest Aware subscription, including activity zones, smart alerts, and three hours of video events. There is also no need to pay for package or person recognition, which is a significant advantage over the Ring Video Doorbell 4. However, you’ll need a paid Nest Aware subscription to save video footage, which costs $6 a month or $60 a year for up to 30 days, or $12 a month or $120 a year for up to 60 days.

Unlike the Ring model, the Nest Doorbell doesn’t let you continuously record video, even when it’s hardwired and used with a Nest Aware subscription (which doesn’t make any sense).

Which one should you buy?

The answer to this question isn’t simple and depends on what you’re looking for. Some might go for the easy solution, thinking that your smart speaker and display ecosystem should determine your choice, but keep in mind these doorbells only act as chimes, and so does your phone.

Here are our recommendations based on potential needs:

• Security: Ring is probably the option to go for if you need a doorbell that doubles as a security camera. The camera can seamlessly interact with other Ring products and offers 24/7 monitoring and a better field of view to monitor its surroundings.
• Packages: If you receive boxes and want to keep an eye on them, the Nest Doorbell is probably a better choice, considering it has a more appropriate aspect ratio to see packages and doesn’t require a subscription for notifications.
• Smart replies: If you want to interact with people while you’re in meetings or busy, Nest’s approach to quick replies is better but not automatic.
• Subscription fees: If you don’t want to pay a subscription fee, Nest seems like a better option, considering more features are available without having to pay for a membership.
• Notifications: If you’re afraid of missing notifications, definitely pick the Ring Video Doorbell 4, as the Nest notifications easily go unnoticed, even if you have plenty of smart speakers at home. Ring is also much more fun to use when it comes to seasonal sounds.

Nest Doorbell (Battery, 2nd Gen)

The Nest Doorbell is Google’s latest smart doorbell and the company’s first battery-powered option. While it lacks the 24/7 recording of the older Nest Doorbell (wired), its larger camera sensor and wider aspect ratio make it a better tool for seeing packages left on the doorstep or visitors in low light.

Ring Video Doorbell 4

The original Ring was the first mainstream consumer video doorbell, so it makes sense that the fourth-gen model boasts refined performance and a wide feature set.