Ring Video Doorbells Breakdown

Ring Video Doorbell 3 Plus is the sweet spot for Ring’s various doorbell offerings. Since it can run on battery power, there’s no need to hardwire it if you don’t have to, and the design of the Ring 3 Plus makes it easy to pop the battery in and out for easy charging. This feature makes it a great choice if you're anxious about messing with doorbell wiring.

One of our favorite features on the Ring 3 Plus is its Pre-Roll feature, which saves four seconds of video from before motion triggers the camera to record. This is great for catching the whole event instead of capturing the back of a porch pirate's head as they make a getaway.

The camera on the Ring 3 Plus has 1080p HD video with better night vision than its predecessor, and you can adjust the camera angle by adding one of the included mounting wedges to tilt it left or right. You can also adjust the motion sensor sensitivity so you’re not getting constant motion-activated alerts.

The Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) is a peculiar product. It's a long-overdue update to the original Ring Video Doorbell (which released in 2014), but it's also not the Ring 2, which is no longer available.

One big improvement in this new version is crisp 1080p video quality and a more polished design. But it still doesn't have a removable battery. Charging the battery on this Ring is a bit of a hassle (since you have to pretty much take the whole doorbell off). But if you hardwire it to your old doorbell, you won’t have to worry about the battery dying.

It also lacks the fancy Pre-Roll feature that captures video from before motion events, which is Ring 3 Plus's biggest draw.

If you still want a Ring doorbell but you’re on a budget, those little concessions are worth the $130 you save on the purchase price compared to the Ring 3 Plus.

But just because it’s budget-friendly doesn’t mean it’s without perks. The Ring 2nd Gen still has all the other bells and whistles we enjoy with pricier versions, including custom motion zones, motion-activated alerts, and a wide 155º field of view.

The Ring Video Doorbell Pro is the device for people who want a subtler, sleeker video doorbell to greet their visitors. The Ring Video Doorbell Pro is narrower than its bulkier cousins with a profile that resembles a standard doorbell.

But it comes at a price—the Pro is about $20 more than the Ring 3 Plus, and that lack of bulk is because there’s no battery. That means you have to hardwire it to your old doorbell.

It has 1080p resolution just like other Ring doorbell cameras, and it still manages to fit a motion detector and two-way audio into its space-saving design.

The Ring Video Doorbell Elite is Ring’s top-of-the-line option with a top-of-the-line price to match. It’s hardwired to your ethernet connection, so you never have to worry about its proximity to Wi-Fi.

But since most homes probably don’t have an ethernet cable running to the doorbell box, the Elite is a better fit for new construction.

Ring recommends professional installation for this device due to the required ethernet connection and because it’s flush-mounted to your outer wall. On the plus side, the flush-mount design makes it a lot less bulky after installation than other Ring video doorbell models.

The Ring Peephole Cam is one of the newer doorbell cams in the Ring family, and it’s designed with renters in mind. The Peephole Cam fits right into your existing peephole hole, preserving your peephole function while adding a camera and other benefits of a video doorbell.

It has all of Ring’s regular doorbell functionality—like two-way communication, motion detection, and a doorbell button—plus a new feature: an impact sensor. The sensor detects any door vibrations to alert you when someone knocks on your door, even when you’re not home.

Because the Peephole Cam is a device designed for apartments, it also includes privacy zone settings for its audio and video to ensure you comply with privacy laws.

It connects to your Wi-Fi network so you can get motion sensor and impact sensor alerts and push notifications. And you can view the Peephole Cam’s live camera feed from your smartphone.