Security camera subscriptions: Which plans offer the best value?

One of the key differentiators between home security cameras and video doorbells has nothing to do with their specifications or even their performance. If you’re considering the long-term cost of ownership of a security camera, you’ll want to know three things: First, what functions are disabled if you don’t pay for a subscription? Second, what functions does a subscription add to the product? And third, how much will a subscription cost on a monthly or annual basis.

If you’re wondering why you’d need a subscription plan in the first place, it’s because many–maybe even most–of the manufacturers in this space limit the capabilities of their products unless you pay extra for services. These subscription plans are invariably advertised as “optional,” and many of them are sold in tiers, with varying levels of features. But the bottom line is that you won’t get the full benefit of many brands of camera and doorbell unless you sign up for a plan.

This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best home security cameras and the best video doorbells.

Arlo, Ring, and many others, for example, limit you to a real-time view of the scene in front of their cameras and doorbells unless you cough up for a subscription. If you want a recording of an event you weren’t around to watch in real time, you’ll need to pay for a subscription so you can store the recording on the vendor’s server in the cloud. Even cameras that feature local storage on a microSD card or a storage device on your home network might require a subscription to unlock features such as person, pet, and package detection; high-resolution video recording; AI image processing; and more.

Let’s compare the plans and services from each of the biggest manufacturers, whose product lines have generally earned positive reviews from us. Our list is sorted alphabetically, but if you’re looking for a particular brand, check the table of contents in the left-hand margin.

Updated October 25, 2024: Several subscription plans and/or their prices have changed. This roundup has been updated accordingly.

Arlo

When you buy an Arlo home security product, you’ll get a 30-day free trial to Arlo Secure, which starts automatically after you set up the camera or doorbell. When the free trial ends, you’ll still be able to see a live view from the camera, the two-way talk feature will continue to operate, and you’ll receive notifications when the camera detects motion. The camera will also continue to work with smart speakers and displays, but you won’t be able to record videos and download those clips to share with other people unless you sign up for one of the following paid subscriptions:

Arlo Secure Basic

Cost: $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year for a single camera; $12.99 per month or $129.99 per year for an unlimited number of Arlo cameras and doorbells.

Features: The Secure plan allows you to save video from Arlo cameras in the cloud on a rolling 30-day basis. It also enables smart activity zones, so you can highlight specific areas on your property to monitor. Other perks include theft replacement, priority care and support, and a discount on the purchase of future Arlo devices.

Arlo Secure Plus

Cost: $17.99 per month or $179.99 per year for an unlimited number of Arlo cameras and doorbells.

Features: This plan gives you everything in the Arlo Secure plan and adds critical security features such as AI-powered object detection (people, vehicles, packages, and pets), audio detection, and the ability to receive notifications for events and scenarios you create, such as when you leave your sprinklers on or your garage door open.

Arlo Premium

Cost: $24.99 per month or $249.99 per year for an unlimited number of Arlo cameras and doorbells; plus, professional monitoring and other services.

Features: Arlo’s top-tier plan includes everything in the Premium plan, but adds professional monitoring of an Arlo Home Security System, including the dispatch of first responders in the event of an emergency (break-in, fire, or medical). Interestingly, 24-hour emergency dispatch is available even if you only have security cameras.

Blink

Amazon’s Blink cameras come with your choice of two monthly cloud subscription plans. One is priced per camera and the other is a flat monthly or annual fee for an unlimited number of Blink cameras. Without a paid subscription you will only be able to view your camera’s live feed–and only for a maximum of 5 minutes after receiving a motion-detection alert.

Blink Basic Plan

Cost: $3 per month or $30 per year per camera.

Features: The Basic plan includes 60 days of rolling storage, automatic local backups (if you also purchase a $35 Blink Sync Module 2 and a USB storage device to plug into it), person detection, video sharing, and periodic photo capture. A paid subscription also extends continuous live viewing time from 5 minutes to 90 minutes.

Blink Plus Plan

Cost: $10 per month or $100 per year for an unlimited number of Blink cameras.

Features: This plan includes everything in the Basic plan and adds the ability to temporarily pause motion alerts for up to 24 hours, a 10-percent discount on Blink devices purchased on Amazon, and extended warranties on all your Blink devices for as long as you continue your subscription–provided the Blink product is under warranty at the time you start your subscription.

Eufy Cloud Storage

Eufy indoor and outdoor cameras, floodlight cameras, and video doorbells support local storage either through a small amount of onboard memory, a microSD card, or Eufy’s HomeBase 3, a NAS-type device connected to your home network that can host up to 16TB of storage via a user-supplied hard disk or solid-state drive. But Eufy also offers reasonably priced cloud subscriptions that add anywhere-access convenience and are useful as a backup in case your local storage is stolen, damaged, or goes offline. Not all of Eufy’s security products are subscription eligible, though, so it’s best to check your model before you purchase a plan.

Eufy Basic Plan

Cost: $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year per camera

Features: The Eufy Basic plan unlocks rolling 30 days of storage for a single camera.

Eufy Premier Plan

Cost: $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year

Features: This plan covers up to 10 Eufy cameras, providing rolling 30 days of storage for each one.

Google Nest

Google Nest cameras include more features than most of the competition before you need to sign up for a subscription. You get the usual event-based alerts and on-demand live viewing, for example, but some Nest cameras also provide at least some event-based recording–up to 3 hours on the Nest Cam (battery), for example–without a subscription. That’s a great feature–if you can remember to view and/or download the clip before that 3-hour window closes. And some models will produce alerts specifying whether the motion was from a a person, a vehicle, or an animal; again, without a subscription.

Here’s what you’ll get if you do spring for a subscription (you’ll get a 30-day free trial with the purchase of a device).

Nest Aware

Cost: $12 per month or $120 per year for every Google camera, speaker, and display in your home.

Features: The Nest Aware plan bumps the event video history up from the 3 hours you get for free to a full 30 days. Your cameras can also learn familiar faces, so they can discern between family and friends versus strangers. And if you also have Nest smart speakers and displays, they’ll be able to listen for the sound of smoke or carbon monoxide detector alarms sounding off.

Nest Aware Plus

Cost: $24 per month or $240 per year for every Google camera, speaker, and display in your home.

Features: Everything in the base Nest Aware plan, but the event video history is boosted to 60 days, and you get 10 days of 24/7 continuous recording.

Ring

Ring Home is a comprehensive subscription service offered in three tiers, enabling everything from “rich” notifications of events (with a photo preview of the event appearing in the Ring app), to cloud storage, to professional monitoring of a Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro system. A free 30-day trial begins as soon as you activate a new Ring security camera or video doorbell. After the trial period, you’ll need to subscribe to continue using those features. Without a Ring Protect Plan, you can only use your Ring device’s free features such as live video, text-only push notifications, and two-way audio.

Ring recently overhauled its subscription service offerings, renaming it Ring Home and separating the professional monitoring service related to its DIY home security systems as an à la carte offering.

Ring Home Basic

Cost: $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year for one camera.

Features: The Basic plan allows you to store 180 days of recorded video events for a single Ring doorbell or camera. It’s also required to enable most of your Ring product’s advanced functions, including person alerts; rich notifications; Home and Away modes; the ability to download up to 50 videos at once to your device; and Snapshot Capture, which allows your camera to capture still images of its view at predetermined intervals so you can a view slideshow of what your camera sees between motion events. Doorbells also get Video Preview Alerts that deliver a short video clip along with the push notification when someone rings.

Ring Home Standard

Cost: $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year for an unlimited number of cameras and doorbells.

Features: The Standard plan covers every Ring doorbell and camera at a single location. It offers the same features as the Basic plan, but extends your camera’s live view feature from a max of 10 minutes to 30 minutes and adds a new feature called Doorbell Calls. When someone rings your doorbell, it will call your smartphone and give you the option to speak to the person on your porch over a video call. Owners of a Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro home security system will get 24/7 backup over a cellular network for the security system only (the more expensive Ring Home Premium plan also includes 24/7 internet backup for that product’s integrated Wi-Fi router).

The Ring Standard plan also gives you a lifetime warranty on all of your Ring devices–provided the devices were still covered by Ring’s standard one-year warranty on the date your Ring Home subscription starts.

Ring Home Premium

Cost: $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year for an unlimited number of Ring cameras; plus, some features for Ring Alarm and Ring Alarm Pro home security systems.

Features: The Premium plan gets you the same features as the Standard plan, but it adds an entirely new feature: 24/7 video recording to the cloud for some Ring cameras; namely, the wired-power models Ring Stick Up Cam Pro, Ring Indoor Cam 2nd Gen, and the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam. Ring says more of its wired-power models will gain this feature over time, including its wired doorbells.

If you also own a Ring Alarm Pro home security system, which has an integrated Eero Wi-Fi 6 mesh router, the Premium plan includes backup internet service over a cellular network, in case your primary broadband service should fail. Note that this service has a data cap. You’ll also get Ring Edge, which lets you store security camera and doorbell recordings on a local microSD card plugged into a Ring Alarm Pro, and Digital Security by Eero Secure (another feature related to that product’s integrated router). The biggest change with this tier is that professional monitoring is no longer included.

Ring Home with 24/7 professional monitoring

Cost: $10 per month in addition to whichever Ring Home plan you subscribe to (Basic, Home, or Premium).

Features: This plan is relevant only to Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro home security system users; as such, it’s not directly related to Ring’s home security cameras. With professional monitoring, someone in a central office tracks the status of your home whenever it’s in an armed state. Should the system go into an alarm state, they can either call you to check if everything is OK and summon an emergency response if you suspect a break-in, or immediately call the police (an option you choose when you set up the service). Professional monitoring can also be used for fire and medical emergencies.

Ring Home with Virtual Security Guard

Cost: $99 per month in addition to whichever Ring Home plan you subscribe to (Basic, Home, or Premium) and Ring professional monitoring.

If you own at least one Ring camera, a Ring Alarm security system, subscribe to one of the Ring Home plans, and are enrolled in Ring’s professional monitoring plan, you can sign up for the Virtual Security Guard add-on service at an additional cost of $99 per month. With this plan, professional security guards will monitor the cameras you choose, during the hours you set, looking for suspicious activity. If they spot something, they can use the cameras’ siren and/or two-way audio to deter potential a intruder or vandal in real time. They will also contact you directly, via text message or phone call, and they can summon emergency services if warranted.

SimpliSafe

SimpliSafe offers four paid monitoring plans for its home security cameras. You can forgo one to save some money, but you will be limited to viewing your camera’s live video feed and arming/disarming its security system from the SimpliSafe App. SimpliSafe’s least-expensive subscription unlocks critical features such as push notifications and video recording, while its two Pro plans offer professional monitoring of a SimpliSafe security system and live guard monitoring of your outdoor cameras.

Self Monitoring with Camera Recordings

Cost: Around $10 per month.

Features: As the name of this plan indicates, you are still monitoring your system via the SimpliSafe mobile app with this entry-level subscription, but you unlock additional camera features, including unlimited video recording, 30-day cloud storage, and instant alarm alerts pushed to your mobile device. In the event of an emergency, it’s up to you to call first responders.

Core

Cost: Around $30 per month.

Features: This base plan comes with SimpliSafe’s whole-home professional monitoring service, so you probably want to be using your camera with one of the company’s DIY home security systems before you consider it. The crux of the service is 24/7 live guard protection; during an active alarm, professional agents can access your camera’s video feed and microphone and attempt to divert the threat. If they’re unsuccessful, they can dispatch police, and their verified report will likely result in a faster response. Similarly, agents can dispatch fire, or medical help after verifying an emergency. Meanwhile, you can still track camera activity on your own via the features unlocked in the self-monitoring plan; plus, you get a lifetime subscriber warranty on SimpliSafe hardware.

Pro

Cost: $49.99 a month

Features: This plan includes all the features of the Core subscription and adds Overnight SimpliSafe Active Guard Outdoor Protection. This uses a combination of AI and live agents to monitor your outdoor camera(s) between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time to detect and deter threats observed outside your home.

Pro Plus

Cost: $79.99 a month

Features: SimpliSafe’s top-tier plan includes everything in the Pro plan but extends Active Guard Outdoor Protection for your outdoor cameras to a 24/7 basis for users who want round-the-clock protection.

TP-Link and Tapo

TP-Link and its Tapo brand of home security cameras are typical in that buyers can choose between a free self-monitoring plan that doesn’t include push notifications or cloud storage, or a paid plan that includes both. Many of its cameras, however, are equipped with microSD card slots that provide local storage for video clips–provided you supply the microSD card. Unlike Arlo, Ring, SimpliSafe, and Wyze Labs, TP-Link does not also offer a complete home security system, so it doesn’t offer a professional monitoring subscription either.

Tapocare

Cost: $3.49 per month or $34.99 per year for up to 10 cameras.

Features: In the U.S., a Tapocare plan provides 30 days of video clip storage in the cloud, push notifications when the cameras detect motion and record video (including a snapshot from the video). Users can tag and sort their cameras’ recordings.

Wyze Labs

Wyze Labs offers some of the most inexpensive home security cameras on the market, and the same goes for its subscription plans. It even offers a free plan—the only major security camera brand to do so—that enables more than just your camera’s most basic features. Wyze offers five subscription plans in all:

Wyze Cam Plus Lite

Cost: Pay-what-you-want (including free).

Features: You 12-second, event-based video clips, and 14 days of rolling cloud storage (meaning your oldest recordings get overwritten after two weeks). It also includes general motion and sound detection, AI-powered person detection, and cameras will listen for smoke and CO alarms sounding off and will send you an alert. On the downside, there’s a 5-minute cool-down between recordings, meaning the camera will ignore events in between recordings. The service is also limited to the Wyze Cam v1/v2/v3; Wyze Cam Pan v1/v2; and Wyze Cam Outdoor v1/v2 only. Learn more about Wyze Cam Plus Lite.

Wyze Cam Plus

Cost: $2.99 per month per camera, $19.99 per year per camera.

Features: This plan offers unlimited full-length video recordings with no cool-down period. You’ll also get 14 days of cloud storage for event recordings. Additional features include AI-powered detection for people, pets, packages, and vehicles, ensuring you’ll receive more accurate alerts.

Cam Plus Unlimited

Cost: $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year for all your Wyze Labs cameras.

Features: This is the same plan as Cam Plus, but it covers all your Wyze cameras; so, if you have more than three or four, this plan is more economical than paying for each camera separately.

Our take

Arlo’s $7.99-per-month single-camera subscription price is one of most expensive on the market, following a 60-percent price increase in January, 2024, but it doesn’t charge a lot more to cover an unlimited number of cameras–$12.99 per month–at least with its basic plan. Arlo’s unlimited camera plan costs $17.99 per month, but it also adds several features you won’t get with the cheaper plan. Arlo’s $24.99-per-month plan that covers an unlimited number of cameras and includes professional monitoring of the company’s home security system is much more reasonable, given that Ring will soon split its own professional monitoring service as a $10-per-month add-on to its other subscriptions. That said, Arlo’s home security system is much more basic than Ring’s and doesn’t incorporate other smart home elements, such as lighting.

Blink has the least expensive per-camera plan, at $3 per month, and you get local video backups if you purchase the Blink Sync Module 2. The unlimited camera plan costs the same as Ring’s service at $10 per month. Unlike Arlo or Ring, Blink does not offer a complete home security system, although it does have a video doorbell and a couple of floodlight cameras. We’ve found that Blink’s product line delivers a lot of value for the money.

Eufy has recently introduced several new advanced security cameras–indoor and outdoor models outfitted with both wide-angle and telephoto lenses–and everything in its lineup is affordably priced. The price for its subscription service is comparable to that of the competition, but its 10-camera limit could be an issue if you have a lot of cameras deployed around your home. That said, 10 cameras seems like a lot. It’s also worth noting that Eufy does not currently offer a professional monitoring service, since it doesn’t currently offer a complete home alarm system.

A Google Nest Aware subscription for a single camera costs the same as Arlo’s, but since few households end up deploying just one camera or video doorbell, Google’s plan ends up being more affordable than most because it covers all the Google cameras, doorbells, speakers, and displays in your home. But Google no longer builds a home security system, so it doesn’t offer a professional monitoring service either.

Ring has retooled its entire subscription plan, which will soon be called Ring Home (the old name was Ring Protect). Ring’s claim of “new features, new name, same price” claim is disingenuous at best. Its basic, single-camera plan retains the same price and does gain a new feature, and its mid-tier unlimited-camera plan gains two new features for the same price, but Ring Alarm and Ring Alarm Pro users will now need to pay $10 per month for professional monitoring on top of whichever other service they choose. That means the price for Ring’s highest service tier will go from $19.99 per month to $29.99 per month.

All that said, the Ring Alarm and Ring Alarm Pro home security ecosystems are are more comprehensive than anything else and include indoor and outdoor smart lighting, smart entry locks, smoke detectors, and more, including certified third-party devices. Ring’s new $99-per-month Virtual Security Guard service will probably be of interest only to small business owners, but it’s available to homeowners who want that additional layer of real-time protection.

SimpliSafe dispenses with the nonsense of a subscription for a single security camera, charging about $10 per month for full service of any number of its cameras. The company is also innovating with artificial intelligence and combining that with human monitoring of its cameras, although you’ll pay more for that feature (between $50 and $80 per month). If you invest in SimpliSafe’s full security system and want professional monitoring, that will cost between $32 and $80 per month.

TP-Link/Tapo has one of the least-expensive subscriptions, but it doesn’t offer a professional monitoring option because the company doesn’t have a complete home security system on the market today; it only offers security cameras and video doorbells.

Wyze Labs is another budget brand (Blink being the other), and we’ve had no complaints about the quality of its very well-priced hardware. Its $10-per-month plan for an unlimited number of Wyze cameras is on par with Blink; but unlike that budget manufacturer, Wyze also offers an affordable and complete home security systems with professional monitoring options starting at $10 per month.

Update, October 25, 2024: Several vendors have changed their service plans and/or added new services. This update reflects those changes.