We have come a long way since the days of the regular mechanical chimed doorbells. I remember when a doorbell was considered fancy when it could play a classical tune with its bells or connect to those built in intercom systems that hardly every worked or failed shortly after. Now we have the ability to not only see who is at our door, but do so remotely from our phones, talk back and even unlock the door for our visitor.
Like everything else in the smart home realm, there are many different manufacturers and products available. Our list may seem short, and that is for good reason. We only listed the video doorbells you should be considering. If you had a product in mind and cannot find it on this list, then please heed our warning, it was not worth writing about and is not worth spending your hard-earned money on.
If you are one of the few considering a complete smart home upgrade and are in the Control4, Crestron or Homeworks ball park, you probably will not find your product on this list either, but rest assured, the products you are considering are perfectly suited for your system and built specifically to integrate seamlessly.
This Ultimate Guide is a list for the average user, the DIY homeowner looking to upgrade from their regular push button to a Wifi enabled video doorbell. A smart doorbell can be the only smart product you buy, or the last product to finish off your ultimate smart home. If you are looking to pair your smart doorbell with a smart lock, which we highly recommend, you can find all you need to know in our Ultimate Guide to Smart Locks.
Nest Hello
We start off our list with our recommended product, the Nest Hello Doorbell. It was introduced to the market place in early 2018 and since inception has been our go to video doorbell. We love this product so much it we installed it on our own homes!
There are two main differences between the Nest Hello and all the other video doorbells. First, Nest did not try and cram its Wifi receiver into the doorbell itself, rather they built it into a separate unit that connects into your existing mechanical chime. Having the Wifi receiver in your home rather than on the outside of the house means you have the most stable wireless connection and the unit is always connected to your network. Unlike other devices that search for a Wifi connection when the door bell is physically pushed, leading to delayed responses, missed video and most annoyingly, a smart doorbell that is not so smart!
The second feature that sets the Nest Hello apart is that it really was designed to be a security camera with a doorbell built in. With a Nest Aware subscription, your doorbell can keep up to 30 days of continuous recordings stored on Nest’s cloud servers. This means that you have video footage available from before anyone presses the button or if they are just looking around and do not actually press the doorbell, you can still be notified because of the built-in motion detectors. Nest also boasts its facial recognition technology, meaning it will remember faces and allow you to name those people through the app. Once recognized, nest will alert you with their name rather than just saying “someone”.
A few other features that stand out with Nest Hello are; Silent mode, that allows you to silence your doorbell for set periods of time. Built in responses, for those times that you cannot talk to your visitor but still want to get a message across. 160-degree field of view and some of the best Night Vision of the category.
The other manufacturers claim to stream 1080p video, but taking a side by side comparison of Nests HD feed and the competitors “1080p” will really be an eye opener as the quality of Nests streams are much clearer.
Nest Hello also integrates seamlessly with Google Home and the Nest x Yale Lock, allowing for complete wireless and hands-free control of what we like to call “Door Service”. To read more about Door Service and how to integrate other nest products into your smart home read through our Guide to Building Your Ultimate Smart Home.
Ring Pro Wifi
Back in 2012 an inventor by the name of Jamie Siminoff and a few of his college friends came together to invent the Ring video doorbell in a garage in Southern California. Jamie gives credit to his wife for pushing him to move forward with the idea, claiming that she has heard all of his ideas over the years and when she got excited over the video doorbell, he knew he had a winner. Ring is now owned by Amazon and has a complete line of products including Security Cameras, Security Systems, Video Light Fixtures and a variety of Video Doorbells. The doorbell we are discussing today is the Ring Pro unit as it is the closest comparable to the Nest Hello and Rings most popular unit. That being said, if you do not have the budget for the Nest or Ring Pro, then looking at some of the entry level options from Ring would be our next suggestion. Rings main focus is on security and keeping your home safe. We personally feel that because of this, the spirit of the company is in the right place, but allows the technology to just fall short of the Nest Hello.
The major downfall with the Ring doorbell is the Wifi receiver is built into the doorbell unit, which is mounted on the outside of your home. It does not maintain full video surveillance, so the complaints we hear from clients is that someone will push the doorbell and leave, and by the time the Ring connects to the internet and starts recording, they have already missed their opportunity. Now with time, a better internet connection and Wifi strength, we are certain this issue will diminish and cease to exist.
With a whole host of products, Ring is a major contender not just in the smart doorbell game, but in the security game as well. If you are looking to completely have an eye on every corner of your home, Ring makes that easy! You can replace your exterior lights with camera ready light fixtures. If there is no power near by you can use their stick-up battery powered options and to tie the entire system together can be paired with their Alarm Security Kit.
The Ring Pro is a very strong contender and a great product, but just misses out on our choice as the top video doorbell.
Honeywell SkyBell
The SkyBell by Honeywell is a high definition doorbell that lets homeowners integrate their doorbell not only with the SkyBell app, but with an alarm.com subscription as well. Allowing homeowners security, control and convenience to check on their door and the ability to see, hear and speak back and forth to their visitors. One of the nice features of the SkyBell is the ability to have two-way voice rather than push to talk like the other brands, allowing for clear conversation on both ends. SkyBell also has a Live View feature so homeowners can start viewing live video at any time. Unlike the other brands, SkyBell is one of the only to offer free cloud storage of your video all for a lower price point then the competition. The downfall with the free cloud storage is that the video only starts recording seconds before the button is pushed and cannot live stream a full 30 days of recorded video. It also boasts the widest field of view at 180-degrees, compared to the Nest at 160, Ring at 160 and August at 120 degrees.
The Honeywell SkyBell is a good option for those wanting to include video security to their front door.
SkyBell integrates with the least third-party developers in the field being compatible with IFTTT and
Alexa. The SkyBell also uses a mobile app only to display the video and currently does not have a web-
based app like the competitors.
Although boasting the best viewing angles and 1080p video, the quality of the video just does not seem
to completely stack up.
The Honeywell SkyBell is a great option as a stand-alone system for your home, and as one of the lower
priced units available will definitely fit the bill without breaking the bank. If you are looking for a
complete smart home solution and are interested in an Alarm.com system, then integration through
the Alarm.com app allows for complete home control.
Vivint Doorbell Camera
Vivint is widely known for its smart security systems, so it only makes sense that having a smart security system should also be able to monitor your front entrance to your home. Using Wifi to connect your doorbell to the rest of the system, you can take advantage of two-way talk, night vision video, mobile notifications, the ability to unlock your front door, open your garage or turn on lights and 24/7 video play back.
The major downfall with the Vivint video doorbell is that it is only usable with a Vivint subscription and integrates only with the Vivint security system. If you are looking to dive in with a full Vivint system, then this is the best and really only option for you. If you are not considering a Vivint security system, then unfortunately this great product really is useless. For a more in-depth guide to how a Vivint system compares with other home automation, you can read about it in this Ultimate Guide To Home Automation.
August View
The August View is the newest addition to our list and also the youngest entrant into the Smart Doorbell world, with its release date of March 28th 2019, it is only a couple weeks old by the time this article was written. Unfortunately for this reason, we have not had adequate time to purchase, install and fully test all functions of the youngster to see how it really stands up against the veterans. If it is anything like the previous August doorbells then we can assume it lies just below the Nest and Ring systems…. But let’s not jump to conclusions just yet.
A major stand apart from the rest of the field is that the August view is completely wire free, and in keeping with true August product line is very easy to install. There is a wireless chime in the box, so you can hear when someone is at the door without having your smart phone nearby. The View can capture in 1440p and claims to have less “fish eye” distortion as its previous ancestors. August now has instant motion alerts built in so users will receive alerts to their smart phones whenever someone approaches the door. Pairing the View with the August lock will allow users to unlock the door quickly and easily without jumping between different apps. If you want to read more about different Smart Locks available look to our Ultimate Guide to Smart Locks.
One of the nicest features that is not available on other Video Doorbells is August’s eight different metal colored face plates available to match many different exteriors and any style.
To read more about the latest Smart Home technology, read our post on The Ultimate Guide To Everything Home Automation!
