Ring is still one of the more popular producers of smart home security cameras in 2023, but various controversies and security breaches over the years have led many consumers to feel understandably wary about the brand's products.
Sure, Ring recently improved its internal security practices to protect users better, but given its history, you may want to consider other security companies without all the baggage. Fortunately, the best Ring camera alternatives offer most of the same perks you'd get with Ring, plus some other perks added in. Why take the chance when you can get the same features and peace of mind with one of these other companies?
Protect your family with these Ring alternatives
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Best Ring Floodlight Cam alternative
Arlo is a great brand for replacing the solid Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro — or really any other Ring cam. The Pro 3 Floodlight shoots in a higher-res 2K, wider FOV at 160º, hits about 1,000 lumens brighter when wired but can also be installed wire-free, and even costs slightly less. It will undoubtedly give you the same peace of mind that your yard is protected, especially if you pay for Arlo Smart.
Super-affordable indoor alternative
The TP-Link Kasa Spot Indoor Camera can do a lot of what the Ring Cam Indoor can do at a fraction of the price. Of course, you won't get other companies' AI smarts like person recognition. Still, you do get 1080p video, two-way audio and night vision, activity zone monitoring, compatibility with Amazon's Alexa and the Google Assistant, and Smart Actions where lights turn on in response to motion.
Best high-quality indoor camera
Nest cameras are the best choice if Google Assistant is your preferred virtual buddy. The IQ line can record at 1080p, has night vision, and can differentiate between stationary objects and people. It can even zoom in on someone as they're crossing the room! Unfortunately, Google no longer sells it in its store, but there's still some stock available on some storefronts if you act fast.
Best Ring Stick Up Cam Battery alternative
While Amazon owns Blink and Ring, the two companies operate independently, and there's no evidence that Blink has the same issues. The Blink Outdoor cam is equally affordable to the Stick Up Cam, with a much longer battery life at two years, plus a local storage option Ring's cam lacks. It only records motion detection but does support two-way audio and records sound when activated.
A better (pricier) outdoor alternative
While we love the 4K Nest Cam IQ Outdoor, it's mostly unavailable today. Your next best bet is the still-excellent Nest Cam Outdoor, which may only shoot in 1080p but has some solid performance specs. It shoots a 130-degree FOV with 8X zoom, has 8 LEDs for night vision mode, doesn't require a hub like many outdoor cams, and obviously works well with Google Assistant. Your Nest Aware subscription for person detection will cover both this and your Nest Cam Indoor.
Best Ring Spotlight Cam alternative
For excellent outdoor performance without a full-on floodlight, the Arlo Pro 4 can stand toe-to-toe with the Ring Spotlight Cam. For the same price, you get better resolution (2K vs. 1080p), a 160º FOV, and other similar perks like a built-in siren, bright LEDs for color night mode, and long-lasting battery life. You can even add a solar panel for consistent power, which Ring also offers for its cams, or connect it to an optional hub for local storage.
Best Ring Video Doorbell alternative
In our Arlo Essential Video Doorbell review, we called this the best option available, including compared to Ring's popular model. It lasts a couple of months per charge unless you hardwire it, has a great 180-degree FOV with a unique 1:1 aspect ratio for clearer footage, delivers great night vision, and has impressive smarts if you pay for a subscription.
Why you should consider the best Ring camera alternatives
In 2019, we learned that Ring employees could access your Ring cameras' security feeds with just your email address and that they did indeed watch some unaware customers. Later that year, we learned the Ring Neighbors app had secret GPS data, allowing anyone to potentially surveil locals' comings and goings. And at the end of 2019, a Ring security breach gave away thousands of customers' data.
By the time 2020 rolled around, Ring faced a class-action lawsuit from dozens of Ring camera owners whose devices had been hacked. The hackers reportedly used two-way audio to threaten some customers' lives, play scary music, talk to people's children, make racial slurs, and generally traumatize folks, according to The Guardian. The lawsuit alleged that Ring support largely did nothing except to blame customers for being hacked and that the Ring security breach, lack of 2FA support, and other exploits all contributed to making these devices unsafe. Since then, Ring has added end-to-end encryption and better account security to its cameras, but some will see this as too little, too late.
Finally, some people dislike how the Amazon-owned Ring partners with thousands of US police departments, giving them security footage without requiring a warrant. It's unclear whether Ring cameras actually lead to arrests, and Ring has recently backed off its policy of letting the police directly email customers to ask for footage. You'll still see police "Requests for Assistance" on your Ring Neighbors app, however.
Try looking at other brands
All of the above issues naturally have made many feel uncomfortable choosing their devices to secure their homes and personal data. In light of these concerns, many Android Central readers have asked us for alternative smart video camera recommendations.
Our top pick is the Arlo because the company allows for local storage with the right hub, will enable you to view your data remotely, works with all major voice assistants, and doesn't require any additional purchases or subscriptions. Ring just doesn't do local storage as a company, and while a Ring Protect subscription is cheap, free is better.
Arlo's great alternatives include the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight and Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight for outdoor protection, plus the Arlo Video Doorbell Essential for covering your front porch. We tried not to fill this list entirely with Arlo picks, but you should check out the other best Arlo cameras to see what we missed here.
We're fans of Nest cameras and have been happy with the company's newest cameras after it finally updated the Google Home software to be better and squashed some issues we found in our initial Google Nest Cam review.
As a note, we've removed Wyze cameras because of significant security issues. While these flaws have been fixed, the company's deceptive practices over a period of three years have caused us to lose trust in its products. Additionally, we've stopped recommending Eufy's cameras as of December 1, 2022 because of security issues.
We also no longer recommend brands like Lorex and EZVIZ because of the dubious ties their parent companies have with the Chinese government.
