Best Ring camera alternatives 2023

Ring video security cameras and the Ring Neighbors app remain fairly popular today. But multiple security breaches in Ring's history have made plenty of people cautious about entrusting their home's security to them. 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. Thankfully, the best Ring camera alternatives offer most of the same perks you'd get with Ring, plus some other perks added in.

Protect your family with these Ring alternatives

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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 (opens in new tab).

As a note, we've removed Wyze cameras because of significant security issues (opens in new tab). 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 (opens in new tab) 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.

Michael L Hicks
Senior Editor, VR/AR and fitness

Michael spent years freelancing on every tech topic under the sun before settling down on the real exciting stuff: virtual reality, fitness wearables, gaming, and how tech intersects with our world. He's a semi-reformed Apple-to-Android user who loves running, D&D, and Star Wars. Find him on Twitter at @Michael_L_Hicks.