6 Best Video Doorbell Cameras (2024): Smart, Battery, AI, Budget, and No Registration

Honorable Mentions

We checked out some video doorbells. These are the ones who narrowly missed out on the top spot.

Doro Hemma Doorbell £150: A smart doorbell for adults is a strong idea, and Swedish manufacturer Doro has a lot going for it with the Hemma. It’s a battery-powered doorbell that’s easy to install and use, offering 1,440 x 1,440 pixel resolution with a decent frame rate (30 fps), local recording via microSD card, and a plug-in ringer sound. all over the house. It worked reliably during testing, and the app is deliberately simplified, with a useful option to transfer calls to a trusted friend or family member (they’ll also need the app). Two-way audio works well, there’s a handy zoom function when streaming, and there’s a siren to scare people. It’s simplified, so there are no privacy zones or package alerts, and it may be too sensitive for busy front doors, although you can set it to alert doorbells. Battery life is decent, although the battery is not removable, so you need to remove the doorbell to charge or use a portable charger. Sadly, it’s only available in the UK and Europe.

SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro for $170: If you’re looking for a solid security system, SimpliSafe is probably on your radar, and for people with a SimpliSafe setup, Video Doorbell Pro fits the bill. Former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano found it sensitive at first, but, after reviewing it, she says it worked almost perfectly, sending quick alerts and giving a nice clear view of her deck. Video is up to 1080p, but the camera supports HDR to eliminate glare and has a 162-degree field of view. It has to be wired, and you need a subscription from $5 per month to record videos, but SimpliSafe also offers the option of professional monitoring (from $32 per month), which is rare for doorbells and may make sense if you have a comprehensive security plan with them.

Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro for $230: The high-end battery doorbell from Amazon’s Ring brand is close to getting full recommendations. It offers high-quality, fast video with HDR support and color night vision. Notifications were fast and accurate, and the two-way audio was relatively high quality. I appreciated the option to set multiple motion zones, including a powerful bird’s eye zone that lets you define the range. The preroll feature captures a few seconds before each clip (albeit at a low resolution), which can be useful. Because there’s no local recording option, you have to sign up for Ring Protect for $5/month ($50/year) for one camera, but that also gets you 180 days of video storage, rich notifications, and person detection and packages. But all these bells and whistles come at a premium, and battery life was disappointing (three weeks). You can mitigate this by buying a second battery to replace, since it’s removable, or opt for the Wired Doorbell Pro instead (although we haven’t tested it yet).

TP-Link Tapo (D230S1) Smart Battery Video Doorbell for $120: For people looking for a local storage option that doesn’t require registration, this Tapo doorbell is worth a look. Notifications arrive quickly and feature a still image, video quality is excellent, even at night, and the home hub takes a microSD card and doubles as a chime. Underneath, it’s chunky, and the onboard AI (which is supposed to recognize people, pets, cars, and packages) is lacking.

It’s hard to recommend

Photo: Simon Hill

We didn’t like all the video doorbells we tested. These are the ones we don’t recommend.

Reolink Video Doorbell (Battery) for $146: We liked Reolink’s wired doorbell, pictured above, so I was excited to try its first battery-powered model, but it was a disappointment. It offers up to 2K images with a 1:1 aspect ratio that gives you a perfect view of the veranda, but it lacks HDR and has a low frame rate (15 fps). I like the opt-out option, but it means inserting the microSD card into the doorbell itself, and this is an easy-to-remove doorbell. Reolink claims up to five months of battery life, but mine died after less than two, and the internal rechargeable battery is not removable, so you have to open the cover to recharge it. Factor in a slightly confusing app, slow load times, and connection issues, and this is impossible to recommend.

Ezviz EP3x Pro for £133: This is a much better looking doorbell than previous Ezviz models, and it’s nice to see solar panels as an option for doorbells, though you’ll need a canopy that can catch some rays. The video quality is great, and you get different views (like Eufy above) that include packages or cats waiting at your door. Distortion correction works well, and there’s a color night vision option with a built-in flash, though it only works at close range. I appreciate 2FA, with fingerprint login, and 32 GB of internal storage (cloud storage is optional). Unfortunately, if you are using a solar panel, you cannot connect to your wired chime. The lack of HDR is disappointing, human detection was off (it used to cry about my cat), and I had problems with alerts failing to appear on other Android phones (even after following Ezviz’s instructions, they never worked reliably on my Xiaomi. 14 Ultra). This model is not yet available in the US.

Botslab Video Doorbell 2 Pro for $170: The loose setup process required several restarts, and the physical installation was no better, as the supplied screws were so cheap that one of the heads actually broke. The camera has a fisheye effect, but you can adjust it with a different view. I liked the VR mode, which offers a 180-degree view of your front porch. It comes with a handy chime plug-in, the alerts seem reliable, there’s an HDR option, and you can record locally (32 GB included) or in the cloud. You can also set the detection distance, which can be useful for road-facing cameras. But the app is confusing, with an AI tab listing the various skills available for purchase. There is a login history and a limit of two devices logged in at the same time, but there is no 2FA, which makes this impossible to recommend. It is versatile but also very expensive.

Wyze Video Doorbell Pro for $100: The Wyze Video Doorbell Pro (7/10, Review BY WIRED) was our budget recommendation, but it has caveats. It warned reliably, provided clear video, and had accurate AI for human detection, but you need a Cam Plus subscription (from $3/month). This camera model was not one of those affected by a security flaw that Wyze failed to fix or report to customers for three years, but after repeated security breaches from Wyze, recently exposing thousands of camera feeds to other customers, it’s hard to recommend the cameras now.

Swann SwannBuddy Video Doorbell for $150: This doorbell comes with a cordless battery operated chime and local storage option, but the good ends there. The video quality is poor, the app is painfully slow and choppy, and the doorbell often fails to register motion. I found the battery life disappointing. I also have to question the decision to provide local storage via a microSD card inserted into the doorbell (a chime would be more sensible and secure).

Ezviz DB2 Video Doorbell for $180: An affordable video doorbell that comes with a plug-in chime, the Ezviz DB2 works very well, but it’s very chunky and ugly. Video footage is detailed, but I had issues with highlights in bright sunlight. The app is robust and quick to load, pressing the doorbell opens a call on your phone, and you can record locally by inserting a microSD card into the chime. Unfortunately, it only offers a very limited option for defining moving surfaces—a big problem if you live on a busy street. I also found the battery life to be below average, and it’s tricky to remove.