Ring Doorbell Owners Fume Over ‘Totally Disgusting’ Subscription Price Hike – Is It Time to Ditch the Gadget?

AMAZON-owned Ring has hiked the cost of its subscription plan, which customers have called “totally disgusting” and “scandalous”. Tech subscriptions have been rising across the board in recent years, including rival home security platform’s Google Nest and Arlo.

Cost Hike Without Any New Features

Unlike previous rounds of price hikes, subscribers aren’t getting any new features in return. Ring increased prices just last year, when Basic subscription costs rose from £2.49/$2.99 to £3.49/ $3.99 per month – or £24.99$29.99 to £34.99/$39.99 a year. This time, customers will be charged £4.99/ $4.99 a month or £49.99/ $49.99 a year for a Basic Ring subscription, an increase of £1.50/ $1 per month or £15/$10 a year, starting from 11th March, 2024.

Fury Among the Users

Customers were quick to term the price hike as unacceptable. They took to social media platforms with complaints, stating that the subscriptions have become unreasonably expensive, especially when there are no new offerings or features included in the package.

Unwanted Consequences of Canceling The Subscription

Customers that cancel their Ring Protect subscription will no longer be able to save, review, and share video recordings from their Ring devices to their Ring account. All recorded videos will be permanently deleted from the Ring cloud. To save any videos, you must download them before cancelling your Ring Protect plan.

Looking for alternatives

Customers have had to swallow price hike after price hike on their favorite subscriptions in recent years – such as Netflix and Disney+. Now many are looking for home security alternatives to Ring.

Home Security Alternatives to Ring

There are a handful of good alternatives to Ring that share similar features – but they’re not always cheaper.

Arlo Secure

• Basic Plan costs £2.79/ $4.99 a month for a single camera or £8.99/$9.99 for unlimited cameras for 30-days video storage, enhanced motion detection, and a pledge to replace your camera if it’s stolen.

• The Secure Plus plan costs £12.99/$17.99 a month for unlimited cameras and increases storage to 60 days.

Eufy Cloud Storage

• Eufy’s Basic Plan gives 30 days of storage for £2.46/$2.99 a month for a single device.

• The Premier Plan covers up to 10 devices for £7.49/$9.99 a month.

Google Nest Aware

• The basic Nest Aware tier gives you 30 days of video storage for £6/$8 a month or £60/$80 a year following last month’s price hike.

• Nest Aware Plus increase that to 60 days of event video storage and also gives you 10 days of constant 24/7 video recording for £12/ $15 a month or £120/$150 a year.

Ezviz Cloudplay

• You only get seven days of video history with the Standard Plan covering a single camera/doorbell for £2.49/$3.99 a month, or four devices for £7.49/ $5.99 a month.

• The Elite plan gives 30-day video history for a single camera at £9.99/ $6.99 a month or £14.99/ $10.99 a month for four cameras.

Source: Central Recorder