Is it worth going pro with your Ring doorbell?

A video doorbell is a simple tool in itself, but when paired with robust software, it can prove critical for your home's safety. Amazon-owned Ring has nailed that combination, which is precisely why the Video Doorbell 4 and the Video Doorbell Pro 2 are so well-received in their class. The two smart doorbells share the same DNA and offer feature parity on many fronts, coming from the same brand. But their fundamental approach is quite different, and it could make or break the deal for you.

Battery-powered smart doorbells that need to recharge only once every few months are quite convenient. Their installation is simple, and you don't have to hide any wire — or hassle with running wire — across the front of your lovely home. However, without a constant power source, battery conservation becomes a priority, which means slightly limited functionality.

Only the Ring Video Doorbell 4 runs on battery power. While you have the option to hardwire it, you should know that even in wired mode, the doorbell won't allow continuous recording and will remain limited to motion triggers. Going for wired installation, in this case, will only save you from having to pull out its battery to recharge it (with a micro-USB cable) every once in a while.

Amazon claims a battery life of six months with default settings. But you aren't likely to stick with the settings you get out of the box. Tweaking them to increase motion sensitivity or frequent camera use can drop the backup significantly to a few weeks.

On the other hand, the Video Doorbell Pro 2 can only be installed with a wired connection. While that can be cumbersome if you don't already have the necessary wiring setup, the Pro 2's recording features are much more flexible.

The camera makes for a primary part of a video doorbell, enabling most of its smart functionalities. And the Ring Video Doorbell 4 and the Video Doorbell Pro 2 substantially differ in how they handle the footage. The former gets you 1080p recordings in a wider 16:9 aspect ratio, which isn't particularly ideal for a doorbell as you lose a significant portion of the view along the top and bottom edge. Like when a person stands too close to the doorbell, you won't be able to see their face.

This isn't an issue with its Pro sibling, which records in the 1:1 ratio that can easily give you a head-to-toe view of a person and even allows you to monitor your doorstep for any packages. Its video feed is also much sharper, all thanks to a higher-res sensor that captures videos at 1536p. However, we also liked the video output quality of the standard Video Doorbell 4, especially how it could quickly change exposure settings to show the person's face clearly, even at night.

Speaking of which, night vision works better on the Pro model because it captures the image in color, while the standard model only supports black/white recording. And its speaker also sounds fuller and clearer. One area where the Video Doorbell 4 takes the lead is its wider viewing angle of 160 degrees (horizontal) versus 150 degrees on the Pro. We would've surely liked to see a full 180-degree view like many other video doorbells offer, but what these Ring doorbells provide should be more than enough for most users.

A major advantage of getting the Pro is its six seconds of pre-roll footage. Because it is a wired doorbell, its camera is always running (though not always recording). So, when it detects motion, it also pulls the video of the moments right before the trigger to give you a better visual context of exactly what transpired.

The Video Doorbell 4 also has a pre-roll feature, but its video quality is kept relatively low to conserve battery, which makes it hard to even discern faces until the person gets close. But you get the general idea of what happened prior to the detected motion, and considering most battery-powered doorbells don't offer this feature at all, even having the option is a big deal.

Both doorbells use the same companion app, so the features and controls they offer for motion detection and notifications are the same. Between the two, the Video Doorbell Pro 2 is slightly more equipped with things like Alexa replies and a bird's eye view.

When you're away or can't answer the door, Alexa can greet your visitors or take messages for you. That sure sounds futuristic, but talking to a robot may be off-putting for your guests. You nevertheless have the option and can use it in a pinch.

As for the bird's eye view, the Pro has a radar that improves motion tracking significantly and tells you the exact path your visitors (or a potential intruder) took while walking up to your front door. Mated to satellite imagery, the doorbell gives you an aerial view of their movement. This is perhaps the most interesting bit about the Video Doorbell Pro 2, and the feature even comes with an adequate trackable range of up to 30 feet.

The Video Doorbell 2 Pro only last year got the ability to automatically track packages and notify you, while the Video Doorbell 4 still can't do that. It is a bit ironic for a product made by a company that solely relies on package deliveries.

Only a handful of basic stuff, like real-time video, motion-detection notification, and two-way talk, is available for those on the free plan. Most advanced features on both these Ring doorbells are put behind a paywall. That includes cloud recording, event history, messages by your visitors, smart motion alerts (which can tell apart a car going by from a human approaching your door), and more.

Amazon hiked the subscription fee for its Ring Protect Basic plan by $1 starting July 2022 to $4 a month or $40 a year. Even though the company has tried to make up for the hike by offering more features such as extended video storage, it is still an additional amount you'll have to cough up over and above the steep upfront cost.

The subscription fee isn't the only one to see a price increase. Even at their launch prices, the doorbells were already pretty expensive, given you have to spend more to unlock their full potential. But in April 2022, both the Video Doorbell 4 and the Pro 2 got pricier by $20 and $10, respectively, to now cost $220 and $260. With this reduced price gap, an upgrade to the Pro model now seems all the more reasonable.

Several things work in the Video Doorbell Pro 2's favor. Being a wired doorbell, you aren't restricted by the limitations of a battery-powered one, and you get the extra perks of Alexa replies and a bird's eye view. What matters the most here is that the Pro's camera is better than the standard Ring doorbell on almost all fronts. Considering everything you're getting with the Video Doorbell Pro 2 and its compact, more modern look, it's well worth the $40 jump.

But a wired setup doesn't work for everyone. You may be in an apartment where it isn't possible to lay new wires or if you want to install the doorbell someplace that doesn't have existing wiring. The Video Doorbell 4 is cut out for situations like these. By going for the non-Pro Ring doorbell, you will save some cash upfront and get the convenience of a hassle-free installation. And given there's a lot of feature parity between the two models, you won't be missing a lot of stuff.

Coming from the house of Amazon, both Ring doorbells integrate pretty well with your Alexa-powered smart home and can show video feeds directly on an Echo screen. But if you're invested in Google's ecosystem or are bothered by the privacy issues with Ring products, you can look at Google's Nest Doorbell (battery).

See at Amazon See at Best Buy

See at Amazon See at Best Buy

Karan is a features writer for Android Police who likes to talk about tech that has a real-world impact on people's everyday lives. In his free time, he's usually busy clearing his ever-growing backlog of movies and TV shows or tracking down the eatery he hasn't been to yet. Chats about food go to Twitter DM and everything tech to karandeep (at) androidpolice (dot) com.