The doorbell market share shows an increasing demand trend along with people’s awareness to provide the first security check point for their property. Ring is the most popular brand in security camera and video doorbell. Google and other vendors do not want to be left behind in taking this large market share into their flagship products line.
How does Ring doorbell compete with new products from big vendors like Google and other new comers? I will discuss the product competition between Ring and Google Nest doorbell in the following paragraphs.
Ring vs Nest Doorbell
Ring has released few series of video doorbells that are very popular in the market, among which the latest products are Ring doorbells 3 and 4; Ring doorbell pro and Ring pro 2. See also Arlo doorbell vs Ring.
Ring doorbells
Ring is a well-known and popular brand of doorbells, security cameras, security systems, smart lighting and their accessories. So it makes sense that Google and other vendors enter large market share which is dominated by Ring brand including doorbells and cameras.
So far Ring introduces few models of Ring doorbell series and the most popular models today are Ring doorbell Pro 2 in addition of the previous popular ones Ring doorbell 3 and 4. The last two products were so popular series before came the Ring doorbell Pro and Pro 2 series.
Ring doorbell 3 vs 4
Both Ring doorbell 3 and 4 are exactly the same except that doorbell 4 features unique Pre-roll feature, this feature allows you to see 4 seconds color video before event was triggered. Video doorbell 3 doesn’t feature this addition of 3 seconds video before alerts is triggered; you just received footage of video after the system is triggered.
As general the two Ring doorbell 3 and 4 are summarized as shown in the following table 1 below. Both series are exactly the same including the dimension size of the body, and the difference is you can see on the pre-roll feature row setting up Ring Pro is easy you can do it yourself by following guideline steps.
Table 1 Ring Doorbell 3 vs 4
| Doorbell model | Ring Doorbell 3 | Ring Doorbell 4 |
| Camera Resolution: 1080p | Yes | Yes |
| Field of view: 160° horizontal, 90° vertical | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Motion Detection with Customizable Motion Zones | Yes | Yes |
| B/W Night Vision with IR | Yes | Yes |
| Two-way audio with noise cancellation | Yes | Yes |
| Powered by Rechargeable battery or Hardwired existing doorbell for charging 8-24 VAC, 40VA max, 50/60Hz | Yes | Yes |
| Dual band wifi connectivity: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac @ 2.4GHz & 5GHz | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-roll 3 seconds video before alert is triggered | N/A | Yes |
| Dimension | 5.1 in. x 2.4 in x 1.1 in (128mm x 62mm x 28mm) | 5.1 in. x 2.4 in x 1.1 in (128mm x 62mm x 28mm) |
| MSRP | $199.99 | $219.99 |
Ring Pro vs Pro 2
Ring introduces new features applied to new doorbell Pro products, specific feature that you can not find on the Ring doorbell 3 and 4 series. What is the difference between these two series? Refer to table 2 below that describe spec and feature comparison between the two series.
See that the recording resolution is different between Ring Pro and Ring pro 2, pro 2 delivers higher resolution than Ring pro 1 and the HDR feature is also applicable. The main feature difference is the unique Bird’s eye view that is only applied to Ring doorbell Pro 2.
I will discuss more details when comparing the Ring doorbell Pro 2 with Google Nest doorbell later after briefly discuss Google Nest doorbell.
Table 2 Ring doorbell Pro models
| Ring doorbell Pro version | Ring doorbell Pro | Ring doorbell Pro 2 |
| Video Resolution | Full HD 1080p | 1536p HD |
| Live View, Color Night Vision | Yes | Yes; plus HDR |
| Field of view angle | 160 degree horizontal, 90 degree vertical | 150 degree horizontal, 150 degree vertical (to cover head to toe) |
| Motion detection | Advanced Motion Detection with Customizable Motion Zones | 3D Motion Detection with Bird’s Eye View |
| Audio | Duplex with speaker and microphone | Duplex two way with speaker and microphone |
| Power: Hardwired with existing doorbell; Ring hardwired transformer w/ 16-24 VAC/24VDC, 10-40VA max, 50/60Hz | Yes | Yes |
| Connectivity | 802.11 a/b/g/n @2.4GHz and 5.0GHz | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac @2.4GHz and 5.0GHz |
| Works with Alexa | Yes | Yes |
| Built-In Alexa Greetings | Yes | Yes |
| Dimension | 114.3 mm x 46.7 mm x 20.3 mm | 114 mm x 49 mm x 22.0 mm |
| MSRP | $169.99 | $249.99 |
With higher resolution, bird’s eye view and newer wireless ac support connectivity, Ring doorbell pro 2 is tagged with higher price.
What about similar doorbell products offered by Google?
Google Nest doorbell
Previously, Google has released nest hello, the wired version of nest doorbell which is quite high in demand, and so is Ring.
The first version that Google released to the market was Nest Hello which is a wired model of Google doorbell series. Then after releasing the wire-free version, nest hello changed its name to nest doorbell (wired), and the latest battery power version is Nest doorbell (battery).
Nest doorbell (wired) vs Nest doorbell (battery)
In general, if a vendor releases a new version of the product, the price is more expensive than the old version one. Not so with Google doorbells, both nest doorbell (wired) and nest doorbells (battery) are tagged with the same price around $179.99, and probably you can find the price is dropped up to $140 in Amazon.
The two nest doorbell models cannot be determined which one is better, because in terms of specs and features, each has advantages and disadvantages, depends on which view point you rate. It’s up to you to decide which one is suitable to meet your need, the price is the same.
I have presented table 2 below you can use as reference in comparing nest doorbell (wired) and nest doorbell (battery).
Camera
Nest hello comes with a security camera with higher resolution (1.9MP), wider viewing angle and the image orientation is landscape with 4:3 aspect ratio and it also comes with 8x digital zoom. On the wire-free version the nest doorbell (battery) the resolution is lower (960 HD), 6x digital zoom but the orientation is portrait with 3:4 aspect ratio. With the 3:4 aspect ratio (portrait orientation) allows you to see someone standing at your door from head to toe. If you compare with Arlo, arlo comes with 1:1 aspect ratio.
Power
One of the main differences between the two nest doorbell versions is that the new version is battery powered. With battery power, your doorbell is wired-free unless you need to activate the existing chime that does require existing wired connection. No need to be connected, you can still get notifications from your Google assistant and also alerts to your mobile device when the doorbell button is pressed.
With battery power, there is an advantage if the power goes out, your doorbell can still provide video snapshot alerts and can still record events, but nest hello can’t.
Alerts
Both models can detect human and motion detection, but the nest doorbell (battery) provides additional features with package, animal and vehicle detection.
In addition, Google also provides a paid subscription Nest Aware option with more complete features. With this service, nest hello has additional familiar faces detection, packets and voice detection features. The nest battery only gets additional familiar faces because it is complete already.
See more detail on the following comparison table for nest hello vs nest doorbell.
Table 2 Nest hello vs Nest doorbell
| Nest doorbell version | Nest Hello Doorbell (Wired) | Nest Doorbell (Battery) |
| Camera sensor | 1/3” 3MP color image sensor | 1/3” 3MP color image sensor |
| Zoom | 8x digital zoom | 6x digital zoom |
| Field of view angle | 160° diagonal with 4:3 ratio | 145° diagonal with 3:4 ratio |
| Night vision | 850nm IR LEDs | See up to 10 feet 4 850 nm infrared LEDs with IR cut filter |
| HDR | Yes | Yes |
| Resolution | HD UXGA 1.9MP (1600 x 1200) up to @30 fps | HD, 1.2MP (960 x 1280 pixels), up to 30 FPS |
| Encoding format | H.264 | H.264 |
| Audio | Two way with built-in high quality speaker and microphone | High-quality speaker and microphone Two-way audio with noise cancellation |
| Wifi | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/ 5GHz) 2×2 MIMO WEP, WPA, WPA2 encryption supported 802.15.4 (2.4GHz) Bluetooth Low Energy | 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) Wi-Fi WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3 encryption supported Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) |
| Power | 16V AC–24V AC; requires a 10VA transformer and wired doorbell | Built-in rechargeable Li-Ion battery, 6 Ah, 3.65V. Or use existing wiring for chime and recharging – Voltage: 8–24VAC – Power: 10VA – Frequency: 50-60Hz |
| Weather resistant | IPx4 rating | Weather resistant IP54 Relative humidity range (20% to 85%) |
| Alerts | Motion, person detection | Motion, person, package, animal and vehicle detection |
| Alerts with Nest Aware | Familiar faces,2 package, and sound | Familiar faces |
| Storage | 3-hour event history – still images; Up to 60 days of event video history with Nest Aware; 24/7 video history with Nest Aware Plus | 3-hour event history – video clips ; Up to 60 days of event video history with Nest Aware; 24/7 video history with Nest Aware Plus |
| Records during a Wi-Fi or power outage | N/A | Yes |
| Dimension | 1.7 in x 1.0 in x 4.6 in (43.2 mm x 25.4 mm x 116.8 mm) | 1.8 in x 0.95 in x 6.3 in (46 mm x 25.1 mm x 160 mm) |
| Weight | 4.28 oz / 121.6 g | 7.3 oz (206 g) |
| Chime | Yes | Yes, available when wired |
| Price | $179.99 | $179.99 |
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Ring doorbell pro 2 vs Nest
We just discussed briefly about some of doorbell series introduced by Google and Ring with comparison tables above. Now we need to compare the selected series, Ring with its Ring doorbell Pro 2 and Google with its Nest wired doorbell series.
Table 3 below presents the spec and feature comparison table for Ring doorbell vs Nest.
Video capture
Technically both Ring and Nest doorbell here are designed with almost the same video resolution, however the aspect ratio is different. Ring doorbell pro gives you 1:1 aspect ratio with the same 150 degree view of field angle both horizontal and vertical vie wangle so you can view complete human body when someone is standing in front of doorbell.
On the other hand, Nest doorbell gives you 4:3 aspect ratio, you still can see complete body of someone standing in front of the doorbell and a bit wider view on horizontal so you can view who’s coming with the visitor on her or his side.
Storage plan
If you expect that both models have local memory storage to store video footage captured during alerts triggered, storage that allows you to replay them when you don’t have time to view them in real time, then you will be disappointed. Both doorbell series require cloud storage plan to review the video footage later. The storage plan is not only limited to cloud storage, there will be certain additional features from either Ring or Nest doorbell.
With Ring Protect plan your doorbell gives you person alert instead of just motion detection to reduce false alerts, rich notifications and still more in features addition of cloud storage for video saving and sharing and snapshot capture. On the other hand with Google nest with its Nest aware, you can store up to 60 days of event video history and still more intelligent alerts including mobile notifications, familiar face alerts etc.
Event Alerts
In a normal operation without service plan option, both doorbells demonstrate different alerts in reacting to the motion detection. Nest doorbell (battery) features person, package, vehicle and animal detection. When you subscribe Nest aware, your doorbell adds familiar faces feature. With nest aware plan, you can teach your nest doorbell to recognize faces you know, and later the camera gives alerts when the camera sees faces of people you don’t know.
With Ring doorbell pro 2, it demonstrates 3D motion detection with pinpoint motion and distance up to 30 ft away. And the best part is Bird’s eye view that gives you an aerial view of your yard’s property, no other doorbell video camera gives this kind of feature.
Connectivity
Today you can find that latest wifi technology is wifi 6 (802.11ax) and probably you have already has this future wifi technology in place. Will this latest technology support the legacy wifi ac technology? We see that both Nest and Ring come with dual band wifi ac technology, this will be compatible with wireless ax network. All the latest wifi technology is backward compatible with previous wifi technology, that what a new technology is to support legacy one.
Table 3 Ring doorbell vs nest
| Doorbell model | Ring Pro 2 | Nest Wired |
| Video Resolution | 1536p HD | HD UXGA 1.9MP (1600 x 1200) up to @30 fps |
| Zoom | N/A | 8x digital zoom |
| View angle | 150 degree horizontal, 150 degree vertical | 160 degree diagonal with 4:3 ratio |
| Motion detection | 3D motion detection with Bird’s eye view | Motion, person detection |
| WDR | HDR | HDR |
| Night vision | Color night vision | 850nm IR LEDs B/W night vision |
| Audio | Duplex communication with audio + | Two way with built-in high quality speaker and microphone |
| Alerts | +3D Motion Detection; Customized the motion perimeter up to 30ft away Ring Protect plan adds Person alerts | Motion / person detection; Familiar faces,2 package, and sound (Alerts with Nest Aware) |
| Storage | No local memory; Requires Ring protect plan ($3.99 / month) for cloud storage and enhanced features | 3-hour event history – still images; Up to 60 days of event video history with Nest Aware; 24/7 video history with Nest Aware Plus |
| Chime | Yes, Ring Chime Pro | Yes |
| Connectivity | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac @2.4GHz and 5.0GHz | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/ 5GHz) 2×2 MIMO WEP, WPA, WPA2 encryption supported 802.15.4 (2.4GHz) Bluetooth Low Energy |
| Power | Ring hardwired transformer (not included) with 16-24 VAC/24VDC, 30-40VA max, 50/60Hz | 16V AC–24V AC; requires a 10VA transformer and wired doorbell |
| Dimension | 4.49 in. x 1.9 in. x .87 in. (114mm x 49mm x 22mm) | 1.7 in x 1.0 in x 4.6 in (43.2 mm x 25.4 mm x 116.8 mm) |
| Weight | 1.124 lbs. | 4.28 oz / 121.6 g |
| Price | $309.99 | $229.99 |
Ring doorbell pro 2 with chime is tagged with more expensive than Nest doorbell. Both series require you to subscribe their service plan to allow you replay the video footage what you missed. Click each of the product’s link below to read more details and see the current price in Amazon (#ads).
Related products
See also Amcrest doorbell with 2k resolution and local storage, read this Amcrest ad410 doorbell vs Arlo when you need just local memory storage. You may also like comparison between Amcrest and Ring doorbell, popular Ring doorbell compared with Amcrest doorbell.
In addition of doorbell, you may also consider to add floodlight camera. See also comparison between Eufy fllodlight camera and Arlo. And also comparison between Arlo and Ring floodlight cameras.