Martin Lewis reveals how to dodge next week’s Ring price hike

Ring Protect subscriptions will be going up by 43 per cent this month

There is a way to avoid the price hike for a year (The Independent )

Nothing is immune from a price hike these days. From Spotify to Netflix to Sky broadband, they’re all on the increase. And next week, Ring video doorbell customers will see their Ring Protect subscriptions go up, too.

In February, Amazon announced that it would be increasing the price of its Ring Protect subscription plan by a huge 43 per cent in the UK. The extra subscription add-on lets you save, download and share footage from your doorbell. Without it, you can only see a live feed from your doorbell’s camera, but not historical footage.

From 11 March, those with a Ring Protect basic plan will have to fork out £4.99 per month, an increase of £1.50 over the current £3.49 monthly charge, while those on an annual plan will see their subscription cost increase by £15, from £34.99 a year to £49.99 a year.

Money-saving expert Martin Lewis recommends that customers who want to stick with Ring should cancel their subscription now before the price goes up, and then immediately subscribe again for an annual plan at the pre-inflated price. Amazon has confirmed that any subscription made before 11 March will pay the current price.

Subscribe to Ring Protect now for £34.99/yr

If you’re on a Ring Protect Plus subscription, which covers all the Ring devices in your home, you’ll continue to pay £8 a month or £80 a year. But if you’ve had enough and don’t want to pay a subscription to access the footage on your video doorbell at all, there are plenty of Ring alternatives that don’t have a subscription fee. We’ve rounded up the best ones below.

Eufy S200 video doorbell: £99.99, Amazon.co.uk

(Eufy)

Eufy’s making a bit of a name for itself as the go-to brand for reliable smart home gadgets at an affordable price tag. It’s one of only two video doorbells with no optional subscription fee at all – that doesn’t mean crimping out on features. Instead of charging to store videos, every moment is stored locally on the microSD card that you slot into the wifi-enabled chime box.

Appearing in our review of the best video doorbells, our tester noted that “the picture was of very decent quality, thanks to the 1,080px camera, and the audio quality was good on the two-way talk”. They added that the night vision was “excellent” and was “probably the sharpest and brightest picture we tried”. 

Buy now

Blink video doorbell and sync module 2: £69.99, Amazon.co.uk

(Blink)

Blink is another one of Amazon’s sub-brands, but unlike Ring, the cloud storage subscription fee isn’t really necessary if you pay a little extra for the sync module 2. It all comes as a bundle for your convenience. The sync module 2 lets you save all your clips locally on a USB stick, so you don’t have to pay for extra cloud storage.

Again, Blink’s doorbell also appeared in our review of the best video doorbells. “We experienced a tiny lag between phone answering and real-time doorstep action, but that wasn’t too bad. The audio quality was decent – both hearing what someone was saying on the doorstep and then speaking to them through our app,” said our writer. “We could adjust the motion-detection function, so it only triggered recording of relevant events, and adjust the length of the clip it captures. The night vision was decent, too.” 

Buy now

Ezviz 2K battery-powered video doorbell: Was £84.99, now £62.04, Amazon.co.uk

(Ezviz)

Like the Blink video doorbell, the Ezviz doorbell has a cloud storage subscription fee, but it’s only optional, and you can slot in an SD card to store every clip and video locally. Featuring a large 170-degree field of view, perfect for those with large driveways, the doorbell featured in our round-up of the best video doorbells.

“The Ezviz is bolstered by some additional security features. There’s a loitering-detection function, which triggers an alarm if people hang around the area for longer than the time period you’ve specified,” our writer said. “You can also specify how hard your doorbell works, in terms of what it’s monitoring, to prolong battery life – great if you’re away for long periods of time.” 

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Aqara G4 smart video doorbell: £119.99, Amazon.co.uk

(Amazon)

While Aqara also has an optional subscription fee attached to its ding-dong, you don’t have to use it. It’s probably the smartest doorbell on this list when it comes to non-cloud-based features.

If you connect the G4 to Apple HomeKit Secure Video, you can view all your recorded footage, but you can also connect a microSD card for local storage. “Other good points for those who are privacy conscious is that it can disguise your voice – which is fun, but might be useful if you’re worried about unknown callers,” our writer said in their review. “The picture quality is decent – not the best, but we found it perfectly fine. And it gives a nice wide angle.” 

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Eufy S330 video doorbell: £229, Amazon.co.uk

(Eufy)

The Eufy S330 video doorbell is pricier than the S200, but it’s more feature-rich. The S300 features two cameras, with one camera catching footage straight on, while the other capturing footage from the floor. “We found this brilliant for when delivery drivers brought packages – especially in combination with the package detection, which alerts you when something’s been left on your doorstep. The app displays this footage spliced together, so you can see the front-on and doorstep footage in the same window,” our writer explained.

An AI-powered delivery guard will also remind you throughout the day to collect your parcel and notify you if someone approaches it. Again, it connects to a home base that connects to your router, storing your footage locally. 

Buy now

Voucher codes

For more deals on home technology, try the links below:

• Samsung discount codes
• Dunelm discount codes

Looking to compare other models? Read our round-up of the best video doorbells