Should you get the Nest Hello or the Ring Pro?
Nest Hello
Our pick
$230 at Best Buy
Pros
Much better dynamic range
Uses facial recognition to announce who's at the door
Better Wi-Fi connectivity
Cons
Subscription service is more expensive
Can't use with Amazon Echo/Alexa
The Nest Hello isn't just a great-looking piece of hardware. Its camera has an excellent dynamic range that keeps glare from the sun from blowing out your live feed, and it makes use of Nest's facial recognition technology to announce who's at the door — so long as you've identified them before.
Ring Video Doorbell Pro
Runner-up
$190 at Amazon
Pros
Cheaper subscription service
Subscription stores 60 days vs. Nest's 5-30 days
Cons
No continuous recording
No facial recognition
Doesn't play with Google Assistant anymore
The Ring Video Doorbell Pro integrates great with Amazon services, allowing Echo speakers to announce when someone rings your doorbell. Where the Ring Pro wins out big is in its cheaper subscription service, which offers a whopping 60 days of storage for recorded events.
Ring has made quite the name for itself over the past couple years thanks to its stable of video doorbells, DIY security cameras — and I'd say some damned good marketing. So good, in fact, that Amazon scooped up the company for over $1 billion. Recent privacy scandals notwithstanding, the company still makes some pretty great products.
But Nest Hello is here. It's the first doorbell from the company that brought you the world's sexiest smart thermostat, with all the back-end power that a Google-owned organization can possibly throw at it.
The result? I now have a new favorite doorbell. Let's see which one it is in this Nest Hello vs. Ring Video Doorbell Pro showdown.
Nest Hello vs. Ring Video Doorbell Pro: Break it down now...
Installation is a wash. Nest Hello and Ring Pro install with nearly identical processes. You'll need a low-voltage doorbell system already in place — because how else would you get power to the thing, right? And if you're handy at basic home improvement wiring stuff, you can get either doorbell up and running in about 20 minutes or so (maybe a tad longer — I've installed a half-dozen of these things at this point and have gotten pretty quick about it).
In terms of pure looks, Nest wins out. Both doorbells are the only ones I haven't looked at with a sense of disgust — seriously, there are some bad-looking video doorbells out there — but Nest is just a sexier piece of hardware, hands down. But it's in the operation where things really stand out.
Most importantly, it's the camera. Nest Hello has some HDR processing, and it's readily apparent. My covered front porch tends to be backlit a lot, and Nest Hello handles that much better than Ring...
