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The original smart doorbell manufacturer, Ring is the biggest name in this market for a reason: its products are great. The wired Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 is the pinnacle of the company’s technology, packing more features than anywhere else, including 3D Motion Detection.

Using radar, 3D Motion Detection lets you set the detection limit of the doorbell. Used in combination with standard activity zones it means that you won’t get troubled by alerts taking place outside of your front door.

As this model doesn’t have a battery, it’s slim enough to fit onto most door frames. You get a compatible transformer in the box, which may require professional installation. The downside of this model is that it can’t sound an internal chime.

However, you can buy plug-in chimes and you can also make Amazon Echo speakers sound when someone presses the doorbell, answering directly from Echo Show devices.

Image quality is excellent thanks to the high 1536 x 1536 resolution and lens that captures people head-to-toe. That’s great for talking to callers, but also increases this doorbell’s use as a security camera.

Video clips are saved to the cloud via a subscription (you can use this as a doorbell without recording for free), and you can pay one subscription to cover all of your Ring cameras. A subscription also lets the doorbell answer automatically with a message of your choice, recording the answer.

Full review: Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2

Reviewer: David Ludlow

Ring might have the widest selection of doorbells but non support the Google Assistant. If you have Nest Home smart speakers, then the best option is the Nest Doorbell (wired), previously known as the Nest Hello.

Although this is an older product than the newer Nest Doorbell (battery), it remains the better product even though it has to be wired in place and may need professional installation.

What sets this model apart from the newer one is higher resolution video, with the 1600 x 1200 footage looking good, both at night and during the day. This doorbell has some very smart features via a Nest Aware subscription, including facial recognition, so that you know who’s at the front door.

With a Nest Subscription, this doorbell can record video to the cloud, and it even supports 24/7 recording if you opt for the more expensive monthly payment. You also get quick replies for when you don’t want to answer the door, such as “you can leave it” or “we can’t get to the door right now”.

Made by Google, this doorbell fully integrates with Google Assistant smart speakers, and you can answer the door from a Nest Home Hub without having to touch your phone.

Full review: Nest Doorbell (battery)

Reviewer: David Ludlow

With the Ring Video Doorbell 4, Ring has taken battery-powered doorbells to the limits of what they can achieve. While this model still uses a PIR sensor to detect motion, the new activity zones feature means that you can filter out a lot of notifications and hone in on the areas you want to monitor.

This model adds colour pre-roll into the mix. Before an event is triggered, the camera records a few seconds of HD footage that gets appended to the final video. It lets you see what caused an event and means that you don’t miss valuable information; other battery doorbells can take a while to wake up and often miss part of an event.

Clips can be recorded to the cloud via a Ring Protect subscription, which has an option to cover all of your cameras via a single low monthly payment.

This model runs off of Ring’s standard battery packs, which should last up to six months on a charge. When flat, you can either recharge or swap the battery out for a fresh one. You can also wire the doorbell into place if you have a wired model, which keeps the battery topped up automatically.

Video is shot at a resolution of 1920 x 1080, and is good enough to see what’s going on, although video lacks the definition and sharpness of many of the wired models reviewed here.

Full review: Ring Video Doorbell 4 review

Reviewer: David Ludlow

Best known for its battery-powered cameras, the Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free is the company’s first battery-powered doorbell. Unlike earlier cameras, this model doesn’t require an Arlo hub and can connect directly to your Wi-Fi.

Rather than sending a simple notification to your phone, the doorbell makes your phone ring as though there was an incoming call. That means that you’re far less likely to miss an incoming call.

Notifications can also be sent to the optional Arlo wireless chime or Amazon Echo speakers. However, you can’t answer the doorbell from a smart speaker and have to use the app.

If you can’t answer the door, there are automated responses that you can send, although they all sound quite terse (“Not interested!”, for example).

Although battery powered, with a battery that will last for up to six months, the doorbell can be wired to an existing circuit, which keeps the doorbell topped up automatically.

Image quality is excellent, with the doorbell shooting video at a resolution of 1536 x 1536 – that’s the same as on the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2, only the video here looks a touch sharper.

It’s worth paying for an Arlo Smart subscription (options available to cover all of your cameras), as this adds cloud recording plus the option to only be notified about your choice of people, animals or vehicles.

Full review: Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free

Reviewer: David Ludlow

Cheap products usually come with plenty of issues, but not so the Ring Video Doorbell Wired, which costs less than £50 and does everything you’d expect.

While lacking the clever 3D Motion Detection of the more expensive wired models, here you get Activity Zones to focus motion detection on specific areas and you get the People only mode, to only get notifications when a person is spotted.

There are all the features that you’d expect from a Ring doorbell: your Amazon Echo speakers can chime when there’s someone at the door; you can answer from an Echo Show; and pay for a Ring Protect subscription and you get cloud storage.

There’s a 1080p sensor in this camera, the same as on the battery-powered devices. The result is video that’s good enough, particularly for callers that you want to chat to, although a little softer than the higher-end competition.

There’s no power supply in the box, but you can buy a cheap one that’s either wired in permanently or you can get the Ring Plug-in Adaptor that goes into a regular socket. Overall, at this price, there’s very little to complain about.

Full review: Ring Video Doorbell Wired review

Reviewer: David Ludlow