Ring Video Doorbell Pro Review and Pricing

Amazon always seems to have a finger in every pot, so when I heard their company Ring made another video doorbell, I wasn’t terribly surprised. After reviewing the Ring Video Doorbell 2 along with tons of other Ring Alarm products, I’m curious to see how the Ring Video Doorbell Pro stacks up.

Key Features

Of course, I’ll be looking closely at its design, features, installation process, and app before helping you decide if it’s the video doorbell for you. Some other things I’ll address? Video, audio, night vision, storage, smart platform integrations, artificial intelligence— if it’s about or related to cameras, you know I’m going into detail. There’s no time like the present, so let’s get started with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro review now!

Pros and Cons of the Ring Video Doorbell Pro

To make sure we’re on the same page, I want to sum up the key pros and cons of the Ring Video Doorbell Pro.

I love that the Ring Video Doorbell Pro has 1080p HD video display, infrared night vision, and integration with Amazon Alexa.

On a less positive note, the doorbell lacks person detection, a Google Assistant integration, and free cloud and local storage, although it’s available for an affordable price.

Ring Video Doorbell Pro Design

The Ring Video Doorbell Pro has a sleek look, much like its predecessor the Ring Video Doorbell 2. It comes in Satin Nickel, Pearl, Venetian, or Black. But this thing isn’t just pretty. It’s also weather-resistant and can work in temperatures from negative five to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s a range that should work for 99% of homeowners, at least in the continental U.S.

As far as installation goes, you’ll hardwire the Ring Video Doorbell Pro into your home. This will make your installation take a bit longer than if it was battery-operated, but then again, you’ll never have to worry about your batteries running out of charge.

The Ring Video Doorbell Pro will record either when the doorbell is press or when it detects motion. Using Wi-Fi, the doorbell will communicate with your app and will tell you when you have a visitor as soon as it happens.

Ring Video Doorbell Pro Features

Is the Ring Video Doorbell Pro as good on the inside as it is on the outside? To find out, I’m using our Necessary Features Test, a deep dive into the technical specifications as well as my own tests. Let’s see if it’s up to the highest of standards.

Video

The Ring Video Doorbell Pro has 1080p HD video, the industry standard, plus a wide field of view of 160 degrees. The camera also lets you zoom in digitally so you can see your visitors close up and personal.

Audio

Where would a video doorbell be without a speaker and microphone? Somewhat obviously, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro has two-way audio so you can greet your visitor…or not.

Night Vision

The Ring Video Doorbell Pro also comes with infrared night vision, which I much prefer over a bright white light. Although the latter will produce color night vision, it makes it pretty obvious you’ve got a camera recording, which is something I like to keep to myself.

Storage

Ring Protect Plans

Maybe you had a break-in, or maybe you just want to watch footage from your Ring Video Doorbell Pro at a later date. Whatever the reason, it’s important that you have both cloud and local storage to back up your footage. Ring offers both, but for a small monthly or yearly free. While I wish cloud and local storage were free, I can’t scoff much at three dollars a month with no long-term contract. To put things in perspective, Nest charges ten times that amount for half the cloud storage and no local storage. So even though I wish all storage was free, Ring has incredibly reasonable prices.

If you choose the top-tier Protect Plus plan, you’ll get even more advantages like 24/7 professional monitoring, an extended warranty, and a discount on products from the Ring website. I recommend doing 24/7 professional monitoring if you have the Ring Alarm security kit, but it probably isn’t necessary if you’re just dealing with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro.

Smart Platform Integration

Amazon owns Ring, like I said before, so it’s no surprise that the doorbell in question integrates with Amazon Alexa. Unfortunately, if you’re in the Google smart home ecosystem, you won’t be able to control the Ring Video Doorbell Pro with Google Assistant.

Artificial Intelligence

Believe it or not, artificial intelligence is a Necessary Feature for our camera reviews. When it comes to home security, artificial intelligence typically refers to either person detection or facial recognition.

Sure, your camera can notify you every time it senses movement, but many of these notifications are going to be unnecessary, triggered by animals, cars, and other moving objects. Person detection and facial recognition create stronger and more specific notifications, not just that your camera detected motion but that there’s an unfamiliar face at your front door.

Unfortunately, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro doesn’t come with any A.I capabilities, so you will definitely be receiving some of those unnecessary notifications. A small save is that you can set up activity zones in which you tell your camera what to focus on and what to ignore. For a video doorbell most likely facing the outdoors, I would tell my Ring Video Doorbell Pro to only watch my property and ignore the street. Sure, it’s not as good as person detection, but it creates notifications that matter more.

Installing the Ring Video Doorbell Pro

Installing the Ring Video Doorbell Pro is something you can do yourself. It requires a 16-24 VAC transformer, but if you don’t already have an existing doorbell setup, you can use a power adapter. Now, I installed the Ring Video Doorbell Pro in two places— at a home in Austin in an existing doorbell setup, and at my apartment in Brooklyn without.

Let’s start with Austin. The entire process took less than an hour. First, I removed the existing doorbell and chime and replaced it with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. Using the Ring Video Doorbell Pro requires a strong Wi-Fi connection, so I had to use the Ring Wi-Fi range extender, as the router was at the other side of the house.

In Brooklyn, the process was even easier. I took my power adapter, which cost $29 from Ring, thread my wires to the Ring Video Doorbell Pro, and plugged in the Chime Pro, which functions both as a range extender and as an actual chime so you can hear when someone is at the door. As I didn’t have to deal with any existing infrastructure, the process took about five minutes. Overall, you shouldn’t have any trouble installing your Ring Video Doorbell Pro.

The Ring— Always Home App

The Ring— Always Home app is how you’ll livestream footage from your Ring Video Doorbell Pro and see and speak to your visitors from anywhere. It’s also where you’ll create those motion zones, set up your Alexa integration, download or view footage, and even receive crime and safety alerts from your neighborhood.

The app has decent ratings, a 3.3 from both the Apple and the Google Play store. While I wish the ratings were a bit higher, they’re definitely not a deal-breaker in my opinion.

Recap of the Ring Video Doorbell Pro

At $249, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro is actually the most expensive video doorbell I’ve ever reviewed, and that comes as a huge shock. Amazon is known for cutting prices across the board, so I’m a bit surprised that the Ring Video Doorbell Pro is about $50 more than the average. Of course, this isn’t a huge deal, and overall I’m really happy with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. But, it’s not for everybody, so let me break it down for you.

To learn more, read our review of the best video doorbells of 2023.