Blink Security Camera System Costs and Pricing

Blink may not be the first security camera brand you think of when looking for a reliable video monitoring option, but Blink is an actually well-rounded security camera brand. It has security cameras for all budgets, starting with the very affordable Blink Mini to the new Blink Outdoor 4 with the most cutting-edge features.

Plus, Blink is now under the Amazon umbrella, and with the retail giant’s backing, it has become a trusted supplier of security cameras with more advanced technology than it had before being acquired by Amazon.

In this Blink security camera review, we’re going over our experience testing each Blink camera’s video, audio, night vision, and other essential features. Are Blink cameras worth buying? How do its prices compare to other options? What packages are available? How much is cloud storage? We’ll answer those questions and more in this review.

Blink Equipment Pricing and Packages: How It Compares

Blink makes the buying process simple. It doesn’t offer a lot of options — in fact, there are only four options — but each camera has something unique to offer. There’s an ultra-affordable mini indoor camera, two versions of the Blink Outdoor line (Blink Outdoor 3 and 4), a similar-looking battery-powered indoor camera,  and a wired outdoor camera with built-in floodlights.

Want to hear our thoughts on each Blink camera? Read our full Blink security camera review for a more detailed look.

In the meantime, let’s break down how much it will cost you for a one-camera Blink system.

One crucial thing to note is that the Blink Indoor and Blink Outdoor 3 and 4 all require a hub to work. The prices listed above for these three models include one Sync Module 2, which is the hub, but each hub can support up to five cameras. If you’re planning to mix and match Blink Indoor and Blink Outdoor cameras, it’s better to buy one of the multi-camera systems available from Amazon. Another option is to buy one camera with a Sync Module 2 included, and then purchase add-on cameras. The prices are as follows:

• Blink Outdoor 3: $89.99
• Blink Outdoor 4: $109.99
• Blink Indoor: $69.99

Although we prefer cameras that don’t require hubs, like the Wyze Cam (read our Wyze camera review here), we appreciate that Blink offers discounted prices for multiple cameras. Plus, requiring a hub isn’t uncommon; packages from Arlo and packages from eufy also include these devices, so although connecting to a hub can be a disadvantage, we still think Blink is worth its relatively low prices.

Now, if you prefer a hub-free setup, Blink’s cheapest option is a perfect match. The Blink Mini, selling for just $35, is a hub-free indoor camera that plugs directly into power and connects to Wi-Fi. It’s one of the most affordable security cameras in the market from a mainstream brand, rivaling even the super cheap Wyze Cam v3.

At only $34.99, the Mini makes more sense than the Blink Indoor camera, which costs $79.99. Note that the Blink Indoor is still cheaper than most indoor cameras, which cost around $100. With the Indoor camera, you can either buy the one-camera package with a Sync Module 2 for $79.99, or buy the camera individually for $69.99.

The Blink Outdoor is also really affordable compared to other outdoor cameras, at $99.99. The Nest Cam Outdoor, for example, costs $199, although it has more advanced features like person detection. However, for those looking for basic smart security cameras, Blink’s pricing is more than fair.

As for the newer Blink Outdoor 4, it’s the only camera that costs over $100 from Blink, but it improves on the Blink Outdoor 3’s motion detection. It also has a much wider field of view – 143-degrees versus the Blink Outdoor 3’s 110-degree view. Lastly, with a subscription, it can offer person detection, for which the other Blink cameras don’t have an option.

Perhaps the best-valued product on Blink’s lineup is the $99.99 Wired Floodlight Camera. It’s an outdoor camera equipped with two bright LED floodlights, much like the Ring Floodlight Cam. Unlike the Ring version that costs over $200, however, the Blink floodlight camera costs only about $100. That’s a huge difference in price!

With Blink’s already affordable pricing, it’s hard to imagine saving even more, but that’s actually possible. If you buy into the whole lineup and purchase multiple cameras as parts of multi-camera kits, you’ll save even more.

Blink Pricing: Monitoring and Storage

With the Blink Wired Floodlight Camera, Outdoor, Indoor, and Mini, we chose from one of two subscription plans: the Basic plan for $3 per month, or the Plus plan for $10 per month.

Both offer 60 days of cloud storage, which is quite generous in our view. That 60-day cloud storage means the cameras will record every motion event and keep the clips in the cloud for 60 days. During that time, you can download or share important clips.

Technically, we could have skipped the subscription option and paid nothing after the initial equipment costs. By not signing up for a subscription, we still got motion alerts and access to live footage. But we wouldn’t have been able to store, share, or download video.

Alternatively, we had the option of inserting a USB flash drive into the Blink Sync Module 2 and storing our video footage locally. But we like that Blink still keeps cloud video storage costs low. Blink’s Basic plan costs the same per month as the Ring Protect Basic plan for Ring cameras.

As Amazon owns both companies, we doubt this is a coincidence. Add more cameras, and the cost goes up to $10 a month, again, the exact same prices as Ring.

While we wish Blink gave us at least some free cloud storage without a subscription, with Blink, local video storage is still an affordable and convenient option. Plus, users can get a 30-day free trial of the Blink Plus subscription with the purchase of a Blink Mini, Blink Outdoor, or Blink Indoor camera.

If you’re planning on buying a Blink Outdoor 4 system, you’ll get even more from the subscription plan, namely, person detection. However, this feature works on only the Outdoor 4, and without actually testing it yet, we couldn’t confirm how well the feature works. Still, we recommend getting a subscription for that 60-day cloud video history. 

Accessories

In addition to its cameras, Blink also offers mounting brackets, silicone skins, and USB flash drives as separate accessories. Take a look at our Blink accessories breakdown:

Blink’s Best Features

We think that Blink cameras are worth their prices, and here’s why:

• 1080p HD video quality: All five Blink cameras record video in 1080p.
• Two-way audio: The Blink Mini, Blink Indoor, and Blink Outdoor cameras have two-way audio, letting us speak to whomever we were looking at, which could have come in handy during an intrusion.
• Infrared night vision: Blink cameras come equipped with infrared LED sensors, which let us see clearly in black-and-white at night.

• Alexa integrations: All of the cameras work with Alexa, which lets us control them with our voices.
• Long battery life: The wireless, battery-powered Blink Indoor and Blink Outdoor cameras have two-year battery lives, which is the longest we’ve seen from wireless home security cameras.

• Free app: We used the Blink Home Monitor app with all of our Blink cameras to live-stream footage and receive motion detection alerts, all without paying monthly fees.

Alexa, IFTTT, and Blink

Since Amazon owns Blink, the fact that all of Blink’s cameras work with Alexa makes perfect sense. We downloaded the Blink SmartHome skill on our Echo Show 8 because sometimes our smartphones are just too far away. Using our voices alone, we could have Alexa show our cameras’ footage on different Echo devices and hide it when we were done.

We could also tell Alexa to show us the cameras’ last activities, arm or disarm the camera system (the latter of which requires a PIN for security), and tell us when the latest motion alert was, the number of motion clips, our arming/ disarming schedule, or our current system status. Alexa even told us when the batteries were getting low and helped us to reorder new ones so that we never missed a day without our Blink cameras. That’s where that whole “being owned by Amazon” thing really comes in handy!

On top of that, we set our Blink cameras so that our Echo devices, including our Echo Dot with Clock and Echo Flex smart speakers, told us whenever our cameras detected motion. For us, this meant that even if we left our phones downstairs overnight, our alarm clock would let us know if our downstairs cameras detected motion while we were sleeping. This capability gave us the added assurance that if someone broke into our home, we’d know as soon as possible.

Taking it a step further, since we have smart lights downstairs, we set up a routine that had our lamps turn on as soon as the Blink cameras detected motion, making the would-be burglar very conspicuous.

All three Blink cameras work with IFTTT,2 which means that they could trigger or be triggered by a whole slew of Internet of Things devices. The IFTTT compatibility expanded our voice commands to even our Google Home Hub, so although there isn’t a direct Google action for Blink, the cameras can still work within a Google smart home ecosystem.

Recap

All in all, Blink provides decent home security at affordable prices. Blink’s Indoor, Outdoor, Mini, and Wired Floodlight cameras are all reasonably priced and perfect for folks on a budget. Without a subscription, users can still access live video and turn on motion alerts from the Blink Home Monitor app. With monthly cloud storage fees as low as $3, Blink’s subscriptions are inexpensive compared to rivals in the industry.

However, if Blink doesn’t seem right for you, we recommend checking out our list of the most affordable security cameras, which includes Blink, among other fantastic options.