Ring is a well-established company that offers smart devices to improve home security, including video doorbells, lights, motion detectors, and cameras. While Ring may be most popular for its video doorbell, the company has an arsenal of affordable products worth investing in.

The company also provides three subscription services—called Ring Protect Plans—to go along with its physical products. All three options supplement the free features of the Ring's devices, but do these plans offer any substantial improvements? Here's what you need to know about Ring Protect Plans to help you decide if you need one.

What Is the Ring Doorbell?

Ring doorbell photo
Image Credit: Amazon

While there are a ton of great video doorbells out there, there are many reasons why you should buy a Ring video doorbell specifically. You can keep track of everything going on outside your door, whether it's a friendly visitor, a helpful delivery person, or a pesky solicitor.

There's a built-in camera that lets you see everything and a built-in microphone that makes two-way communication possible. That means you can talk with someone at your door through the Ring doorbell instead of opening your door. There are also built-in motion sensors that alert you every time someone gets within a certain range of your door—like a neighbor or a nosy dog.

Plus, it's easy to install a Ring doorbell and even easier to use. With the Ring mobile app, you can keep tabs on your home at all times. The alert system helps you ward off package thieves or question strangers before opening your door, ultimately keeping you safer at home.

On a more positive note, if you get a Ring notification that a friend or family member is standing at the door, you can also use two-way communication to let them know that you're almost home.

Not Just a One-Hit Wonder

In addition to Ring's vastly popular video doorbell range, the company also offers other home security devices, like cameras, motion sensors, other detectors, indoor chimes, and more. Because Ring was acquired by Amazon, you can also find Echo products through Ring's website that integrate seamlessly with the rest of Ring's official products.

Among Ring's available security cameras, you'll find battery-powered options as well as options that wire directly into your home's wiring. Some of Ring's cameras are designed for both indoor and outdoor use, while others are specifically made for inside or outside.

A Ring Chime Pro
Image Credit: Ring

Surprisingly, some of the best Ring products you'll find are smart lights, for both indoor and outdoor use. You can use these lights as regular smart bulbs, or integrate them into your Ring security system to go off when a motion sensor around your home is triggered.

Another popular device is the Ring Chime, which stays inside your home and alerts you whenever someone presses your doorbell, much like an existing wired doorbell. You can also customize your Chime to go off when motion detectors pick up movement.

You can often find bundle offers for many of Ring's products that help bring the price down. If you know you'll be purchasing multiple products anyway, you might as well check out the current bundle offers to see if you can save some money.

What if You Don't Get a Plan?

The three Ring Protect plans you can subscribe to help you make the most of your purchased Ring devices, whatever those products may be. But that doesn't mean you have to get one. If you can't afford a Ring Protect subscription or decide you don't need it, there are many excellent features you'll still get for free.

Without a subscription, you can still view real-time video from your Ring doorbells and cameras at any time. If someone walks up to your door and trips the motion sensors, you'll receive a motion-alerted notification. Then, you can tune into the live video feed and use two-way communication to talk with whoever's at the door without needing to open the door.

A couple waving to a Ring Video Doorbell
Image Credit: Ring

The biggest difference between a paid subscription and Ring's free services is automatic video recordings with a motion-activated event or doorbell press. There are still ways to save video from your Ring doorbell for free, but it's certainly not as easy as it is with a paid subscription.

Another free perk is Ring's promise of replacing stolen devices. If your Ring device gets stolen, the company will replace it at no cost to you, as long as you follow their instructions and submit a police report promptly.

If you ultimately decide to get a plan, you have three Ring Protect Plans to consider. There's Ring Protect Basic, Ring Protect Plus, and the newly added Ring Protect Pro option. All the plans are an excellent value for their price. It'll just come down to what your specific needs are.

What Does the Ring Protect Basic Plan Get You?

At $3.99/month or $39.99/year, Ring Protect Basic remains the most affordable subscription plan from the company. With this plan, you can download and save all videos recorded from motion events. Then, you can easily share them with whoever you want and view your video history for up to 180 days.

The Basic plan enables a feature called Snapshot Capture, which takes recurring photos in between your motion-activated videos. That way, you have a full picture of everything that didn't trigger your Ring device. All the Snapshot Capture photos get stored in your account for seven days, and you can download an image to your device if you want to keep anything for longer.

ring protect plan subscriptions compared, including basic, plus, and pro
Image Credit: Ring

The Basic plan allows you to enable Person Alerts, which means that you'll only get alerts when your device detects a person. This saves you from getting alerts every time a cat, bee, or anything else comes too close.

Then, the Basic plan provides you with rich notifications, which let you see a preview image of exactly what tripped the motion sensors. The image appears in the notification you get sent, meaning you won't have to go into the Ring app to see it.

The Basic plan also gives you a 10% discount on select Ring products on the Ring website or Amazon, and allows you to download up to 50 videos from the cloud at once.

What Does the Ring Protect Plus Plan Get You?

The Ring Protect Plus subscription plan includes all the features of the Basic plan. Instead of providing video recording for a single device, however, the Protect Plus plan provides video recording for all of your Ring devices.

This subscription also secures you extended warranties for all Ring devices at your address. The Protect Plus plan costs $10/month or $100/year for all the Ring devices in your home.

What Does the Ring Protect Pro Plan Get You?

ring app showing delivery worker at the front door
Image Credit: Ring

Ring's top-of-the-line subscription plan is called Protect Pro. Its most notable feature is 24/7 professional monitoring. Every time a break-in or another security threat triggers your Ring alarm, it'll request dispatch of real-time emergency responders like the police. You can still check on your home through the Ring app at any time, but you'll have peace of mind that your home is secure even when you aren't looking.

The Pro plan also guarantees that even if your home loses internet connection and your devices go offline, they will continue to send important alarm signals thanks to the Alarm Cellular Backup feature. The Ring Alarm usually needs Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable to communicate, but Cellular Backup provides an alternative. The Pro plan also provides 24/7 Backup Internet that keeps your Wi-Fi network online in the event of an internet outage, with 3 GB of data included every month.

With the Pro plan, you'll gain Alexa Guard Plus, which gives you hands-free access to an Emergency Helpline with any compatible Alexa devices. There's a Digital Security feature by eero Secure that helps protect your online activity, block ads, and apply content filters, as well as local storage via a microSD if you have a Ring Alarm Pro system.

With the Ring Protect Pro plan, you can also save up to $100 on your home insurance policy every year. This helps cancel out the cost of the Pro plan, which is $40/month or $200/year.

Ring Protection Plans: Are They Worth It?

It's true that you don't need a subscription plan to enjoy Ring's services. However, you simply get more with a Ring Protect plan, and each plan is worth it for different reasons.

If you only have a single Ring device you want video storage for, the Basic plan is perfect. If you have Ring cameras spread throughout your home at multiple points of entry, the Plus plan allows for video recording on all devices. Or, you can spring for the Pro plan that gives you 24/7 professional monitoring and a slew of extra features that make your home feel incredibly secure.