Nest Hello vs Ring Video Doorbell: In-depth Comparison

There is a great chance you are now in a dilemma to choose between Nest and Ring video doorbell. Which of the two is likely to fit your smart home needs? There are a good number of smart video doorbells available in the market today. However, our main focus here is between the two of the great and most popular brands, the Nest Hello and the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. We are here to provide you with the right guide to decision making since choosing from various options of the doorbell can be confusing.

Nest Hello  vs Ring Video Doorbell
Nest Hello  vs Ring Video Doorbell

Ring video doorbells will provide you with great abilities to protect your home. The video doorbell will notify you when someone is at your doorstep through a live video feed on your phone. This will allow you to communicate with the person with the built-in speaker without the need of getting up from your comfort zone. This, therefore, functions like your doorman executing his duties. You can as well check whatever is happening around your home while you are away. Therefore, you should have no doubts about purchasing the video doorbell.

It is worth noting that the advancement of technology has positively impacted the smart home environment. From smart speakers to smart lighting system and now to smart security using the smart video doorbells. The question now becomes, is it Nest or Ring video doorbell? After exhaustive research and analysis of the two, we were able to acquire an in-depth comparison of the two video doorbells.

What is Nest Hello Video Doorbell?

Now you will need to know the overview of these two video doorbell brands. To begin with is the Nest Hello video doorbell. This is a smart video doorbell designed by Nest brand. It is equipped with a 24/7 live streaming which monitors your home all the time. Even more, it has a clear night and day vision, HDR imaging as well as face recognition which lets you know who is at the door.

Nest Hello Video Doorbell
Nest Hello Video Doorbell

Moreover, it notifies you when someone is at your doorstep by sending you an alert. With its size, it can easily fit in more places without inconvenience. Also, it is compatible with smart speakers with Google Assistant feature which you can control using voice commands. Therefore, this is the general overview of the Nest Hello video doorbell. Its detailed description will be revealed to you as you keep scrolling down the page.

What is Ring Video Doorbell?

This is also one of the most popular video doorbells available in the market today that is taking the world by storm. Developed by Ring, it is well equipped with a video camera, a motion detector as well as the ability to send quick alerts just to mention a few. You can also be able to hear, see and communicate to the person at the door in real-time.

Ring Video Doorbell
Ring Video Doorbell

This, therefore, beefs up the security in your home right from the doorstep. With peace of mind at your fingertips, you can be able to talk with the person at the doorstep from anywhere anytime. It also has a built-in battery which allows for easy installation. However, it is a little bulky thus limiting you with the fit location.

Nest vs Ring: Design and Appearance

The Nest Hello has an amazing appearance with its oval shape design that is impressively appealing to the eyes of the beholder. It measures 4.6 inches tall, 1.7 inches wide and 1 inch in depth. Moreover, it weighs approximately 122 grams in weight. The Nest Hello is available in two colors which are black and white.

Its design also reveals its great appearance with the doorbell button located at the bottom. This button has a LED ring around it which lights up when it is in operation. Furthermore, it is equipped with a camera lens located at the top which keeps track of the movement around the doorway giving a 160-degree field of view.

The Ring video doorbell on the other side has a slim build and a nice rectangular shape. It has straighter edges and is quite smaller than the Nest Hello measuring 4.5 inches tall, 1.85 inches wide and 0.8 inches thick. Unlike the Nest Hello, its doorbell button is located at the center of the device surrounded by a blue LED light ring. The camera is located just above it. The HD camera has a 160-degree field of view as well as a night vision.

The most amazing feature with the Ring Video Doorbell Pro is the ability to customize your device to fit your home’s design. This provides you with a variety of interchangeable faceplates to choose from. This includes the Venetian, the pearl, satin nickel, and black faceplates. The Ring Video Doorbell, therefore, outshines the Nest Hello on this feature.

Nest vs Ring: Installation

The installation process for both Ring and Nest would be easy if there was an existing traditional powered doorbell wired connection. All you have to do is to replace the existing doorbell system with the new doorbell.  However, if you don’t have a wired doorbell system, you will need to install a transformer that will provide power to the entire doorbell system.

Ring Video Doorbell Pro  Installation
Ring Video Doorbell Pro  Installation

Both Ring and Nest video doorbells are easy to install and won’t consume most of your time. Since the box comes with a complete package, there will be all the available tools need for the installation process. Moreover, for Ring Video Doorbell, you can use the Ring app as an easy guide to a successful installation. For Nest Hello on the other side, you can use the Nest app for the same purpose. These apps are available for both iOS and Android devices and can be downloaded from the Play Store or the App Store.

Even more, to install the Nest Hello Video Doorbell, it is highly recommended to seek professional help. This will make your installation process easier. Therefore, Nest offers professional and self-installation options. The power requirements needed will involve a 10VA transformer, a chime, and a wired doorbell.

For Ring Video Doorbell Pro, there are simple and intuitive instructions that allow you to perform self-installation. You will need a 16V AC-24V AC transformer. Also, it has a Pro Power Kit which provides enough power to the doorbell.

Nest vs Ring: Specifications and Features

While selecting any product, the features and specifications of the product are the core factors that are highly considered. This gives you the reason as to why you should pick one product and not the other. Therefore, the Ring and Nest video doorbells have some similar as well as different specifications and features.

The Nest Hello Video Doorbell has two-way audio which enables you to communicate with the person at your doorstep. It also has night vision which will allow you to recognize any object at the field of view despite the darkness. Even more, the Nest has 24/7 continuous recording which will allow you to monitor what is happening throughout the day.

In addition to this, Nest works well with Google Assistant or Alexa which will allow you to voice control the doorbell using smart speakers available like Google Home or Amazon Echo. It also has noise and echo cancellation feature, a smart alert, pre-recorded messages for visitors, and video history. Other amazing features include facial recognition, quiet time feature, motion detection, live video, quick responses among others. To get more out of it, you will require a Nest Aware subscription that starts at $5 per month.

Ring Video Doorbell Pro on the other side also has incredible features which involve, two-way audio, live video, night vision as well as alerts notification. It also works well with Alexa and has a customizable motion detection where the motion alerts are sent to your smartphone. Moreover, it has a neighborhood alert feature which can allow you to view incidents from other Ring users around.

In terms of specification, the Nest Hello is designed with a 3-megapixel color sensor camera with 8x digital zoom and a 160-degree diagonal field of view. It also takes 1600 x 1200 HDR video, HDR imaging, and has a speaker and microphone with active noise and echo cancellation. The Ring Pro on the other side has a 160-degree horizontal and 90-degree vertical field of view and infrared night vision. It takes video in 1080p resolution and also has a speaker and microphone with noise and echo cancellation.

Nest vs Ring: Smart Home Compatibility

The good thing with smart home products is the ability to link and integrate them with other smart home devices. This enables all your smart home devices to work well and perform various tasks at home in unison. This makes your home more than a smart home. For instance, you can have your front-porch light turn on when somebody approaches your doorstep at night.

Therefore, both Ring and Nest can work well with other smart home devices. These video doorbells will work well with Alexa if it is compatible with the Amazon Alexa device. The device, therefore, should be capable of displaying video like the Echo Show, Echo Spot, Fire TVs among others. This will enable you to view a live feed from both Nest and Ring doorbells.

The Ring is slightly more compatible with Amazon products while the Nest is slightly more compatible with Google products. The Nest is also able to work with devices on the Google Smart Home platform that makes it possible to have a fully automated Google Home device which can be controlled remotely.

Since both Ring and Nest have Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant support, the Google Assistant support will allow you to cast the video from either product to a Chromecast. The Nest Hello has an added advantage over the Ring with its additional feature of Google Home notifications.

Nest vs Ring: Quality of the Video

This is one of the most important concerns when purchasing a video doorbell. Good quality of the video will give you the best view of your surrounding and the person approaching your door. Therefore, it is worth noting that the video quality of your video doorbell is a very vital consideration.

Nest Hello Video Quality
Nest Hello Video Quality

The Nest Hello has a portrait resolution of 1600 x 1200 while that of Ring Pro is 1920 x 1080. Despite having a lower resolution, the Nest Hello is equipped with a camera that supports HDR thus displaying a sharper, clearer and better video quality than that of Ring Pro.

Both devices have a clear night vision as they turn on their IR lights which illuminate people who come at the doorstep. They also have a 160-degree field of view that provides a wider coverage range.

Nest vs Ring: Performance

To be able to fully utilize the video doorbells, you will need to have an active and stable internet connection at your home. This will ensure the proper working of the video doorbells. The Nest Hello is always connected to the Wi-Fi network, therefore, takes a very short time to respond. It may take approximately 10 seconds for you to be notified through your phone after the bell press.

The Ring Video Doorbell Pro, however, is slightly slower since it has to wake itself up first, connect to the Wi-Fi network and then notify your phone that someone is at the door. This is likely to take more time than expected. It can be worse if you don’t have a strong internet connection.

The Nest Hello uses a portrait video mode which allows you to easily use your phone the Ring on the other side uses a landscape video mode which is likely to be less convenient. Both doorbells provide immediate response with calls to individuals on both ends.

Nest vs Ring: Price

While choosing the best video doorbell to take home, the price of the device is one of the determining factors. Both Ring and Nest video doorbells are readily available in the retail stores such as Amazon, Monoprice, eBay among others.

The Nest Hello goes at approximately $200. Its subscription service starts at $5 per month or $50 per year. This will allow you to get five days of video history, intelligent alerts, activity zones and 24/7 continuous recording among others. The subscription also allows you to take full advantage of the smart alerts as well as face detection.

The Ring on the other side has three product options for the consumers. This involves the Ring Video Doorbell at approximately $100, the Ring Video Doorbell 2 at $200 and the Ring Video Doorbell Pro at approximately $250. Therefore, as we are comparing the Nest Hello to the Ring Video Doorbell Pro, it is evident that the Nest Hello is slightly cheaper than the Ring Video Doorbell Pro. It also offers subscription services which start at $3 per month or $30 per year.

Nest vs Ring: Conclusion

After the in-depth comparison of the two, you can now comfortably settle for the best type of video doorbell to take home. The Ring Video Doorbell Pro outshines the Nest Hello in terms of its ease of installation and the design. The installation process is simple and intuitive thereby giving you a good time installing the doorbell by yourself. Its design also allows you to have interchangeable plates that can fit your home design.

The Nest Hello, however, edges out the Ring pro in several ways. It is equipped with most astounding features like the smart alerts, facial recognition, Google Assistant support among others. It is also good in terms of video quality, performance, and smart home integration among others. Therefore, the Nest Hello has the best overall features, thus, the best option for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kevin Arrows


Kevin Arrows is a highly experienced and knowledgeable technology specialist with over a decade of industry experience. He holds a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certification and has a deep passion for staying up-to-date on the latest tech developments. Kevin has written extensively on a wide range of tech-related topics, showcasing his expertise and knowledge in areas such as software development, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. His contributions to the tech field have been widely recognized and respected by his peers, and he is highly regarded for his ability to explain complex technical concepts in a clear and concise manner.