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Unlock a new level of home security and convenience with Ring Protect! This optional subscription service from Ring, an Amazon-owned company, supercharges your Ring doorbells, cameras, and alarms with must-have features like extended video history, unlimited video downloads, and easy sharing with friends and family.
Whether you’re looking to deter potential burglars, keep an eye on loved ones, or simply have peace of mind, Ring Protect provides an extra layer of security and control. Imagine being able to review 60 days of video footage to identify suspicious activity, download important clips for safekeeping, or instantly share a funny moment captured on your Ring camera with a friend.
But is Ring Protect worth the cost? With plans ranging from $5 to $20 per month, the decision ultimately comes down to your individual needs and budget. Let’s delve deeper into what Ring Protect offers and help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
What is Ring Protect?
Ring Protect Plan is an optional subscription plan that will give you access to paid features for different Ring devices. That includes video doorbells, security cameras, and security alarms. With a Ring Protect Plan, you are able to save, review, and share video recordings from your Ring devices to your Ring account. Without a plan, you can still view real-time video for Ring Doorbells and cameras and answer doorbell notifications as they happen. But you won’t get video recordings of those events.
So, while Ring Protect is not needed, it is a beneficial subscription to have.
How much does Ring Protect cost?
You can get started with Ring Protect for just $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. That is for the Basic Plan, and it’s really only meant for those with a single camera or doorbell. So, if you’re just getting started with Ring, this is a good option.
Ring also has Plus and Pro plans available. Plus, it will cover all of your home security cameras and doorbells for $10/month or $100/year. At the same time, Pro does that and includes professional monitoring with the Ring Alarm for $20/month or $200/year.
For most people, Ring Protect Basic is going to be perfect. But if you use more than just a doorbell, you’ll have to upgrade to the “Plus” plan. It’s rather unfortunate that they don’t offer something in the middle for someone who has a doorbell and a camera; that’s around $5 or $6 per month. But that’s how it is.
What plans are available?
The Ring Protect plans are pretty self-explanatory, but in the table below, we’ll show you how the three stack up.
It’s worth mentioning that the Plus and Pro plans are only available in the US.
| Basic $4.99/month $49.99/year |
Plus $10/month $100/year |
Pro $20/month $200/year |
|
| Video History up to 180 days | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Video saving and sharing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Snapshot Capture | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Person Alerts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rich Notifications | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Persistent Visitor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Alexa Greetings | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 10% off Select products on Ring.com and Amazon.com | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Download up to 50 videos at once on Ring.com | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Extended Warranties for all Devices | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 24/7 Professional Monitoring | ✓ | ||
| Alarm Cellular Backup | ✓ | ||
| Alexa Guard Plus | ✓ | ||
| In-app SOS button for Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro | ✓ | ||
| Duress code for Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro | ✓ | ||
| 24/7 Backup Internet with Optional Data | ✓ | ||
| Digital Security by eero Secure | ✓ | ||
| Ring Edge with Local Video Storage | ✓ | ||
| Save up to $100 per year or more on your Home Insurance | ✓ |
Should I buy Ring Protect on a monthly or yearly plan?
Ring does offer the Protect plans in both monthly and yearly plans. As usual, the yearly plan is a bit cheaper. You’re basically paying for 10 months and getting two for free. So, the Plus plan equates to about $8.33 per month versus the $10 per month if you were to pay monthly. So that’s a good thing to keep in mind.
However, if you are unsure whether you want to keep the Ring Protect plan, going monthly at first might be a good option. But remember that you do get a free trial when you activate a new product. That free trial lasts about 30 days.
Is there a free trial?
Ring does offer a free trial for Protect. Whenever you register a new device, you will get a free 30-day trial, which starts immediately. You can’t choose to activate it later on; it starts the minute you activate the device.
The only exception here is if you are already a subscriber of Ring Protect at the same location as the new device.
The trial does allow you to use all of the Ring Protect features, including saving 10% on Ring.com and Amazon.com. The Amazon discount is valid in the US only, while Ring.com’s discount is valid in the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
If you bought a bundle from Costco, you may have a longer Ring Protect trial. The trial is the same, the only difference is the length may differ. You’ll need to check on the bundle you bought at Costco to get all of the details.
Can I cancel Ring Protect at any time?
Yes, you can cancel your Ring Protect plan at any time, though you will need to do it through the Ring website.
Whether you cancel on a yearly or monthly plan, you’ll get a refund. Unlike some other subscriptions, Ring Protect will cancel the day you cancel it. So you will get a prorated refund to the credit or debit card Ring has on file. That’s actually really nice to have in case you forgot to cancel Ring Protect and got charged for a yearly plan. You can get it all back, which is really awesome.
Is Ring Protect worth the price?
If you’re heavily invested in the Ring ecosystem, then it’s definitely worth it. If you have just one device, it may not be entirely worth it, even at $3.99 per month.
While it’s pretty annoying that Ring doesn’t let you download any recorded videos without paying for its subscription. At least it’s not super expensive. And you likely won’t need to download those videos all that often. So that’s a good thing.
If you own a Ring Video Doorbell 4, a Ring Spotlight Cam, and the Ring Alarm, then subscribing to the Pro plan would be a wise decision. This is because you will benefit from professional monitoring, which is a valuable service. Compared to competitors like SimpliSafe and ADT, who usually charge at least $20 per month for this service, Ring’s Pro plan offers a lot more than just monitoring.
So it’s worth it, but the ultimate decision comes down to you and how you use Ring products in your home.