If you own a Ring video doorbell or security equipment, the cost of checking in on your property is about to skyrocket. From March 11 — less than one week from now — the Amazon-owned firm will increase the cost of its Protect Basic plan by 42% for an annual subscription.
Protect Basic isn't strictly necessary to use a Ring-branded product, but it does unlock several critical features, like the ability to back up footage from your doorbell to the cloud so you can review past alerts. You’ll also need the subscription to get Package Alerts — an AI-powered feature that lets you know when a parcel has been left on your doorstep, the ability to share clips, and rich notifications that include a preview of the video clip so you can see whether it’s a false alarm at a glance.
If you pay the subscription monthly, you’ll see the cost increase from £3.49 to £4.99 per month. For comparison, that’s the same price as the ad-supported plans for Disney+ and Netflix.
Rich notifications, which show a small preview from a frame in the footage, are only available to those who subscribe to Ring's Protect Basic plan
RING PRESS OFFICE
Annual plans will increase by £15 — a 42.8% increase — from £34.99 to £49.99 for the 12 months. This is the second price rise for Ring Protect Basic in recent memory, with annual plans costing as little as £24.99 (a little over £2 per month) over 18 months ago.
The Amazon-owned home security company’s most expensive Ring Protect Plus plan, which unlocks the same features for multiple doorbells and cameras, will remain unchanged from its £8 per month / £80 per year pricing.
If you decide to cancel your subscription before the incoming price rise, beware that you’ll no longer be able to keep, review, or share recordings from your Ring devices. Any existing recorded videos in the cloud will be permanently deleted when your renewal date passes.
Ring does let you save videos to the storage on your iPhone, iPad or Android device. You’ll need to do this before you hit the “Cancel” button.
But if you want to continue using all of the features you’ve come to expect from Ring doorbells and security cameras, consumer champion Martin Lewis — founder of the Money Saving Expert website — has shared a clever tip to lower your costs.
He posted on X, formerly Twitter, a workaround to keep your current subscription price for a little longer. His tweet reads: “Beat the Ring doorbell 43% March price hike. I know many are annoyed, so there's a possible work around (still double-checking but thought I'd get it out).
- Cancel now get a pro-rata refund (you may lose saved files tho)
- Sign up again at the current price which then locks it in for the next year.”
Yes, Ring will honour your current subscription price until it’s time to renew in one years time. So, like an ageing Millennial trying to lock-in one more year of a 26-30 Railcard, you can sign-up for a one-year plan with Ring Protect Basic on the eve of the price rise.
Beat the Ring doorbell 43% March price hike. I know many are annoyed, so there's a possible work around (still double-checking but thought I'd get it out).
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) February 9, 2024
- Cancel now get a pro-rata refund (you may lose saved files tho)
- Sign up again at the current price which then locks it…
As Martin Lewis notes, if you’re already subscribed, you’ll need to cancel your current subscription now, then take out a new annual subscription at £34.99. This will unlock all of the features for the next 12 months — saving you £15. You might need to sign-up with a new email for this to work.
Ring popularised the category of video doorbells, which let you check who has pressed the bell from a smartphone, smartwatch, tablet, or smart home screen, like Amazon’s Echo Show range, from anywhere on the planet. Using the two-way talk function it’s possible to leave instructions for a specific package or family member. If something suspicious is being captured by your camera, Ring lets you contact a local police department directly from within its smartphone app.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Ring started in 2013, with most people's first exposure to the product when it appeared as a pitch on the American version of Dragon's Den, known as Shark Tank, under the brand name Doorbot. The company declined to partner with the investors on the show, preferring to raise money via a crowd-funding website to kickstart the business.
The US security company was acquired by Amazon in early 2018 for an estimated $839 million.
Amazon also owns and operates another range of video doorbells under the brand name Blink. These are substantially cheaper than their Ring equivalent. Although many of the features reserved for the Ring Protect Basic plan are also locked behind a monthly subscription fee for Blink customers, this currently only costs £2.50 per month — half the cost of Ring's plan.
