So you want to protect your home, but you can’t decide what video doorbell to purchase: SimpliSafe, Ring, or Nest? Among the very many doorbells options, these are some of the best choices for home security and doorbell services. You may have heard of Rind or Nest before, but there is another candidate for your home doorbell services: SimpliSafe.
Is the SimpliSafe Video Doorbell a real competitor for Ring and Nest? SimpliSafe is a reliable doorbell similar to Ring and Nest doorbells, making it a competitor. SimpliSafe provides doorbell service but has fewer features, and is more expensive than Ring. If you like a simpler security doorbell, then the SimpliSafe doorbell may be right for you.
SimpliSafe provides great service, but is the price worth it? There are several different pros and cons to each of the different brands that we will discuss further.
SimpliSafe Review
First, to start off we will look into reviewing what the SimpliSafe product is, it’s background and such to see how it compares to Ring and Nest.
SimpliSafe provides a similar doorbell product to the other two brands. SimpliSafe Video Doorbell is created from the home security company, SimpliSafe, to ensure you are safe and secure.
The doorbell compares to Ring and Nest because they both are doorbells that you can attach to your front door and allows you to see outside your home.
The SimpliSafe product allows you to see who knocks on the door and also detects motion. Its camera uses technology to sense the heat of living things. It will let you know who is there because it senses this heat, whether it be a person or an animal that is close to the house.
The reason for this is because they use a PIR motion sensor that detects people. When it does detect people, it can signal the camera to start recording.
There are different levels that you can change it from: low, medium, or high for sensing motion. For some people, this is helpful because it typically doesn’t pick up on cars passing by or birds flying past.
The SimpliSafe also can record your conversation with another person. This is made possible through a walkie-talkie-like system. On your app, you can hold down a button that allows you to speak and then when you stop talking, you can hear the other person’s response.
Now it can record your conversation, but only what is said on the outside of the door and not what you are saying on your end.
This is a great service because you are able to talk through your app to communicate with whoever is at the door. The downside though could be if you’re talking, one person can speak at a time so you could potentially mention what they say.
There could also be a lag where there are a few seconds before what they say goes through. This could provide for some problems for miscommunication which could potentially allow for other competitors outperform SimpliSafe.
A lot of what the SimpliSafe video doorbell can do can also be limited by the package that you purchase. Some of them will get you more features if you get the camera with the security package as well.
SimplySafe Packages
There are different packages available on SimpliSafe’s website that can include different home security options. They don’t show on there that they include the doorbell with the packages, but you can certainly purchase the doorbell with one of these security systems.
That’s the nice part about the Simply Safe company is that it has been around for a while and is a system that can be trusted. Also, the doorbell does not need a contract, but it can be helpful to get it because you get more perks if you pay the monthly fee.
That’s something that’s nice with the SimpliSafe product is that it is made specifically for keeping you safe in your home. With your video camera, you can also purchase an in-home security system that provides more safety and in-home cameras.
Reviews from People on SimpliSafe Products
As far as comparing SimpliSafe with the two other brands of doorbells, this doorbell offers similar services just like the Nest or Ring doorbells. The reason why this can be a competitive edge is that it offers all the needed essentials to make for a great protective doorbell. All three of them provide services such as a doorbell to see and hear who is at your door.
Some people have tested out SimpliSafe and find that
SimpliSafe Pros
- A Contract is not needed
- Good quality camera to capture picture outside of the front door
- Night Vision
- Works with a large variety of doorbells
- Works with voltage from 8v to 24v
SimpliSafe Cons
- Doesn’t work with Google or Alexa
Before going into how SimpliSafe compares with the other brands, here is the name of the product, and the products it competes with:
SimpliSafe’s product: Video Doorbell Pro
Nest’s product: Nest Hello
Ring’s product: Ring DoorBell pro and Ring Wi-Fi Enabled Doorbell. The Ring Wi-Fi Enabled Doorbell is a bestseller on Amazon.
The Ring DoorBell pro is Amazon’s choice of product.
Ring vs. SimpliSafe
Ring video doorbell is similar to the SimpliSafe one because it is a doorbell that lets you see out your front door, let you communicate with the person, and record what happens outside as well.
Let’s go through some of the simliarites between the two:
- No contract is needed for either SimpliSafe or Ring
- Both connect to your device so you can monitor your front door
- Offer indoor and outdoor cameras
- Both allow you to install it yourself
- Monitoring 24/7
What Ring offers that SimpliSafe doesn’t:
Ring doorbell is quite a bit cheaper than SimpliSafe doorbell. For instance, pricing begins at $3 a month for Ring while SimpliSafe starts at $14.99 a month. There are also some upfront costs that you must pay for which starts at about $99.99 for Ring while it is $229.96 for SimpliSafe.
Ring offers a great price for a basic plan if you choose a plan. It’s only $3 a month for a basic plan can record 60 days for you.
SimpliSafe does offer a 60-day money back guarantee while Ring offers only a 30 day one.
The doorbells both have great services and both companies also provide great packages to ensure even more security.
Both of the products come with a package that includes a base unit, keypad, a door or window sensor, and a motion sensor if you are looking to purchase a package. A nice part about SimpliSafe’s package is that it include 2 of each type of these sensors.
A cool feature that Ring has is that it will send out a neighborhood alert and you can see other events that happened from other Ring users near you. The great part about this? It doesn’t require a plan to use this.
The technology usage also seems to work better for Ring. Although SimpliSafe provides the same sort of service, the quality for speed of notifications seems to be higher with Ring.
There is also night vision with the Ring product that allows you to see when it’s pitch black outside. There are sensors with the product so even if there’s not enough light, you can still be protected or know what is going on.
Ring is also a popular choice because the motion detection services with the doorbell work quite well. It will begin recording when there is motion detected.
However, do not worry because it will not keep video footage where there is no motion so that it saves you on storage. No need to worry about deleting tons of video– it does it itself.
Ring Doorbell Pros
- Low costs starting at $3 a month and upfront cost of $99.99
- High Speed
- Alerts from other neighbors
- Records on the cloud
- Night Vision
- 1080p HD recording capability, so great image quality
Ring Doorbell Cons
- Limited in functions compared to Nest
- Basically can just do live streaming and two-way talk
Nest vs. SimpliSafe
Although Ring is cheaper than SimpliSafe, Nest seems to be around the same price as SimpliSafe. Nest starts at $19.99 a month while SimpliSafe is at $14.99 a month. For the upfront costs, Nest starts at $399.99 while SimpliSafe $229.96.
So what makes Nest more expensive? Let’s first look at the similarities between the two:
- 24/7 monitoring
- Also has indoor video available
- Both can be installed yourself
It’s also important to remember the quality of the product. It is more expensive because of the quality and services it provides. Several people claim that Nest Hello doorbell camera has a clearer, sharper picture than Ring.
Another unique quality about Nest not only it’s a fantastic camera, but also its capability to recognize who is at your door. It can remember people whether it be friends or family members and notify you which person is at the door.
Not only this, but Nest also allows you to make pre-recorded messages, make time lapses, and download the video clips from the day. This does require the Nest Aware subscription for at least $5 a month but it provides unique quirks that neither of the other two offer. This is called quick responses.
Along with quick responses, there is also HD talk where the app will let you talk to a person outside of your home without them even coming up to the door! You can talk to them at your front lawn if you see them standing outside through your app.
There are also features that help get rid of car noises so that you have the best quality of noise while talking through the doorbell.
It’s easy to see why Nest can be more expensive than the other two because of the advanced features it provides.
When it comes time for you to choose that product, you will have to decide what is important to you whether it be price over quality or more features over quality and price.
The only thing though with all of these products is that they all over so many pros and great quality that you can’t go wrong with any of the options.
Nest Pros
- Great view with 160-degree camera
- App works well with several functions (more than the Ring app)
- 24/7 Video Streaming
- Push Notifications
- HD Talk
- Can send Quick Responses (Like Voicemail)
- Face recognition
- Connects with Google to notify you on your Google Home
- Allows you to disable indoor chimes during certain times
Nest Cons
- Can cost you $30 a month for the monthly subscription and is more expensive than the other products (It is required to access several features)
What Nest and Ring Offer that SimpliSafe Doesn’t
Both the Nest and Ring brands connect with other devices to bring you even more options. They both work with Alexa and Google Assistant while they don’t work with SimpliSafe.
For instance, you can ask Alexa or Google what is going on the camera. This is where Nest Hello can tell you about face recognition if they see anyone. Also with Alexa or Fire TV, you can watch it live on a television or from your bedroom.
Nest also works well the Chrome cast-enabled TVs for viewing the live feed. The reason why Nest works great with all of these devices is that it isn’t owned by Amazon.
Ring, however, provides some great service with their pricing and recordings. Earlier we talked about how if you choose a plan with Nest, it will be $3 a month and you can have 60 days of video recorded saved. This outweighs Nest.
Nest’s basic plan is about $5 a month and only keeps a record of five days of recordings. Compared to Nest, Ring has a better option because it ends up being only $30 a month with a greater backlog of video storage.
How SimpliSafe Reviews Compare to Nest and Ring Reviews
A website with a comparison of the different products offers more insight into what people really thought about each doorbell product.
On the website, it goes through a list of different ratings that experts rated based on testing each category. The categories include different elements of the doorbell services such as customer service, value, equipment, camera options, app ratings for both iOS and Android, and more.
The ratings are on a scale point from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. As as a summary of the ratings, here are how the three compare to each other.
Best Customer Service Rating: Nest
Customer service ratings for SimpliSafe was 7.9, 8.0 for Ring, and Nest received 8.2 so it goes to show that Nest has the best customer service. However, the scores are relatively close to each other so really whichever choice you choose, you can expect similar results.
There was a complaint that the SimpliSafe customer service was difficult to reach because there was a fake number that they had called instead. The number acted like SimpliSafe but in reality, was not. Be careful to call the correct number to receive the best service.
Best Overall Value of the Product: Ring
As far as the value of the overall product, SimpliSafe received a 9.2, Ring 9.3, and Nest with an 8.5. The winner for overall then is Ring, just barely above SimpliSafe with a 9.2.
Again, all three of the products are up there at the same level. It goes to show that SimpliSafe is a real competitor for the other two because it scored very high on the value aspect.
Ring seems to be the favorite with the overall value because it provide the simple service the doorbell is required for. It is reliable and as you continue to read on you will see how it gets most of the high scores in all of the areas.
Ring product is also a very popular item on Amazon, as it is created from and works with Amazon closely.
Although this can be surprising because compared with Nest, Ring does not have as many features. For example, Nest can do 24/7 video streaming, has a wide 160 view, HD talk, and allows you to send quick responses when you can’t come to the door.
It seems to be for a simple choice and for a good qulaity choice that Ring stands as a solid option.
Best Features and Technology: Ring
The scores for each brand’s features and technology
Although SimpliSafe’s ratings are below both of the other two, doesn’t mean it is below the others. It shows that it is right there in competition with the other ones. All three offer great technology benefits with competitive cameras that synch up with your app to give you the best protection.
Best App Rating for iOS and Android: Nest and Android
The ratings for the app will come in two different parts, one for iOS in the first one and Android in the second. SimpliSafe received a 2.6/5 for iOS and 3.3/5 for Android. Ring received a 3.3/5 for iOS and 3.3/5 for Android. Nest received a 3.2/5 for iOS and 3.8/5 for Android.
Overall, Ring has the best app rating for iOS and Nest has the best for the Android. SimpliSafe ranks there right with them at a 3.3 on Android but lacks some on the iOS with only a 2.6 rating.
Overal Easiest to Use: Ring
For a rating of how easy the technology is to use, it came close with SimpliSafe at 9.3, Ring at 9.5, and Nest at 8.6. SimpliSafe is definitely a competitor with Ring with its easiness to use. Although it’s lacking in the app area, it seems to be really easy for customers to use.
Best Equipment: Ring
SimpliSafe scored an 8.1 for equipment, Ring at 10.0, and Nest at 7.6. It seems to be that SimpliSafe is right there in between both Ring and Nest. but the Ring doorbell out beats everyone with a perfect score of 10.
The good part of all three of these options is that the equipment is available for self-installation. There are resources to help you install the product like professionals with each company, but all three provide you with equipment that makes it easy to install.
With the three, no option a is a bad one, but there are some that are certainly better than the other.
Overal Lowest Price: Ring
If you are looking for a product but don’t have much for your budget, the brand you should look at is Ring starting at only $3 a month and an upfront cost of $99.99.
While SimpliSafe is next with prices starting at $14.99 a month and the upfront costs at $229.96. Then there’s the most expensive one which is Nest starting at $19.99 a month with upfront costs of $399.99.
Although Ring is the cheapest, it doesn’t offer the same features that the other two offer. If you are deciding between which is the best based of features, you will want to check out the other two because their prices fit well for the price they are selling at.
Overall, all of them are at great prices for the product they are selling.
How All the Products Compare to Each Other
When you take a moment to step back and examine all of the products, it’s easy to see that they all have the qualities needed to make a good video doorbell.
All of them provide good video and the capability to view your front porch from your app on your mobile device. All of the products have the means to make a good security system.
Nest is great if you want different qualities or features that are more advanced. Ring is great if you want a solid and less expensive option. RiSimpliSafe is a great option too if you are looking for a good system that works well with a security system.
Different Designs
The Nest hello is a smaller doorbell at 1.7 inches wide and 4.6 inches tall. It connects to chimes and is compatible with most doorbells.
The Ring doorbell is a little bigger, with a box style. It is 1.8 inches wide, 4.5 inches tall and also connects well with most doorbells.
The SimpliSafe doorbell looks similar to the Nest hello doorbell with its small, round look versus the wider look of a Ring doorbell. It is 2.91 inches wide and 6.65 inches tall. It also works well with most doorbells.
If you like the Nest hello style, then you will like the SimpliSafe style because they look very similar. If your choice is dependent on style, then really there are just two basic options because two of them look very much alike.
All of the styles work great for connecting to any doorbell and are the right size for a camera to watch the front of the home and the doorstep.
Is SimpliSafe a Good Purchase?
After looking at everything SimpliSafe offers compared to the other doorbells, it’s clear to see that SimpliSafe isn’t a bad option and is definitely a competitor for the other two.
It offers the same basic needs for protecting your front porch with a great video doorbell. It alerts you if anyone is in front of your house and allows you to speak to them through your app.
Although the other brands may have scored higher than SimpliSafe, SimpliSafe was never far behind. It is a new product recently made from a trusted company which gives it the credibility it needs.
If SimpliSafe is a good purchase depends upon what you are looking for, what design, your budget, and what you personally feel would be a good fit for your home. If you are in need of a security system as a whole, SimpliSafe can be a great choice because they are a trusted company.
If you are looking for a cheaper option, then perhaps Ring is a better option as a stand along doorbell.
If you are looking for the best overall customer service help, then perhaps you should choose Nest.
There isn’t a wrong choice when it comes to all three of the video doorbells. Simplisafe is definitely a fair competitor with the two, with all its rankings right up there with both of the doorbells.
It really just depends on what you are looking for, so take SimpliSafe into consideration as you go forward with deciding what camera doorbell you would like to purchase.
Related Questions:
When was the SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Release date? The SimpliSafe home security system company came out with their doorbell on October 16, 2018, with the latest home security device to protect the home more from the outside.
Can SimpliSafe doorbell be hacked? There have been some complaints about being hacked or not getting the right hardware but the company addressed the concerns. They are continuing to improve so there are less of these problems.
Does SimpliSafe work with Nest doorbell? Simplisafe can help the Nest thermostat to adjust the temperature in your house to lower the energy your home uses while you are away. The SimpliSafe security system can work well with Nest for saving you energy in the home.