Why I switched from Ring (partly)
So this title is Why I swapped from Ring (Partly). Why “partly”? Because I never fully swapped away from Ring devices. Put simply, I have both a Ring Alarm and Ring Cameras.
So why did I swap? It mainly comes down to cost. To run multiple Ring devices it costs me £79.99 a year, and all I really get from that is 30 days of video history on the cameras. On the alarm system, you get cellular backup and automated phone calls if the alarm goes off.
To me, £79.99 a year for that isn’t worth it. So what am I replacing it with?
The alarm system is staying. I haven’t really found a replacement for it, and I get virtually the same functionality without paying the subscription.
For the cameras, I will be switching to Tapo C310P2 2K cameras, along with two microSD cards. At the time of writing, that’s about £90. While that is more than a year of Ring subscription, you have to consider that next year with Ring I’d be paying another £79.99. So when you look at ongoing costs, after the first year it has basically paid for itself.
What would I lose by moving away from Ring? One thing is having everything in one app, but it’s more about convenience than necessity. I am keeping the alarm, but without the subscription. With the alarm I’d lose cellular backup and “monitoring”, which in the UK isn’t really monitored anyway—you just get an automated phone call if the alarm goes off. In the US it’s slightly different, as it can also contact the police, but that isn’t really allowed in the UK with automatic systems.
For the cameras, one of the main downsides—but something you can pay extra for with Tapo—is losing cloud storage. With Tapo, this is optional, as it saves everything to a microSD card instead. This also has the benefit of still recording even if the internet goes down (as long as it still has power), something Ring cameras don’t do. If you lose internet with Ring, you lose access to recordings.
Another reason I want to move away from Ring cameras is that while cloud storage means you can still access footage if a camera is stolen, my cameras will be installed just below the guttering on the roof, so anyone stealing them would have to be very determined.
In conclusion, this post isn’t really about whether you should or shouldn’t ditch Ring completely. It’s more a breakdown of the pros and cons of Ring compared to other options. Don’t get me wrong, I do like the Ring Alarm—it’s a good safety net—but it comes at a cost, and adding cameras increases that subscription further. Yes, you can run the cameras without a subscription, but then you lose access to recorded footage, leaving you with live view only, which isn’t very useful for cameras.
The Tapo solution also has downsides, but it has positives too. It’s a well-known brand (Tapo is TP-Link), it records locally, and you can still add cloud storage if you want it.
