It’s been a while, but if there was ever a time to talk about ditching the blue ring, it’s right now. Honestly, the honeymoon phase with Ring didn’t just end—it hit a wall during this year’s Super Bowl. What was supposed to be a “heartwarming” ad about using AI-powered cameras to find a lost puppy (the “Search Party” feature) actually ended up creepier than intended.
For a lot of people, seeing a neighborhood-wide surveillance net tracking a golden retriever felt like a one-step jump away from tracking them. Toss in the leaked internal emails about “zeroing out” crime, the constant subscription price hikes, and that messy (and now-cancelled) partnership with the license-plate-trackers at Flock Safety, and it’s easy to see why so many of us are over it. If you’re tired of “surveillance-as-a-service” and want your privacy back, it’s time to look at some better ways to keep an eye on your front porch.
My first recommendation is to move to a camera system with local storage and no subscriptions!
I documented my switch to Ubiquiti’s Unifi Protect product line back in October 2023. I’ve been quite happy with it and I have since upgraded to many of their newer cameras like the new G6 line.
The best part of this system is that I have about a month’s worth of footage from all the cameras that I can review at any given time.
Having a system that has local storage does NOT mean giving up remote viewing either. I can fire up the Unifi Protect app on my phone and see any of my cameras from anywhere in the world 24 hours a day. Again without any of it going to their cloud. The streams are happening from my NVR (Network Video Recorder) over the internet to my phone, iPad or web browser.
I realize that I went the prosumer route back then and it may be a bit overkill and expensive for the average consumer. Stay tuned, I’m definitely going to give you some low cost alternatives too. However, before we leave Unifi I should point out that they have since introduced a much lower cost of entry with their NEW Network Video Recorder Instant. This NVR has a lower price point and can work stand alone without having to use their networking equipment. You can buy it and build your own system by adding the cameras you want and a hard drive of your choice for the storage OR you can buy their Kit that includes the hard drive and 4 G5 Turret Ultra PoE cameras for $699. That’s a great deal for what you get.
Other Alternative Cameras
Next in line I would recommend Aqara and Reolink.
Aqara has been coming out with a lot of great new products such as their new G410 Doorbell and Camera Hub G5 Pro camera which comes in both a WiFi or PoE Version. These both have local storage via a memory card. So no need for an NVR.
Reolink would be the next step up fitting nicely between Unifi and Aqara. They have several different cameras to chose from both WiFi and PoE models and their own NVR and Camera Hub system. and a great doorbell too. While I don’t have any Aqara cameras, I did replace my last Ring floodlight camera with a Reolink Elite Floodlight WiFi model. Since Reolink cameras support the ONVIF standard I was able to add it right into my Unifi Protect system so that it records to my Unifi Protect NVR just like the rest of my cameras.
Why did I go Reolink? Like i said I only had one straggler Ring camera left in my backyard. It was a floodlight camera and unfortunately Ubiquiti does make one. So Reolink was the next best option.
The Bottom Line
There is absolutely no reason to stick with Ring cameras. There are PLENTY of great alternatives out there (Eufy being another good choice). In most cases the alternatives offer a subscription free camera or doorbell and with local storage options.
Lastly I mentioned PoE (power over ethernet) a few times. While WiFi cameras are the easiest to implement, they are also the easiest to defeat with a WiFi jammer. Even if that’s not likely to happen where you live, PoE cameras offer vastly superior performance and in most cases 24/7 recording instead the error prone Event Based Recording that most WiFi cameras have. When I relied on event based recording the camera would always miss the events I really cared about. This was the first reason I started moving away from Ring. Running Ethernet cables to everywhere you want to have a camera is not going to be easy and in some cases impossible for people that rent. However, if you have the option, PoE is the BEST way to go!