The Ring Video Doorbell range now splits cleanly into two flagship battery models for UK buyers, and the gap between them is wider than the £70 price difference suggests. The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) sits at £219.99 with a “Retinal 4K” sensor, while the Battery Video Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen) holds the value slot at £149.99 with a square “Retinal 2K” view. Both run on the same removable battery, the same Ring app and the same subscription, so the choice comes down to how much resolution and head-to-toe framing you actually need at your front door.
We have lined the two up round by round below, named a winner in each, and put both against the Google Nest Doorbell and the Eufy Video Doorbell E340 so you can see where Ring leads and where it lags. If you are still building out the rest of the house, our guide to the Matter 1.4 smart home in the UK explains why none of these doorbells is Matter-certified yet, and why that matters for 2026.
Ring Video Doorbell Pro vs Plus at a glance
Before the detail, here is the quick specification table UK buyers ask for first. We have added the Google Nest Doorbell (battery) and the Eufy Video Doorbell E340 as the two alternatives most cross-shopped against Ring, with current UK list prices and the storage model that actually decides your running cost.
| Model | Resolution | Field of view | Power | Storage | UK price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Battery Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) | Retinal 4K | Tall head-to-toe | Removable battery | Cloud-only (Ring Protect) | £219.99 |
| Ring Battery Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen) | Retinal 2K (1536×1536) | Square head-to-toe | Removable battery | Cloud-only (Ring Protect) | £149.99 |
| Google Nest Doorbell (battery) | 960×1280 (3:4) | Tall | Battery or wired | Cloud-only (Google Home Premium) | £179.99 |
| Eufy Video Doorbell E340 | Dual-camera 2K | Front plus package view | Battery or wired | Local 8GB, no monthly fee | £169.99 |
The headline split is clear. Ring asks £70 more for the Pro and gives you a sharper sensor in return, but both Ring models keep you inside a cloud-only subscription, where Eufy alone offers free local storage. Keep that running cost in mind as we go round by round.
Picture quality: how sharp the faces look
Ring markets the Pro as “Retinal 4K” and the Plus as “Retinal 2K”, and the difference is real when you crop into a clip. The Plus captures a 1536×1536 square image, which is plenty to recognise a regular delivery driver but starts to soften when you pinch-zoom on a number plate at the kerb or a face at the bottom of a long path. The Pro’s higher pixel count holds together far better under that same digital zoom, which is the single biggest reason to spend the extra £70.
Low light is closer than the spec sheet implies. Both models use colour night vision and both lean on Ring’s processing rather than a brighter lens, so after dark the Pro’s resolution advantage shrinks. In daylight, though, the Pro is the doorbell you want if you ever expect to hand a clip to the police, where detail beats framing. We score the Pro the clear winner here.
Winner: Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen). The 4K sensor is the upgrade you will notice every time you zoom in.
Field of view: how much each camera sees
Both 2nd Gen Ring doorbells use a tall aspect ratio so you see a caller from head to toe, plus any parcel left on the step. That head-to-toe framing is the genuine generational upgrade over older wide-but-short Ring doorbells, and both the Pro and the Plus share it. In day-to-day use you will not feel cheated by the Plus on framing alone.
Where the Pro pulls ahead is what it does with that view. Its 3D Motion Detection with radar draws an overhead path of how a person moved across your garden, and Bird’s Eye Zones let you set alert areas on an aerial map of your property rather than a flat rectangle. The Plus keeps standard motion zones. If your front garden is deep or you get a lot of pass-by foot traffic, the Pro’s mapping cuts the nuisance alerts. For a simple terraced doorstep, the Plus sees everything you need.
Winner: Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) on smart detection, with the framing itself a genuine draw.
Battery, fitting and daily living
This is the round that swings buyers back toward the Plus. Both models ship with the same removable, rechargeable battery pack, so you pop it out, charge it over USB-C and slot it back rather than taking the whole unit off the wall. The catch is that the Pro’s radar and 4K sensor draw more power, so on a busy doorstep the Pro needs charging more often than the Plus. If you would rather not be on a ladder every few weeks, the Plus is the quieter life.
Fitting is identical and genuinely a two-step job: mount the bracket, clip the doorbell on. Ring’s own walkthrough below shows the Pro going up, and the Plus is the same process. Both can also be hardwired to existing doorbell wiring if you have it, which keeps the battery topped up. If you are wiring other kit at the same time, our look at the tado Smart Thermostat X in the UK covers the same fit-it-yourself confidence for heating controls.
Winner: Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen) for longer gaps between charges.
The subscription: what Ring Protect really costs
Here is the part Ring buries in the small print, and it applies equally to both doorbells. Without a subscription, a Ring doorbell shows you a live view and rings your phone, but it will not save your video clips. To get recorded history, Smart Alerts and the features that make the doorbell worth owning, you pay for Ring Protect (renamed from Ring Home). The plans are Solo at £4.99 a month for one device, Multi at £7.99 a month for every device at one address, and Pro at £15.99 a month for the longest history and extra features.
Multi at £7.99 a month is £95.88 a year, which over three years adds nearly £290 to whichever doorbell you bought. That ongoing cost is identical for the Pro and the Plus, so it does not separate them, but it is the number that should decide whether you buy into Ring at all. This is exactly where the Eufy E340 makes its case, because its 8GB of local storage records clips with no monthly fee. We cover that in the alternatives round.
Winner: draw. Both Ring models carry the same subscription, so neither wins, but both lose to Eufy on running cost.
Alexa, Google and ecosystem fit
Ring is owned by Amazon, so both doorbells are Alexa-first. Announce a caller on every Echo in the house, see the live feed on an Echo Show or a Fire TV, and answer the door from the kitchen without touching your phone, the same Alexa hooks we covered in our look at Amazon Alexa and AI podcast episodes. That tight Alexa link is the strongest reason to pick Ring if you already own Echo devices, and it is identical on the Pro and the Plus.
The weakness is everything outside Amazon. Neither Ring doorbell works with Google Home or Apple Home, and neither is Matter-certified, even though the new Matter 1.5 camera and doorbell support arrived in June 2026. If you run a Google or Apple household, that lock-in is a real cost, and our guide to the best Matter smart home hub in the UK for 2026 explains how to plan around it. For finding the rest of your kit, Google Find Hub in the UK is a useful companion on the Android side.
Winner: draw between the two Ring models; both are brilliant inside Alexa and closed off everywhere else.
Privacy, cloud storage and your rights
Both Ring doorbells store footage in the cloud rather than on a card at home, which is the trade-off you accept when you buy into the ecosystem. That cloud-only model means your clips sit on Amazon’s servers, accessible through the app, and it is why the subscription is effectively mandatory. UK buyers should know that pointing any video doorbell at a shared path or a neighbour’s property brings it under data-protection rules, and the Information Commissioner’s Office has published clear guidance on what home users must do to stay within the law.
If cloud-only storage is a dealbreaker, this is the round Ring loses to the Eufy E340 and its on-device recording. Between the two Ring models, the privacy posture is identical, so neither wins, but it is worth a hard think before committing to a doorbell that keeps nothing locally.
Winner: draw between the Ring pair; both are cloud-only, both lose this round to local-storage rivals.
How the Nest Doorbell and Eufy E340 change the maths
Neither Ring doorbell exists in a vacuum, so here is where the two big alternatives land for a UK buyer. The Google Nest Doorbell (battery) costs £179.99 and is the obvious pick if your home runs on Google. It puts the feed on Nest Hub displays and Google TV, ties into Google Home, and gives you a few days of event history for free before you reach Nest Aware, now folded into Google Home Premium. It is cloud-only like Ring, so the running-cost story is similar, but the integration is for the other camp.
The Eufy Video Doorbell E340 is the one that undercuts Ring on the part that actually costs you money over time. At £169.99 it ships with a dual-camera design, so you get a front view plus a dedicated downward package camera, 2K resolution, and 8GB of local storage that records clips with no monthly fee. It works with both Alexa and Google Assistant, which neither Ring nor Nest can claim. If you resent subscriptions, the E340 is the doorbell to shortlist, and it is why we keep flagging the Ring Protect cost. None of these four is Matter-certified yet, even with Matter 1.5 adding doorbell support in June 2026.
Winner of the alternatives: Eufy Video Doorbell E340 on running cost; the Nest Doorbell wins only if your home is already Google.
Where to buy in the UK and what to check before you pay
Both Ring doorbells are widely stocked in the UK, and the price rarely strays from Ring’s own list, so buy from whichever retailer gives you the easiest returns. Prices last checked: 2026-06-13.
- Ring UK store and Amazon UK: Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) £219.99, Battery Video Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen) £149.99. Fastest route to the latest stock and the simplest warranty claim.
- Currys: both models stocked with click-and-collect from most stores; useful if you want to pick up the same day.
- Argos: typically lists both at the same RRP with fast collection from a local store or Sainsbury’s.
- Screwfix: handy if you are buying alongside mounting hardware or a chime and want trade-counter collection.
Before you pay, run these smart-home checks. Confirm the unit is sold and shipped for the UK so the app region and plug match. Check the manufacturer warranty, normally one year, and remember your Consumer Rights Act protection sits on top of it. Budget for the Ring Protect subscription, because without it the doorbell will not save clips. Decide now whether you will run it on battery or hardwire it. And keep the box and packaging until you are sure, because returns for a doorbell you have screwed to the wall are far easier inside the 14-day distance-selling window if you bought online.
Our verdict: which model wins for most homes
Our view is that most UK buyers should buy the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen) and bank the £70. It already gives you the head-to-toe framing, the colour night vision, the Alexa integration and the removable battery that define the current Ring generation. The square 2K image is sharp enough to recognise everyone who comes to a normal doorstep, and the longer gaps between charges make it the easier doorbell to live with.
Spend up to the Pro only if you have a specific reason: a deep front garden where the radar mapping and Bird’s Eye Zones cut nuisance alerts, or a need to zoom into faces and number plates where 4K detail genuinely helps. If running cost is your priority over ecosystem, neither Ring is the answer and the Eufy E340 with its free local storage should be on your list instead. What would flip our recommendation is a Ring Protect price rise or a Matter update that finally opens these doorbells beyond Alexa.
| What we like | What we would watch |
|---|---|
| Head-to-toe framing on both 2nd Gen models | Cloud-only storage with a near-mandatory subscription |
| Removable battery you charge without unmounting | Alexa-only; no Google, Apple or Matter support |
| Tight Alexa, Echo Show and Fire TV integration | Pro’s 4K and radar drain the battery faster |
Our score: 8/10 (Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen)). Our score: 9/10 (Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen)). The Plus edges it on value for the typical UK home. Full specs and pricing are on the official Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro page and the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Plus page.
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