SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro Review

SimpliSafe's Video Doorbell Pro is a lower cost alternative to pricier doorbell cameras, but you'll notice the difference in quality and available features.

Plan	Price	Video verification	Timeline access	Video recording	Smart home integration
Interactive Monitoring	$27.99/mo.	Yes	Unlimited	Up to 10 cameras	Yes
Standard Monitoring	$17.99/mo.	No	7 days	No	No
Self Monitoring w/ Camera Recording	$9.99/mo.	No	Unlimited	Up to 5 cameras	Yes

Info current as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

At $169, the SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro has a lower price tag than the average doorbell camera (around $200), but it doesn't come with as many features as more expensive devices. It's a good option if you already have a SimpliSafe home security system, but the SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro has too many hiccups for us to put it at the top of our list for video doorbells overall.

The SimpliSafe app lets you monitor your doorbell for free, but for video recordings, you'll need a cloud storage plan.

SimpliSafe also offers professional monitoring for its security system customers, and with the Interactive Monitoring Plan, you can monitor your SimpliSafe Video Doorbell camera with the security system.

SimpliSafe deals

🔥SimpliSafe is offering 30% off + a free indoor camera.

Info current as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

Pros	Cons
User-friendly app Human motion detection Affordable cloud storage Compatibility with most wiring	Audio delays So-so night vision Limited features

SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro versus the competition

Doorbell	Price*	Field of view	Cloud storage	Multi-camera cloud storage	Learn more	Read review
SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro	$169.00	162º	30 days for $4.99/mo.	Starts at $9.99/mo.	View Packages	Read review
Nest Doorbell (Battery)	$179.99	145º	30 days for $6.00/mo.	Starts at $6.00/mo.	View Packages	Read review
Ring Video Doorbell 4	$219.99	160º	60 days for $3.00/mo.	Starts at $10.00/mo.	View Packages	Read review

*Amazon.com price as of post date. Read full disclaimer.

The SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro is less expensive than both Nest Doorbell (Battery) and Ring Doorbell 4, but it lacks the smart home integration of the other two—it will connect only with your SimpliSafe security system.

Nest and Ring video doorbells' higher price tags also include tech-like facial recognition and motion zone settings that SimpliSafe lacks.

When it comes to cloud storage, SimpliSafe has a pretty good deal, but Nest's plan is the best of the three. It includes 30 days of storage for unlimited cameras (not a single camera like base plans with Ring Protect and SimpliSafe). You can also upgrade to continuous video recording if you have the Nest Doorbell (Wired)—while both SimpliSafe's and Ring's cloud storage video recording plans are for doorbell and motion events only.

SimpliSafe doorbell tech and equipment

The SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro has a 1080p resolution, making it sharper than the 720p of SimpliSafe's SimpliCam. It has a 162-degree field of view, pushing it just over Nest Doorbell's 160-degree coverage, although you probably won't notice the 2-degree difference.

The SimpliSafe's doorbell wiring goes through your existing doorbell, so it can use your existing chimes and their power source. If you don't have existing doorbell wiring, you'll need to call an electrician or pick a wireless doorbell camera. The camera part of the device works with a battery that can be removed and recharged with a USB power cable.

Connectivity and video quality

I was able to access my live video feed from the SimpliSafe Video Doorbell on the first try about 75% of the time. The other 25% of the time I got "Unable to load video" messages that invited me to try again.

Usually after one or two tries, I could connect to the live feed. I noticed these same results both when I was at home and when I was away. When I was connected to the live feed, the audio would frequently cut out, which indicated that there were some connection hiccups.

The video quality was mostly clear, but when there was a lot of movement on the screen, it would get pixelated and the movement would look jerky. There was also often a delay of up to five seconds between what was really happening and what I was viewing on my screen. I just didn’t feel like I could quite trust the doorbell camera to show me what's happening in real time.

Motion detection

The motion sensor on the front of the security camera will send a notification to your phone if someone is approaching your door. You can crank up the motion sensor's sensitivity to high if you want an earlier warning, or if you're getting too many alerts, you can lower the sensitivity or turn off motion notifications altogether.

We kept the sensitivity on medium and, like Goldilocks's porridge, it was just right. We liked that we only got a handful of false alarms from things like cars, squirrels, or waving flags.

Doorbell ring notifications

The SimpliSafe app alerts you when someone pushes the doorbell button. Because you hook the doorbell into your original chime, your doorbell chime inside your home will ring as well, but it turned our existing chime from a two-toned "ding-dong" to just a single "ding."

Two-way audio

The greatest benefit of the best smart doorbells is the ability to answer your door when you're not at home with two-way audio. SimpliSafe's two-way audio relies on a walkie-talkie-style press-to-talk operation, but the transmission delay of several seconds makes it nearly impossible to carry on a conversation. It's fine for telling a door-to-door salesman to scram, but don't expect to be able to chat with visitors.

Night vision

SimpliSafe's night vision works well in close range when someone is right up on your porch, but we found that it gets blurry once someone is more than about six feet away from the camera. It also doesn't handle the glare from bright lights well at night.

Zoom

Technically, there's no optical zoom on the SimpliSafe doorbell camera, but when you turn your phone to landscape mode and pinch the screen, you can zoom in on the picture. Because the doorbell is located to the side of your door, you can't tilt it left or right, so people walking up to your door are always off to one side in the picture.

SimpliSafe customer service

SimpliSafe's customer service hours aren't 24/7 like other companies, but there is an online support center you can access anytime to get your questions answered. SimpliSafe's customer reviews are mixed, and most complaints center on technical difficulties and billing issues.

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