Arlo Pro 4 vs. Ring Spotlight Cam Pro | digital trends (2023)

When it comes to smart home products, few brands are as well known as Ring and Arlo. These companies are responsible for creating some of the most popular smart gadgets on the market, but none are as high quality as thisArloPro 4eRing Spotlight Cam Pro. Both smart security cameras offer easy ways to monitor your property, get alerts, and stay in control of your home whether you're on vacation or running errands.

But what exactly is the difference between the Arlo Pro 4 and the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro? And what goes best with your personal smart home? Here's a closer look at the two smart security cameras and the features they offer to help you decide.

resolution and night video

Both the Arlo Pro 4 and the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro capture incredible footage, but the Arlo has a significant advantage over the competition — it captures 1080p insteadHDRLike the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro, the Arlo Pro 4 captures 2K HDR footage. That's a significant increase in resolution and a big win for Arlo, allowing you to enlarge your footage and capture distance detail that would be lost with a smaller camera.

Both products also feature color night vision and built-in headlights to capture movement after the sun has set.

Winner:The Arlo Pro 4 wins this category thanks to its sharp 2K resolution.

List of features and specifications

If you're looking for something to cover your entire garden, Arlo is for you. With a 160-degree viewing angle, it barely beats the 140-degree viewing angle offered by the ring. Also, Arlo doesn't offer much that you can't find in the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro.

The Ring Spotlight Cam Pro also has some tricks that you won't find in the Arlo Pro 4. These include 3D motion detection and a bird's-eye view, which can pinpoint where the motion in your garden is coming from. You can also choose from four unique models (wired, wireless, plug-in and solar) that offer multiple ways to power your camera. Arlo, on the other hand, only offers the Pro 4 as a wireless product.

Ring's product also benefits from having two headlights instead of one, which allows it to shine brighter and illuminate more of its surroundings.

Winner:Ring trumps Arlo this round thanks to some high-tech features and multiple models available.

Monthly Fees and What You Get

Both the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro and Arlo Pro 4 require amonthly subscription planto experience everything they have to offer. Arlo offers two different premium options, while Ring offers three.

The Arlo Secure basic plan will cost you $3 per month for a single camera or $10 per month for unlimited cameras. This unlocks unlimited cloud storage for 30 days, along with interactive alerts and priority support. Buy Arlo Secure Plus and pay $15 per month for unlimited cameras and 24/7 emergency assistance—along with all the benefits of your standard Arlo Secure subscription.

Ring subscriptions start at $4 per month for the Basic plan. For the price, you get 180 days of video history, video storage and sharing, snapshot taking, personal notifications, and advanced notifications (which give you a photo preview of your last notification). The Plus plan costs $10 per month and adds extended warranties to your products. Then there's the Pro plan, which costs $20 per month. Along with all other benefits, you get multiple backups of your captured images and videos along with a possible oneReduce your home insurance.

Winner:Ring and Arlo are tied for this round. Arlo's basic plan is a bit cheaper than Ring's ($3 per month vs. $4 per month), but Ring's premium plan offers a little more than Arlo's.

Easy to use

Both the Arlo Pro 4 and the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro are incredibly popular, and the simplicity of their designs is a big reason. It's easy to install on your property (thanks to step-by-step instructions, multiple power formats for Ring and a sleek magnetic wireless format for Arlo), and checking your live feed or checking notifications is a breeze thanks to the intuitiveSmartphoneApps.

Arlo also lets you set up notifications with HomeKit, Alexa, Google Home, and SmartThings, while Ring is largely built for Alexa (The ring is an Amazon product), but offers some HomeKit and Google Home features.

Winner:Because Arlo allows for easy and seamless integration with other platforms, it's hardly superior to Ring. However, if you're a fan of Amazon products and frequently use the Alexa voice assistant, the Ring might be a better fit for your needs.

Applications and Monitoring

As mentioned above, both the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro and Arlo Pro 4 offer robust smartphone apps that you can use to check a live feed, review old footage, or customize your notification settings. Both are well designed and easy to use.

Both products are equally excellent for monitoring your property. Ring and Arlo designed these smart cameras to distinguish between different objects, allowing you to customize notifications based on what's happening on your property. For example, you can have Arlo and Ring only alert you when someone is at your door or walking across your yard, instead of getting an alert every time an animal triggers the motion sensors.

Winner:Thanks to their powerful apps and premium monitoring technology, Arlo and Ring are evenly matched in this round.

Integration with other smart home systems

Arlo Pro 4 is fully compatible with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant. Ring Spotlight Cam Pro is fully compatible with Alexa devices, although you can perform some functions with HomeKit and Google Home. Since Ring is owned by Amazon, it's no surprise that it works incredibly well with other Amazon products like thisEcho Dot und Echo Show. This point also means that integration with other platforms is somewhat limited compared to Arlo.

Winner:Arlo wins this category due to its broad compatibility and integration with most smart home ecosystems and other products already on the market.

You can't go wrong either

If you're deciding which of these two security cameras to buy, you're in luck - both are fantastic products that you can't go wrong with. There are some slight differences between the Arlo Pro 4 and the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro, but at the end of the day, they're arguably the two best spotlight cameras out there.

People with tons of Amazon devices at home who are already familiar with the ecosystem will likely find the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro to be the best choice. On the other hand, people using Google or Apple HomeKit will find Arlo to be a better option.

Price is another factor to consider as theArlo Pro 4 costs $200(and often sells for less), while the Ring Spotlight Cam Pro starts at $230 and goes up to $250 for both the solar and wired options. Then there's the monthly subscription, which is slightly more expensive for the Ring than the Arlo - which positions the Arlo as the top choice for budget-conscious buyers.

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