Keeping a watchful eye on your front yard requires an outdoor security camera that always stays up and does its job. The battery-powered Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight and the Ring Spotlight Camera are two of the best options, offering a versatile set of features. Both cameras come with plug-and-play installation and offer additional benefits with a monthly subscription. Despite their close price, the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight and the Ring Spotlight Camera differ on several fronts, ranging from video quality to subscriptions. So, only one of them will fit the bill for your smart home.

Camera quality: More pixels matter

The Arlo Pro 4 shares its camera attributes with its predecessor, which we reviewed and were impressed with. Its 2K videos look sharp and are a visible step up over the Ring Spotlight Camera, which can take only 1080p videos. The Ring security camera’s video quality isn’t bad per se. It does a pretty good job of capturing any movement, but who wouldn’t prefer more pixels if given the option? Arlo also takes wider shots with a 160° field of view versus 140° on the Ring.

Being battery-powered, both cameras are activated only when they sense motion. This means a lot of features aren’t accessible in the battery mode. One prominent omission is the pre-roll video that shows you a few-second-long preview of what happened before a motion trigger. With Arlo Foresight, you can enable it if you decide to wire the Pro 4 Spotlight, but unfortunately, doing that isn’t possible with the battery-powered Ring camera. You will have to go for a separate wired-only Ring Spotlight Camera model to get pre-roll videos.

One important thing to note here is that neither of these cameras has any kind of local storage. This is both a boon and bane. Your footage will remain secure in the cloud even if the camera is stolen. However, this way, the camera entirely relies on cloud backup and has no fallback in case of power failure or network outage. For the Arlo camera, you can pick up an optional hub, which supports local storage, though you cannot access that footage remotely.

The light: Brighter the spotlight, the better

Both cameras have a spotlight to illuminate the area when an intruder tries to enter your yard in the dark to capture their face clearly and potentially scare them off. The motion tracker automatically triggers the light, so it lights up just as the camera starts to record.

While these surely aren’t as effective as floodlights, the spotlight on the Ring camera is considerably brighter than the one on the Arlo, thanks to a pair of light bars flanking the camera lens. It is much better at illuminating a larger area. Arlo’s spotlight does a decent job, but it’s geared towards lighting up the area for a color video instead of the grayscale you usually get with IR lights.

And if the lights aren’t deterring enough for any bad actor, both cameras come with sirens to scare away humans and non-humans alike.

Smart features: The smarts and their integrations

If you’re also planning to use your security camera to track delivery packages, then the Arlo Pro 4 would make more sense. Its AI can identify packages and notify you when one is left at your door. This handy feature, unfortunately, is reserved only for a few of Ring’s video doorbells.

Additionally, Arlo integrates with more smart home ecosystems besides Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, including Apple HomeKit (which requires a hub) and Samsung SmartThings. That makes the Pro 4 an incredibly versatile security camera that can work with all kinds of smart homes, which is vital unless Matter becomes a thing. However, you aren’t missing much on the Ring, as it supports the standard trio of Assistant, Alexa, and IFTTT.

Besides this, you get a roster of smart features that are highly configurable, like two-way audio, live view, smart alerts, activity zones, and more. You can customize these settings and keep track of any activity using their companion apps available for Android and iOS.

Additional costs: Their subscriptions

Security cameras these days have two price components: the upfront cost of the hardware and the unavoidable recurring cost in the form of a monthly subscription. It's unavoidable because both Arlo and Ring put most of the smart features behind a paywall, leaving you with only basic stuff like live feed, which would be worthless in case of an event. Given both cameras don’t have local storage, you must get their subscriptions no matter how small your video storage needs are.

The Arlo Pro 3 Spotlight for representation

Paying for Arlo Secure or Ring Protect will unlock smart alerts, more nuanced motion tracking with activity zones, longer video history, and more. While Arlo offers only 30 days of video history, Ring takes the lead by generously keeping a 180-day log. However, Ring Protect Basic costs $4 a month, compared to $3 for Arlo Secure.

This subscription price can quickly mount if you plan to get more than one security camera for your home. In that case, you will have to shell out $10 monthly for Arlo and Ring.

Hardwire details: Battery life and going wired

The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight and the Ring Spotlight Camera claim to last around six months between charges. Their real-world battery life should be between a few weeks to a few months, depending on your motion sensitivity and notification settings.

While that’s plenty for most users, you can reduce the downtimes by buying spare batteries that you can quickly swap before putting the camera back in its place. The Ring camera has two battery compartments (only one battery is supplied in the box), so you can double the battery life. It’s worth noting that Arlo uses a proprietary charging connector, while the Ring battery can be charged over micro-USB.

You can avoid the need to charge these batteries by getting their solar bundles, offered by both Arlo and Ring, for an additional cost. Alternatively, you have the option to wire these cameras as well. Going wired with Arlo Pro 4 will enable a few seconds of pre-roll video, but that isn’t possible with the Ring Spotlight Cam Battery. In Ring’s case, you will have to go for its wired-only variant, Spotlight Cam Wired, which costs the same as its wireless sibling.

Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight vs. Ring Spotlight Camera: Which one should you buy?

The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight comes off as a better choice between the two, with its higher-res and wider camera and sufficiently bright spotlight. Its got a hefty build and comes with a strong magnetic mount that is easy to install. The icing on the cake has to be its slightly lower price of $180, and its monthly subscription is also cheaper than Ring’s. And Arlo will work just fine with any smart home setup you have, be it from Amazon, Apple (hub required), or Google.

For an asking price of $200, the Ring Spotlight Camera gets you a much brighter spotlight, which is a strong selling point for these cameras. Its subscription costs a little more (though only for one camera) but gets you unmatched 180-day video history. Ring additionally offers you the flexibility to pick the wired option in case power isn’t an issue where you want to place the camera. The Ring camera makes more sense for those deep into the Alexa ecosystem, even at its higher upfront and subscription price.

The Arlo Pro 3 Spotlight for representation

You will end up finding a ton of little differences when comparing any two security cameras spec by spec. But considering how every aspect of these cameras is tied to a subscription these days, you should look at the larger ecosystem you’re investing in for the long run. Because if you’re already paying for Arlo Secure or Ring Protect, then it makes sense to add more cameras of the same brand you already own.

Buy the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight

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Buy the Ring Spotlight Camera Battery

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