After Google acquired Nest, it grew the brand into a complete smart home ecosystem. This allowed it to become one of the market leaders, making some of the best thermostats, smart speakers, Wi-Fi routers, and intelligent security cameras. When it comes to the latter, Nest offers a range of indoor and outdoor cameras, including a wired indoor-only model, a wireless indoor/outdoor model, both a wired doorbell and a wireless doorbell, and an outdoor camera with a floodlight.

Like the competition, Google offers an optional subscription with its security products called Nest Aware. This subscription allows you to unlock the full potential of your cameras and doorbells. Let's see what the service offers and whether you should subscribe to use your Nest products properly.

What is Nest Aware, and what features does it include?

Nest Aware is a suite of add-on features for Nest-branded home security cameras and speakers. Google offers two options: a standard Nest Aware subscription and a second one called Nest Aware Plus. The standard subscription costs $8 monthly or $80 annually. The Plus subscription will throw you back $15 a month or $150 a year.

Both are similar, offering:

  • Event video history with intelligent alerts. With Nest Aware, event recordings — such as people or animals seen in areas you designated — are saved online and available to watch or download for 30 days with a Nest Aware subscription or 60 days with a Nest Aware Plus membership. Without Nest Aware, these clips are only stored for three hours.
  • Intelligent Alerts: Both memberships allow you to trigger alerts based on smart criteria, including smoke alarm detection, monoxide alarm detection, and glass breaking. With familiar face detection, modern Nest cameras can distinguish between faces and learn who is typically around to tailor notifications better. This hardware-level feature is only unlocked with a subscription.

In addition to these features, the Nest Aware Plus subscription doubles the clip storage duration to 60 days and extends the ability to review everything your wired cameras saw and heard for the past 24 hours (except for the wireless Nest Doorbell, which can't record 24/7 even when it's hardwired to power). Nest cameras can't continuously record on battery power, so a wired connection is required for that feature.

A blue Google Nest camera in front of a black brick background.

How useful is Nest Aware?

You don't need a Nest Aware subscription to use Nest cameras. Nothing stops you from buying a Nest cam and never paying another cent to use it. Be aware that the Nest security experience is limited without a subscription. Paywalling features like facial recognition are irritating. However, the three-hour window you have to review and download event clips without Nest Aware means that if you're not awake and paying attention to your phone when your camera sees something, you may never know about it.

If all you expect from a security system is the ability to monitor your home remotely in real time, Nest Aware's video storage features might not be valuable to you. You can probably safely skip the subscription. Otherwise, you'll want to pay or make sure you're never away from your phone for more than three hours.

A Nest Video Doorbell being installed.

Google Nest vs. Amazon Ring: Which one should you choose?

Google and Amazon offer compelling smart home lineups with their Nest and Ring products. You need to be aware of some differences, including which devices the cameras are compatible with. Ring cameras are the ones to go with if you have Echo speakers and displays, as they don't work with Nest Hubs. Nest cameras and doorbells don't work with Echo displays and speakers.

While Nest devices offer smart alerts and can distinguish packages, people, and animals, Ring products don't offer that feature, even with a subscription. If you're unsure about the smart home cameras that best fit your needs, check out the differences between the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery and Nest Cam Battery.