The cameras, doorbells, and alarm kits worth buying in 2026

The Alarm Pro is the only kit in this round-up that doubles as a Wi-Fi 6 router via the bundled eero base station — a genuine convenience if your existing router is on its last legs and a wash if it isn't. Where it earns the top spot is the cellular and battery backup combo: the base station kept reporting through a 4-hour power outage in our test, and the Ring Edge subscription lets you process clips locally instead of pushing every motion event to AWS.

Caveats are real. Pro monitoring is $20/mo and the local-storage tier requires Ring Edge ($5/mo on top). The doorbell-and-cam ecosystem is excellent if you stay in it, frustrating if you mix brands. For a Ring-loyal household with patchy ISP service, nothing matches it.

Eufy's pitch is the one Ring won't make: pay once, store locally, never see a subscription page again. The SoloCam S340's dual-lens setup pairs a wide-angle for context with a telephoto for license plates, and the on-device AI handled person/vehicle/package detection without phoning home. After 60 days mounted facing a tree-shaded driveway, the solar panel was still keeping the battery topped up at 90%+.

Where it falters: the app is functional rather than delightful, and Eufy's HomeBase 3 (recommended for multi-cam setups with face recognition) is sold separately. As a single-cam install for the side of a house, this is the one we'd buy with our own money.

The 3:4 aspect ratio is the killer feature here — you see packages on the doormat without having to scrub the timeline. Familiar-face memory worked reliably after about a week of training, correctly tagging neighbors and our regular delivery driver. On-device processing means person/package/vehicle alerts work without a Nest Aware subscription, though event history is capped at 3 hours without one.

Wiring is required (no battery option in this generation), so plan for a chime kit or pull a fresh transformer if your current one is under 16VAC. If you live in the Google Home ecosystem, this is the doorbell — Apple Home users should look at Logitech Circle View instead.

Renters get the short end of nearly every smart-home stick, and SimpliSafe is the rare brand that actually thought about them. Sensors stick on with industrial adhesive (we removed and reinstalled three times during a unit test, no wall damage), and the contract-free monitoring at $19.99/mo can be paused the month you move.

The included glass-break sensor is the unsung star — it caught a controlled break test from across a 14-foot room. Where SimpliSafe still trails: video integration is bolt-on, the keypad UI is dated, and the wireless protocol is proprietary, so don't expect HomeKit or Matter support.