The Best Video Doorbell For Apartments: 2023 Buyer's Guide
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While video doorbells are increasingly popular among homeowners if you’re in an apartment things can get a little more difficult. Video doorbells always require some sort of drilling to attach the doorbell or it’s mounting bracket to ensure it stays put and is safe from being stolen itself. Apartment tenants wouldn’t normally have the option to drill holes outside the door, so we need to look at other means of attachment.
Thankfully, there is a range of accessories that can help here known as ‘no-drill mounts’. These provide ways of attaching a video doorbell to your apartment door without damage but are not available for all doorbell models. I’ve taken a look at the best mounts available and sorted through the compatible video doorbells to choose the best options depending on your preference for storage location, price, functionality, and user experience.
Let’s kick off with my top picks for doorbells, then look at the mounts and compatible video doorbell options for apartments.
Top Picks For Apartments
Best Overall
Ring Video Doorbell 4
✔ Fast Reliable Notifications
✔ Pre-roll video avoid missing events
✔ Best app experience
Best Local Storage
WUUK Smart Doorbell Pro
✔ Excellent camera and night vision
✔ Dual motion detection with radar
✔ Local storage, no subscription
Best Peephole Camera
Ring Peephole Cam
✔ Peephole Mount
✔ Removable Battery Pack
✔ Knock Detection
Best Smart Features
Google Nest Doorbell
✔ Free 3-hour cloud storage
✔ Best object recognition
✔ Familiar face recognition
What To Look For in a No-Drill Mount
Door Thickness
If your door mount uses a clip or clamp system, which most do, then you’ll need to ensure the thickness of your door will support it. The minimum door thickness is typically 1 inch, ranging somewhere up to 2 inches as a maximum. All door mounts will specify this in the product description, so it’s easy to check.
Note that these kinds of mounts will need a flat edge on the door, not like on a security door or similar, and they need to open inwards. That part shouldn’t be a problem as this is typical for apartments.
Frame clearance
Other than adhesive based mounts, you’ll also need to check the clearance between the door and the frame or door jam. The minimum clearance tends to be 0.06 inches, so if you’re over that you should be in the clear. If it’s under the specified minimum, you’ll have difficulty opening and closing the door as the clamp will rub on the frame. This would also cause damage, so you’ll want to avoid that.
If you don’t have that clearance, then adhesive based mounts are an alternative, although less preferable as they can also leave marks.
Attachment Method
No-drill mounts come in three flavors: Screw clamp, binder clip, or adhesive.
The most common is the screw clamp design. This has a bracket that holds the doorbell on the outside and a large thumb screw on the inside that holds the bracket to the door. These are the strongest form of attachment, but they do have an unsightly screw sticking out from the back of the door.
Binder clip models have a similar physical design, but instead of the screw on the back they angle the bracket inwards slightly to create a spring clip. You simply pull the bracket open a little and slide it onto the door. This is not quite as strong as a screw clamp, but should be plenty secure enough with the door closed. The only issue here is to take care sliding it on so as not to scratch the door itself.
Finally, there are also adhesive mounts available for some doorbells. These use a strong (usually 3M) adhesive pad on the back of the mount to attach it to the door. These adhesives are very strong, but are still a less secure option than a wrap around metal bracket. The upside is that you have more flexibility in where you place the doorbell as you’re not constrained by the design of the clamp, the downside is the adhesive can leave a mark, or cause damage when it’s removed.
Reviews In This Guide
Best Overall - Ring Video Doorbell 4
Best with Local Storage - WUUK Smart Video Doorbell Pro
Best Smart Features - Google Nest Doorbell
Best Smart Home Support - Arlo Essential Doorbell
Best Budget Model - Blink Video Doorbell
See below for detailed pros and cons on each of these models, and which no-drill mounts are best used for each one.
Best Overall
Ring Video Doorbell 4
★★★★★
Key Features:
• 1920x1080 HDR camera
• 160-degree FoV
• Person detection and motion zones
• 4 second pre-roll and snapshots
• Two-way audio
• Removable battery pack
• Supports Alexa
• Dual band Wi-Fi
What I Like
While you do need a subscription to use it effectively, I’ve chosen the Ring Video Doorbell 4 as the best overall video doorbell for apartments for a few reasons. First and foremost among these is that Ring cameras have consistently outperformed other brands in terms of how fast they can get a notification to me, and how reliably they capture recorded events.
This event recording is now bolstered considerably by the inclusion of a Pre-roll feature. Pre-roll is a feature common on hard wired cameras where a rolling buffer is kept by the camera. When motion is detected, that extra few seconds can be attached to the beginning of the video ensuring that you don’t miss what actually triggered the event.
Ring is, so far, the only battery-powered doorbell that offers this feature, as it usually consumes too much battery power. Ring gets around this by using a separate, lower resolution/lower framerate camera to capture what are essentially a sequence of still images. It’s not up the standard of the actual video camera, but it’s enough to see what happened before the camera could start streaming. It’s a clever solution that actually works very well for its intended purpose.
Ring is also the only brand in this list to have an easily removable battery pack that doesn’t required taking down the doorbell and sells an optional dual-bay charging dock so you can keep spares ready to go, avoiding downtime on your camera. The ease of removal is not quite as big a selling point in this situation as you’ll still have to open up the no-drill mount first, but at least you can just pop in another battery at the same time and keep things going without having to do it twice once the doorbell is recharged.
Add to this the (still uncommon) dual band Wi-Fi support, what I consider to be the best app experience in the market, excellent support, and more security and privacy controls than most others and you can see how this model presents a compelling choice. You can see more details in my full review.
Recommended No-Drill Mount
- Slide-on casing for easy access
- Anti-theft secuity screw
- Screw clamp design
- Won't block IR LEDs
- Fits 1" to 2" doors
Potential Concerns
Being a cloud-based service there’s the obvious issue of paying a subscription. For me it’s worthwhile for the performance and app experience, and Ring’s subscriptions are pretty good value if you expand into other Ring products, like the very capable Ring Alarm system.
There will naturally be plenty of skepticism around privacy as well, especially given Ring’s past media attention regarding their internal policies and relationship with law enforcement. That’s fair, but it’s also fair to say that under Amazon’s ownership they have significantly upped their game in terms of the privacy controls we now have available.
For me, I would not be comfortable putting Ring cameras where the privacy of my family was important - like indoors - but I’m comfortable putting it outside the front door considering fast response time is a key requirement for a video doorbell to be useful. I’ve tried other options, and I keep ending up back here.
Keep in mind that battery life on any model is going to depend on what settings you enable. Ring states 6 months for theirs, but that’s with pretty basic settings and/or low traffic. Many of the features which put this model above the competition are going to increase battery consumption. Thankfully you can tailor these to find a balance that works for you. With most things turned on, I’m still getting around 3 months, which is not a problem.
✔ Pre-roll video avoid missing events
✔ Removable battery or wired power
✔ Dual band Wi-Fi
✘ Only 1080p video camera
✘ Only supports integration with Alexa
Best With Local Recording
WUUK Smart Doorbell Pro
★★★★★
Key Features:
• ‘2K’ 2560x1920 HDR doorbell camera
• 6-month battery
• Local encrypted storage on base station
• Dual motion detection with radar
• Human detection
• Tamper alarm
• Two-way audio with Quick Responses
• Supports Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT
• IP65 Weather resistance
What I Like
When it comes to local storage and the need to avoid drilling holes for your video doorbell, the WUUK Smart Doorbell Pro provides a different solution. When reviewing this doorbell I found it to be a great value option for any situation, but they’ve also catered for apartment installs by providing an adhesive backed mounting bracket.
The base mounting bracket comes pre-fitted with a custom cut 3M VHB tape, which is very strong stuff. You can add the included 15-degree wedge to this if you wish, and the doorbell itself is securely fastened to the bracket using a push-in security pin. This is kind of like the SIM-card tool that comes with iPhones and allows for easy removal when it comes time to charge, while still being reasonably secure.
The camera is a good 2K resolution that records excellent quality video, and this extends to very impressive night vision as well, with none of the ghosting of moving objects that I see on some other cameras. You get dual motion detection with radar and infra-red, and this helps to ensure events are captured in a timely manner.
Video events are recorded on the included base station, which also acts as an indoor chime and range extender. Pairing the doorbell with the base is very easy and intuitive as it talks the process through with you and avoids the potential headaches of pairing to your own Wi-Fi network.
I’ve found the videos start recording very quickly, and their notification speed is also as good as Ring’s. Throw in an optional tamper alarm, custom quick-reposnes, a voice changer, and support for 3 major smart home platforms as you have a feature packed video doorbell at a bargain price.
Potential Concerns
Using an adhesive mount is a viable way of installing in an apartment situation, but beware that getting the tape off later can be a bit of a headache. There are certainly good ways to do this, but it’s going to take more effort than removing a bracket-type mount.
On the doorbell itself, I found the audio pick up a bit limited, and the audio quality fairly low. It’s certainly fine for talking to someone at the doorbell but picking up conversations further out isn’t great.
There are only 5 chime tones on offer, compared to Ring’s much larger selection, and the notifications you get through the app just say ‘motion’, and not what type of motion. This can be a little frustrating if you have it set to notify you of everything but is a non-issue if you’re filtering it to just people anyway.
✔ Great night vision
✔ Fast recording and notifications
✔ Loads of feature options
✘ Must be removed to charge
✘ Audio quality could be better
✘ Base station needs Ethernet connection
Best For Peepholes
Ring Peephole Cam
★★★★✩
Key Features
• 1080p HD night vision camera
• Peephole size: 12-14mm
• Knock detection
• IR motion sensor w/person detection
• 155-degree field of view
• 180-day cloud storage (subscription)
• Privacy zones and audio mute
• Integrated doorbell w/Two-way audio
• Peephole privacy shield
What I Like
If we’re talking easy installation for apartment, then simply installing the camera in your peephole is the easiest and most secure option. The Ring Peephole Cam does just that by using the existing hole in your door to house the connection between the camera and the Wi-Fi module on the inside. The shaft also contains a conventional peephole with a privacy shield, and provides a very secure mount by sandwiching the door between the internal and external parts.
Having the internal unit house the Wi-Fi module and the removable battery (the same one other Ring doorbells and cameras use), you get better Wi-Fi signal, and easy, secure access to the battery compartment for easy swap outs.
In terms of features, the Doorbell Cam falls short of the Ring Video Doorbell 4 in that it doesn’t have pre-roll, HDR, or package detection, but does add knock detection and a wider vertical field of view at 90 degrees.
Otherwise you get the rest of the Ring app features like person detection, privacy zones, Timeline View, and custom motion zones, along with the best-in-class privacy and security controls of other Ring cameras, and integration with Ring Alarm and Alexa for announcements and live streams.
Potential Concerns
The same comments regarding Ring’s past history with law enforcement apply as with the Video Doorbell 4 above, although these are less of an issue with apartment installs as you’re not covering the street where footage is more likely to be requested.
The lack of pre-roll is a shame, as that would still be of use to apartment residents, but the reduction in other features are less significant in most cases where the doorbell is installed indoors and not subject to bright backlighting or package deliveries. This helpd to keep the cost down, and makes the Peephole Cam a very afordable option for its feature set.
✔ Fast recording and notifications
✔ Removable battery
✘ Cloud storage only
✘ No internal display screen
Best Smart Features
Google Nest Doorbell
★★★★✩
Key Features:
• 720x1280 HD camera
• 145-degree FoV
• Object detection and motion zones
• Two-way audio
• Supports Google Assistant and Alexa
• IP54 Weather resistance
• Free Cloud Storage (3 hours)
• Comes in 4 colors
What I Like
The latest Google Nest Doorbell is an interesting alternative in that it goes for a lower resolution camera than everyone else and is also considerably larger in physical size. In the case of an apartment installation the video resolution won’t be much of an issue. You’ll only be looking at people relatively close to the doorbell, so you won’t need super high definition to make out faces in the distance.
I’ve awarded this one the Best Smart Features title because it’s the only one here that offers more object detection than just ‘people’ or ‘packages’. With an inexpensive Nest Aware subscription you will also be able to filter on vehicles and animals, and there’s a ‘familiar face’ recognition function as well that works pretty well.
You can get live streamed event notifications on both Google and Amazon Echo smart displays, as well as use these devices as remote chimes for the doorbell. The usual two-way talk and quick responses features are also present.
What is more unique is that without a subscription you can still record video events, although you won’t get the smart features. 3 hours of event recording is provided for free with the doorbell purchase, and there is also a 1 hour backup memory in the device itself so that if your Wi-Fi goes down for whatever reason it will still be able to record.
No-Drill Mount To Use
- Easy removal for charging
- Anti-theft bracket
- Padded door protector
- Clean 'Binder clip' attachment
- Fits 1" to 1.75" doors
Potential Concerns
At over 6 inches in height the Google Nest Doorbell is pretty prominent, not necessarily a drawback, but it’s not the best option if you’re going for subtle.
The internal battery is not removable, so you’ll need to take the doorbell inside for a few hours to charge. This is a common issue with battery powered video doorbells, as most don’t have removable batteries, but it can be a big negative as you’ll be without coverage for that period of time. Unfortunately, several people have noted the battery life isn’t great, with as little as 2-3 weeks between charges.
Note that there is no indoor chime available for this device, you’ll need to use a Google or Amazon smart speaker or just rely on app notifications on your phone.
✔ Facial recognition
✔ Free 3 hour cloud storage
✘ Battery is not removable
✘ No indoor chime options
Best Smart Home Options
Arlo Essential Doorbell
★★★★✩
Key Features:
• 1536x1536 HD camera
• 180 degree FoV
• Person and package detection
• Two-way audio and quick responses
• Supports Alexa, SmartThings, Google Assistant, IFTTT, HomeKit
• Weather resistance
What I Like
The Arlo Essential Video Doorbell is Arlo’s first, and only, entry into the video doorbell market so far, and the battery-powered option is a suitable choice for apartment residents.
This one takes a slightly different approach to the camera set up by using a 1:1 aspect ratio to give equal priority to the vertical axis. Oddly they also paired it with a 180-degree fisheye lens. This makes it a weird compromise between focusing on the porch and watching the whole approach area. For an apartment situation, though, this could be a best-of-both-worlds situation where you want to have good coverage of both the corridor and the doorstep.
Thankfully the video resolution is ‘2K’ by virtue of the larger vertical resolution, which gives it pretty good video quality. The night vision is also decent, but the resolution isn’t large enough to make zooming on those outer areas much better. This may not be an issue unless you really want to look a long way down corridors.
Arlo’s key benefit is their support for more smart home platforms than any other brand. You can use this with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings or IFTTT. We can also add Apple’s HomeKit to this list, but that requires the use of one of their Base Stations or SmartHubs. With the doorbell connected to one of these you can get basic Live view, snapshots in the Home app, and motion and doorbell notifications with thumbnails. You won’t get HomeKit Secure Video functionality, though.
Arlo does have a removable battery in this model, but it still needs to be removed from the wall to get to it. There are spare battery packs available in the Arlo store, so you could have another ready to go to keep the doorbell going while you charge the dead one.
- Low profile adhesive mount
- Compatible with angle mount
- Easy access for charging
- Flexible placement
Potential Concerns
Besides needing a subscription to be truly useful, there are a couple of other nuisance issues with Arlo’s platform. I’ve found their notification performance to be markedly worse than Ring’s, taking somewhere around 5-7 seconds to get one through. That’s not great for a doorbell situation where you want to respond to someone in a timely manner.
Second is their app is a bit dated in its design, and settings can be hard to find in some cases. They also time out your logging, so you can go to check an event and have to log in again first. It would be more convenient if they took the more modern approach of having a device-specific authentication token that can remain valid for a longer period.
✔ Best smart home integration options
✔ Good Camera
✘ Must be removed to charge
✘ Slower notification performance
Best Budget Model
Blink Video Doorbell
★★★★✩
Key Features
• ‘HD’ 1920x1080 16:9 doorbell camera
• Battery
• 135-degree FOV
• Local storage on Sync Module
• Supports Alexa
• Two-way audio
• Weather resistant
What I Like
Amazon’s Blink brand of security devices are cute, cheap options for getting a simple home security setup that ties in well to Alexa. Indeed, the only wireless chime offering for this doorbell is an Amazon Echo device, which is what you’ll need in the case of a door-based installation. You’ll obviously get notifications on your phone from the Blink app as well.
The camera is a fairly standard HD affair, delivering conventional 16:9 aspect ratio, but with a narrower field of view and resolution than my top picks. This is fine if you only want to see what’s right in front of the door and not monitor a wider area outside, but you might prefer a wider field of view to cover corridor approaches from either side.
Normally you’ll need a subscription to record videos from your Blink devices, but you can also record locally without a subscription if you use the Sync Module 2 (I’ve linked to the package that includes this). This module can take a common USB thumb drive to use as expandable storage, and it’s also easy to remove in order to plug it into a computer for downloading and archiving your recordings if that’s your thing.
In the case of a no-drill mount install power will come from a pair of AA lithium batteries. When on batteries the life is claimed to be an impressive 2 years, although with a lot of caveats in the fine print. Obviously, the usual environmental factors apply here, and you can expect a few months as a more realistic standby time.
No-Drill Mount To Use
- Easy removal for charging
- Anti-theft bracket
- Padded door protector
- Clean 'Binder clip' attachment
- Fits 1" to 1.25" doors
Potential Concerns
The Blink Video Doorbell comes in at an amazing price, but loses out on a few key areas.
You get some basic doorbell features such as custom motion zones and two-way talk with visitors, but not much else. Motion zones are defined by selecting squares on a grid rather than the truly custom zones you can create with most other smart doorbells.
Given there is also no object detection capability you’ll be getting notifications for anything that moves in those zones. To be fair, this would be less of an issue inside an apartment building where you’re not dealing with passing cars and trees blowing in the wind.
The choice of USB for storage seems to be a matter of convenience, but the downside is that it’s slow. If you have more than one Blink camera, it can only record from one at a time, so the rest have to wait. This means delayed notifications and video availability. It’s not long, but it could be a nuisance. There is also no automatic management of old videos. A folder is created for each month, and you’ll need to delete individual videos manually, or the whole folder by inserting the drive into a computer.
✔ Compact design
✔ Uses standard AA batteries
✘ Motion zones limited to grid shape
✘ USB storage is slow
The Warp Up
When choosing a video doorbell for apartment installations you’ll need to go for a battery-powered model, and one that can be installed without damage to the building. There are a few good options that meet both of these requirements, although most of them require a third party no-drill mount to do so. If you want more options without subscription fees, you can also check out my best options here, but not all of these will have apartment mounting options.
Of the no-drill mounts available, my top video doorbell pick for apartments is the Ring Video Doorbell 4. While it does require a subscription and records to the cloud, I’ve selected it due to best-in-class recording and notification performance, good battery life, high build quality, good support, and the inclusion of pre-roll and dual-band Wi-Fi support.
If you want something cheaper that won’t run you monthly fees, then the WUUK Smart Doorbell Pro is an excellent alternative. A higher quality camera, dual-motion detection, and local storage make this one great value. The included tamper alarm and adhesive-backed mounting bracket are also great inclusion for apartment use.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Generally, in an apartment situation you’re not going to be able to mount a video doorbell using the normal fixings provided. To get around this you’ll need to use a no-drill mount. The best of these for Ring doorbells are a screw clamp design that holds the doorbell to your door in a secure casing.
These casings support specific doorbell models, but thankfully all of Ring’s battery powered models are largely the same size and shape. As such, you’re best going for a Ring Video Doorbell 4 to get the latest features like dual-band Wi-Fi support and video Pre-roll recording to ensure you don’t miss anything.
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In many cases, you can use a video doorbell if you’re living in an apartment, with some caveats. Firstly, you’ll need to ensure the building rules permit the use of these devices outside your door. Some building’s won’t permit cameras and other recording devices.
If that’s all good, then you’ll need to choose a video doorbell model that runs on battery power and can be installed without screws. Either one that has an adhesive mounting option, like the WUUK Smart Doorbell Pro, or one that has a compatible no-drill mount, the those in this article.
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Short of running a Wi-Fi jammer, which would be illegal in most jurisdictions, you could ask your neighbor to set up privacy zones on their doorbell.
Ring cameras support privacy zones. These are areas defined by the camera owner which will be permanently blacked out in the video and live views. This feature is intended to help with these situations so neighbors doors and windows can be blocked out for privacy. Note that this doesn’t affect audio recording, however, but audio will only be recorded while the camera is recording a motion event or live view.
