How to Cancel Ring Protect Plan in 2026 — Amazon's Doorbell Subscription Tax

Last updated: February 2026 • Difficulty: Easy

⚠️ The Ring tax: Amazon sells Ring doorbells at near cost ($100-250) because the real money is the subscription. Without Ring Protect ($4-20/month), your $200 doorbell can't save video, has no person detection, and no package alerts. It's a live-view-only device. Amazon designed it this way on purpose — the hardware is the hook, the subscription is the revenue.

Ring Protect Plans

No plan (free): Live view only, real-time motion alerts, two-way talk — NO video recording or playback
Ring Protect Basic ($4/month per device): 180-day video history, share/download clips, person detection
Ring Protect Plus ($10/month, all devices): Everything in Basic + 24/7 professional monitoring, Alexa Guard+
Ring Protect Pro ($20/month, all devices): Everything in Plus + Alarm Pro, Eero wifi, 3% off Ring purchases

How to Cancel

Open the Ring app
Tap the menu (☰) → Account → Subscriptions
Select your Ring Protect plan
Tap Cancel Plan
Or go to ring.com → Account → Plan → Cancel Subscription
If billed through Amazon: Amazon.com → Memberships & Subscriptions → Ring → Cancel
Plan continues until end of billing period

What Your Ring Doorbell Does WITHOUT a Subscription

✅ Live view (see who's at the door in real-time)
✅ Two-way talk (speak through the doorbell)
✅ Motion alerts (get notified of motion)
✅ Doorbell press notifications
❌ No video recording or playback
❌ No person detection (every motion triggers alerts — cars, trees, animals)
❌ No sharing or downloading clips
❌ No snapshot capture
❌ No professional monitoring

💡 Honest assessment: Without Ring Protect, your Ring doorbell is essentially an expensive intercom. You can see who's at the door live and talk to them, but you can't review what happened while you were away. For many people, that's not useful enough to justify the hardware cost.

Subscription-Free Alternatives

Eufy Video Doorbell ($100-180): Local storage, NO subscription, person detection included free — the best Ring alternative
Reolink Doorbell ($80-130): Local storage on microSD or NVR, no subscription, good night vision
Amcrest Doorbell ($80-100): Local recording, no cloud needed, RTSP streaming for NVR integration
Google Nest Doorbell ($130-180): 3-hour free event history — more useful without subscription than Ring
TP-Link Tapo Doorbell ($60-80): microSD recording, free cloud clips, no subscription needed

The Math: Ring vs Eufy Over 5 Years

Ring doorbell ($150) + Protect Basic ($4/month × 60) = $390 over 5 years. Eufy doorbell ($150) + subscription ($0/month × 60) = $150 over 5 years. Same functionality, $240 savings. With Ring Protect Plus ($10/month), the gap widens to $600 vs $150 = $450 savings for Eufy.

🔍 Find All Your Smart Home Subscriptions

Ring Protect is one of many smart home charges. Upload your bank statement to JustCancel and we'll find every subscription.

Scan Your Statement — $5 One-Time

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Quick Cancel Guide: Ring Protect Detailed

Direct cancel link + step-by-step instructions