Video Doorbells

A video doorbell is the upgrade renters ask about first, and for good reason: it’s the one device that answers the two questions you have every day — who’s at the door, and did my package arrive. The problem is that the whole category is built around homeowners. Most doorbells assume you can run low-voltage wiring or drill four holes into a door frame you don’t own. That’s exactly what a renter can’t do, and it’s the gap this section exists to close.

Here’s what a renter should actually buy. Start with a battery doorbell, not a wired one — battery power means there’s no doorbell wiring to touch and nothing to restore when you leave. Mount it with a no-drill adhesive plate (a $10 accessory) so it goes up without a single hole and peels off clean. And if your door already has a peephole, consider a peephole camera, which reuses the hole that’s already there for the most reversible install of all.

The other decision that matters is storage. Some brands — Ring most notably — lock recorded video behind a monthly subscription. Live view is free, but if you want to scroll back through what the camera caught, you pay every month for the length of your lease. Others, like eufy and Blink, keep footage locally for a one-time cost. Neither approach is wrong, but over two or three years the difference adds up to real money, so we call it out on every pick.

Below you’ll find our ranked roundups: the best doorbells for apartments overall, the best without a subscription, a guide to the no-drill mounts that make them renter-safe, and an honest look at whether a Ring makes sense in a rental. Every pick carries a live price and our Lease-Safe rating, and we tell you which ones we’d skip.