Video doorbell or 2-wire intercom: what to fit at the front door

Video doorbells under €150

A doorbell has one job: to make a noise indoors when a visitor presses it. A video doorbell keeps that job and adds a camera, a picture on a screen, a recording of the caller who came while the house stood empty, and often a way to release the lock from indoors.

Two traditions meet here. The smart home brought self-contained wireless doorbells: a battery, a radio link, a phone app. The building trade brought the door station wired to an indoor monitor by two thin cables, the way European flats have been fitted for decades. Both kinds are sold as video doorbells, and they fail in different ways.

This video doorbell comparison lines up four of them: a wireless SwitchBot that comes with its own screen, a wired Reolink with a hallway chime, and two TMEZON 2-wire kits, one of which ignores networks altogether. All four sit in the same bracket — in most stores each one stays under $170, and the group sits near $130 — so the choice is about wiring, screens and storage rather than about budget classes. Figures come from the listings and opinions from owners; prices sit in the cards.

SwitchBot 2K — the video doorbell with a monitor in the box

Cheapest here3.9(565)

SwitchBot Video Door Phone with 4.3 Inch Color Screen, 2K Doorbell with Outdoor Camera without Subscription, Two-Way Audio, Motion Detection, Wireless Communication, Compatible with Alexa

ASIN: B0F672TCXQ

• ✓Comes with a 4.3-inch colour monitor, so the door is answered without a phone
• ✓2K picture across a 165° view, with colour night vision from two small lights
• ✓5000 mAh battery in the outdoor unit, or permanent power over a wire
• ✓A 4 GB card is in the box and there is no plan to renew
• ✓Works with no internet line, and joins Alexa or Home Assistant when there is one

Resolution

2K, 1296p

Viewing angle

165°

Indoor unit

4.3-inch colour monitor

Power

5000 mAh battery or fixed 5 V supply

Night vision range

7.5 m, colour

Storage

microSD, 4 GB included, up to 512 GB

Weather rating

IP65

In the box

Outdoor unit, monitor, cables, fixing and wedge kit

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The screen is what makes this video doorbell unusual. Rival wireless doorbells send the call to a phone and stop there; the SwitchBot ships with a 4.3-inch colour monitor that wakes when the button is pressed, shows live video, plays back recordings and sends a preset reply to a courier. The monitor also holds the recording card and works as a Wi-Fi relay. That is why the listing asks for less than five metres between doorbell and screen.

The camera is a 2K sensor at 1296p with a 165° view, tall enough to show a parcel as well as the face above it. Night vision reaches 7.5 metres in colour while the two small lights are lit. The 5000 mAh battery charges over USB-C, or the outdoor unit can take permanent power from existing doorbell wiring. One press unlocks the door, but only for owners of the SwitchBot lock.

This video doorbell suits a household that would rather answer from the sofa than from a pocket: a family with children, or an older relative who will press a large button but not open an app. Skip it if the front door sits far from a socket for the monitor.

Fitting comes first in the reviews, and buyers call it simple: the monitor plugs into a socket, the doorbell goes up with screws or the adjustable wedge, and the two find each other with no cable through the wall. A German owner with the matching lock now opens his front door from the living room, and an owner in Italy mounted the set in minutes.

Picture and sound draw agreement. Owners in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom call the image sharp by day and clear in the evening, praise the 165° view for leaving no blind corner, and describe the two-way audio as loud at both ends. Several chose the SwitchBot for its storage: the card sits indoors in the monitor, so video never leaves the house.

The reservations are specific. A Spanish owner reports the radio link working roughly once in twenty attempts, a signal booster changing nothing, and presses that go unrecorded. Another bought this doorbell twice: the first failed at about a year, the replacement failed immediately, and in hot sun it rings by itself. A third notes that this doorbell takes weaker pictures at night than by day.

Battery or wired: how video doorbells take power

Power is the first real fork in this category, and it shapes daily life with these doorbells more than resolution does. The SwitchBot runs from its battery over USB-C or from existing doorbell wiring, while the Reolink has no battery at all: it draws 24 volts and about six watts from a doorbell transformer or the adapter supplied. Both TMEZON doorbells are wired as well, at 32 and 24 volts. Their monitors take power from a socket indoors.

Owners divide along the same line. A buyer in Belgium prefers a wired doorbell outright, because nothing has to be remembered or recharged; a Spanish owner of the battery doorbell had no idea how long a charge would last. Against that, a battery video doorbell goes onto a brick pillar or a glass door where no cable has ever run. The SwitchBot allows a middle path that few rivals do: hang the doorbell on its battery, then wire it later if recharging becomes a chore.

Two wires are the third arrangement. A 2-wire video intercom uses the two-core cable that already joins a door station to an indoor handset in most European buildings, and both TMEZON kits are built that way. One of these doorbells accepts runs up to 50 metres, which an Italian owner confirms needs no extra supply. Swapping an old intercom for one of these doorbells takes ten minutes and no soldering, several owners write.

Video doorbells without a subscription

None of these four doorbells needs a subscription, which is worth stating because much of the category does. The SwitchBot records to a card in its monitor, 4 GB in the box and up to 512 GB accepted; the Reolink takes a card of up to 256 GB, its maker's recorder or the cloud; the Wi-Fi TMEZON kit takes up to 128 GB; and the plain two-wire doorbell stores nothing beyond what you watch live. "No cloud or subscription needed" is the whole title of one Reolink review, while a Belgian owner chose the cloud on purpose, reasoning that a thief who takes a doorbell off the wall takes the card with it.

Where the card sits matters as much as the fee. In the SwitchBot the card is indoors in the monitor, which is why several owners picked this doorbell: the video never leaves the building. In the other doorbells the card sits in the unit screwed to the outside wall, and a stolen doorbell is a stolen recording. The network-free kit keeps nothing whatsoever — what nobody watched live is gone — and for a household that only wants to see who is at the door, that is the point rather than the flaw.

Reolink 2K+ — the wired video doorbell with the longest record

Two thousand ratings make this the only doorbell here with a history behind it, and the specification is the strongest of the four: a 5 MP sensor, a picture called 2K+, and HDR, noise reduction and distortion correction applied before it reaches the app. Wi-Fi is dual band, so this doorbell alone can sit on 5 GHz where the 2.4 GHz band is crowded. Detection aims at people rather than movement, with drawable zones and six seconds kept from before the trigger, and a chime for the hallway comes in the box with a mounting plate.

Owners are warm and specific. A British installer on his third unit calls the daytime clarity far ahead of the competition and lists what detection separates: people, cars, pets and parcels. A German owner praises the loud chime, and a Spanish owner whose lens fogged after eighteen months was looked after by the service department. The dissent is worth planning around: one buyer ordered two doorbells, found one dead on arrival, and reports both losing Wi-Fi or the chime at five and ten metres from a repeater. Take this video doorbell where wiring is already in place; avoid it where Wi-Fi at the front door is marginal.

Mid-priced4.2(2090)

Reolink Doorbell with Outdoor Camera 2K+ WiFi 2.4/5GHz Waterproof | People Detection, Night Vision, Two-Way Audio, Real Time Alerts, microSD/Cloud, IP65, Video Doorbell WiFi Black

ASIN: B0B4KBMDD3

• ✓2K+ picture from a 5 MP sensor, with HDR and distortion correction
• ✓Dual band Wi-Fi, so it can use 5 GHz where 2.4 GHz is crowded
• ✓Person detection with drawable zones and six seconds recorded before the trigger
• ✓Indoor chime, mounting plate, wedge and extension cables all included
• ✓Card, network recorder or cloud, plus a free plan for 25 image alerts a day

Resolution

2K+, 5 MP sensor

Wi-Fi

2.4 and 5 GHz

Power

Wired, 24 V, 6 W

Storage

microSD up to 256 GB, recorder or cloud

Detection

People, with motion zones

Weather rating

IP65

Size

13.3 × 4.8 × 2.3 cm

Warranty

2 years

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TMEZON seven-inch kit — the 2-wire video intercom with no network

This is the oldest idea among video doorbells, carried out well, and the only one of these doorbells that never joins a network. A seven-inch colour monitor hangs indoors and the doorbell station goes outside, joined by two copper wires across up to 50 metres. No app, account or router is involved. The station is rated IPX5 and carries infrared night vision, the monitor offers 16 ringtones and a do-not-disturb mode, and two locks can be driven at once — a gate release and an electric strike — which suits a house with a front door and a garden gate.

Owners praise the parts you can touch: the reinforced housing, the buttons, and a drain channel in the station that stops rain collecting. A buyer who had been through several makes found this doorbell simple to install, with no soldering and the audio clear both ways. Another replaced a two-wire intercom that had cost far more. The most useful review names the limit after giving five stars: no Wi-Fi, so the doorstep cannot be seen from a phone when the house is empty. A French owner rates the daytime picture well and the night picture poorly, and the listing states no resolution at all. Choose this video doorbell if the door only needs answering from inside the house.

Mid-priced3.9(83)

TMEZON Video Door Phone Intercom System with 7 Inch Colour Monitor, HD Video Doorbell Peephole 2 Wire, Two-Way Audio, Night Vision, 16 Ringtones, Supports 2 Locks

ASIN: B0FB8VMWG9

• ✓Seven-inch colour monitor and a two-wire link of up to 50 metres
• ✓No app, account or router involved at any point
• ✓Drives two locks at once, for a front door and a garden gate
• ✓16 ringtones, volume and brightness settings and a do-not-disturb mode
• ✓Infrared night vision behind an IPX5 outdoor station

Indoor unit

7-inch colour monitor

Wiring

2-wire, up to 50 m

Network

None

Power

32 V supply included

Locks

Gate up to 30 V 2 A, plus electric strike

Weather rating

IPX5

In the box

Monitor, station, power supply, 1.1 m cable, screws

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TMEZON Wi-Fi kit — the 2-wire doorbell that reaches your phone

The newest of these doorbells, first sold in January 2026, answers the complaint its stablemate leaves behind. The wiring is the same two-core cable to a seven-inch monitor, but this monitor joins a 2.4 GHz network, and the app shows the caller, carries the conversation and releases the lock from anywhere. The camera is 1080p across 140° behind an IP65 front, and if nobody answers, the doorbell plays a message you recorded. Three things open the door: the monitor, the phone or an RFID fob.

Owners return to two features. The fobs are the small pleasure: several describe the family opening the door by holding a tag to the doorbell, keys left in a drawer. Remote answering is the serious one — a Spanish owner tired of couriers ringing an empty house now handles them from his phone, and a French owner runs this doorbell inside his home automation through the Tuya app. The negatives are in the software: one owner could not link the kit to Alexa or Google through Tuya, and another could not hold a reliable connection over the distance he needed.

Priciest here4.0(54)

TMEZON WiFi 2 Wire Video Door Phone, 1080P Video Intercom, 7 Inch Color Touch Screen, Night Vision, Opening by APP and Card, Motion Detection, Recording and Playback, Waterproof

ASIN: B0GJRLYMF5

• ✓Two-wire kit whose seven-inch monitor also joins a 2.4 GHz network
• ✓See, talk and unlock from the app when nobody is home
• ✓Three ways in: the monitor, the phone or an RFID fob
• ✓A recorded message plays to the visitor if the call goes unanswered
• ✓1080p across 140°, with recordings on a card of up to 128 GB

Resolution

1080p

Viewing angle

140°

Indoor unit

7-inch touch screen, Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz

Wiring

2-wire to the station

Power

24 V DC

Storage

microSD up to 128 GB

Weather rating

IP65

Weight

1.03 kg

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Four video doorbells side by side

The figures behind these doorbells sit in one table, where the trade-offs show faster than in any paragraph.

Read the last row against everything above it. The 4.2 of the Reolink rests on more than two thousand opinions, while the 4.0 of the newest doorbell rests on 54 gathered in a few months. A high average on a fresh listing says the first weeks went well, which is not the same as knowing how these doorbells behave in a second winter outdoors.

How to choose a video doorbell for your front door

The wall beside your door answers more of these questions than the specification sheets of these video doorbells do.

• Look at what is already in the wall. Two thin wires from an old intercom point straight at the TMEZON kits, a transformer and doorbell wiring suit the Reolink, and nothing in the wall at all is the case for battery doorbells.
• Decide who answers. Phone-only doorbells are fine for one adult who carries the phone everywhere, while a household with children or an older relative gets more from a monitor in the hall.
• Check the signal at the door, not in the room. Three of these four doorbells need 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi where they hang, usually in the far corner of the building; owners of two lost the connection at five and ten metres.
• Judge video doorbell night vision by your own porch. The SwitchBot keeps colour for 7.5 metres while its lights are on, the two-wire kits fall back to infrared, and one owner rates that night picture well below the daytime one. A lit doorstep flatters every camera here.
• Settle the storage before the pixels. A card indoors costs nothing to keep but is stolen with the doorbell, while the cloud survives the theft and asks a fee.
• Count the locks. If a garden gate must open as well as the front door, only the two-wire doorbells drive two releases, and the battery model needs its maker's own lock for even one.

The common mistake when comparing video doorbells is buying resolution: a 2K image of an unlit porch tells you less than a plain picture of a lit path, and every unhappy owner here was let down by a connection rather than a sensor. The second is treating video doorbells as security cameras — they watch a metre of doorstep and nothing of the garden. The third is trusting the router at the far end of the house, when the signal that matters is the one at the door.

Frequently asked questions

Verdict

Every model on the same criteria

CriterionSwitchBot 2KReolink 2K+TMEZON 7-inchTMEZON Wi-Fi

Picture quality4.34.73.24.0

Indoor screen4.02.04.64.8

Connection reliability3.03.84.83.5

Storage and privacy4.74.42.04.0

Fitting4.43.84.64.5

Door release2.51.54.54.8

Score against price

• SwitchBot 2K3.9 at about €110
• Reolink 2K+4.2 at about €111
• TMEZON 7-inch3.9 at about €124
• TMEZON Wi-Fi4.1 at about €150

The overall score divided by the typical price, with the best in the group as the full bar. A rough guide, not a verdict — a cheap model that misses the feature you need is no bargain.

SwitchBot 2K3.9Back to this model ↑Reolink 2K+4.2Back to this model ↑TMEZON 7-inch3.9Back to this model ↑TMEZON Wi-Fi4.1Back to this model ↑

The bars are trade-offs, not a ranking, and no doorbell here leads on more than two of them. The wireless doorbell is the one that needs nothing in the wall, and it pays for that with the least reliable link of the four. The wired doorbell has the sharpest picture and the longest record, and no screen indoors at all. The network-free intercom cannot be reached from a phone and cannot lose a connection either, while the newest doorbell adds the app to the same two wires and carries the thinnest set of ratings.

Choose a video doorbell by the wall and by the household, not by the sensor. Whether a caller is answered on a screen in the hall or on a phone in another country matters far more, over the years these doorbells spend outside, than the step from 1080p to 2K. All four video doorbells ring; what separates them is who hears the ring, and where the picture goes afterwards.