Why Should We Have To Pay For 5 Camera Plan?

[Kero2]

I was going to sign up for the Elite plan and CVR for two cameras. I was told that I can't just sign up for 2 single camera plans, but I have to sign up for the 5 camera plan. Really? So you expect us to pay the higher price even though we don't have the additional cameras? Whoever though this was a good idea is crazy. So for 2 cameras I would have to pay $15 plus $10 twice for CVR for my two camera's totaling $35! Most complete home security sytems don't even charge that monthly. Arlo's greed will be their undoing especially with so many other company's like Eufy offering free cloud recording and even Nest Secure offers cvr included. I'll be canceling my current plan and selling or trashing my Arlo cameras and will probably pick up a couple EufyCam 2's. Use to like Arlo until they got too greedy.

[dcfox1]

I assume you have the ultra if you need elite. I also assumed  like you that we can have two single plans. Wont save alot though.  Not sure if cvr covers just one or all. I dont have that. Was it support that told you that?

[Kero2]

Yea, I have the Ultras and wouldn't save much, but with plans already so expensive, the extra $5 just pushed me over the edge. Hexk, Nest Aware is $5 a month and you get cvr. Arlo is charging $10 per camera for CVR alone.

[michaelkenward]

Arlo's pricing regime is a wonder to behold, irrational, incomprehensible and poorly explained.

Arlo subscription plans and cloud recording

Have a calculator to hand.

[Haakona]

I understand your frustration completely.

I currently have two Arlo Pro 2 cameras (which included 7 days of cloud upload for free), and was considering upgrading to Arlo Pro 3 or possibly Arlo Ultra.  However, after some research I discovered that you have to pay a subscription fee for both of these security camera systems.  After looking at the actual costs, I am completely dumbfounded into the structure of their so called "Smart Plans".

I only need 2 cameras, so I would have to pay the higher price which supports "up to 5 cameras", so that means I would be paying for 3 cameras I would not have!!!!  And why would Arlo have a plan to support only one camera, when they sell their security cameras systems with 2 or 3 or 4 cameras to start with????  To me, it defies logic.

This is seriously stopping me from purchasing a new Arlo Pro 3 or Arlo Ultra security camera system.  If they don't fix their subscription fees soon to something more logical, like per camera, I think I will switch to a different brand like Google Nest who seem to understand their customers better.

[Mavrrick]

The pricing right now is a bit out of control. I have been a big supporter of Arlo. I still believe that the best option for most is to use the Pro 3 base station for motion recording to avoid the subscription fees as long as the have pro 2 or better cameras.

With that said i found myself recently buying a alternative camera that is still 2k, and returning a Pro 3 kit. The alternative cameras will support 2k record locally so no cloud costs if i don't want to. It will still allow access remotely and to RSTP if I decide i need it. It will also do local CVR. One of the best things is that it also has local AI so it will also still do smart notifications. All of that subscription free. The indoor camera is also only $40. Hopefully the quality is as good as i hope, and if so ARLO will be getting phased out. Think about this for the cost of the 3 cameras i returned i could get over 10 of these cameras with no subscriptions

Once i factored in the cost of CVR it was a no brainer to look at this camera. I am not saying it will 100% replace my Arlo Q that is currently doing CVR, but I do suspect that it will with no problems. I paid $20 the last two months for Arlo Smart multi-camera plan  and CVR on one camera that is nuts. Costs on technology are suppose to go down over time as the tech improves, not go up. I am going to lower it to 13$ a month by going down to just have Arlo Smart for my video doorbell, but still that is crazy when you look at the other options out there and there costs now. Arlo isn't so good that it can charge more than anyone else and think it won't have a huge negative impact on their total subscriber counts.

[zsolutions]

agree - exactly what brought me here to research.