Ring doorbells are very popular thanks to their easy installation and ability to chat to callers and keep an eye on goings on at your front door. But if they are a little too expensive, or you’d prefer to go with another brand, there are two new alternatives announced today that could fit the bill.

The Blink Wired Doorbell 2K+ and Blink Battery Doorbell 2K+ cost £39.99 and £59.99 respectively, and are Blink’s first 2K resolution doorbells. This means they should offer better clarity than lower-res models so you can better see who’s knocking, or whether that package has been dropped off.

One thing to note is that Ring and Blink are separate brands but are both owned by Amazon. If you prefer not to use that firm’s products, your smart doorbell options extend to Google, eufy, Reolink and Tapo, to name a few.

If you’re OK with Amazon, £39.99 is a very competitive price for a smart doorbell. As the name suggests, the Wired Doorbell 2K+ relies on hardwiring the unit into a bell system in your home. If you have the setup already installed, hooking it up should be easy enough.

Blink says the doorbell “features 2K resolution and improved dynamic range, enabling clearer detail in both bright and challenging conditions—bringing premium video capabilities to an accessible price point.”

For £59.99, the Battery Doorbell 2K+ has better specs, though.

“For customers who prefer flexible installation, the Blink Battery Doorbell 2K+ builds on the previous generation with meaningful upgrades,” Blink said. “It features 2K resolution, a head-to-toe field of view that helps customers see visitors and packages more completely, and improved dynamic range for better visibility in bright or low-light environments.”

It could be a better buy at £59.99, with the caveat that you’ll have to unclip it from its housing once in a while to recharge it indoors.

Just don’t forget that you’ll also need to buy a Blink Chime unit that plugs into a plug socket. Without it, someone ringing the bell will only send a notification alert to your iPhone or Android phone via the Blink app.

In the app you can view who’s at the door and talk to them with a two-way chat feature enabled by the doorbells’ speakers and mics.

If this all sounds great to you, unfortunately there will be a feature missing at launch for UK buyers – and that’s even if you’ve forked out for the frankly necessary Blink subscription plan, which costs from £2.50 per month.

Blink says at launch only US buyers will have access to smarter alerts that give a description of what is happening at your door. Usually, Blink cameras will just send a generic motion alert to your phone, needing you to watch it to see what’s going on.

With this update, the notification will describe – to the best of the tech’s abilities – what is happening.

There’s no word on when this feature will make it to the UK, but both new doorbells are on sale now at Amazon.