Do Nest cameras and doorbells need a subscription?

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Answer: No, but free history is short. Every Nest camera gives live video without a plan. Newer wired models (Nest Cam Indoor wired 3rd gen, Nest Cam Outdoor wired 2nd gen, Nest Doorbell wired 3rd gen) keep up to 6 hours of event video previews for free; the battery Nest Cam and Nest Doorbell keep up to 3 hours. Longer history needs Google Home Premium.

Google says that regardless of model or subscription, you can watch your camera's live stream in the app. What you can look back at for free depends on the model: up to 6 hours of event video previews (clips up to 10 seconds) on the Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen), Nest Cam Outdoor (wired, 2nd gen) and Nest Doorbell (wired, 3rd gen); up to 3 hours of event video history on the Nest Cam (battery), Nest Cam (wired), Nest Doorbell (battery) and Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen); and only 3 hours of photo snapshots on older models such as the Nest Cam IQ and the original Nest Doorbell (wired). 1

Google Home Premium replaced Nest Aware. Standard costs $10 a month or $100 a year for 30 days of event history; Advanced costs $20 a month or $200 a year for 60 days of event history and 10 days of 24/7 video 2. 24/7 history needs a wired camera: Google says a battery Nest Cam must be on a power source, and the Nest Doorbell (battery) never gets 24/7 history, even wired 1.

Is there local storage I can use instead?

No. Nest cameras keep up to one hour of events in internal memory during a Wi-Fi outage and upload them later, but Google says that memory is not accessible. See Do Nest cameras work without internet? 3

Do I need a Google account?

Yes. The Google Home app requires a Google Account and a home Wi-Fi network. 4

What happens if I downgrade from Advanced to Standard?

Google says you lose event history older than 30 days, and your last 10 days of 24/7 history is converted to event history. 1

Does Nest work with Home Assistant?

Through Google's cloud only: Home Assistant's Nest integration uses Google's Smart Device Management API, which Home Assistant says requires a US$5 fee and does not work with some account types such as Google Workspace. 5

DeviceScoreOfflineLocal storageHome AssistantRTSP/ONVIFSubscriptionAccount
Google Nest Doorbell (battery)Doorbell · Battery or wired22PartialBuffer onlyCloudNoPartlyRequired
Google Nest Cam (battery)Camera · Battery or wired22PartialBuffer onlyCloudNoPartlyRequired
Google Nest Doorbell (wired, 3rd gen)Doorbell · Wired19PartialBuffer onlyUnverifiedNoPartlyRequired
Google Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen)Camera · Plug-in19PartialBuffer onlyUnverifiedNoPartlyRequired

Informational only, not legal advice. Found an error? Tell us.

Sources

  1. Google: Event and 24/7 video history · checked Oct 26, 2026
  2. Google Store: Nest Doorbell (wired, 3rd gen) · checked Oct 22, 2026
  3. Google: What happens to Nest cameras when Wi-Fi or power goes out · checked Oct 22, 2026
  4. Google: Requirements for Google Nest and Chromecast devices · checked Oct 22, 2026
  5. Home Assistant: Google Nest integration · checked Oct 26, 2026