Nest Aware vs. Nest Aware Plus: Which Subscription Do I Need?
Google Nest is Google’s line of smart home products for your homes. It makes many devices, including the Google Nest Hub Max, Nest Doorbell, and Nest Cams. The camera-equipped Google Nest Hub Max and Nest Doorbell are generally used for communication, while the Nest Cams are used for remotely viewing your house.
But if you want to keep a longer record of events, you’ll have to subscribe to Nest Aware or Nest Aware Plus. So, which one should you pick?
What Is Google Nest Aware?
Google Nest Aware is designed to work with camera-equipped Google Nest products. That’s because these Google Nest devices only have limited local storage. So, if you want robust security for your home, you must sign up for a Google Nest Aware subscription.
When you have a Google Nest Aware subscription, Google will save events or both events and continuous video history recorded by any camera-equipped Google Nest device to their servers. That way, if something happens within view of your Nest devices, it’s possible to review it later.
If you don’t have a Nest Aware subscription, almost all Nest devices only offer basic motion detection, with a select few offering up to three hours of event video history. That’s why Google Nest security camera owners must have a Nest Aware subscription with their devices.
First-Gen vs. Second-Gen Nest Aware
If you set up your Nest app before August 19, 2019, you’re probably using a first-generation Nest Aware subscription. The first-gen Nest Aware offers subscriptions on a per-camera basis, with different video history lengths.
First-Generation Nest Aware
These are the rates for the first-generation Nest Aware subscription. If you haven’t connected your Nest account with your Google account yet, these are the rates that apply to you.
24/7 Video History
One camera
Two cameras
Three cameras
$5/mo or $50/yr
$8/mo or $80/yr
$11/mo or $110/yr
$10/mo or $100/yr
$15/mo or $150/yr
$20/mo or $200/yr
$30/mo or $300/yr
$45/mo or $450/yr
$60/mo or $600/yr
But once you’ve migrated your Nest account to Google, you’ll start using the second-generation Next Aware subscription.
Second-Generation Nest Aware and Nest Aware Pro Subscriptions
The second-generation Nest Aware subscription unifies all your Google Nest Cameras, Nest Doorbells, and Nest Hub Maxes into one subscription. This subscription model is actually more affordable than the previous model since you don’t have to pay for subscriptions for each individual camera.
Nest Aware
30-day event video history
$6/mo or $60/yr
Nest Aware Pro
60-day event video history + 10 days of 24/7 video history
$12/mo or $120/yr
So, whether you have one or 20 cameras, you pay the same subscription rate. It’s also better than the previous model because your Nest Cameras record events instead of just a continuous recording.
With this, it’s easier to catch incidents on your property rather than manually reviewing the 30 days of recorded video to determine if something happened without your knowledge.
If you think Google’s Nest Cameras are great for securing your home but can’t choose which device you should use, check outour guide to help you pick a suitable Google Nest Cam model.
What Nest Aware Brings to Your Nest Devices
While the Nest Aware subscriptions bring recording capabilities for your camera-equipped Nest devices, it also adds several features that’ll help you monitor your home. These are the capabilities that this subscription adds per device.
Intelligent motion detection
Animal detection
Dog barking alerts
Person speaking alerts
Person seen alerts
Familiar face alerts
Motion in activity zone
Motion, person, package, vehicle, or animal in Activity Zone
Nest Cameras
Nest Camera Indoor / Outdoor
Nest Cam IQ Indoor / Outdoor
Dropcam Pro / HD
Nest Cam (wired) / (battery) / with floodlight
Nest Doorbells
Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen)
Nest Doorbell (wired)
Nest Doorbell (battery)
Nest Displays
Google Nest Hub Max
The Google Nest Hub Max also gets a smoke alarm, CO alarm, and breaking glass detection. That way, if something untoward happens in your house when you’re not there, you’re notified by your phone. You can then contact local emergency services via the Google Home app’s e911 service, which connects you to the 911 center nearest your home.
The Google Nest Hub Max is different from the Google Nest Hub. Before buying one for your smart home, you should checkthe differences between Google Nest Hub and Google Nest Hub Max.
You unlock these features with Nest Aware and Nest Aware Pro subscriptions. So, whether you get the former or the latter, you unlock the capabilities of your camera-equipped Nest devices.
Should You Get the Nest Aware or the Nest Aware Pro Subscription?
Since you unlock all the capabilities of your Google Nest Cameras, Nest Doorbells, and Nest Hub Maxes with even just the basic Nest Aware subscription, the base subscription already offers fantastic value. However, it only detects and stores events for 30 days.
While Google has a robust AI that helps with detection, it will not save any missed events. But if you have the Nest Aware Pro, it will record and save events for 60 days while also giving you 10 days of continuous recording.
If you rarely have visitors, live in a quiet neighborhood, and only your immediate family lives within your compound, then the base Nest Aware subscription should be more than enough for your needs.
But if you live near a busy street, get frequent visitors, or live in a compound with other people, Nest Aware Pro might be more suitable. That way, you can capture everything that happens in your area and save it on your Google account.
Enhanced Protection With Nest Aware
Google’s Nest Cameras are barely useful for security if you don’t pair them with a Nest Aware subscription. But once you sign up for Nest Aware, you unlock the devices' full capabilities.
Combining the hardware and services that Google offers helps your home have an advanced and comprehensive security suite. What’s more, it’s easy to set up and doesn’t require additional hardware, like a central server in your home.
If you’re using the Google Home app to control your home’s smart devices and want to secure it, then it just makes sense to use Google’s Nest cameras and Nest Aware service for your home’s security. With this, you can DIY your home security, making it an affordable and effective alternative to professional security camera installation.
Looking for a smart way of keeping your house secure? The Google Home Security System (aka Nest Home Security) could be ideal for you.
You’ve been quoting these famous films wrong all along!
I plugged random USB devices into my phone and was pleasantly surprised by how many actually worked.
Taming data is easier than it looks.
Some subscriptions are worth the recurring cost, but not these ones.
You’re not getting the most out of what you pay for iCloud+.
