Blink membership is Amazon's paid plan for its home security camera system, and it costs $10 per month or $100 per year
Blink is a line of wireless security cameras owned by Amazon. The cameras themselves cost money to buy upfront — usually $35 to $100 depending on the model — but the membership is separate. The membership unlocks cloud storage for your video recordings, which is where the $10 monthly or $100 yearly fee comes in.
Without membership, your Blink cameras still work and send you alerts when they detect motion. You just cannot save the video clips to the cloud. With membership, every motion-triggered video gets stored automatically so you can watch it later, even if you delete it from your phone.
Amazon also offers a Blink Plus tier at $10 per month per camera (or $100 per year per camera) if you want additional features like person detection, package detection, and extended cloud storage. This is different from the standard membership and costs more.
Key Takeaways
- Standard Blink membership costs $10 per month or $100 per year and covers cloud video storage for all your Blink cameras on one account.
- Without membership, your cameras still detect motion and send alerts, but video clips are not saved to the cloud.
- Blink Plus costs $10 per month per camera and adds features like person detection and package detection on top of cloud storage.
- You can try the service free for 30 days before deciding whether to pay for a membership.
What standard membership includes
When you pay for standard Blink membership, you get cloud storage for all video clips recorded by your cameras. Every time a camera detects motion, it records a short video and saves it to Amazon's servers. You can watch these clips in the Blink app on your phone or computer for as long as you keep the membership active.
The membership covers an unlimited number of cameras on a single account. If you have two Blink cameras, three, or ten, the $10 monthly fee covers storage for all of them. This makes it cheaper than paying per-camera if you have multiple devices.
Standard membership also includes live view, which lets you watch your camera feed in real time through the app, and motion alerts that notify you when something moves in front of the camera. These features work without membership too, but cloud storage does not.
What Blink Plus adds and costs more
Blink Plus is a higher tier that costs $10 per month for each individual camera. If you have three cameras and want Plus on all of them, that is $30 per month total. You can also mix and match — put Plus on one or two cameras and keep the others on standard membership.
The main additions in Plus are person detection, which tells you whether the motion it detected was a person rather than an animal or blowing leaves, and package detection, which alerts you specifically when a package is delivered. Plus also extends cloud storage from 30 days to 60 days, so older clips stick around longer before they disappear.
Plus does not include anything that changes how the camera records or what it can see. It only changes what information the app shows you and how long videos stay in the cloud. If person detection and longer storage do not matter to you, standard membership does the same job for less money.
How to check your current plan and costs
Open the Blink app on your phone and tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the bottom right. Select "Account" and then "Subscription." This screen shows your current plan, when it renews, and what you are paying.
If you have never set up membership, the app will show "No active subscription" and offer you a 30-day free trial. You can start the trial without entering a payment method, and Amazon will remind you before the trial ends so you can cancel if you do not want to be charged.
You can change your plan at any time from the same Subscription screen. If you are on monthly and want to switch to yearly, or vice versa, the change takes effect on your next billing date. Amazon prorates the cost if you switch mid-cycle.
Whether membership is worth the cost
Membership makes sense if you want to keep a record of what happened outside your home. Without it, you can only see live video right now, not what occurred while you were away. If you have a package stolen or a break-in attempt, you have nothing to show police or your insurance company.
If you live somewhere with little activity — a quiet neighborhood, a rural area — you might not need cloud storage because motion events are rare and you catch them in real time anyway. In that case, the cameras work fine without membership.
Blink Plus is worth considering if you have a busy street or driveway where lots of things trigger motion alerts. Person detection cuts down on false alarms from animals or weather, so you see only the alerts that matter. If you rarely get motion alerts, Plus is probably not necessary.
How Blink membership compares to other camera systems
Most home security camera brands charge for cloud storage in similar ways. Ring, which is also owned by Amazon, charges $3 to $12 per month depending on how many cameras you have and what features you want. Wyze charges $1.99 per month per camera for cloud storage. Nest charges $6 per month for one camera or $12 per month for unlimited cameras.
Blink's $10 monthly flat rate for unlimited cameras is competitive if you have multiple devices. If you have just one camera, Wyze or Ring might be cheaper. If you have five or more, Blink is usually the better deal.
Some systems let you store video locally on a hub or hard drive instead of paying for cloud storage. Blink does not offer this option — cloud storage is the only way to save videos. If local storage matters to you, that is a reason to look at other brands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Blink cameras without paying for membership?
Yes. The cameras record motion and send you alerts without membership. You just cannot save the video clips to the cloud. Live view works too. Membership is only required if you want to store and watch recordings later.
Does the 30-day free trial require a credit card?
No. You can start the trial without entering payment information. Amazon will ask for a card before the trial ends if you want to keep the membership, and you can cancel anytime before then without being charged.
What happens to my videos if I cancel membership?
Your saved clips disappear when your membership ends. If you cancel mid-month, you lose access to the cloud storage when ready. read any videos you want to keep before you cancel.
Can I have different membership levels on different cameras?
Yes. You can put some cameras on standard membership and others on Blink Plus, or have some cameras with no membership at all. Each camera's features are independent on your account.
Is Blink membership the same as Amazon Prime?
No. Blink membership is separate from Prime and costs extra. Prime does not include Blink storage, and Blink membership does not give you Prime benefits. They are two different subscriptions.