Blink Mini 4K+ Is US$79.99. Two Years of Its AI Plan Costs More

Amazon’s Blink opened US preorders on Oct. 21 for five new security cameras, led by the US$79.99 Blink Mini 4K+, the brand’s first 4K camera, and a US$49.99 Mini Pan-Tilt 2K+. The person and vehicle alerts that make either one useful sit behind a Blink subscription, and the cheapest plan with Blink’s new AI video summaries costs US$69.99 a year at its regular rate. Keep a Mini 4K+ on that plan for two years and you will have paid more for the plan than for the camera.

That math comes from two Amazon pages read side by side: the Oct. 21 announcement on Amazon’s newsroom, which says Smart Alerts on both Mini cameras “require a compatible Blink subscription plan,” and Blink’s own plan comparison page, which lists what each tier costs. The announcement never mentions a plan price. Put together, the two pages give the real price of a Mini 4K+.

Blink Mini 4K+ price and the four other new cameras

All five cameras went up for preorder in the US on Oct. 21. Amazon’s release does not give ship dates. Here is the lineup at US list prices:

• Blink Mini 4K+, US$79.99. A plug-in camera with 4K video, a 115-degree horizontal field of view, dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and an IP65 dust and water rating.
• Blink Mini Pan-Tilt 2K+, US$49.99. 2K video, 350 degrees of pan and 115 of tilt, night vision and two-way audio. Outdoor use needs the Blink Camera Outdoor Adapter, sold separately.
• Blink Spotlight Cam 2K+, US$109.99. Battery-powered and wire-free, with a spotlight that switches on when it detects motion.
• Blink Outdoor 2K XR+, US$149.99 as a one-camera system with the new Sync Module XR+. Amazon claims up to 800 feet of range with some obstructions and up to 2,700 feet with clear line of sight, though video drops to as low as 1080p at the longest range settings.
• Blink Frontier XR+, US$199.99, also bundled with the Sync Module XR+. It is a trail camera for large properties, rated for up to 7,000 feet in open air with nothing in the way.

Those range figures are Amazon’s, measured in ideal conditions. Nobody has published independent testing of the XR+ radio yet, and we have not tested any of the five.

What Smart Alerts and Video Descriptions actually cost

Out of the box, a Blink camera records motion. Telling a person from a car from a swaying branch is a paid feature. Video Descriptions, the AI-written summaries of what a clip shows, cost more again: Amazon’s release says they are limited to “subscribers on eligible AI plans in the U.S., Canada, and the UK,” and Blink’s plans page names those as Basic ai and Plus ai, with the note “Available with Basic ai and Plus ai plans only.”

Blink’s US plan page listed four tiers when we checked it on Oct. 21:

All four list person and vehicle detection and up to 60 days of cloud video history. So the cheapest way to get Smart Alerts is plain Basic at US$39.99 a year, and the cheapest way to get the AI summaries is Basic ai.

There is a second, quieter catch. Video Descriptions are not available in Illinois, according to the release, and only work on phones and tablets set to “select primary languages.” Amazon doesn’t say which languages or why Illinois is excluded.

Two-year cost of a Blink Mini 4K+

We used the same method as our Fitbit Edge cost-of-ownership check: hardware price plus 24 months of the cheapest plan that unlocks the advertised features, at the yearly rate, before tax.

• Mini 4K+ with Basic ai: US$79.99 + US$49.99 (first year) + US$69.99 (second year) = US$199.97. The plan is US$119.98 of that, 1.5 times the camera.
• Mini 4K+ with Basic ai, paid monthly: US$79.99 + 24 × US$6.99 = US$247.75.
• Mini 4K+ with Basic only (Smart Alerts, no AI summaries): US$79.99 + 2 × US$39.99 = US$159.97.
• Mini Pan-Tilt 2K+ with Basic: US$49.99 + US$79.98 = US$129.97, with the plan costing 1.6 times the camera.

Over two years, the AI plan for a US$79.99 camera costs US$119.98.

The single-device plans stop making sense quickly. Two cameras on two Basic ai plans run US$239.96 over two years, even with the first-year discount; Plus ai covers unlimited devices for US$349.98 across the same period at its first-year discount, so it starts paying off at the third camera, which is exactly where Blink would like you to end up.

The introductory first-year prices are what Blink’s page showed on Oct. 21. Amazon prices move often, so check the plan page at checkout.

Blink Mini 4K+ in Canada and the UK

Amazon’s release says the Mini 4K+ and Mini Pan-Tilt 2K+ are on preorder in Canada and the UK, along with Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand. The other three cameras are listed as coming to Canada, with an email sign-up, and aren’t listed for the UK at all. iPhone in Canada reports that Canadian availability for those three is not expected until early 2027, citing an Amazon Canada spokesperson.

We set out to put the Canadian and British prices next to the US one. We could not confirm either from the amazon.ca or amazon.co.uk listings before publication, so we are not printing them; Amazon’s own release gives US prices only. If you’re shopping outside the US, the AI plan is the part to price out. Video Descriptions are promised in all three countries, but only on AI plans.

What to do before you preorder

• Decide whether you want alerts or summaries. If a push notice that says “person” is enough, Basic at US$39.99 a year does it. Video Descriptions need Basic ai or Plus ai.
• Count your cameras first. One or two cameras suit single-device plans. At three or more, compare against Plus ai.
• Read the range claims as maximums. The Outdoor 2K XR+ hits 2,700 feet only with clear line of sight, and the camera trades resolution for that reach.
• Lock down the account. A camera is only as private as the Amazon login behind it; our passkeys explainer shows how to set one up.

More camera and smart-home coverage is on our gadgets page, including Apple’s HomeView, which also has a fee coming.

The Mini 4K+ box will say US$79.99. The other US$69.99 a year is on a different page.