Too good to be true? That’s what we first thought when we received an email from the Google Store on June 2, 2020, entitled “You’ve got a Nest Hub to redeem at Google Store.” As it turned out, this was an entirely legitimate offer. We clicked through to the Google Store, successfully checked out, and our free Nest Hub is on the way. Now, from our direct experience and based on the reporting from other media outlets, it appears Google is offering the free smart displays to existing customers upgrading recently to the new Nest Aware Plus annual subscription plan—which covers cloud video services for all Google Nest cams, but also services for all Google speakers and displays in the home.
Also: Read our detailed Should You Upgrade to New Nest Aware? article for much more detail on the new Nest Aware.
The $89.95 Google Nest Hub for Free
In our case, we processed an upgrade to our Nest Aware subscription on May 21—migrating from an $80-annual first generation Nest Aware plan to the new Nest Aware Plus plan at an annual cost of $120. The offer here includes the standard Google Nest Hub, the original 7-in. version of the hub that started much of the smart display movement. Google just dropped the cost of the hub from $129 to $89.95, while they still offer the 10-in. Google Nest Hub Max at $229. These displays run the Google Assistant, and work nicely when paired with the Nest Hello video doorbell and all other Nest cameras.
New Nest Aware Plans Are Rolling Out
Announced in late 2019 but only now rolling out to Google Nest customers, the new second-generation Nest Aware plans offer revised costing and an unlimited, all-you-can-eat approach to cloud video services. We are preparing a detailed look at the these new plans, but for most Google Nest customers with more than one Nest camera, the new plans may be a good deal versus the à la carte first-generation plans. The biggest distinction between the new and old plans, beyond the unlimited approach, lies in the continuous video recording versus event-based recording features. See the table below for details on the plans.
Table: Costs of Nest Aware First Generation vs. Second Generation (Source: Google)
| Nest Aware (1st Generation) | One Camera | Two Cameras | Three Cameras |
| 5-day 24/7 video history | $5/month $50/year | $8/month $80/year | $11/month $110/year |
| 10-day 24/7 video history | $10/month $100/year | $15/month $150/year | $20/month $200/year |
| 30-day 24/7 video history | $30/month $300/year | $45/month $450/year | $60/month $600/year |
Nest Aware (2nd Generation) | All cameras, speakers, and displays in home | ||
| 30-day event video history | $6/month $60/year | ||
Nest Aware Plus (2nd Generation) | All cameras, speakers, and displays in home | ||
| 60-day event video history 10-day 24/7 video history | $12/month $120/year |
Act Now
So, if you get one of these emails from the Google Store, by all means click through and take them up on it. The email will include a promo code, but be aware these single-use codes will expire (our code had an expiration date of 07/31/2020). In the case of our free offer, the total cost of the order was genuinely zero—there were no taxes or shipping fees tacked on. Our order does look like it was caught up in a shipping backlog, however, as we were advised to expect arrival in early July.
