A:Answer Hi Chantal, No, you do not need to pay a subscription to be able to use the Blink Outdoor 4 Wireless cameras. You can use the Blink Outdoor 4 cameras without a subscription, but you will not be able to save video clips to the cloud and will be limited in some features. Without a subscription, you can still use live view, receive motion-based notifications, and use two-way audio. With a Blink Sync Module (like the one included in the Outdoor 4 with the XR module), you can also save video recordings locally to a MicroSD card. Hope you have a great day.