Home Security monitoring costs, contracts and system comparisons
DIY systems collapsed the price of the hardware. The comparison that still matters is the subscription behind it.
What a home security system costs
The equipment is the small number. What decides the cost of a home security system is the monitoring plan behind it, paid every month for as long as you own the house.
A starter kit runs a couple of hundred dollars and lasts years. A monitoring plan runs between roughly $5 and $80 a month depending on what you ask it to do, and over a decade that is the entire cost of the decision. Comparing systems on the price of the box is comparing the wrong number.
The self-installed systems have also ended the era of the three-year contract. Both of the major ones sell month to month, which means the plan you pick is a decision you can revisit rather than one you sign away, and that changes how you should shop.
Home Palais never collects your name, your phone number or your address for a provider. Every link here goes to the company that sells the system, and nothing on this site is a quote form.
The six home security terms that decide the bill
Every system is advertised on its hardware and paid for through its plan. These are the clauses that set what you actually spend, in the order worth reading them.
| Term | What it is | What to check before signing |
|---|---|---|
| Monitoring tier | Whether a monitoring center watches the alarm, or the app just notifies you. | Self-monitoring is much cheaper and means you are the one who has to notice at four in the morning. Decide honestly which of those you are buying. |
| Professional dispatch | Whether the plan includes a human calling the police on your behalf. | It is not on every tier, and on some systems it is an add-on rather than an upgrade. Check the price of the tier that includes it, not the entry tier. |
| Video verification | Whether an agent can open the camera during an alarm and see what is happening before dispatching. | A growing number of police departments prioritise verified alarms. One provider builds this into a plan tier; another sells it as a separate premium service. |
| Video history | How long recorded events are kept, and whether continuous recording costs extra. | Retention runs from days to months across providers, and per-camera continuous recording is usually a separate line on the bill. |
| Contract and backup | Whether the plan requires a term, and whether the base station keeps reporting without power or broadband. | The DIY systems are month to month. Cellular and battery backup should be included rather than an upgrade; if they are not, the alarm stops at the first outage. |
| Permits and false alarms | What your municipality requires of a monitored alarm, and what it charges when one is false. | Most American cities require an alarm permit and fine repeat false alarms. Look up the ordinance before the system goes live, not after the first invoice. |
Plan prices and tier names change often on both major systems, and neither publishes a stable page a comparison can cite. Check the current price on the provider’s own site before buying, and compare what a tier does rather than what it is called.
How Home Palais reads a home security system
Price the plan over ten years, then look at the hardware. The box is the cheapest decision you will make about this system
Home security questions, answered
Is professional monitoring worth the monthly cost?
It is worth it if you want someone other than yourself to act on an alarm. Self-monitoring costs a fraction and depends entirely on you noticing a notification, at any hour and in any situation. The honest test is not whether the feature sounds useful but whether you will answer the phone.
Do I still need a long contract?
Not on the self-installed systems. Both major DIY providers sell month to month, and the equipment is yours. That is the biggest change in this category in a decade, and it is the reason the traditional installers have had to drop their terms too.
Does a security system lower my insurance?
Usually a little. Most insurers offer a discount for a professionally monitored system, typically in the low single-digit percentages, and they will want a certificate from the monitoring company. Ask what documentation yours needs before assuming the discount covers the subscription.
Do I need a permit?
In most American cities, yes, for a monitored alarm. The permit is usually inexpensive; the fines for repeat false alarms are not. Check your municipality’s alarm ordinance before the system is armed for the first time.
Are cameras or sensors more useful?
Sensors stop an entry; cameras record one. A camera on every corner and no contact sensors is a documentary of your break-in. Put the sensors on the doors and the accessible windows first, then add cameras where they answer a question you actually have.
What about the neighborhood before the system?
Lighting, sightlines and a solid deadbolt do more per dollar than anything with a subscription. A security system is worth buying once the cheap physical work is done, not instead of it.
Home Palais compares systems on published terms, dated and linked. No quote form, no phone number, nothing collected on this domain.
Compare the monthly cost Before the hardware