Life Alert Medical Alert System Review, Cost and Pricing in 2026

Packages & Pricing

The Life Alert base station’s design shows its age.

Life Alert’s pricing is on the higher end of the market. We had to call directly to obtain a quote and discovered their plans range from $49.95 to $89.85 per month, based on the features you select. Additionally, there’s a one-time $197 fee covering delivery, installation, and activation – significantly higher than the $99 to $125 fee typical among most providers.

Here’s a breakdown of Life Alert’s packages and pricing:

Package Pricing Snapshot for Life Alert

Equipment Upgrade Costs & Freebies

We appreciate that Life Alert made their wall-mount help button waterproof so we could set it up near our shower.

Overall, Life Alert lacks several features we’ve come to expect from modern medical alert systems, such as advanced wearable options like the Medical Guardian MGMove smartwatch we tested.

That said, Life Alert offers a price-lock guarantee and lifetime warranty, which we can appreciate. For comparison, some competitors like Medical Guardian offer limited warranties and no price lock, while others like ADT provide similar lifetime warranties and price-lock guarantees when we tested ADT’s medical alert system.

Here’s a more comprehensive look at Life Alert’s upgrade options and freebies:

When you add it all up, Life Alert costs more than the competition, but you’re getting a time-tested solution that’s been around for nearly 40 years. Check out our review of Bay Alarm Medical for a look at another time-tested solution that costs less and has done a better job at keeping up with the times.

>> Read More: Bay Alarm Medical Alert Systems Cost & Packages

Alert Systems & Packages

There are three different Life Alert systems to select from. Each one offers round-the-clock professional monitoring and requires a landline or cellular service. We’re going to go through each one in detail, starting with their at-home systems.

At-Home Alert Systems

The In-Home systems both revolve around the same base station. The only difference is the Complete In-Home Plan comes with two add-on devices whereas the Modified In-Home Plan comes with one add-on device. Let’s jump in with an overview of the Complete plan.

Complete In-Home Plan

Life Alert’s main system comes with a base station and a wearable neck or wrist pendant. With the Complete plan, you get two add-on devices—their waterproof wall-mount buttons. We put one in our bathroom and one in our kitchen, the two locations where falls are most likely to happen. 1

You can use your pendant up to 1,000 feet away from the base station and install the wall-mount buttons anywhere within a 1,000-foot range from the base station. That’s up there with the best long-range medical alert systems in the industry, so no complaints there.

Who It’s Best For: Seniors who do not want to wear their pendant 24/7 so they want an additional wall-mount help button they can use instead.

Expert Examined

From Christopher Norman, a Board-Certified Geriatric Nurse Practitioner with the National Council on Aging (NCOA)

“As most falls happen in the bathroom or bedroom, the waterproof feature has always been appealing to me as a clinician. One woman, in particular, had a preoccupation with her bowel movements (after living many years with an irritable bowel) and would often spend up to an hour at a time in the bathroom, or spend extended time in the shower. With her medical alert system (MAS), she, her family members, the aides who worked with her, and myself, all had more peace of mind that if she fell or needed something, she had a way to call for assistance quickly.”

Modified In-Home Plan

Life Alert’s most affordable plan costs $69.95 per month, which is high compared to other providers. For most people, we recommend this plan, as the Complete system only adds an extra wall-mount help button for $20 more per month—hardly worth it. By contrast, extra wall-mount buttons from other providers usually cost a flat fee under $20 or a monthly rate below $5.

Who It’s Best For: The Modified plan is best for home-bound seniors that don’t mind wearing their pendant as a necklace or wristband throughout their home.

Combo In-Home and Mobile Alert System

We were able to wear our Life Alert pendants as a wristband or a necklace.

To buy Life Alert’s on-the-go solution, you also need to buy their at-home system. But, to our surprise, their on-the-go solution only adds $20 to the monthly cost of their at-home systems bringing the total price up to $89.95 per month. A separate at-home and on-the-go system from Medical Guardian starts at $71.90, so still more but not by much. Here’s what you can expect from Life Alert’s on-the-go solution.

Home & GPS Plan

Overall, Life Alert’s mobile device works like its at-home system, but it includes GPS so emergency personnel or a caregiver can locate you when you press the help button. One standout feature is its extended battery life. We appreciated not having to charge it frequently. With most competitors, we had to charge our on-the-go system every four to seven days.

Who It’s Best For: Seniors who live an active lifestyle that want both an at-home system and a mobile device for protection anywhere.

Current Deal

Currently, Life Alert is offering a free month of service if you opt for paying annually. As mentioned, their pricing is not transparent, so we had to rely on what different sales reps told us. The deals your sales agent offers can vary from what we were offered, so you’ll need to call to figure out your final pricing. Here are the deals we were offered, though:

>> Check Out: Cheapest & Most Affordable Medical Alert Systems of 2026

Is Life Alert Worth It?

Life Alert’s monthly fees are pricey, ranging from $49.90 to $89.85 per month. For context, we discuss in our medical alert buying guide that top-tier systems generally start at around $25 to $35 per month. With that in mind, we find Life Alert costs more than the value they provide.

Sure, they offer a lifetime warranty and price-lock guarantee, which is rare for the industry, but not unheard of. And if that’s what you’re looking for, you can get those two features for a lot less through ADT Medical.

Another big drawback is Life Alert’s lack of fall detection, which we consider a standard service in the industry and a lifesaving investment.

Finally, while there are no equipment fees, they charge an upfront fee of $198 for various upfront costs such as shipping, installation, and activation of equipment. That’s about the same as Medical Guardian charges for their fanciest equipment.

While they might have one of the biggest names in the industry and one of the best reputations, we’d really like to see them rely less on name recognition and more on improving their offerings and lowering their costs.

How Does Life Alert Stack Up Against the Competition?

Like we mentioned a few times, Life Alert provides a quality service, but their equipment is dated and they cost a lot more than the competition. For example, compared to Bay Alarm which has been around for about as long, Life Alert costs almost twice as much and offers fewer equipment options.

When we tested Medical Guardian, we also paid less than we paid with Life Alert for significantly more advanced equipment. We were able to get the MGMove smartwatch for $199 upfront (almost the same as Life Alert’s upfront fee) and the MGHome Cellular system for about $150 upfront and no hidden fees.

>> Learn More: The Best Medical Alert Watches for Seniors in 2026

Methodology: How We Assessed Life Alert’s Value

Finding out Life Alert’s pricing by calling them up and speaking to their sales representatives only gave us half the story. We know to fully assess their value, we needed to buy a system and test it out ourselves. So, that’s exactly what we did. During our tests, we assessed the following criteria:

• Response Time: Our team ran several simulated tests and timed how long it took before we were in contact with a monitoring agent from Life Alert.
• Equipment Quality: To assess equipment quality, we test that it reliably performs all advertised features as well as consider the durability and comfort of all wearable devices.
• Add-On Features: We prefer systems that offer plenty of add-on features so we can customize the system to our liking such as fall detection and GPS tracking for mobile devices.
• Pricing: Like we mentioned, we called Life Alert to get a full breakdown of their pricing.

To round the assessment of our senior care experts with years of experience, we also consulted with third-party experts and current users of Life Alert systems.

Life Alert Company History

Life Alert is a household name and has been providing reliable products and services for nearly 40 years.

Today, the brand has over 600 employees in their Encino, California headquarters.3

Final Thoughts: Is Life Alert Right For You?

For most people, there are better alternatives than Life Alert. Sure, they have great name recognition, but their systems don’t live up to their reputation. They feel dated compared to modern medical alert systems like Bay Alarm Medical and Medical Guardian.

Unless you really value Life Alert’s name recognition, you can get a better system for a lower price from their competitors. It’s not that they’re bad, either, we actually liked the reliability of their monitoring, but they’re still overpriced.

>> Comparison Shopping: Bay Alarm Medical vs. Medical Guardian 2026

Life Alert FAQs