Best No Contract Home Security Systems

SimpliSafe has a 60-day money-back guarantee. When you add that to the no-contract freedom, you’ve got a system that’s well worth trying out. In our in-home trial, SimpliSafe had the fastest and easiest setup of all the security systems we’ve tested. And up-front costs for the hardware were substantially lower than comparable systems from other companies. For the SimpliSafe Essentials kit and a few extras, we paid only $301.56. Most home security companies would charge $500-$1,000 for a similar package.

The hardware itself has a cool, modern design. The base station is a sleek tabletop tower that glows a soft blue, like a sophisticated smart lamp. The software, however, isn’t going to wow you with sophistication. We found the SimpliSafe keypad interface to be a lot like texting on a cell phone circa 2001. A move toward touchscreen technology would be a definite improvement in the future. SimpliSafe does, though, have the technology to integrate with Alexa and Google Home for easy voice control, which we appreciate.

SimpliSafe equipment packages range from $183-$391. Or make your own package by starting with the base station and keypad ($184.98) and adding on entry sensors ($14.99 each), motion sensors ($29.99 each), and other sensors. You can also get a panic button for $19.99 and a SimpliCam for $99. The company has been known to throw in a free SimpliCam with the purchase of any new SimpliSafe system.

SimpliSafe has two monitoring plans to choose from:

• Standard for $9.99 per month: self-monitoring with recording for up to five cameras
• Interactive for $24.99 per month: professional monitoring with recording for up to 10 cameras

When we tested out the system, we went with the latter, and we recommend you do, too. It’s one of the more affordable monitoring plans we’ve seen, and it comes with 24/7 professional monitoring, priority dispatch, and a user-friendly mobile app. We found ourselves using the app to manage our system about 75% of the time, so we would not recommend going without it.

To read about our full experience with SimpliSafe, check out our hands-on SimpliSafe review.

Frontpoint’s hub design is sleek and modern, with an iridescent sheen. It uses a dual-path connection, which means it’ll connect to your cellular service first, and if the cell service is down, it’ll automatically connect to your Wi-Fi. This is the best connection type you can get.

Frontpoint equipment packages range from $319.95-$599.88. Or, create your own package by starting with a hub and keypad for $249.98 and adding on sensors and other accessories. Their door/window sensors run $19.99 each, motion sensors are $29.99, and panic pendants are $19.99.

Frontpoint has two monitoring plans to choose from:

• Interactive for $44.99 per month: intrusion + environmental monitoring
• Ultimate for $49.99 per month: intrusion + environmental monitoring + video + home automation

Plus, Frontpoint has some advanced features that are worth talking about. For instance, it lets you customize “scenes.” There are four preset scenes built in: Home, Away, Sleep, and Wake Up. But you can also create your own customized scenes. When we tested the system in our home, we made a nighttime routine scene that armed our system silently and forced bypass of our bedroom sensor (so we could leave the window open) — with the simple tap of a button. Many other home security systems require each step to be done manually in the app, so this was a huge time saver.

Frontpoint also lets you customize the instant notifications you receive. Like other brands, Frontpoint sends its notifications via email, SMS text message, or push notification. But they won’t just notify you if an alarm is triggered. They’ll let you know about any event you set as a trigger. When we tried out the system at home, we were very happy to get a “Left Open” alert one morning when we’d forgotten to shut one of our doors. The alert arrived just in time to fix the problem before leaving the house for the day.

And we wouldn’t be doing the Frontpoint system justice if we didn’t mention its geo-fencing feature. Frontpoint uses your smartphone’s GPS to put a virtual “fence” around your home. When you leave the area without arming the system, you’ll receive a notification reminding you that your home isn’t secure. This feature alone may bring you a lot of peace of mind. To read about our full experience using Frontpoint Security, have a look at our in-depth Frontpoint review.

Looking for an affordable security system with innovative equipment? abode has a sleek, modern look in classic black-and-white. It’s got the smallest entry sensors we’ve ever seen. And the iota Gateway hub has a built-in HD camera. Most impressive, however, is abode’s CUE — a native home automation platform that turns your security system into a wireless home wizard.

CUE not only integrates with Alexa and Google Assistant, like many other home security hubs, it also integrates with your smart lights, your garage door sensor, and even your Bose speakers. (Yes, you can set unique chimes, crank up the volume of your siren, and more.)

You can also use CUE to create custom automations, like arming your home 15 minutes after sunset. Not only can it set up a geo-fence like Frontpoint does, but it can automatically close your garage door when you leave the geo-fence boundary. Pretty neat. Oh, and all this with no stressful contracts to deal with!

With abode, equipment starter kits range from $229-$329, which is affordable compared to industry standards. Additional door/window sensors are $32 each, motion sensors are $55 each, and panic buttons are $35. You can also choose from lots of other optional accessories.

abode has two monitoring plans to choose from:

• Standard for $6.00 per month: self-monitoring and home automation
• Pro for $19.99 per month: professional monitoring, cellular backup, and more

Read our latest abode review to find out if this is the right system to protect your home.

Scout offers a curated home security experience. You can build your own security system by selecting exactly what you need from their array of artfully designed equipment. Just add their $120 hub to your cart in your choice of white (arctic) or black (midnight). Then add on the sensors you need — door for $50, access/window for $20, or motion detection for $30. You can also include a keypad for $50, a 1080p indoor camera for $99, or a video doorbell for $99.

Scout has two monitoring plans to choose from:

• Always On (aka self-monitoring) for $9.99 per month: 4G LTE cellular backup, a mobile app, and text, email, and push notifications.
• Always On+ for $19.99 per month: all the same benefits as Always On, plus 24/7 professional monitoring and free cloud storage for your first camera or doorbell.

You get several smart home integrations with Scout — notably Alexa and Google Assistant. They continue to add more integrations over time.