No one wants to worry about a break-in. But no one wants to end up paying fees every month just to check their video doorbell feed or find out their window was broken, and most smart security systems (even the original ones that weren’t touted as smart!) rely on your fear to have you paying month after month for the promise of catching burglars and stopping intruders for you.
These systems do work, and they can give you a lot of peace of mind. This comes with a hefty price tag, though, and plenty of people would be more than happy with a system they build themselves sans monthly fees. If you’re not interested in a system that will call the police or fire department if you don’t respond fast enough to something that turns out to be minor, or don’t want to have strangers looking through your security cameras at your property, I’m here to help with that.
This guide collects a handful of our favorite smart home security accessories that won’t paywall you left and right, and will give you local storage options for video so you aren’t locked into the cloud. This way you can build the system that works for you. Here’s everything I recommend if you want smart home security without the subscriptions.
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What Exactly Is a Smart Home Security System?
Smart security systems can look like whatever you want, in my opinion, but there are a lot of starter kits you’ve probably seen. Smart-home brands like Abode and SimpliSafe have starter packs you’ve likely seen before with motion sensors, door sensors, and security hubs that sound an alarm when one of those sensors is triggered.
But smart home security can go way beyond that. Most systems let you add on cameras and even video doorbells to monitor movement around your home and catch people at your door who shouldn’t be there. (This is also a handy way to know when it’s a package delivery or another random salesperson.) These systems are usually modular and customizable, whether you DIY or go with a brand. Overall, the goal is to protect and monitor your home through motion sensors and video feeds.
Home security brands usually have various subscription options and some kind of self-monitored, subscription-free tier, but you usually lose out on a variety of features to encourage you to subscribe.
What Do Smart Home Security Systems and a Subscription Get You?
I remember running into the issue of paywalled features for the first time a few years ago when I was testing Abode’s smart lock. I liked the lock, but I woke up to unclear notifications that happened in the dead of night. Had the lock been hacked? Had it sensed itself being manually opened when we were asleep? There was no way to tell because Abode’s base level would only tell me the lock was interacted with without explaining how. I signed up for the Abode membership that day to be able to review the events, and luckily it was just a loss of Wi-Fi connection and reestablishment that happened within a minute of each other. Crisis averted.
The main thing that subscription services paywall is video storage, which allows you to review past events at your home. Sometimes it can also be notifications, whether that’s the type of notification or the ability to review notification history. What is or is not paywalled largely depends on the brand and its offerings. Professional live monitoring, however, is almost always paywalled, whether that’s an agent calling police when an alarm has been triggered or an agent reviewing flagged footage (e.g., motion alerts) to either notify you of a situation or call emergency services on your behalf. That’s one thing you can’t DIY—if you’re on vacation or otherwise not able to call police if there’s an issue, you’re out of luck.
Base stations from home security companies like ADT, SimpliSafe, and Vivint will act as a smart-home hub to connect and control sensors and other devices, and be able to sound an alarm. It might have a keypad that you can use to arm and disarm the system too.