SimpliSafe Monitoring Plan Options and Monthly Costs

So you probably know that SimpliSafe is fast becoming one of the best security companies in the industry today — particularly for folks looking for DIY solutions without the burden of long-term contracts. Their systems are affordable, robust, and their monitoring plans offer a lot of flexibility.

How do we know?

Because we spent almost 100 hours testing SimpliSafe in our own home, and believe us — we put the system to work.

SimpliSafe Equipment

There are four monitoring plans to choose from, but it’s not as overwhelming as it sounds. SimpliSafe still keeps things simple. Most users only need to think about two of the plans unless you plan to get one of the $200 outdoor cameras (we’ll explain why later). And thankfully, you won’t have to sign a contract on any of these month-to-month plans. So we really appreciated the flexibility offered here.

The response-time wasn’t exactly lightning fast, and we think the home automation features could be expanded, but overall we’re impressed with how SimpliSafe watched over our home. With the new video verification capabilities, even if SimpliSafe’s response time isn’t as fast, they can still get emergency personnel to your house faster than most. And we were really happy with the mobile app features and user-friendliness, especially for the price. So hang tight, as we’re sharing all about SimpliSafe monitoring, the good and the bad!

24/7 Professional Monitoring

SimpliSafe’s 24/7 professional monitoring is fairly standard for its basic plan with some unique advanced features once you get past Standard Monitoring. Your system will connect to your Wi-Fi network, which is how it communicates with the monitoring center should a break-in occur. Note that it also uses T-Mobile and Verizon cellular technology for backup in case your Wi-Fi goes out.

The few times that we tested our SimpliSafe siren, the monitoring center was on the line with us within 20-30 seconds from the alarm sounding. Not bad! While this isn’t ultra-fast, we think it’s plenty fast enough and falls right in line with the industry standard for response times. But if you’re really looking for lightning-fast emergency response, we recommend checking out Vivint.

What’s Included

You won’t have to worry about option overload with SimpliSafe. They make it easy to choose between their plans. When we signed up, we had the choice between basic home security for $21.99 per month, or the whole shebang for $31.99 per month. We could also opt to monitor the system ourselves, but we weren’t really interested in that right now.

If you’re on a tight budget — and really, who isn’t right now — the Standard plan might be the way to go. But if you can swing it, the Core plan comes with extra features like a mobile app, video recording, voice control capabilities, and other smart home integrations we think you’ll like. In our opinion, the Core plan is worth springing for. There are also the Pro and Pro Plus plans if you want the most premium options. We found the price wasn’t quite worth the extra features you got with those plans. But let’s check out the features of all options before we put the cart before the ol' horse.

SimpliSafe Standard

If you choose the Standard plan at $21.99 per month, you’ll get SimpliSafe’s around-the-clock professional monitoring, environmental monitoring, and smartphone access via the SimpliSafe app, but that’s about it. It’s definitely the leanest option. And considering Ring Alarm has a $20 per month monitoring plan — stacked with most of these same features — we think SimpliSafe could lower their price some.

SimpliSafe Standard Plan Features Include:

• Intrusion protection
• 24/7 professional monitoring
• Environmental monitoring
• Smartphone access
• Nationwide cellular connection

It’s worth mentioning that SimpliSafe’s environmental monitoring can detect smoke, heat, water/floods, and frozen pipes. But note that you’ll have to buy these sensors separately. The devices are pretty affordable, but it’s another cost to consider if you want the added layer of home protection. We’ve found that environmental monitoring is a standard offer these days — even with DIY home security systems.

Now let’s get into the meat and potatoes of SimpliSafe monitoring, the Core plan.

SimpliSafe Core (formerly Fast Protect)

As mentioned, we went with the Core plan. It comes with everything in the Standard option, plus some great extras that we’ll highlight below.

SimpliSafe Interactive Features Include:

• Intrusion protection
• 24/7 professional monitoring
• Environmental monitoring
• Nationwide cellular connection
• Unlimited camera recording
• Alarm verification for priority dispatch
• Indoor active guard protection
• SimpliSafe app with mobile alerts
• Remote arming and disarming
• Alexa and Google Assistant voice control
• Some smart home automation integrations

If you’re new to the world of home security, you might be foggy on what “alarm verification,” “active guard protection” or “voice control” means. So let’s unpack these features before moving on.

First off, we really appreciated the visual alarm verification. This will enable the SimpliSafe monitoring team to patch into your live video feed to confirm the validity of a sounding alarm. Of course, you’ll need a SimpliSafe security camera for this feature to work, such as the $99 SimpliCam, but in our book that’s money well spent.

If the monitoring team confirms the alarm, they’ll verify it with police dispatch who should be on their way quickly. We’ve seen this feature with Arlo and Ring cameras, too, and we think it’s worth its weight in gold.

Along these same lines, SimpliSafe’s active guard protection allows them to use the two-way audio in your camera to communicate with potential intruders. They try to discourage criminals from committing crimes in your home or verify authorized guests who know your passphrase. But, with the Core plan, this feature only works with the Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Camera.

SimpliCam and Base Station

Next, if you have an Amazon Alexa device, or products in the Google Home, you can access voice control to manage SimpliSafe hands-free. But, it doesn’t work with Apple HomeKit ecosystems. Trust us, it’s more than a party trick. We used it with Amazon Echo — and it was as simple as saying “Alexa, ask SimpliSafe to arm my system in away mode,” or if we wanted the status of our system we’d say “Alexa, ask SimpliSafe what's shakin'.” And this is just scratching the surface of the SimpliSafe custom skill feature with Alexa. You just don’t get this with the Standard plan. Again, money well spent.

SimpliSafe Pro

If we’re being honest, there isn’t too much to say about the Pro plan despite it costing $49.99 per month. It offers everything in the Core plan from voice commands and video verification to active guard protection. But, you get expanded support for active guard protection.

Instead of only working with the Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Camera, it also works with the Wireless Outdoor Camera. With the Pro plan, you only get overnight coverage with the Wireless Outdoor Camera though. That’s your most vulnerable time, so we appreciate that SimpliSafe separated out overnight protection and 24/7 protection.

SimpliSafe Pro Plus

The Pro Plus plan is almost identical to the Pro plan except it gives 24/7 support for active guard protection on the Wireless Outdoor Camera for $79.99 per month. We see this having the biggest impact on estates with big outdoor spaces that need constant monitoring or for businesses. Even though the Pro and Pro Plus plans are expensive, for comparable coverage from Ring, you’d need to pay $99 per month.

Check out the chart below to see the different plans side-by-side. We think this illustrates how much better of a deal the Core plan is compared to the Standard plan.

SimpliSafe Plan Features

Self Monitoring with SimpliSafe

Bear in mind that you have a third option. You could “self monitor” your home and skip the monthly fee altogether. If you go this route, the burden is on you to call the police if (or when!) an emergency or break-in happens. In our opinion, that’s a beast of a burden. So we think it’s worth $22 to $32 per month for the peace of mind of knowing you’re connected to SimpliSafe’s monitoring center in case a crisis occurs. You could probably skip the Pro and Pro Plus plans though. But hey… to each their own! The choice is yours.

Which SimpliSafe Plan is Best?

Our short answer is: the Core plan. You’ll simply get more ‘bang for your buck' compared to the Standard, Pro, and Pro Plus plans. With that said, you might not care about staple features like smartphone controls, video support, and home automation. If that’s you, then the Standard plan will do the trick and should keep you and your family safe and secure. Or, you might need full outdoor protection, in which case the Pro and Pro Plus plans could be worth it. Honestly, all plans are pretty reasonably priced, so you really can’t go wrong.

The Big Takeaway

Using SimpliSafe in our home, we were glad to have chosen their Core plan. It provided us with 24/7 protection from break-ins and environmental threats like fires and floods (you have to watch those washing machines!). But it went beyond monitoring, offering convenient app-based controls and video support, too. And let’s not forget that SimpliSafe plays well with Alexa and Google Assistant — that is, if you’re willing to spring for the Core subscription.

SimpliSafe Equipment (Boxed)

Compared to other monitoring plans we’ve tried, SimpliSafe really impressed us with all-around value. Our only gripe was that we wished it had better smart home automation options, and active guard monitoring support for its outdoor camera is a tad expensive for us even though it’s less than the competition. But if you can overlook these minor drawbacks, we think you’ll be happy with SimpliSafe’s affordable plans. They’ll protect your home day and night, and they’ll do it with a dash of style.