Alarm Grid Review
Alarm Grid is a company that was founded in 2012 on the principle that you should be able to protect your home by yourself. Their DIY approach lends to much lower costs, but also reduces the overall safety of your home. The best part about Alarm Grid is that you can pay as little or as much as you want for as simple or as complex of an alarm system that you could possibly imagine.
What are the Costs?
Starting costs: This could be alot! Varies, from $160 – $800 depending on the system you get
Monthly cost: The Not so fun Bill. Expect $30-50
Installation cost: You’re on your own with this one. It is a self install system so you don’t pay.
Activation fee: The hidden one… While you may get free installation, that fee gets turned into a ‘activation’ fee of the equipment. $99-199.
Update: No more activation fees and security monitoring starting from $10/month.
What goes up, hopefully won’t come down.
Alarm Grid’s security systems are primarily made by Honeywell. They offer several different kinds of alarm systems, including:
– Wired and wireless home and business security systems
– Internet, cellular, and dual path systems
– Medical alert and life safety systems
All systems are compatible with mobile devices, but you will have to ensure that your monthly Alarm Grid contract allows you access to those features.
Equipment: Customer’s choice, offerings include wired and wireless systems from Honeywell.
Sensors include: Window, glass break, motion, fire, CO2 and everything else you would expect from a security company.
Home Automation: We recommend choosing a company such as ADT or Vivint for Home automation so you don’t have to install it yourself. Alarm Grid has limited home automation. You can turn the system on and off from your phone which is pretty standard. Their cameras are lower grade then most other companies.
Positives (+)
The things they don’t mind you knowing about them.
– No long-term contract, so you can cancel services at any time
– Flexible and affordable monthly services
– DIY installation lowers the overall price
– Their no contract policy allows you greater flexibility
– Having a monthly contract means there are no moving fees
– You can get hands-on DIY experience (both good and bad)
Negatives: (-)
The things they don’t want you to know about them.
– A professional isn’t installing your system, making your liable to make mistakes
– Entry costs are higher
– Monthly costs are high for how few services are offered
– The business is very young and doesn’t have much experience
– No contract means no assurance that their services will last
– If you make a mistake installing your system, it is difficult to fix
– Installation costs are significantly higher
No products found.
Lets open up the History Books
BBB Rating: A and accredited. The company is a little young for some of the factors that BBB considers to have any real validity, but still, it received an A, and that is no small feat.
Founded: Alarm Grid was founded in 2012 (Yikes, that’s new!). Their motto and mission were formed:
– As a response to “corrupt” alarm companies
– To give homeowners a DIY alarm option
– To give homeowners better contract options
Monitoring: Generally 24/7, outsourced monitoring. Several complaints from AlarmGrid not calling soon enough when an alarm goes off or no connection at all even when paying the monitoring fees.
The People behind the Desk
You can contact Alarm Grid as a provider by:
– Sending a letter
– Sending an email
– Calling their toll-free number
They can be contacted Monday through Friday for tech support, but they have extensive tutorials and content describing installation and their products on their website. If you are someone wanting 24/7 customer service then check out Protection One who will answer your call by a live representative within 10 seconds 7 days a week.
Alarm Reviews Conclusion
All in all, Alarm Grid is great for a very specific kind of customer – a very self-confident one who is willing to take a chance on a baby home alarm company. Everyone else who wants to be 100% sure that they can rest easy at night might be better off checking other companies out first. You can check information about Alarm Grid security systems on their website.
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Growing up with Law and Order and CSI shows taught Isabelle Landau one thing: if people back then had high-quality home security systems, those series would have been way shorter. In our modern world, technology helps us keep burglars away easily, and this is what Izzy studies and writes about: alarm systems, home security, protection systems, and more.
Last update on 2023-05-14 at 03:33 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Sean Dooley says
Alarm grid is BY FAR the best ! Been a customer since 2012 . Always on point . Automation , smoke detectors , CO . Remotes , every window and door covered . 4 motions . . Ill put my system up against any other company and I pay $25 a month !
Richard Israel says
The only thing better than Alarm grid is a BIG dog I know I own one and he costs me about the same as ADT costs the only down side to deal with are his constant downloadings in the back yard and the mailman is…well not on the menu…. yet, So get a dog and Alarm grid and you’ll be all set….as long as the Mailman does, int slow down….
John Bloodworth says
I generally like to give new companies a chance. After all, how can they get experience and build up their services if no one gives them a chance? However, in this case, I decided to pass. They just didn’t offer enough to intrigue me and well, a new business has to offer something no one else is offering. I wish them luck.
kabirat says
Seriously, 2012 is not that new! The alarm grid is one cool alarm service I’ve used in recent years. You just need to know how to fix it and understand their terms and you are good. Their pricing is cheap and they don’t try to hook you by adding a life contract. It’s as easy as that. You use it where and when you want with no fear. Their customer service is also there during the weekdays to take complaints too.
Jared says
One of the rarely featured or mentioned alarm system companies that actually does a great job. They are low key and that’s what I like about them.
Tom Mazzeox says
This review shows some “typical” biases that prey on fears and push people to buy monitoring with long contracts and fees of $30/month or more. The “cons” are not even fair:
—-no professional installation? hire someone to install the system, but not monitor it. Pay upfront and the system is your not good. But if you can and want to do it yourself, you can. “PRO”!
—Entry costs are not really higher, as other companies roll the cost of the system in the first contract period of the service. Do the math and you will pay more over time.
—They are among the cheapest in the industry, you are paying for what you need – Monitoring period. All the other stuff is marketing gimmicks to justify their ridiculously high prices.
—“No contract means” I am not tied down and take on no risk. Who cares if they fold? I can just find another monitoring service! The equipment is mine and paid for.
—The last two negatives are repeats of two above.
So by my count there is one negative – they are new.
Lewis says
This company is newer and since there was not a contract, I wanted to try them out. Within the first few weeks I had issues and every time I speak to someone they assure me the issue will be fixed and it never is. I feel like I was taken advantage of. I am not sure why I thought going with a company with no contract was a good idea…
Dave Speaks says
Enjoyed this review a lot. I write for a tech blog and was doing a bit of research on home security companies. I appreciate everything you have here. All this information in one spot. I have Alarm Grid on my list. I will be linking back to this post for sure. It helped me a ton.
Donald P. says
This is by far the best review of the company. I have been looking for the last few days and I am shocked this is not the number one result on Google. Anyways I wanted to say thanks for the review. I am going to call Alarm Grid soon and see what they have to say. I am new to home security so this helped a lot.
Joey M. says
Huge fan of your reviews. I actually came here awhile back to help a friend pick out a security system and now I am back for myself. You always give up front and real reviews which is something I don’t see often online. Anyways, I was doing some digging on Alarm Grid and it seems that they may be a good fit for my family. I will be back if there are any complaints with them!
Nathan says
Yeah the turn off is that I have to install it myself. Don’t you think bulgars would look for people using this company expecting them to mess it up installing it. Seems logical to me.
David says
I kind of like the monthly contact, it’s nice to not be stuck into a yearly or two year contract. I have no idea on to install a system, but I’m sure it’s not to hard.
Terrance says
I’m glad I read this! I have no idea how to install an alarm system. This really should cost a lot less since we are doing most of the work. I’m sure it’s probably right for someone out there though or they wouldn’t be in business, right?!
Joshua Unseth - AlarmGrid Rep says
Hey Terrance. We sell product more cheaply than almost anyone. You certainly do install these on your own. But the cost of the equipment is the cost of the equipment. The difference between Alarm Grid and other security companies is that we do not lump the price of your monitoring in with a “free” panel. We can also take over existing security systems, and are very happy to do that. Our simple goal is to get you the equipment you need to the monitoring you want – nothing more and nothing less. We don’t do hard sales. Moreover, our service is some of the best you will find anywhere. We don’t roll out trucks, and you will have to do the install and maintenance of the system yourself. But you have the whole Alarm Grid team behind you. The best of it is we have no contracts. So if you want to try out this “baby home alarm company” you can do it for a few months, and then, if you don’t like it, you can quit. We will cancel your account promptly and let you on your way with the same quality equipment any of the big boys would have otherwise installed.
Joshua Unseth says
Thanks for writing this review. All of those things listed under the heading “The things they don’t want you to know about them” are absolutely true. Except, we actually have no problem letting people know about those things. If you sign up with Alarm Grid, you will be installing your system. There are exceptions, people do occasionally hire a local contractor for help. But for the most part, these systems are simple to install.
The entry costs have been higher. However, we have recently started a financing program through Affirm, which means that for big systems, an user can pay just a little bit each month. There is interest, but for most systems, the cost during the 12 month pay-off time along with the cost of monitoring will actually end up costing an user about the same amount as ADT will charge an user for monitoring out right. The difference is that once you pay off your system with us, the system is yours, and that cost will disappear!
Regarding Alarm Grid’s experience, we challenge anyone to test our techs against those of other companies. We may be a young company, but our techs are amazing.