Best Nest Secure alternatives 2023

Now that Nest Secure has been discontinued, it's pretty important to find the best Nest Secure alternative for your smart home. If you're a current Nest Secure owner or if you've been investing heavily in the Google Home or Nest ecosystems, you might wonder what in the world to do next. Thankfully, there are plenty of options on the market. Although they won't integrate as deeply into the Nest app as Nest Secure did, these alternatives all deeply connect to smart home products and make it easy to do home security yourself.

Below you’ll find details of what you can get with each system and a comparison of their security plans.

At a glance

Best overall

SimpliSafe sells all of the security essentials you need to cover your home whether you’re starting with a kit, or want to piece it together. You can get entry sensors for windows and doors, motion sensors, indoor and outdoor cameras, and a key fob for quick and easy alarm settings.

Not that you need a key fob if you have your phone with you. The SimpliSafe app allows you to arm and disarm your system from anywhere and if you have smart locks, you can control those. Beyond that, you’ll be able to check your live camera feeds, use two-way audio with indoor and outdoor cameras, and get notified immediately of any alarms.

For monitoring, you can choose to stick with self-monitoring with unlimited camera recording and 30 days of cloud storage for just $0.33 per day. If you want professional monitoring, however, the Fast Protect plan is the way to go at $0.99 per day. For the extra money, you get 24/7 professional monitoring with dispatch for police, fire, or ambulance if a threat is detected. You also get an extended warranty for your hardware as long as your subscription is active.

Best for Nest Cam

If you were a Nest Secure subscriber when it shut down, you may have received an offer to switch to ADT, and it’s still a good option. It’s clear from looking at ADT’s plans, however, that it’s a security-first and video-second service with its Essential plan lacking video support. This plan is still a solid value at $25 per month with 24/7 ADT SMART Monitoring and intrusion detection, but if you want to check your cameras while you’re away, you’ll need to cough up $10 more per month. Even so, ADT has been around for 145 years and has done well to earn its strong reputation.

ADT offers professional installation, but if you like to do things yourself, it also has some starter kits to get you going. You can add more devices like motion sensors, a keychain remote, smoke detectors, and flood detectors. ADT also supports Nest thermostats, Nest doorbell, Nest cam, and Nest Hub. If you’re looking to keep your older Nest gear, ADT is the right pick.

Best internet backup

Similar to SimpliSafe, you can get started with Ring by getting a Ring Alarm kit, which you can find on Amazon. In fact, Ring is owned by Amazon and is integrated with both Alexa and eero products. If you buy a Ring Alarm Pro Base Station, for example, it comes with an eero 6 router inside and can improve the quality of your eero mesh Wi-Fi. Even if your internet goes out, Ring Alarm Pro comes with 3GB of backup internet data per month using cellular networks.

Ring Alarm Pro comes with 24/7 Professional monitoring that can dispatch emergency services in the event of a break-in or other emergency. There’s an SOS button in the Ring app if you need to call for help, even without a Ring Alarm. Local video storage is included with a Ring Alarm Pro device as well so don’t need to rely on the cloud. Finally, Ring Protect Pro comes with eero Secure, so if you’re using an eero mesh for your home Wi-Fi, you get a load of extra Wi-Fi features like a VPN, ad-blocking, and content filters.

Best for local storage

Eufy makes a ton of smart home tech including smart lighting, robot vacuums, and more. Eufy also makes home security tech with indoor and outdoor cameras, video doorbells, smart locks motion sensors, and more. Its Home Base 3 comes with 16GB of storage built-in, but can be expanded with a full-size SATA hard drive enabling up to 16TB of storage.

You can also start with a kit like the S330 eufycam with two outdoor cameras and a base station and add sensors and cameras as needed. Once you’re set up, you have the option of signing up for a protection plan with the Plus Plan offering the best set of features. This plan comes in at $10 per month, or $100 for a year, and supports 24/7 monitoring, emergency service dispatch, and support for sensors. You can also tap a button in the app for emergency assistance.

Best for smart homes

If you buy an Abode Security System, you’ve got two choices to use it. The Standard plan comes in at $7 per month and allows for self-monitoring, home automation, and video recording with person, pet, and package detection. If you opt for the Pro plan, you’ll be paying $23 per month for the additional of a cellular backup feature if your internet goes down, 24/7 professional monitoring for break-ins, fires, and medical emergencies.

For hardware, you can choose between three hubs with the Iota Hub offering the most features. This Iota hub supports ZigBee and Z-Wave for smart home devices, a built-in motion sensor, Wi-Fi, and a camera. Moving down to the Smart Security Hub, you lose Wi-Fi, the motion sensor, and the camera. If you don’t need smart home tech, the Security Hub is all you really need with support for Wi-Fi. Once you’re set up with a hub, you can add sensors, cameras, sirens, and more.

Best quality cameras

Arlo’s security systems start with a keypad hub, and add sensors and cameras as needed. A basic set also comes with two all-in-one sensors that can be used to detect motion, detect doors and windows opening, water leaks, and temperature. Arlo also sells a large range of cameras including indoor and outdoor models with up to 4K resolution. You can also get a wireless doorbell camera and a floodlight camera.

To get it all connected, Arlo offers four different options with lower prices if you pay annually. First, if you’ve only got one camera, you can get Arlo Secure for just $5 per month. If you have more cameras, you’ll need to step up to a $13 per-month plan. Arlo Secure Plus adds 24/7 emergency response and critical alerts for $18 per month. If you’re looking for the full package, Arlo Safe & Secure Plus is $25 per month and comes with 24/7 professional monitoring, video verification, and a cellular backup. You also get access to the Arlo Safe App which can help you track your family members with alerts and check-ins. The app can also contact emergency services, detect crashes, and even send alerts to emergency contacts.

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Find your alternative solution to Nest Secure

Home security is no joke and when Google announced the end of Nest Secure, some people were understandably upset. There are some great options available for those willing to upgrade their cameras, and ADT can even use Nest tech. That being said, if you’re just looking to keep track of your cameras, Nest Aware may be all you need. If you compare Nest Aware to Ring Protect, you’ll see a lot of missing features, but Nest Aware’s relatively low price may still make a good choice for many.

ADT is one of the best options for those looking for Nest Secure-like features with support for Nest devices. ADT’s plans are steeper than some others, but you’ve got one of the biggest names in security behind you, and you can keep using your Nest cameras, doorbells, and hubs. If you need some upgrades, ADT offers professional installation as well as a self-installation option.

Overall, SimpliSafe is one of your best bets with a ton of features included with its plans, and a wide range of devices. SimpliSafe has sensors to prevent intrusions like glass break, motion, and entry sensors, as well as hazard sensors including a water sensor, smoke and carbon monoxide detector, and a temperature sensor. While SimpliSafe’s complete package isn’t the cheapest with monitoring, it is one of the most complete packages and comes with a respectable 30 days of storage for your recordings.