Home security cost

Break the upfront number apart. Fixr's average $1,400 installation is roughly $500 equipment, $400 labor, $400 first-year monitoring and $100 activation fees. Equipment alone runs $200 to $1,000, activation fees $25 to $100, professional installation $80 to $400, and installation labor $60 to $150 per hour. Those are separable — you can buy equipment from one place and monitoring from another in many cases.

Then compute the multi-year total, because that is the real price. Monitoring at the top of Fixr's $3 to $60 range, over a standard three-year term, is well over $2,000 on its own. Add activation and equipment and the honest comparison between two offers often reverses. A cheap install with expensive monitoring is not cheap.

Individual devices, per Fixr's 2025 home automation data: smart locks $125 to $300 for the unit and $225 to $500 installed, video doorbells $30 to $300 unit and $150 to $500 installed, smart cameras $50 to $2,500 unit and $150 to $2,750 installed. A fully automated smart security setup, professionally installed, runs $1,580 to $7,125. Smart home installation labor runs $80 to $100 per hour, with electricians at $40 to $120 per hour where wiring is involved.

Watch for the costs that are not in the headline price: activation fees, cellular or backup communication fees, cloud video storage subscriptions, permit fees where your city requires an alarm permit, and false alarm fines. The ASU Center for Problem-Oriented Policing notes most departments allow "three or four free false alarms per calendar year" before imposing fines. Those fines are yours, not the alarm company's.

How to choose

Compare three-year totals, not monthly prices

Equipment plus activation plus monthly times the term. Two offers that look similar monthly can differ by thousands over the contract.

Ask for the full fee list in writing

Activation, cellular backup, cloud storage, relocation, early termination, reactivation. Ask for all of them before signing, not after.

Separate equipment from monitoring where you can

Owning your hardware outright keeps the monitoring market competitive for you. Bundled financing removes that leverage.

Budget for a city alarm permit and false alarm fines

Many cities require an alarm permit and fine repeat false alarms. Ask your local police department's alarm unit before installation.

Do not assume the insurance discount pays for it

The Insurance Information Institute notes discounts of "at least 5 percent" for a burglar alarm, and 15 to 20 percent for sophisticated monitored fire and burglar systems with sprinklers — but also warns "these systems aren't cheap and not every system qualifies for a discount."