ADT Home Security Review 2025: Cost, Pros, Cons

ADT's monitoring capabilities make it a good pick for a home security system, but the packages are pricey.

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Written by 
Lead Writer
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Managing Editor
ADT Security System
ADT Security System

4.0

NerdWallet rating

 
Get started

on ADT Security System's website

View details

4.0

NerdWallet rating

 
Equipment cost
$269.00
Base kit comes with 1 ADT Smart Home Hub and 1 ADT Door/Window Sensor.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$24.99 and up
$39.99 with cameras and $29.99 with other smart home devices. Monitoring costs are $10 more per month with professional installation. A monitoring plan is required with equipment purchase (1 month minimum for self setup and a several-year contract with professional installation), but you can arm and disarm a self-setup system for free after the first month.

Hazard detection
Add-on CO detector, smoke detector and water/temperature sensor.
Equipment cost
$269.00
Base kit comes with 1 ADT Smart Home Hub and 1 ADT Door/Window Sensor.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$24.99 and up
$39.99 with cameras and $29.99 with other smart home devices. Monitoring costs are $10 more per month with professional installation. A monitoring plan is required with equipment purchase (1 month minimum for self setup and a several-year contract with professional installation), but you can arm and disarm a self-setup system for free after the first month.

Hazard detection
Add-on CO detector, smoke detector and water/temperature sensor.

ADT is a home security provider that offers DIY and professionally installed alarm systems and cameras. The company’s long-term contracts can feel restrictive, but the benefits can be worth it for customers looking for a professionally installed and monitored system from a household name.

ADT has been operating for more than 150 years, making it one of the most well-known names in home security. The company now integrates its alarm systems with Google Nest cameras, video doorbells and smart home devices.

Pros

Cons

Operates six U.S.-based professional monitoring centers, leading to fast alarm response times.

Required monthly monitoring fees for all plans, ranging from one month to three to five years. Monitoring fees are high compared to other providers.

Offers both DIY and professionally installed systems.

Had a security breach in 2020 that affected customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX area.

Integrates with Google Nest devices and can connect with Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control.

Integrating ADT equipment with Nest products can be complicated and involved using several different apps in our experience.

Our take: Overall, ADT packages are on the expensive side for what you get compared to other providers, especially for DIY packages and basic equipment, but the company’s tried-and-true professional monitoring makes their pro-install system a good pick for homeowners.

Deciding factors

One-time costs

Packages start at $269 (list price) for a base hub and a door/window sensor.

Monthly fees

$24.99 and up.

Installation

Professional install and DIY options. Pro installed systems start at $599 with a required monitoring contract starting at $34.99 per month.

Video monitoring

  • $24.99 per month for Secure monitoring plan.

  • $29.99 per month for Smart monitoring plan with smart home device control and one-tap alarm verification. This plan is required if you have a system with smart home products such as a Google Nest Thermostat.

  • $39.99 per month for Complete monitoring plan with video verification and an included Google Nest Aware subscription for video storage and intelligent alerts. This plan is required if you have a system with cameras.

All monitoring plans are $10 more per month with a professionally installed system.

Contract

36-month minimum for professionally installed system; 24 months in California.

How does ADT work?

To purchase an ADT system, you visit the company’s website and select a package.

Pro install

If you choose professional installation, you’ll schedule an appointment for an ADT technician to come to your home and set up the equipment. Appointments may be available as soon as the next day.

A professionally installed ADT system comes with a required professional monitoring contract, typically three years, starting at $34.99 per month.

DIY

If you choose DIY, ADT will mail your equipment and you’ll follow the instructions provided in the included setup guide. If you need extra help, you can consult ADT’s virtual assistant online.

DIY systems require at least one month of professional monitoring, starting at $24.99 per month. After the first month, you can call ADT to downgrade to free self-monitoring. Be sure to cancel your plan before the billing cycle ends, though, or you may be charged for a full second month.

How much does ADT cost?

ADT offers six home security system packages, which can be DIY or professionally installed, and a build-your-own-system option. The company often runs promotions, discounting self-setup packages with the purchase of one month of professional monitoring, or professionally installed packages with a three-year professional monitoring contract (two years in California).

The prices below are list prices.

Package

Price

What you get

Security Starter

$349

Base hub, 3 door/window sensors and motion sensor. Requires a $29.99 monthly plan.

Life Safety

$404

Base hub, 2 door/window sensors and a smoke/CO detector. Requires a $24.99 monthly plan for DIY or $34.99 monthly for pro install.

Video Essentials

$529

Base hub, 3 door/window sensors, motion sensor, and a Google Nest camera or doorbell. Requires a $39.99 monthly monitoring plan for DIY or $49.99 monthly for pro install.

Outdoor Video

$649

Base hub, 2 door/window sensors and a battery-operated Google Nest camera. Requires a $39.99 monthly monitoring plan for DIY or $49.99 monthly for pro install.

Front Door Protection

$719

Base hub, 3 door/window sensors, motion sensor, smart door lock and Google Nest doorbell. Requires a $39.99 monthly monitoring plan for DIY or $49.99 monthly for pro install.

Total Safety

$1,574

Base hub, 3 door/window sensors, motion sensor, smoke/CO detector, wired Google Nest camera, battery-operated Google Nest camera, Google Nest floodlight camera, Google Nest doorbell, smart door lock and 3 water/temperature sensors.

You can also choose a “Custom System” package. The lowest-priced package possible includes an ADT base hub and one door/window sensor for $269, and you can add on any ADT or Google Nest devices from there. You can also add on items to customize any existing package.

Authorized dealer pricing

ADT sells DIY and professionally installed equipment directly, but also works with third-party dealers that sell and install their systems. These authorized dealers often have their own prices, equipment or apps. In all cases, ADT handles the monitoring.

Best ADT authorized dealer

Safe Haven
Safe Haven

3.0

NerdWallet rating

 
View details

3.0

NerdWallet rating

 
Equipment cost
$99
Installation fee includes a hub, three door sensors and a motion sensor. Higher installation fees come with equipment vouchers for more devices, but also come with higher monthly monitoring fees.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$45.99 and up
Safe Haven only offers ADT professional monitoring with a three-year contract (two in California), like ADT's professionally installed system option, up to $65.99 per month.

Hazard detection
Add-on smoke detector.
Equipment cost
$99
Installation fee includes a hub, three door sensors and a motion sensor. Higher installation fees come with equipment vouchers for more devices, but also come with higher monthly monitoring fees.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$45.99 and up
Safe Haven only offers ADT professional monitoring with a three-year contract (two in California), like ADT's professionally installed system option, up to $65.99 per month.

Hazard detection
Add-on smoke detector.

For example, clicking the “Get Started” button above will take you to ADT dealer Safe Haven, which has different offerings than what’s detailed in this review.

Our experience with ADT

In June 2024, we tested ADT’s lowest-priced system, which was a Self-Setup Build Your Own package without add-ons that came with a base hub and one door/window sensor. The exact product models we tested are no longer sold.

Now, ADT refers to this option as a DIY custom system. Without add-ons, the base hub and sensor are available for $269 on the ADT website. This setup requires at least one month of professional monitoring.

What we liked

Easy device setup

The hub had very clear setup instructions, and the devices in a kit come pre-connected so that once you set up the hub, the accessory items (such as a door sensor) are already visible in the ADT app. We just had to pull the battery tab to activate the sensor, which flashed a blue LED light and triggered a two-tone chime noise on the hub. It didn’t take long for the app and hub to connect to Wi-Fi, and there’s not a complicated Wi-Fi setup like some other providers.

(Photo by Dalia Ramirez.)

Test mode

With a professional monitoring plan, your system will be in “Test mode” for the first seven days so that you can practice triggering alarms without the monitoring center contacting emergency services. We found this feature helpful in testing out the system. Several other providers have a similar feature. With ADT, you can switch to test mode anytime in-app for up to 24 hours.

Easy to arm and disarm

We were able to arm and disarm our system with a custom four-digit passcode in the app or on the hub keypad. With a professional monitoring plan, we could also generate a unique verbal passcode to speak to ADT agents in case of an alarm event to verify our identity, which other professionally monitored systems also have (SimpliSafe calls this a “Safeword”).

Customization

In the ADT app settings, you can set up Alexa or Google Assistant integration, add users, customize alert tones and timing, and add “rules” to automate your home. For example, you can set your system to automatically arm at 10 p.m. every night.

Compared to other providers, the ADT app is very simple; there are only these settings, the buttons to arm and disarm the system and an event history.

Customer service

Each time we contacted customer service during our testing (to inquire about shipment delays, to verify pricing information and to disable professional monitoring after our testing period), we got through to ADT customer service on the phone very quickly, and the agents were helpful, friendly and professional.

What we didn’t like

Multiple apps needed for Nest integration

Google Nest’s security products can integrate with ADT products — but we found the process frustrating. When we tested these products in June 2024, we needed to use both the Google Home app and the Nest app to access video recordings for Google Nest cameras and doorbells with a Nest Aware subscription. That means we needed to connect three apps to integrate our ADT alarm system with Nest cameras. This took almost an hour of attempts and a lot of online help page research, and we were eventually unable to get Google Nest device access in the ADT app.

We had to log into each account several times and enable device sharing in each app. It was also unclear which app or device should be used primarily to control the system.

(Photo by Dalia Ramirez.)

We were, however, able to connect our Google Nest hub with the ADT hub and alarm system, arm and disarm the system from the Google Nest hub, and view the ADT devices in the Google Home app.

An ADT representative told us in June 2025 that the Nest app is not necessary to connect ADT and Google Nest devices, just the ADT+ app and Google Home app.

(Photo by Dalia Ramirez.)

Some Nest devices aren’t supported

ADT alarm systems integrate with some Google Nest cameras (mostly newer models) but not all: they won’t connect with the Nest Cam indoor or outdoor (1st gen) cameras, Nest Hello doorbell or Nest Cam IQ cameras.

When Nest Secure, Google’s own home security line, was discontinued in April 2024, former users were given a credit to replace their systems with ADT alarm equipment, but some were likely unable to connect their older-model Nest cameras (which weren’t discontinued) to their new ADT systems.

Sensor install

ADT’s door sensors come with an adhesive on the back. Like other providers’ sensors, they sometimes take off wall paint when removed.

The magnet part of the door sensor, which sticks onto the moving part of the door to trigger an alarm when it’s opened, had a slim, vertical shape without much surface area to stick onto the door. When we tapped the sensor, it fell off, lost its stick and was hard to reattach.

(Photo by Dalia Ramirez.)

(Photo by Dalia Ramirez.)

Shipping and packaging

We had some issues with delivery, which we didn’t have with any other provider we tested. The products were shipped via FedEx, and while the label was marked as created the day after the order, the package didn’t register as “On the way” until 10 days later. It's unclear if the problem was due to ADT or FedEx, but the package was unable to deliver and required a pickup.

Separately, the packaging was a bit excessive for the quantity of items included. Our kit only came with one sensor and the hub, but was shipped in a fairly large box. The package contained a smaller box for “sensors and accessories” that was much bigger than the small sensor inside it.

(Photo by Dalia Ramirez.)

Alternatives to ADT

SimpliSafe Security System
SimpliSafe Security System

5.0

NerdWallet rating

 
Get started

on SimpliSafe's website

View details

5.0

NerdWallet rating

 
Equipment cost
$249.96
Base kit includes one base station, one keypad, one entry sensor and one motion sensor. Sometimes you can get a free Smart Alarm wireless indoor security camera and a free trial of professional monitoring if they're running a promotion.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$21.99
Self monitoring available for $9.99 per month. You can also access basic features with no plan.

Hazard detection
Add-on smoke/CO detector, water and temperature sensor.
Equipment cost
$249.96
Base kit includes one base station, one keypad, one entry sensor and one motion sensor. Sometimes you can get a free Smart Alarm wireless indoor security camera and a free trial of professional monitoring if they're running a promotion.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$21.99
Self monitoring available for $9.99 per month. You can also access basic features with no plan.

Hazard detection
Add-on smoke/CO detector, water and temperature sensor.
Ring Security System
Ring Security System

4.5

NerdWallet rating

 
Get started

on Money.com and Amazon.com

View details

4.5

NerdWallet rating

 
Equipment cost
$199.99
Base kit includes alarm base station, keypad, door/window contact sensor, motion detector, alarm range extender and free 30-day trial of Ring Protect professional monitoring. Pro starter kit comes with a Wifi router.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$19.99
Other features/self monitoring available with plans starting at $4.99 per month. You'll need at least the basic plan to arm and disarm your system remotely.

Hazard detection
Add-on smoke/CO detector and listener, flood and freeze sensor.
Equipment cost
$199.99
Base kit includes alarm base station, keypad, door/window contact sensor, motion detector, alarm range extender and free 30-day trial of Ring Protect professional monitoring. Pro starter kit comes with a Wifi router.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$19.99
Other features/self monitoring available with plans starting at $4.99 per month. You'll need at least the basic plan to arm and disarm your system remotely.

Hazard detection
Add-on smoke/CO detector and listener, flood and freeze sensor.
Abode Security System
Abode Security System

4.5

NerdWallet rating

 
Read review

on NerdWallet

View details

4.5

NerdWallet rating

 
Equipment cost
$159.99
Base kit includes security hub, key fob and mini sensor for door/window.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$24.99
Self monitoring with extra features is $7.99 per month, but you can also use basic features for free.

Hazard detection
Add-on smoke alarm monitor and leak detector.
No actual smoke/CO detector.
Equipment cost
$159.99
Base kit includes security hub, key fob and mini sensor for door/window.

Professional monitoring monthly cost
$24.99
Self monitoring with extra features is $7.99 per month, but you can also use basic features for free.

Hazard detection
Add-on smoke alarm monitor and leak detector.
No actual smoke/CO detector.

Read more NerdWallet home security reviews based on firsthand testing:

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We collect data from providers and do firsthand testing as necessary. Our process starts by gathering information from providers and contacting providers for further information where needed. This information, combined with our specialists’ hands-on research, makes up our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance. The final output produces star ratings from poor (1 star) to excellent (5 stars). Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star. Learn more about our ratings methodology here.