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.
Best Overall: Lifeshield by ADT
When it comes to professional monitoring, it makes sense to trust a company like ADT. ADT has been around since 1874 and has over 18,000 employees, making this one of the largest, most trusted names in home security for decades. Their Lifeshield line of security systems goes all the way back to 2012 and is among one of the simplest systems to configure, despite the large number of optional components you can buy for it.
Lifeshield is part of Blue by ADT, a collection of DIY home security products that all tie in together. From video doorbells to cameras, the Lifeshield keypad with window and door sensors, motion detectors, sirens, and more. You name it, ADT has it, and it works with the Lifeshield system. For $229, you get enough components to protect a small house, and it even includes a camera to snap videos of anyone entering your home unannounced.
It’s even got Google Assistant commands that use language similar to Nest — just ask Google to arm Lifeshield instantly, or set it to away or stay modes. Lifeshield works with IFTTT, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit as well, so if you prefer to use another virtual assistant or another type of phone entirely, you won’t have to worry about losing support for your home security system. It’s also got several different power redundancies built-in, so even a power-outage won’t bring your system down.
The best part? You don’t need a subscription or monitoring plan to do any of this. It all works out of the box through the Lifeshield app, and it works incredibly well. If you’d rather let the professionals handle the monitoring, ADT has several subscription monitoring plans that include various levels of professional monitoring. If you just want someone to call the cops for you, you can opt for the entry-level plans. Higher tiers include the ability for someone to verify the identity of the person who set off the alarm in the first place and can give you the ultimate peace of mind when away from home.
Pros:
- A huge ecosystem of products
- Affordable
- Easy setup
- Subscription options for every budget
- Works with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and IFTTT
- Multiple redundancies for power
Cons:
- Could use deeper Alexa integration
Best Overall
Lifeshield by ADT
- From $200 at Amazon
The do-it-all DIY solution
Lifeshield covers more than just the basics; it covers your entire home with options for seemingly everyone and everything.
Best for Simplicity: Simplisafe
Simplisafe was the original do-it-yourself home security system that didn’t require a subscription fee. Simplisafe’s latest hardware is a testament to how much the company is willing to improve itself to keep up with the Jones’s.
At $190, the 5-piece system is all you’ll need to cover a small apartment or flat, while $250 will easily cover a small home. Upgrade that to $300, and you’ll not only get more room coverage, but you’ll also get the incredibly handy SimpliCam — an indoor camera designed to give you a positive ID of anyone foolish enough to break into your home.
The downside to a Simplisafe system is that you only get the basics without a subscription. If you want to connect to Google Home/Assistant, Alexa, Apple HomeKit, or anything else, you’ll need to subscribe to a Simplisafe Interactive Plan. The Interactive Plan is only $0.83 per day, but it’s still an added cost just to unlock the full potential of the system.
Pros:
- Super easy to set up
- Optional cameras
- Expandable to 100 components
- Super loud siren
Cons:
- Requires a monthly plan for all features
- No smartphone alerts without a monthly plan
Best for Simplicity
Simplisafe
- From $190 at Amazon
Best at the basics
Simplisafe prides itself on easy setup and ease-of-use. Add an Interactive Plan to unlock all the features.
Best for doing it all yourself: Eufy Security Home Alarm Kit
Eufy is a growing brand of affordable smart home products, covering everything from robot vacuums to security cameras and even home security systems. The Eufy Security Home Alarm Kit is the most affordable solution here. With no need to add a monthly subscription to get all the features, it stays the most affordable solution in the long-term, too. The base Eufy security kit will cover a small home’s main entryways for $160, a full $30 less than most other systems here.
That base system can be added to over time with other Eufy products, including the excellent Eufy 2K Video Doorbell, any of the Eufycam 2 models, or just extra window and door sensors for $30 a piece. All of these products connect through the Eufy Security app and can be used perfectly in conjunction with one another, automatically recording events while armed, and even automatically arming the system based on your geolocation.
But Eufy won’t work with everything. Eufy’s integration with most virtual assistants is pretty basic. You can at least view video feed from Eufy Security cameras through Google Home and Alexa devices, but it’s not as well integrated as Nest Secure is by any means. There’s also no option to add in professional monitoring services, so you’re always going to be on your own. The best you’ll be able to do is subscribe to a cloud storage plan to keep videos safe for a month, but you can always store videos for free on the local Homebase, instead.
Pros:
- Affordable
- Works perfectly with other Eufy Security products
- Free local video storage with cameras
Cons:
- Poor integration with smart assistants
- No professional monitoring options
- No Smoke/Fire/Carbon Monoxide alarm options
Best for doing it all yourself
Eufy Security Home Alarm Kit
- $160 at Amazon
Keeping it all in house
Eufy Security is the most affordable way to keep your home secure. Just know that you’ll need to run the show instead of a professional.
Best for Alexa Homes: Ring Alarm 2nd Gen
Sometimes it’s best to keep everything under one roof, and if you’ve got a smart home powered by Amazon Alexa, there’s no doubt that Ring Alarm is going to be your best bet. Ring, an Amazon company, has built its products to be deeply integrated with Amazon’s own virtual assistant. That means every command you could ever dream of is possible through Alexa with the Ring Alarm 2nd Gen.
Featuring a sleek new design and better compatibility with window and door sizes than the 1st-generation Ring Alarm, Ring Alarm 2nd Gen pulls out all the stops and gives you full power over your smart home security. You can use it with or without a subscription, and even the monthly monitoring plans are roughly half the price of most competitors on the market.
If you’ve got other Ring products, like video doorbells or cameras, this one is a no-brainer. It’s like how Nest Secure worked perfectly with all the Nest products before Google changed things up. Ring even has several packages that come with a free Echo Dot or Echo Show 5, which will even further enhance the super-tight integration between Ring and Alexa-powered devices in your home.
Pros:
- Snazzy looks and smart design
- Works perfectly with Alexa and Ring devices
- Affordable monitoring plans
Cons:
- Doesn’t work well with Google Assistant
Best for Alexa Homes
Ring Alarm 2nd Gen
- From $199 at Amazon
Give Alexa a Ring
Looking to complete your Alexa-powered smart home? Ring Alarm 2nd Gen ties everything together just the way you want.
Best for Multi-Assistant Homes: Abode iota
Abode makes a unique system called the iota that can do it all. Whether you’re a do-it-yourselfer or if you want professionals helping you through the entire process, iota is the product you’re looking for. On top of optional professional installation, Abode offers an affordable $16 per-month monitoring plan that features 30-days of video storage, a full timeline of events, Wi-Fi, and cellular connection backup, and you won’t even have to sign a contract for any of it.
Abode iota works with every single virtual assistant and smart home technology you could possibly want. From Google Home to IFTTT, Z-Wave to Zigbee, and everything in-between, iota will do exactly what you want when you want it. They even have an entire list of “Works with Abode” products that’ll natively interact with the iota security system, making it an easy decision as to which next smart home security product purchase will work best.
Abode is also finally launching its own suite of camera products, starting with an outdoor camera. That’s good since the current integration with some cameras, like Nest, won’t trigger alarms or save footage in-app (because you need a separate subscription).
Pros:
- One app can control your whole smart home
- Works with all virtual assistants
- Supports Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and Zigbee
- Optional professional installation and monitoring
- Professional monitoring is very affordable
- Wide range of door/window sensor designs
Cons:
- May not have full functionality with some third-party cameras
- Expensive up-front
- Not many first-party cameras
Best for Multi-Assistant Homes
Abode iota
- From $300 at Amazon
Make it yours
Abode iota works with any kind of virtual assistant or wireless technology you like to use, making it easy to integrate into your existing smart home.
Bottom line
While it’s sad to see Nest Secure go, there are plenty of alternative options to choose from. Whether you want to stick with a Google Home or Nest ecosystem as the center of your smart home or opt for something like Alexa or HomeKit, there’s no shortage of great home security systems. All of the systems here are do-it-yourself, just like Nest Secure, and some of them, like Abode iota, even offer the ability for professionals to install it for you.
But it’s pretty hard to recommend anything but Lifeshield by ADT as the best overall Nest Secure alternative for most homes. It’s got compatibility with every virtual assistant you might want to use, which is perfect for households with mixed phone preferences, and it’s backed by ADT’s pedigree for home security. While ADT will recommend you subscribe to a monthly monitoring plan, you can easily forego this and do everything yourself. It’s easy to set up, even easier to use, and it’s super-affordable too!
Credits — The team that worked on this guide
Nick Sutrich Nick is a news writer and contributor to Android Central. He’s been writing about tech since 2011 and loves robot vacuums, home automation, virtual reality, and any kind of gadget that’s connected to the Internet. Find him on Twitter at @Gwanatu.
