Gabe Turner: Hey folks.
This is Gabe at Security Baron.
Today, we have ourselves a melee between Abode and SimpliSafe.
Let's see who comes out on top.
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Gabe: If you'd like to see a list of our favorite home security systems, google "Security Baron
best home security systems."
If you have a question about today's comparison, leave us a comment, and I'll get back to you.
In today's comparison of Abode and SimpliSafe, I'm going to be looking at their key similarities,
key differences, installation processes, professional monitoring options, customer support, and
finally, mobile applications, so that you have all the information that you need you
to make the right decision.
In terms of key similarities, both Abode and SimpliSafe offer cellular backup, flexible
monthly contracting, and do-it-yourself installation.
When it comes to key differences between Abode and SimpliSafe, one thing you'll note is that
SimpliSafe does not give you the option to self-monitor, whereas, Abode does.
However, if you would like to call Abode directly for phone support, you better hope that you're
a premium member because only premium members can call Abode and get directly through.
Whereas, anyone who has the SimpliSafe Home Security System can speak with one of their
customer service representatives.
Installation is the first element that we're going to compare between Abode and SimpliSafe.
With Abode, you actually can have a professional cam and install the system.
They have an agreement with HelloTech.
It will cost you about $99.
They'll come to your home and set it up.
They do have that DIY installation option, too.
That's what I went with.
When setting up my Abode System, it was not too bad.
You need to use the activation code found in your box, and just go ahead and set up
that gateway.
The gateway is the hub to the rest of the components in your Abode System.
From there, you can just use your mobile app in conjunction with the gateway and set up
the rest of those various components and devices.
However, I will note that when you get to setting up the Abode cam with the Ethernet
cable and the power adapter, it can be a little bit confusing.
I actually prefer to use the Web app for setting up the Abode cam.
Otherwise, pretty simple experience.
Abode was simple, but SimpliSafe somehow takes that a step further when it comes to the installation
process.
It was very easy.
You take out each of the components, place them where they need to be, plug in that hub,
and you're ready to go.
Everything syncs up.
When it comes to installation experience, they were both positive, but I have to give
the nod here to SimpliSafe.
Moving on from the installation process, let's look at your monitoring options.
If you're new to the home security game, there are generally two main options.
You've got self-monitoring and you have professional monitoring.
Self-monitoring has you controlling everything in your mobile application just so that you
know what's going on.
24/7 professional monitoring is a team of professionals that have got your back no matter
where you are.
Abode has both a self-monitoring and professional monitoring option.
Whereas, SimpliSafe only has the professional monitoring option.
Let's begin with Abode's monitoring options.
You can self-monitor for free, and that's the basic plan.
With that, you still get smart home integrations, home automations, and unlimited user accounts.
If you decide you'd like to go professional monitoring route, you can do $30 for a month,
or what's interesting about Abode is you can actually do $8 for three days or $15 for a
week.
If you just want to opt in and out of that professional monitoring, depending on your
vacation schedule, you can do so.
That's a really interesting element of the Abode professional monitoring plan.
Let's look at SimplSafe's professional monitoring options, remembering that with SimpliSafe,
they require you to have professional monitoring.
You have two options, you've got the standard plan, which is $14.99 a month, and the interactive
plan, which is $24.99 a month.
With that interactive plan, you'll get professional monitoring, cellular backup, remote control
of your system, and notifications.
When it comes to the contracts offered by each company, they're pretty similar, except
that Abode will give you some discounts if you decide to go yearly, but both of them
are flexible month-to-month contracting.
Finally, when it comes to the moving policies, they're very similar because they're both
do-it-yourself installation processes.
If you decide to up and move, you just need to make sure you notify each company of where
they should send the police in terms of professional monitoring, and you're ready to go.
When I'm trying to pick a top system for professional monitoring between Abode and SimpliSafe, I'm
looking for both affordability and flexibility.
While SimpliSafe is about $25 a month and $5 cheaper than Abode's $30 a month for their
top premium plans, I actually like what Abode is bringing to the table.
Because they also have a three-day plan for $8 and a one-week plan for $15.
I really appreciate that flexibility when it comes to my professional monitoring.
Because of that and the fact that honestly, Abode gives you a lot more cloud storage at
that top tier pricing, I'm going to give the nod here for professional monitoring to Abode.
Hold on a quick break.
Abode has a wealth of options available on their home security system but most of those
are accessible only through the Web application.
Whereas, other home security systems do not have those options but they also do not have
Web app.
How do you feel about the trade-off between Web app and wealth of features for a home
security system?
We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Let's get back to the video.
Whether you're self-monitoring or paying for professional monitoring, you'd still need
customer support in case something goes wrong.
With Abode and SimpliSafe, you can go on the online support center.
You can send them an email, and you can give them a call.
With Abode, you have to be a part of that top tier in order to have your phone call
prioritized.
If you want to get on the phone with someone, you have to be paying for it with Abode.
That's not the case with SimpliSafe or any of the other home security systems that we've
seen out there.
We wanted to be clear about that right from the outset.
In order to get an idea of how other people feel about their experiences with Abode and
SimpliSafe's customer support teams, I turned to Amazon.
The Abode essential starter kit, which I bought directly from Abode, is on Amazon.
It has pretty high score of 4.3 out of 5 stars, which would generally be pretty impressive
until you looked at the reviews that specifically mentioned customer support, which are almost
all uniformly negative.
When you look at SimpliSafe, which, for the record, is a different system than the one
we ordered directly from SimpliSafe, they have a 12-piece system on Amazon, and it has
a 3.5 out of 5-star rating.
However, when you look at the reviews that mention customer support, 70 percent of them
now are positive, which is a tremendous gap between SimpliSafe and Abode.
When it comes to customer support, we're going to give the nod to SimpliSafe.
In the final round of this melee between Abode and SimpliSafe, we're looking at the mobile
app.
Mobile app is really important especially when you look at things like self-monitoring
with Abode.
Abode does well in the respective app stores.
In the App Store for Apple, it gets a 3.3 out of 5-star ratings.
When you look at the Google Play Store, it has a 4.2 out of 5-star rating.
When you look at the most recent reviews for Abode, it doesn't look so great.
You've got people complaining about the app and how well it works, and saying that most
of the functionality you get from the Abode System comes in the Web application.
We really think you should be able to do all of that on the mobile device that you use.
When you look at SimpliSafe, it doesn't do as well.
It has a 3.1 in the Apple App Store and a 3.5 out of 5 stars in the Google Play Store,
which just isn't as great.
If you look at the most recent reviews, its trajectory is positive.
It has mostly four and five-star ratings, and people seem to like the direction it's
going in.
Sure, it is definitely more limited than the Abode in terms of overall functionality and
what all it can do, but it is, at least, all available right there on the mobile application.
When it comes to this round, we're going to give the win to SimpliSafe.
Let's break down every element that we compared today between Abode and SimpliSafe.
Installation, here we gave the nod to SimpliSafe because you just can't beat how easy it is
to just put things in the wall and have them sync up seamlessly.
Professional monitoring, this one was close, but we gave it to Abode simply for its affordability
and flexibility.
Customer support.
Here, we gave the win to SimpliSafe.
SimpliSafe has better numbers when it comes to reviews and allows anyone to use their
phone support line.
Mobile application.
Here, we gave the win to SimpliSafe.
It has an impressive trajectory in terms of how people feel about the app, and with Abode,
so much of the functionality is limited to its Web application.
We're going to the end of a long melee between Abode and SimpliSafe.
You'll note that SimpliSafe has come out victorious.
It has three out of the four categories dominated.
That doesn't mean you can't get something out of that Abode Home Security System especially
if you're someone who is drawn to smart home integrations, home automation, or if you just
want to self-monitor and just dive deep into that Web application on your desktop.
If you are asking me what my thoughts are is you really can't beat that super easy installation
process with SimpliSafe.
It just might be the way to go for you if you just want to set it up and forget about
it.
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Gabe: That concludes today's comparison of Abode and SimpliSafe.
If you appreciate today's video, give us a like and hit that subscribe button.
As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron.
Be secure.