Search for the cost of a monitored home alarm and you will find monthly prices running from about five pounds to thirty. What those pages rarely say is what the money buys. In Britain, paying to be monitored does not mean the police will come when your alarm goes off. We priced the main home-alarm subscriptions on sale this week and checked each one against the police’s own rules on who gets a response. Not one mainstream subscription, at any price, buys a guaranteed police response.
The reason is a two-tier system the alarm trade rarely spells out. Forces work to a National Police Chiefs’ Council document, Police Operational Advice and Security Industry Requirements for Response to Security Systems. It splits alarms into Type A and Type B. A Type A system uses accredited equipment, sends its signal to an Alarm Receiving Centre, and holds a police Unique Reference Number, or URN. Only a Type A system gets a planned police response. Every alarm you can buy off the shelf and watch from an app is Type B, and in the words of the guidance there is no guarantee of police response to Type B systems.
Prices and police rules checked at source on 4 September 2026. Every figure below comes from a page we opened that day, all linked in Sources. We recommend nothing here and earn nothing from this page.
What paying to be monitored actually buys
Monitoring is not one thing. It runs from an app pinging your phone to a staffed centre sending a guard. Here is the ladder, cheapest to dearest, with who actually turns up at each rung.
| Rung | What happens on activation | Who turns up | Police response | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local storage, no plan | Siren sounds, footage saved on the device, you check the app | You, if you notice | No | Free (Eufy) |
| Self-monitoring plan | App pushes an alert to your phone, you decide what to do | You | No | Ring Solo £4.99, Ring Plus £15.99 a month |
| Self-monitoring plus private call-out | App alert, plus an automated or on-demand call-out you can trigger | A private responder, 30-minute target | No | Ring Pro £29.99 a month |
| Professional monitoring, price published | A staffed centre checks your cameras and sends a guard if it sees a break-in | A private security guard | No | SimpliSafe 66p to 93p a day |
| Professional monitoring, quote only | A UK centre watches around the clock and dispatches a guard on a verified break-in | A private security guard | No, unless separately URN-registered | Verisure, ADT: quote after a home visit |
| Accredited system with a URN | Confirmed signalling to an accredited centre, registered with the force | Police, until response is withdrawn | Yes, conditional | Installed by an accredited firm, monthly fee quoted per property |
The police-response rulebook
West Yorkshire Police publishes its alarms policy in full, and the Metropolitan Police have set out how their call handlers apply it. Between them the rules are plain.
- Type A only. Police give a planned response to a Type A system, one with accredited equipment whose signal ends at an Alarm Receiving Centre. Every DIY app alarm is Type B, and the guidance states there is no guarantee of police response to a Type B system.
- A URN, applied for by the alarm company. The alarm firm applies to the police Security Systems Office for a Unique Reference Number, pays an admin fee, and hands over the address and keyholder details. A household cannot get a URN for a self-installed app alarm.
- Two keyholders, twenty minutes. A Type A system needs at least two keyholders, each contactable, each with their own transport, each able to reach the property within 20 minutes of an activation.
- Three false alarms and you are out. Three false calls in a rolling twelve months and the automatic police response is withdrawn. After that the centre stops passing your activations to the police, and your insurance can lapse at the same time.
The rules also close the obvious workaround. Bolting cameras or verification onto a Type B alarm does not promote it to Type A. The Met’s guidance says a Type B activation needs evidence from a person at the scene that an offence is in progress before an officer is sent, which puts a self-monitored app alarm on the same footing as a passer-by phoning in a siren.
So what does it cost
These are the monthly prices as each brand lists them, read on 4 September 2026, with a yearly figure worked out where the brand only quotes by the month or the day.
| Provider | Plan | Price as listed | Per year, our maths | What the fee buys | Police response |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eufy | Local storage, no plan | Free | £0 | Recording and app alerts, footage kept on the device | No |
| Ring | Solo | £4.99 a month or £49.99 a year | £49.99 | Recording and alerts for one device | No |
| Ring | Plus | £15.99 a month or £159.99 a year | £159.99 | Whole-system recording and alerts | No |
| Ring | Pro | £29.99 a month or £299.99 a year | £299.99 | Adds automated and on-demand call-outs, 30-minute response target | No, a private call-out |
| SimpliSafe | Pro Standard | 66p a day | £240.90 | Staffed centre, Securitas guard response | No, a guard |
| SimpliSafe | Pro Premium | 93p a day | £339.45 | Adds video verification and excess payback | No, a guard |
| Verisure, ADT | Monitored | Quote only, after a home visit | Not published | Around-the-clock centre, private guard on a verified break-in | No, unless URN-registered |
Ring’s yearly prices work out cheaper than paying by the month. SimpliSafe quotes by the day, so the yearly figure is its daily rate times 365. Verisure and ADT publish no price at all; you get a figure only after a salesperson visits your home.
How we built this
We took the monitoring price of each mainstream UK home-alarm brand from the brand’s own website on 4 September 2026, and read each plan’s own description of what happens during an alarm. We then checked those descriptions against two police forces’ published alarm policies. Where a brand does not publish a price, we say so rather than repeat a figure from a comparison site. Nothing here is estimated. Each number sits on a page linked in Sources.
Frequently asked questions
Does paying for monitoring mean the police will come?
No. A plan from Ring, Eufy, SimpliSafe or Verisure sends you an alert or a private guard. Police give a planned response only to a Type A accredited alarm that holds a police URN, which no off-the-shelf app alarm has.
What is a URN, and can I get one myself?
A Unique Reference Number is the reference a police force gives an accredited alarm so it can receive a response. An alarm company applies for it through the police Security Systems Office as part of installing a compliant system. You cannot register one yourself for a DIY app alarm.
What is the cheapest way to be monitored?
Self-monitoring is free. A system with local storage, such as Eufy, sends alerts to your phone with no monthly fee. You are the monitor.
Why would the police stop responding to my alarm?
Three false alarms in a rolling twelve months. After that the monitoring centre stops passing your activations to the police, and your insurer may treat the cover as lapsed.
Other Look Into indexes
Each of these is built the same way: a fixed basket or a fixed set of claims, captured on a stated date, with the method published and the raw numbers on the page.
- UK Home Security Value Index 2026, the hardware that covers the routes burglars actually use, priced against the cheapest alarm kit.
- UK Running Cost Index, what common appliances cost to run at the current price cap.
- UK Student Kit Index 2026, a fixed twenty-item basket priced against the maintenance loan.
Sources
All opened on 4 September 2026.
- Type A and Type B, keyholders, twenty-minute rule and false alarms: West Yorkshire Police, Alarms force policy.
- How forces apply the NPCC policy, the URN process and the three-strikes ban: Metropolitan Police, The Application of the NPCC Security Systems Policy.
- Ring plan prices and the call-out tier: Ring UK, Protect Plans.
- SimpliSafe monitoring prices and Securitas guard response: SimpliSafe UK, Professional alarm monitoring.
- Verisure quote-only pricing and guard response: Verisure UK, How much is Verisure a month.
- Eufy no monthly fee and local storage: eufy UK, Local Security, No Monthly Fee.
This page carries no affiliate links and recommends no product. Published by Whito Ltd (company 10918465). Written by Jacob Whitmore.