What smart home kit costs to own in the UK once the plans, monitoring and parts are counted: Ring, Google Nest, Arlo, eufy, Yale, SimpliSafe and robot vacuums, over three and five years, with what each device still does if you stop paying.
The short answer. For most smart doorbells and alarms the plan, not the hardware, is the bigger cost. Over five years Ring’s cheapest recording plan costs 3.1 times its £79.99 doorbell, and Yale’s professionally monitored plan costs 9.4 times its £229.99 alarm kit. eufy’s doorbell and Yale’s free alarm tier cost nothing after checkout. Before you buy, check two things: what the device still does with no plan, and how many devices the cheapest plan covers.
This hub draws on Look Into’s own desk research: maker UK store prices and plan pages, read on the dates shown. Look Into has not used or tested any of these products.
Smart home ownership costs: three and five years
Each total is the device price plus the plan or parts, plan paid annually where an annual price exists, prices held where they were on the date read. “Plan multiple” is five years of plan or parts divided by the device price.
| Type | Device | Device price | Plan or parts counted | A year | 3 years | 5 years | Share after checkout, 5 yrs | Plan multiple | Without a plan you keep | The plan adds | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video doorbell | Ring Battery Video Doorbell | £79.99 | Ring Solo, £49.99 a year | £49.99 | £229.96 | £329.94 | 76% | 3.1× | Live view and alerts | Recorded playback (Ring says a plan is needed to review video) | 15 Sep 2026 |
| Video doorbell | Google Nest Doorbell (battery) | £179.99 | Google Home Premium Standard, £80 a year | £80.00 | £419.99 | £579.99 | 69% | 2.2× | 3 hours of video history | Longer event history (the plan) | 15 Sep 2026 |
| Video doorbell | Arlo Essential 2K Wireless Video Doorbell | £139.99 | Arlo Secure Lite, £49.99 a year (new customers) | £49.99 | £289.96 | £389.94 | 64% | 1.8× | Live view, doorbell calls, motion alerts, two-way audio | Cloud video, person and package detection, detection zones, voicemail | 1 Nov 2026 |
| Video doorbell | eufy Video Doorbell S220 (HomeBase included) | £179.00 | None needed | £0.00 | £179.00 | £179.00 | 0% | 0 | Local recording on the HomeBase | Nothing counted: cloud backup is optional | 15 Sep 2026 |
| Smart alarm | Yale Sync alarm kit | £229.99 | Free plan | £0.00 | £229.99 | £229.99 | 0% | 0 | App, alerts, local storage | Nothing: this is the free tier | 15 Sep 2026 |
| Smart alarm | Yale Sync alarm kit | £229.99 | Secure Pro, £36 a month | £432.00 | £1,525.99 | £2,389.99 | 90% | 9.4× | Free plan features | 24/7 professional monitoring by a manned security service | 15 Sep 2026 |
| Smart alarm | Ring Alarm Pack S (2nd Gen) | £219.99 | Guard Response, £299.99 a year | £299.99 | £1,119.96 | £1,719.94 | 87% | 6.8× | Free app use | Guard call-outs | 15 Sep 2026 |
| Smart alarm | SimpliSafe The Starter | £256.45 | Pro Standard, 66p a day | £240.90 | £979.15 | £1,460.95 | 82% | 4.7× | Not checked | 24/7 emergency dispatch | 15 Sep 2026 |
| Robot vacuum | eufy X10 Pro Omni | £599.00 | Parts kit £34.99 every 6 months (maker interval 3 to 6) | £69.98 | £808.94 | £948.90 | 37% | 0.6× | Not a subscription | Parts wear; the robot keeps working on old parts for a while | 15 Sep 2026 |
Sources: the Subscription Tax Index (maker UK stores and plan pages, 15 September 2026; Arlo read 1 November 2026) and the Product Ownership Cost Index. SimpliSafe uses 365 days a year. eufy X10 parts are counted at the six-month end of eufy’s stated range; at three months the five-year figure is £1,298.80. Blink Basic is £24.99 a year for one device (£124.95 over five years), but we could not read a UK Blink doorbell price, so it is not in the table.
What each device does if you stop paying
- Ring doorbell: live view and alerts carry on. Ring’s help page says a subscription is required to review recorded video, so without Ring Solo you cannot watch back what happened.
- Google Nest doorbell: keeps 3 hours of video history without a plan.
- Arlo: Arlo’s UK pages list live stream, doorbell calls, motion alerts and two-way audio without a plan, with local storage only through an Arlo SmartHub or Base Station. Cloud video, person and package detection, custom detection zones and voicemail need a Secure plan.
- eufy doorbell: records locally to the HomeBase with no fee; cloud backup is optional.
- Yale Sync alarm: the free plan keeps the app, alerts and local storage. Paid tiers add cellular backup, cloud and, at the top, 24/7 professional monitoring.
- Ring Alarm: free app use continues; Guard Response adds call-outs.
- SimpliSafe: we have not checked what the system does with no plan at all, so we do not state it.
The catches that change the numbers
The cheapest plan usually covers one device
Add a second Ring camera and you move to Ring Multi at £79.99 a year, which takes a Ring doorbell’s three-year total to £319.96. Arlo Secure Lite is limited to one camera or doorbell. Arlo Secure Plus, at £219.99 a year, covers unlimited cameras at one address.
Monitoring is not a police response
UK police forces respond to accredited Type A alarm systems signalling to a manned alarm receiving centre. No off-the-shelf DIY plan we priced qualifies. See home alarm monitoring: cost and who responds.
The overtake month
Paid monthly, Ring Solo passes the price of Ring’s doorbell in month 17, Google’s plan passes the Nest doorbell in month 23, and Arlo Secure Lite passes Arlo’s £139.99 doorbell in month 29. Yale’s Secure Pro passes its kit in month 7.
Plan prices move faster than hardware prices
Sales cut device prices; they rarely cut plan prices. A £40 saving on a doorbell is worth less than a year of most recording plans.
All Look Into smart home research
- The Subscription Tax IndexDoorbells, alarms and robot vacuums over 36 months, with the overtake month.
- Product Ownership Cost Index34 products costed over one to ten years, with a CSV.
- Video doorbells with no subscriptionLocal-recording doorbells compared.
- Home alarm monitoring: cost and who respondsPlans checked against police response rules.
- Ring vs SimpliSafe vs VerisureKit, plans and monitoring side by side.
- UK Home Security Value IndexSecurity kit priced against how burglars get in.
- Smart home security on a budgetA setup with no monthly fees.
- Are video doorbells legal in the UK?GDPR and the Fairhurst v Woodard ruling.
- Best smart thermostats and smart radiator valvesHeating controls and their payback.
- Best smart plugsLoad ratings and what they really switch.
- UK Always-On Load IndexWhat hubs, cameras and other idle devices cost a year.
- Home security guideAlarms, cameras and monitored plans explained.
How this hub is worked out, and what it cannot tell you
- Device and plan prices come from each maker’s own UK store and plan page on the date in the table. No Amazon prices. Free trials, delivery, installation, batteries and broadband are left out.
- Three and five-year totals = device price + plan a year × years. Prices are held flat, which they will not be.
- Electricity is not counted. Battery doorbells and cameras use very little; mains hubs run all year, which the Always-On Load Index covers.
- Nothing here measures how long a device lasts, whether its app keeps working, or whether a maker keeps supporting it. A five-year figure assumes the device and the plan are still available.
- We have not used any of these products, so we cannot judge video quality, AI features or response times.