Our Scoring Methodology
We score every system on a 0–100 scale across seven categories. The Trust Score carries the highest weight (25%) because it's the hardest to fake and the most predictive of real customer satisfaction.
The 7 Categories
Price
Monthly fees, equipment costs, and total cost of ownership over 3 years.
Equipment
Build quality, sensor reliability, camera resolution, and lineup breadth.
Monitoring
Response times, redundancy, cellular backup, and monitoring center quality.
Contract Terms
Contract length, cancellation policies, hidden fees, and price-lock guarantees.
Mobile App
Reliability, feature depth, push notification speed, and user reviews.
Customer Service
Hold times, resolution rate, and complaint volume.
Trust Score
BBB rating, Trustpilot reviews, complaint history, and years in business.
Use-Case Rankings
The same scores get weighted differently for use-case rankings. "Best for Renters" weighs contract flexibility heavily; "Best Budget" weighs price; "Best Monitoring" weighs monitoring center quality. Pick a use case on the rankings page to see the right system surface to the top.
What's For Sale — And What Isn't
We're upfront about our business model. Companies can purchase placement for specific badges like "Best for Renters" or "Best DIY" when they're a strong fit for that category. The underlying score itself, however, is editorial and never for sale. A company can't pay to raise its Trust Score, its Monitoring Score, or its Overall Score.