Cove vs SimpliSafe: Two No-Contract DIY Systems, Priced by the Day

Monitoring plans, side by side

Cove prices as of August 2026 and SimpliSafe prices as of October 2026, from each company's official monitoring and support pages. Both companies bill monthly with no contract and let you cancel any time.

A note on the Cove column: Cove's marketing page prices by the day, but its own support site publishes the same three plans as monthly figures ($22.99 Basic, $32.99 Plus, $42.99 Premium), so those are real published prices rather than our conversion. SimpliSafe does the same: day rates on its plans page and monthly prices on its support site, so no figure in the table is our conversion.

At the entry and mid tiers, price will not decide this for you: the published monthly prices match exactly ($22.99 entry, $32.99 mid), and the day rates differ by one cent at the entry tier only. What you get for the matching $32.99 differs, though. SimpliSafe Core includes unlimited camera recordings with 30-day cloud storage for up to 10 cameras plus video verification; Cove+ includes camera access with 7-day cloud storage, per each company's published plan tables.

At the top, the products diverge in kind rather than degree. Cove Premium ($1.43/day) is a value bundle: 30-day storage, AI-powered alerts, a lifetime equipment warranty (cameras carry 2 years), and a $5 per month credit toward new equipment. SimpliSafe's Pro and Pro Plus are a different service entirely: live monitoring agents who can watch a compatible camera during armed hours (the Video Doorbell or Outdoor Camera, Series 2, up to 3 in any mix, as of October 2026), speak to whoever is on your property, and trigger the siren and the Outdoor Camera's spotlight before a break-in.

Both companies run US-based monitoring. Cove states it operates six monitoring centers across the United States; SimpliSafe's plans page does not publish a center count, so we do not compare on that figure. Cove advertises multi-factor alarm response (text, call, app) and says it can send help in as little as 30 seconds after confirmation. SimpliSafe says video-verified alarms get faster police response than its own non-verified alarms.

Cove security cost goes deeper on Cove alone: each plan, the separately bought equipment and three years of monitoring. For a verdict on Cove alone, including the smart home and camera gaps, see is Cove worth it. If you are also weighing a traditional installed brand, Cove vs ADT compares Cove's no-contract plans with ADT's starting rates and contracts.

Equipment, warranties, and the fine print

Both systems are self-installed wireless kits sold through system builders on each site, with frequent sitewide equipment sales (Cove was at 70% off equipment in August 2026; SimpliSafe runs frequent sales, so check its price on the day you buy), so we are not quoting hardware package prices that change week to week.

The warranty structures differ in a way that matters over the years you will own the system:

• Cove gives a 1-year equipment warranty on Basic and Plus, and a lifetime warranty on Premium (cameras 2 years). The $5 monthly equipment reward on Premium effectively rebates $60 per year toward expanding the system, which partially offsets Premium's higher price if you would buy sensors anyway.
• SimpliSafe lists a lifetime equipment warranty on Core, Pro and Pro Plus (as of October 2026) for as long as the subscription is active, including free replacement of malfunctioning equipment with shipping covered.

On the alarm-response side, both use the standard verify-then-dispatch flow: text or app cancellation first, phone call second, dispatch request if unreachable. SimpliSafe adds the option of video verification, and on its Active Guard plans, up to $500 toward your homeowner's insurance deductible after a break-in while armed. Cove's 60-day return window is the longer published trial of the two (SimpliSafe's plans page mentions a free trial without stating its length).

A note that applies to both: dropping professional monitoring on either system to save money means the siren still sounds but nobody calls emergency services for you. For that tradeoff, see is professional monitoring worth it and diy vs professional monitoring cost.

Which one to pick

Of the two, by published pricing (Cove as of August 2026, SimpliSafe as of October 2026):

• Pick Cove if you want the lower top-tier price ($42.99 a month vs $49.99 or more; $1.43/day vs $1.66 or more), the lifetime warranty plus $5 monthly equipment credit on Premium, and the longer risk-free trial (60 days). It is the value-shopper's version of this category.
• Pick SimpliSafe if you want capabilities Cove does not publish an equivalent for: video-verified dispatch on the mid tier, live-agent outdoor intervention on the upper tiers, a self-monitoring plan option at $9.99 a month ($0.33/day), and 30-day cloud storage on that plan and from the $32.99 Core tier up, rather than only on the top tier.

If you are choosing between these two at the entry tier, the practical difference is small enough that current equipment promotions on either site may matter more than the monitoring plans do. Both fit renters and movers well given zero contracts; see home security for renters. For where day-rate DIY monitoring sits against the wider market, see home security cost per month, and if you also want full-service pro-install quotes to compare, our quote funnel fetches them with a short questionnaire.