Is Cove Security Worth It? Costs, Contract and Gaps

What do Cove's plans cost and include?

Cove publishes three monitoring plans. Its plans page shows day rates and its support FAQ shows the same plans as monthly prices:

All three are contract-free with no cancellation penalty, per Cove's FAQ. Cove's FAQ adds that the Premium plan's $5 monthly equipment credit rolls over if you don't use it.

Over three years, by our arithmetic, monitoring alone comes to $827.64 on Basic, $1,187.64 on Cove+ and $1,547.64 on Premium. Equipment is extra and is sold at frequently changing promotional discounts, so price it on the day you buy. Because every tier is month to month, you can start on Basic and move up later from Cove's customer portal, which its FAQ says allows plan changes at any time. Plan-by-plan cost detail is in Cove security cost.

What does Cove leave out?

Low pricing comes with limits, and Cove states most of them in its own support FAQ:

• No Z-Wave. Cove says it does not currently support Z-Wave, though it is being considered. If you want your alarm to run smart locks, lights and thermostats from one hub, this matters.
• Cove equipment only. Cove monitoring only works with Cove-provided equipment, so you cannot bring sensors from another system.
• No wired outdoor cameras. Cove's outdoor cameras are solar-powered; fully wired outdoor options are not available.
• Up to 10 cameras. That is the cap per Cove account.
• No self-monitoring tier. Every plan is professionally monitored, so there is no cheaper app-only option.

On the monitoring side, Cove says its service runs from six monitoring centers across the US and that if it cannot reach you by text or phone during an alarm, it sends authorities within 30 seconds. Those are Cove's own claims; we could not verify them independently.

How does Cove compare with SimpliSafe and ADT?

By published pricing as of October 2026:

Of these three, by published pricing, Cove and SimpliSafe roughly match at the entry tier (SimpliSafe's 76 cents a day is about $22.80 in a 30-day month, by our arithmetic), tie at the mid tier, and both cost far less to leave than ADT. SimpliSafe's higher plans buy live-agent outdoor protection that Cove does not list. ADT's case is professional installation, not price. More detail: Cove vs SimpliSafe and Cove vs ADT.

Who should pick Cove?

Cove makes sense if:

• You want 24/7 professional monitoring at one of the lowest published monthly prices among the providers covered here; see cheapest professional monitoring.
• You rent, might move, or dislike contracts. No-contract plans and a 60-day refund window keep the downside small.
• You want a straightforward alarm rather than a smart home platform.

Pick something else if:

• You already own Z-Wave devices or want one hub for automation.
• You need wired outdoor cameras or more than 10 cameras.
• You only want app alerts and no monitoring center. Then the question is whether monitoring is worth paying for at all; start with is professional monitoring worth it.

If you are weighing Cove against installed providers, comparing real quotes is faster than comparing marketing pages. Our quote tool collects quotes from professional monitoring providers through a short questionnaire.