Protect America vs SimpliSafe: An Expert Comparison
Today we will be comparing home security providers Protect America and SimpliSafe, and see how they stack up! We’ll go over equipment, monitoring plans, and more!
Many homeowners across the United States are making the move to invest in home security systems. It seems like every year we see some sort of rise in home invasions, and that is why we are seeing so many homeowners investing in security systems. Today we will be looking at and comparing what Protect America and SimpliSafe have to offer.
Protect America Control Panel
Protect America has an amazing control panel that is totally cellular and wireless. Their control panel sports a 7-inch full colored touchscreen that allows you to completely control your system and connected device by just using the touchscreen. It has a cellular chip that sports LTE data, and it can connect to your home’s WIFI as an extra connection, but you do not need WIFI for this control panel to work. It has a very thin design allowing it to be easily placed, and it is powered by an AC power source with a 24-hour backup battery. Protect America’s control panel has some stand out features like a built-in glass break sensor that will notify you when the sound of breaking glass is heard. It also includes a 5 MP front facing camera, motion sensors, and a Micro SD slot for extra storage. It is super expandable and it has a built-in Z-wave protocol that allows you to use lots of great brands of home automation devices with it. If your Protect America or connected devices are triggered, Protect America will sound its internal siren while sending you an instant alert through the Protect America app. It includes Bluetooth disarming and arming which is a built-in feature that will automatically arm your system when you leave home, and disarm your system when you return.
Recommended: An alternative DIY (do-it-yourself) option, our home security system at Link Interactive >>
SimpliSafe Control Panel
SimpliSafe is a well-known security provider, and they have an easy to use control panel. Their control panel is cellular and wireless. It has cone shaped design with an LED indicator light at the bottom that will change colors to let you know different system statues. The SimpliSafe control panel can connect to your WIFI as a backup, is powered through an AC power source, and it includes a 24- hour backup battery. All the functions for your SimpliSafe control panel and connected devices are controlled through SimpliSafe’s separate push-button keypad. You can add devices, customize chimes, check system status, etc. using the push-button keypad. The SimpliSafe control panel will only work with SimpliSafe branded equipment, but they do offer a nice selection of security equipment for you to choose from. The SimpliSafe control panel includes an internal siren that will sound if your SimpliSafe security system or connected devices are triggered.
See our cutting-edge control panel by Qolsys >>
Who wins?
The control panels offered by Protect America and SimpliSafe are quite different from one another. For starters, Protect America’s control panel is a full colored touchscreen control panel while SimpliSafe’s is much more simplistic and doesn’t have a touchscreen. Protect America’s control panel includes a Z-Wave protocol making it way more expandable than that of SimpliSafe’s. Due to Protect America offering the better control panel with more features than that of SimpliSafe, we are choosing Protect America as our winners for this category.
Protect America Equipment
Protect America offers wireless and battery-operated intrusion and environmental safety sensors. To protect the interior of your home, Protect America offers different styles of door/window sensors, a motion sensor, and a glass break sensor. Their door/window sensors will trigger your system if a door/window has been opened in which these sensors are placed. Their motion sensors can detect motion in large areas of your home, and are pet friendly for smaller to medium pets. Their glass break sensor will listen for the sound of breaking glass, and will trigger your system when this is heard. To keep your home safe from environmental dangers, Protect America offers smoke/heat, CO, and water leak sensors. These environmental sensors will make audible alerts if their designed environmental factor is detected while triggering your system. Protect America also offers extra keypads, key remotes, and sirens. Their key remotes will allow you to quickly arm and disarm your system with a push of a button. All equipment offered by Protect America is DIY (do it yourself), but they walk through the setup process for a fast and easy installation.
Recommended: An alternative DIY (do-it-yourself) option called Link Interactive >>
Home Automation
Protect America really allows you to expand your system due to their control panel including a Z-Wave Protocol and you can buy all you need right from them. Protect America offers several different brands of smart locks for you to choose from like Yale. You can create custom user codes that can be enabled and disabled at any time with their smart locks as well the ability to remotely unlock and lock them. You will receive push notifications for when your smart locks have been locked and unlocked. If your home has garage doors, Protect America offers the Linear Garage Door Controller. This controller will allow you to remotely shut and open your garage doors. You will get alerts for when your garage door has been opened or shut as well through the Protect America app. Protect America has several smart home devices that are great at helping you make your home greener. They offer a few types of smart thermostats, a smart outlet, and light switch control. These devices can be controlled remotely through the Protect America app, and you can set custom timers for when they come on and go off. Their smart thermostats are really great at cutting down on your home’s energy consumption per month which can save you money.
Video Monitoring/Cameras
Protect America also has a nice selection of video surveillance cameras you can use with their system as well. They offer an indoor, outdoor, and video doorbell camera. These cameras include night vision, 2-way audio, motion sensors, and the ability to record video in HD. Protect America’s video surveillance cameras work by connecting wirelessly to your home’s WIFI network.
Recommended: See all of our Alarm.com powered video monitoring options at Link Interactive >>
SimpliSafe Equipment
SimpliSafe has a wide variety of security and environmental safety sensors for you to choose from. They offer door/window, tilt, motion, and glass break sensors that are wireless and battery-operated. These sensors are used to protect the entryways of your home. They offer external sirens that are wireless and battery-operated for an extra audible alert for your home. To quickly arm and disarm your system, SimpliSafe offers their battery-operated key fobs. Their key fobs have a push-button design, and they will allow you to arm and disarm your system with the touch of a button. They also offer battery-operated panic buttons that have a single push-button that when pushed will immediately trigger your system, and emergency services will know help is needed. To protect your home from environmental dangers, SimpliSafe offers wireless and battery-operated temperature, smoke, CO, and water sensors. These sensors will look for rises and drops in temperature, smoke from fires, CO gas, and water leaks. If these are detected these sensors will trigger your system by making an audible alert. All equipment offered by SimpliSafe is DIY (do it yourself), so you will need to setup the equipment yourself, but they do offer the option for professional installation for a one-time fee.
Recommended: An alternative DIY (do-it-yourself) option called Link Interactive >>
Home Automation
SimpliSafe doesn’t really have a big selection of home automation equipment as of now. The only home automation device that SimpliSafe is currently offering is their smart lock. The SimpliSafe Smart lock has a deadbolt lock and a push button keypad. The lock will fit over your existing deadbolt lock, and your existing key for your current deadbolt lock will work with your SimpliSafe smart lock. It works by connecting wirelessly to your home’s WIFI network so you will need an internet connection for it to work. You can create custom user codes for different users. You can remotely unlock and lock your SimpliSafe lock through the SimpliSafe app.
Monitoring/Cameras
SimpliSafe does have a nice selection of video cameras for you to choose from that works great with their system. They offer their wireless indoor/outdoor camera which is called the Simpli Cam. The Simpli Cam is powered by an AC power source. The Simpli Cam can capture video in stunning HD. It has night vision technology that allows you to see images when there is no light around, and it has motion sensors that will trigger it to start to record. You can communicate through your Simpli Cam using its two-way audio feature. SimpliSafe also offers their Video Doorbell Pro which is also a wireless camera. It has customizable chimes, and motion sensors. Its motion sensor will trigger it to start to record while sending you an instant alert allowing for fast response times to your visitors. It has a wide field of view so you can capture video in a larger area which cuts down on the need to purchase separate outdoor cameras. It can capture video in 1080P, includes advanced night vision, and 2-way audio.
Recommended: See all of our Alarm.com powered video monitoring options at Link Interactive >>
Who wins?
There are a lot of similarities between the basic equipment offered by Protect America and SimpliSafe. They both offer battery-operated and wireless intrusion and environmental safety sensors. They only differ slightly with Protect America having a few different types of door/window sensors while SimpliSafe Safe only offers the one type. Due to Protect America having a larger selection of basic equipment than that of SimpliSafe, we are choosing them as our winners for this category.
This category was an easy one for us to call a winner for. SimpliSafe is a great company, and they have some great basic security equipment but are really lacking in the home automation department. However, Protect America has a ton of home automation for you to choose from, and you can use other branded home devices with their system unlike SimpliSafe. For these reasons we are choosing Protect America as our winners for this category.
Protect America vs Abode App
Protect America and SimpliSafe offer professional, self, and video monitoring services. Their self-monitoring services are done through their apps which are free to download and work for Apple, Android, and PC devices. Their apps allow you to control your system while on the go. You can arm and disarm your system, stream live and recorded video clips, add/remove devices, customize system features, and receive push-notifications for events all through their apps. Protect America’s app is powered by SecureNet which means you will have more features to use than SimpliSafe’s app. Their professional monitoring services work the same in where you have a 24/7 professional monitoring station watching over your home for security, environmental, and medical emergencies. SimpliSafe does have lower month to month monitoring costs than that of Protect America. They also, do no require a contract (or offer any) which means you will be paying for your equipment upfront. Protect America month to month monitoring costs may be higher and they have contracts, but their monitoring services have more features and by going with a contract will allow you to get some pretty big discounts on their equipment.
Recommended: Check out Link Interactive. With Link Interactive you’ll get the Alarm.com app (the gold standard in home security), and top of the line security equipment at great affordable prices. See details >>
Protect America vs Abode vs Link Interactive
Protect America and SimpliSafe are really great security providers. We really like that SimpliSafe made an easy to use control panel, and that their month to month monitoring costs are some of the lowest out on the market. Protect America offers a really premium control panel, and they have a huge selection of basic, addon, and video cams that you can use with their system. Due to Protect America offering a better control panel, more addon equipment, and a better app, we are choosing them as our overall winners.
Recommended Alternative: Link Interactive
If you want to pay less without skimping on features and quality of service, take a look at the Link Interactive home alarm system.
Link Interactive and Protect America are very similar in terms of equipment and monitoring services. At Link we offer a more feature-laden control panel in the the Qolsys IQ 2 Panel, complete with Alarm.com self-monitoring and third-party 24/7 professional monitoring. We also offer cutting-edge video monitoring services and cameras, all at a much better price point than Protect America.
We have thousands of 5-star reviews on various reputable third party review sites complimenting our awesome after-sales support! We encourage you take a look at our offer here, get a quote and compare. You can also call us direct at 1-877-826-5443 for further details and speak with a rep!
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