Best Rural Home Security Systems

1. SimpliSafe - Best Rural Security System for Alexa

Editors Rating:

9.2 /10

800-544-5942

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How We Review

SimpliSafe is next up thanks to its excellent pricing, the ability to mix and match components and the fact that you can control it completely with your voice thanks to its full integration with not only Google Assistant, but also Alexa. In fact, no competitors play as nice with Alexa as SimpliSafe does, making it an outstanding pick for people that like to control gadgets through voice commands.

Integrating with Voice Assistants and IoT Devices

Setting up Alexa control over the Simplisafe system is easy; in just a few minutes, we had it up and running. Then, all we needed to do is arm the system in ‘away’ mode with a number of set commands (“Alexa, tell SimpliSafe I’m going out”) or set it to ‘home’ mode by letting Alexa know that we were going to bed. We also set commands that let us check the system’s status or disarm SimpliSafe entirely; it’s a very intuitive system.

Sorrowfully, integration with Google Assistant isn’t as good, as it only accepts basic commands (like “arm” and “disarm”) instead of the more conversational style of Alexa. Besides voice control, SimpliSafe also works with Nest’s thermostats and August’s smart locks, meaning we could have the system engage when the smart lock locked, or have the thermostat warm up the house when SimpliSafe was turned off, meaning we’re not home.

Customizable Packages

SimpliSafe is probably the most versatile home security system on the market today. While most competitors offer some kind of mix-and-match functionality, SimpliSafe is a good option in that you can choose from a huge amount of packages and then add components as you go along. All you need to control it all is the base station, which has a nice, modern vibe and should fit in well with most furnishings.

Of course, you can also put together your package yourself from scratch, which is convenient for people that have specific needs, like people living out in the country. For instance, you could focus entirely on keeping your yard safe and save money on, say, window sensors. It’s up to you and what you think you need.

SimpliSafe Pricing

The nice thing about versatility is that you can also control price. SimpliSafe’s packages start at $275 and go as high as $490, though with seasonal discounts you could end up spending a lot less than that. Overall, SimpliSafe’s pricing is very reasonable and is one of the very few services that offers a month-to-month option on its subscriptions, a big plus for anybody budgeting on that basis.

2. Vivint - Best Rural Security System with Professional Installation

Editors Rating:

9.4 /10

844-922-0575

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How We Review

Our first entry is Vivint, which we like for people out in the country thanks to its comprehensive security options. However, its main strength is probably that a visit by a company technician is required with all packages. You won’t have to worry about where each component needs to be set up and how, as one of Vivint’s professionals will take care of it.

Easy to Use

Setting up a home security system can be a pain, especially if you’re out in the country and have a big house or even a large plot of land to worry about rather than an apartment or a suburban fenced yard. If you’re not careful, you could be woken up with an alarm every time a deer or raccoon trips up a poorly laid wire or a badly placed camera.

Almost all the systems on this list have some kind of installation service, but Vivint’s is our favorite thanks to its price point and professionalism. A technician will come to your house and put up the system. We really liked it when we looked over it for our Vivint review and it’s definitely its stand-out feature.

On top of that, we also really like the Vivint app, which might be the easiest one to use on the market now. It offers a useful overview and lets us control all aspects of the system from pretty much a single screen. If you’re worried about how you’ll interact with your security system, Vivint definitely deserves some attention.

Plays Well with Others

Much like our next entry SimpliSafe, Vivint integrates with Alexa and Google Assistant, meaning that we were able to control it entirely by just using our voices. It also plays nice with Philips Hue smart lighting systems, a great way to make it look like somebody’s in the house, as well as Nest’s smart thermostats. In our testing, we had no trouble at all with hooking all these systems up to each other.

Vivint Cost

Vivint pricing is quite reasonable. You can pay per month as well as opt for long-term financing (details on that are supplied on demand). Prices start at $29.99 but depending on the services you add, you can pay multiples of that very quickly. For our review, for instance, we went for a two-camera plan, which cost $49.99, added a doorbell camera and cloud storage, and ended up with a bill just south of $60 per month. It’s worth every penny, though.

3. ADT - Best Rural Security System with Professional Monitoring

Editors Rating:

9.8 /10

855-908-4461

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How We Review

Next up on our list is ADT, which has been around for over 140 years. Generally speaking, if a company was around as early as 18741 offering more or less the same services it is now, it’s a good bet that they’re doing something right. The reason we added it to our list here is thanks to its excellent, round-the-clock professional monitoring, perfect for people out in the country that want to know they’re being kept safe.

ADT Packages

ADT’s offering falls, broadly speaking, into three packages, though you can transfer elements between them. We have the details for you in our ADT home security overview, but in most cases we’d recommend that people living in the country get the Smart or Complete packages as they are much more comprehensive, protecting not only your yard and parts of the house, but also your garage and any outlying buildings.

However, when comparing, say, ADT vs SimpliSafe, you’ll notice quickly that ADT is very much a traditional company in that it decides how best to set up your security, usually evaluated by its technician when they visit. This means you can only choose from the packages it offers; you can’t mix and match like you do with more recently founded competitors.

Professional Monitoring

ADT’s biggest strength is that it offers 24/7 professional monitoring, meaning that no matter when an alarm goes off, a human in one of ADT’s offices will respond to it and decide on a course of action. That, to us, means peace of mind for people that like a more old-fashioned approach to home security. It also means far less worry if you go away for vacation or the like. However, the downside is that ADT does not allow you to just self-monitor, meaning there’s no cheaper option than full, round-the-clock professional monitoring.

Pricing Plans and Options

ADT pricing is a little on the high side, but you get what you pay for. The monitoring plans cost anywhere between $40 to $60 per month, with the equipment and the price of installation coming on top of that. The installation fee is set, too, as ADT will only allow one of its technicians to set up the system. However, it’s well worth it as you get a home security system by a company that’s been around since President Grant.

4. Cove - Best Rural Security System with DIY Installation

Editors Rating:

8.7 /10

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How We Review

Unlike our first two picks, Cove’s approach to rural home security is do-it-yourself (DIY). Although professional installation has advantages, Cove’s DIY installation gives you the freedom to outfit your home with the right security equipment. After all, you’re the person who knows your property best. Sure, it might require some light work, but with Cove’s easy installation, timely customer support, and packages that come complete with everything you need for installation, things are likely to go smoothly.

Mobile smartphone controls cost $24.99 per month

Customizable Packages

When you buy Cove equipment, you can fully customize your system to your security needs. Cove’s offering is complete with security and environmental safety sensors, cameras, and remote controllers. In our opinion, those should be enough to protect an entire rural property. Now, the good thing is, you can go as big as you want. You can connect dozens of sensors to your alarm panel, so start counting your doors and windows, identifying rooms that need motion sensors and smoke alarms, and deciding where to put glass break sensors. It might also make sense to add cameras right away. Cove offers indoor and outdoor cameras, as well as video doorbells, both hardwired and battery-powered.

Cove does lack in the home automation department, but if you already have Alexa or Google Assistant speakers set up, you can use those to control Cove with your voice. The Cove app also makes controlling the system a lot easier, whether you’re controlling it from miles away or inside your property.

Lastly, if you’re worried about the equipment cost, you’ll be relieved to know that Cove is on the affordable side. For instance, entry sensors cost as low as $7.50 each with online discounts applied, so even if you grab 10 of those, you’ll only spend $75. We’ve seen a lot of companies charge $30 for one entry sensor, so that’s a huge savings.

Cove Security Cameras

Like we said, it makes sense to add cameras to your system, especially if you have a large front or backyard. We liked the fact that Cove’s outdoor cameras are wire-free and battery-powered. That way, you can place them anywhere you want without worrying about finding a place to plug them into. They’re also weatherproof, and while they do not have special features like facial recognition, they have good video quality, night vision, and a microSD card slot for local video storage. A seven-day cloud backup is also available through the Cove Plus plan, which brings us to the next point.

Cove Plans and Pricing

Cove is affordable, as evidenced by Cove’s $17.99 to $27.99 plan pricing range. We’ve studied the plans extensively in our Cove pricing page, so head over there if you’re interested. For rural properties, the Cove Plus ($27.99) plan provides the best features. In addition to professional monitoring, which is also available with the Cove Basic plan, Cove Plus enables security camera integration, remote smartphone control, and cloud storage. Those are critical monitoring features that give you access to your home security system wherever you go.

5. Swann SWDVK-445802V - Best Self Monitored Rural Security System

Editors Rating:

8.1 /10

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How We Review

Our penultimate entry is Swann, which isn’t as much a home security system as it is a camera system, but a very good one at that. We recommend it for anybody looking for a light touch when it comes to securing the house, but as an upside, it is almost certainly the cheapest option on this list.

Cameras Galore

Unlike our other options for country dwellers, Swann is not a full suite of security options but rather just a camera system. However, they’re very good cameras and Swann offers a huge range of different ones. You could, for example, opt for a camera system that’s triggered by motion or by heat, or both. There are also plenty of options to make whatever is being recorded stand out more through spotlights and even infrared night vision.

Customers also have the option to pick different image qualities, meaning you can save a few bucks as long as you don’t mind granier resolutions. Because of all these options, we could have gotten a single camera for as little as $70 or a near-professional, hardcore 16-camera setup for thousands of dollars. We liked this approach as it means we can keep a tight grip on our expenditures in the security department.

Entirely Self-Monitored

Swann is great for people that want to manage their own security as it’s entirely self-monitored: there’s nobody in a control room somewhere keeping an eye on things. No matter which camera system you buy, you can keep an eye on things from anywhere using the app. We liked it well enough when we used it, though it needed the occasional reboot.

One-Time Fee

As there’s nobody checking your camera feeds, it also means that there’s no need to pay a monthly fee as with many other security solutions. You pay for whichever camera or set of cameras you want, and that is it. This means that you don’t have to factor anything into your budget when you opt for any Swann plans; rather, you just pay once and you’re good to go.

6. Scout Alarm - Best Rural Security System for Google Assistant

Editors Rating:

7.0 /10

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How We Review

Last but not least on our list for the best rural security system is Scout, which crowdfunded its way out of obscurity back in 2013.2 It’s a solid security system no matter how you look at it, but we especially like how well it integrates with Google Assistant as well as Alexa and IoT systems like Nest. However, its catalog leaves a little to be desired in some places, as does Scout’s pricing.

Scout Product Line

Unlike Swann, Scout is another system that’s exactly that: a system. We controlled it from a central hub, which connected to sensors. These come in all kinds of flavors, from motion detection to the type that detects if glass in a window or door is broken. There are, of course, also cameras, though for some strange reason there’s no outdoor camera, meaning it may not be the best best for people living out in the country if they also need their yard kept under surveillance.

That said, Scout is the ultimate in customizability. There are no set plans, as such, just recommendations, so you can mix and match to your heart’s content. This leeway means that Scout is perfect for people that have trouble getting their plans just right with other providers, so it may warrant a close look if you’re in that category.

Great Google Assistant Integration

You also get some handy options to just use your voice to interact with Scout. What SimpliSafe is to Alexa, Scout is to Google Assistant. This means that if you’re a big fan of using the Assistant and want to use it to control your home security system, Scout may be the best bet for you.

Few other systems are as good for use with Assistant, and none are better. In our testing, we were able to arm and disarm the system, as well as check whether the system was on, by just using specific keywords and then not worrying about it again. By simply starting our sentence with “OK Google” and then adding any preset commands (“check whether vacation mode is on,” “what is Scout’s status?”) we controlled Scout without ever touching a button.

Doing It Yourself

A last point with Scout is that it’s entirely do-it-yourself, meaning that there’s not even the option of having somebody install the system for you. Though this may seem daunting at first, it’s a good way to save money, and you get a real sense of accomplishment once you’re done.That said, we did find ourselves a little frustrated setting up the system, but that may be due to us as much as Scout.