Ring Alarm vs Scout Alarm

If you want to control your home’s security completely, you’ve come to the right place. Both Ring Alarm and Scout offer DIY installation, optional professional monitoring, and systems you can customize. Ring Alarm began with the Ring Video Doorbell, originally debuting on Shark Tank in 2013 before Amazon purchased them in 2018. I’ve reviewed tons of other products from Ring Alarm, like the Ring Spotlight Cam Battery, so I’m excited to see how their security system matches up to Scout.

Scout began with an independent crowdfunding campaign in 2013, exceeding its goal within a month. Since, they have sold over $500,000 worth of systems, although they’re clearly a smaller operation that Ring Alarm. So will David win over Goliath? Read on to find out!

Key Similarities of Ring Alarm vs. Scout

Before I go into detail, I want to ensure that you’re in the right ballpark when selecting your home security system.

• DIY installation: Both systems have DIY installation, so their components are specifically designed to have a simple installation process.
• Amazon Alexa integration: Both systems work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, although Scout also works with IFTTT, unlike Ring Alarm.
• Professional monitoring optional: Both companies give you different options of self-monitoring or paying for 24/7 professional monitoring and cellular backup.

Key Differences Between Ring Alarm vs. Scout

If the above similarities sound okay to you, then we can move on to the meat of the comparison, also known as the differences between Ring Alarm and Scout.

• Warranties: Ring Alarm’s warranties start at only one year, while all Scout systems have three-year warranties.
• System components: Although you can add on components to each system, the Scout system I bought had way more components than Ring Alarm.
• Pricing: Scout is more expensive in terms of equipment and professional monitoring costs, plus you have to pay a monthly or yearly fee no matter what with Scout, unlike Ring Alarm.

Ring Alarm vs. Scout System Components

I bought the Ring Alarm Security Kit from Ring and added on the Ring Stickup Cam and the Ring Video Doorbell 2. With Scout, I completely customized my system, choosing various components.

Ring Alarm System Components

The Ring Alarm Security Kit is super simple, consisting of only a base station, keypad, contact sensor, motion detector, and range extender. I added on a security camera plus a video doorbell (See our comprehensive Ring Doorbell Review), only two of Ring’s many options for both products. Unfortunately, Ring Alarm doesn’t currently make a glass break sensor, although they claim it’s in the works. To monitor your windows, you can make up for it with motion and entry sensors.

In total, my Ring Alarm Security Kit plus the camera and video doorbell cost $547, or $239 without the camera and video doorbell. I think this is a really fair price considering the quality of the components!

Scout System Components

My customized kit from Scout was more extensive, consisting of a hub, door panel, contact sensors, motion sensors, glass break sensors, a smart lock, plus an indoor camera. All of these items cost $688, about $140 more than the Ring Alarm equipment. However, you do get more components, so this increase in cost makes sense.

>> Learn More: See our Scout Alarm Review

Now, on top of Scout’s integration with Alexa, which Ring Alarm shares, it also works with Google Assistant, making it a good choice for those in the Google smart home ecosystem. Aside from the two most popular voice assistants, Scout also works with IFTTT as well as Yale and Kwikset Z-Wave locks and products from Nest, LIFX, and Philips Hue. That means you’ll be able to trigger your Scout devices up with many other connected devices, automating your smart home.

For example, you can shut off your Philips Hue smart light bulb whenever your security system is armed, meaning you’re not home. Not only is this convenient, but it can also save you energy and thus money! Regarding smart platform integrations, Scout definitely takes the cake over Ring Alarm.

Installing Ring Alarm vs. Scout

You’ll install both Ring Alarm and Scout by yourself, so you won’t have to pay a fee for professional installation! However, you want to ensure each system is easy to install, which is why I tested them myself.

Installing Ring Alarm

To start installing the Ring Alarm security system, first, you plug in the base station.

Its ring of light will turn on, and you can connect it to Wi-Fi or hardwire it using an ethernet cable. Once the base station is set up, you can begin syncing all of the other components, ideally one at a time. Ring provides video tutorials making for a very straightforward installation process. From start to finish, the process took about ten minutes.

>> Learn More: See our Ring Alarm Review

Installing Scout

Like Ring Alarm, you should install the Scout components one at a time. First, set up the hub using a power adapter, ethernet cable, and an activation code from the Scout box. Next, I paired the door panel and sensors with the hub using my app. The sensors themselves came with adhesive backings, making installation as easy as putting a sticker on a notebook.

What wasn’t so easy to install was the Scout indoor camera. Getting the power adapter into the back of the camera was a struggle, and then I realized that in order to use the camera at all, I had to pay a monthly or yearly fee, which I don’t appreciate. Next, I had a reset my password multiple times after accidentally putting a space in it. Overall, it wasn’t the smoothest process around.

Top System Installation

It’s no contest— installing the Ring Alarm security system was much easier than installing the Scout security system. Ring one, Scout zero!

Professional Monitoring with Ring Alarm vs. Scout

If you want maximum security, then you should definitely invest in 24/7 professional monitoring. That means that a team of people can handle any alarm that goes off if you’re not available to respond to the notification. After verifying that the emergency is real, they can contact emergency services for you, be it the police, a hospital, or even the fire department. Let’s face it: no one is available to deal with home emergencies 24/7, so that’s why having a monitoring plan can be really helpful. However, if you want to save some cash, you’ll be able to self-monitor each system through its mobile app.

Keep in mind that with Scout, you’ll pay either $9.99 per month or $107 per year even if you don’t have monitoring just to use your camera, while Ring lets you use your camera for free if you prefer.

Ring Alarm vs. Scout Monitoring Options

Ring Alarm Monitoring Options

Scout Monitoring Options

If you want professional monitoring, it’ll cost you $10 a month or $100 a year with Ring Alarm, $19.99 per month, or $215 per year with Scout, which is more than twice as expensive. These plans both include cellular backup in order to keep your system on during a power outage.

But if you don’t want professional monitoring with Scout, the ‘Always On’ plan still includes cellular backup for $9.99 per month or $107 per year, which is about the same cost as the Protect Plus plan from Ring Alarm. As you can see, Ring Alarm gives you more features for less money, so it’s clearly a better value when it comes to monitoring and cellular backup.

On top of its lower costs, all paid Ring plans include 60 days of cloud storage, while with Scout, 14 days of cloud storage will cost $2.99 per month (or free for the first camera if you have multiple). Local storage is included in all paid Ring plans and both Scout plans. Ring also gives you a discount on the Protect Plus plan, 10% off all Ring products purchased at their website. However, Scout takes the cake with a three-year warranty under both of their plans when it comes to warranties.

Ring Alarm vs. Scout Contracts

Neither company forces you into any long term contract, although they both offer annual options at discounted prices. The good news? If you cancel, you won’t have to pay a fee, so it’s a lot more flexible than contracts from some more old-school security companies I’ve reviewed.

Ring Alarm vs. Scout Moving Policies

Since both systems have DIY installation, if you move, you can just pick up either system and bring it to your new home, without having to pay any additional fees!

Top System for Monitoring

Ring Alarm has lower prices with more features than Scout’s prices so again, this was an easy choice. Ring Alarm two, Scout zero!

Ring Alarm vs. Scout Customer Support

This is your home’s security we’re talking about, so if anything goes wrong, you want to make sure you have a great support team that’s actually supportive. Sound too good to be true? To find, out, I scoured customer reviews for people’s experience with customer support.

Both Ring Alarm and Scout have awesome ratings on Amazon, a 4.4, and a 4.2, respectively. For Ring Alarm, 17 reviews mentioned customer support specifically, and 11 of them were positive. For Scout, the numbers were five out of seven, which is even better. On Google, Ring Alarm has a 3.6, while Scout has a perfect five stars. Ring’s customer support reviews on Google were split 50/50 between positive and negative, while Scout only had five-star reviews, although none of them included any text comment.

Top System for Customer Support

Overall, Scout wins when it comes to customer support, and this was true in my own personal experience as well. Now it’s Ring Alarm two, Scout one. It’s down to the apps to either create a tie or to tip Ring Alarm even further into the winner’s circle. Who will come out on top?

Ring Alarm vs. Scout Apps

We’re talking smart security here, so a user-friendly app is a necessity. It’s important to check out app reviews on either the Google Play and Apple stores, depending on the brand of your mobile device. Of course, I include both for all of you readers out there.

The Ring– Always Home App

The Ring— Always Home app lets you livestream footage, speak through two-way audio, set up your Alexa integration, and even receive crime and safety alerts from your home and neighborhood.

It has a 3.3 on both the Apple and Google Play stores, which is decent but not great. One Android-user named David Engelman wrote in a recent one-star review,

“I now have to delete and reinstall the app at least once a week as the notifications regularly stop working. My settings are fine. The app is great when it works, it doesn’t play nicely with Android. The alerts stop working after a while (a few weeks usually) and the only way to fix it is to uninstall and reinstall.”

Ouch. It sounds pretty annoying, and I was disappointed to see that so many of the recent reviews were also one star.

The Scout App

The Scout app is where you’ll control your system, check out your home’s recent activity, control all connected devices, and more. The app faired slightly better than Ring’s, with a 3.6 on the Google Play store and a 3.3 from the Apple store. Unfortunately, most of the recent reviews are pretty negative, apparently after a bad update. Android user Matt C wrote in a recent five-star review,

“I use to give this 5 stars. I noticed that now once an alarm is triggered it stops sensing and logging motion in other rooms. This is a huge problem.”

Top System App

Clearly, apps are not Ring Alarm nor Scout’s biggest strength, but overall, Scout has a better app when compared to Ring.

Recap of Ring Alarm vs. Scout

While Ring Alarm has easier installation and more affordable monitoring plans, Scout has better customer support and a better app. Overall, I’d go with Ring Alarm over Scout, as the first two categories are more important. Of course, certain things come down to personal preferences, which is why I’ve broken it down for you right here.