How We Test and Review

We can provide our reviews, insights, and tips on living a safer life for free because we pay the bills with affiliate commissions from some (but not all) of the retailers and brands we recommend.

Those commissions may influence when we review products, but they never interfere with our recommendations or the content of our reviews. In fact, we’ll be brutally honest about our partners if their product or service falls short.

Our writers and editors rank products and services based on their expert opinions about which ones will best serve the needs of our readers.

SafeWise reviews, compares, and tests products and services after considering (at a minimum) these standard criteria.

• We value third-party ratings like the Better Business Bureau. But we rely on our own expertise, testing, and research for product scores and rankings.

We put products and services to work in homes and other real-life situations. During tests we evaluate all of the following, as applicable:

• Installation (is setup easy, how long does it take, is it easy to get help?)
• Function (does the product or service deliver what it promised?)
• Features
• Compatibility
• Mobile app
• Image quality, video streaming, etc.
• Alerts/notifications

We reach out to customer service to find out how responsive, friendly, and helpful it is. We also seek answers and clarification as needed.

We try out multiple brands of the same product or service to compare their performance head-to-head.

We interview users of the product or service about their experience with the following, as applicable:

• Installation (is set up easy, how long does it take, is it easy to get help?)
• Function (does the product or service deliver what it promised?)
• Features
• Compatibility
• Mobile app
• Image quality, video streaming, etc.
• Alerts/notifications

We conduct surveys of real people to find out what features they want, what they love about a product, and what they would change. We also ask if they’d buy a product or service again and whether or not they’d recommend it to someone.

We look at regulations and regulatory bodies for products and services to find out if there are standards that need to be met. Then we see how each product or service either meets those standards or falls short.

We interview other experts with specialized knowledge about certain product or service types, safety or security practices, home and community initiatives, etc.

We foster direct relationships with the people who make and distribute the products and services we review.

We scour industry standards, other expert reviews and best-of lists, customer reviews and ratings, online forums, user manuals, product specs, service contracts, etc.

While we test and research, we look at five primary factors that matter most for protecting your home and family:

1. Costs and contracts. How much will it cost you upfront and over time? We look at how monitoring fees compare from brand to brand and in contrast with the national average of $31.83/month. We also consider the pros and cons of long-term contracts, how flexible companies are, and what kinds of penalties you get if you cancel.
2. Response time and monitoring options. Because we believe the best home security includes professional monitoring, we pay close attention to what each security company offers and if they do anything extra to get customers help faster. Because we don't want to get fined for calling emergency services as a test, we evaluate response times based on customer input, and how quickly the monitoring center responds when we trigger an alarm.
3. Security features and smart home integration. All security systems come with the same basics—a base, a motion sensor, and couple entry sensors. We look to see what security systems offer beyond that, and we love to see innovation that aims to stop criminals before they break in. And because we're obsessed, we also check out which other smart gadgets out there will work with each system (especially voice control).
4. Customer service and reputation. Even though home security is one of the most vital and personal services you'll ever invest in, the industry hasn't always had the best reputation. We grill brands about how they treat their customers and then we check with real customers and examine customer reviews to see if the company line holds water. We examine policies to see if they're customer-first or if you need to watch out. And we keep an eye on how each security company is doing in the headlines, the courts, and customer reviews.
5. Ease of installation and use. We like to have multiple people install and test the same system so we can find out where all the pitfalls are. We want to save you from our mistakes. We look at everything from how easily we can unbox the system to how intuitive the app and other controls are. Then we put it to the test with triggers, arming, disarming, video capture, and more.

Learn more about individual security system testing in our best home security system reviews.