Medical Guardian System Review

Medical Guardian occupies a good middle ground with price, features, and customer support, making it one of the best medical alert systems in our book.

Medical Guardian products include long-range devices for the home, a voice-activated option, and solutions for more active older adults.

And best of all: this medical alert company's monthly prices start at just under $30.

Medical Guardian's costs are split into three categories:

1. Equipment fees
2. Monthly monitoring fees
3. Optional accessory fees

If you stick to a very simple in-home system, you can pay $0 in equipment and accessory fees and just $29.95 per month.

(But if simple is what you want, there are more affordable options than Medical Guardian, including its close competitor Bay Alarm Medical.)

Medical Guardian leases some of its medical alert systems for free and charges a flat rate of $149.95 to $199.95 for other devices. We've listed them in the table below for easy comparison.

If you cancel your Medical Guardian service, you must return the leased equipment. Failing to do so—or returning damaged equipment—may result in a fine up to $350.

Anything purchased upfront—including the MGHome Cellular, MG Mini, MGMove, and MGMini Lite—is yours to keep. 

Medical Guardian charges between about $30 and $45 per month for its professional monitoring service. 

The exact amount you pay depends on your choice of equipment.

You'll get one month of free service if you pay upfront for a year's worth of monitoring. Plus, Medical Guardian throws in a few freebies—like a free lockbox (otherwise $2.99/mo.) and free ground shipping ($12.50 value)—when you make an annual payment.

If you're on a budget, this is where you need to be careful. Medical Guardian charges per month for accessories and extra services, which adds up quickly. 

Here are the per-month fees for accessory add-ons:

Learn more about these accessories in our Medical Guardian product guide.

You'll also see these two options at checkout:

• Protection Plan: $6.99/mo.
• OnGuard Alerts: $2.99/mo.

The Protection Plan is essentially a paid warranty. With OnGuard Alerts, your loved ones receive real-time texts and emails when you press the emergency button.

Access to the MyGuardian caregiver app and web portal is included with your monthly plan.

Medical Guardian doesn't advertise a free trial or money-back guarantee, but the customer service representative we spoke to said customers get a full refund if cancelling within 14 days.

After that, Medical Guardian offers prorated refunds for its emergency monitoring services, so you get some money back for unused days if you cancel in the middle of the month.

If you leased your equipment, you have to return it when cancelling. You're responsible for paying the return shipping fee. You may also get fined up to $350 if the equipment is damaged or you don't return it within 30 days.  

You can keep any equipment you purchased. If you send it back, you'll be charged a $50 restocking fee. 

We rank Medical Guardian as one of the best medical alert companies in America. It consistently beats over 30 other companies in terms of equipment variety, customer-friendly policies, and palatable prices. 

That said, Medical Guardian's closest competitor is Bay Alarm Medical. We dive into the nuances in our Medical Guardian vs. Bay Alarm Medical match-up, but suffice it to say that Bay Alarm Medical has better prices and policies (including a price lock guarantee) while Medical Guardian has unbeatable equipment. 

You can also read more about how Medical Guardian compares to some of the industry's biggest names in our other match-up pieces:

• Medical Guardian vs. Life Alert
• Medical Guardian vs. Lifeline

Medical Guardian offers every type of medical alert imaginable—including a direct-to-911 accessory. It's also one of just three medical alert companies with a voice-activated option.

For seniors who live alone but never run errands by themselves, we recommend Medical Guardian's MGClassic or MGHome Cellular. 

GPS medical alerts are better for busy, more mobile users. Like their home-based counterparts, the MGMini and MGMini Lite are equipped with a simple help button, two-way talk, and GPS tracking for emergency responders to find you quickly whether you're at home or not.

The MGMove smartwatch introduces some other neat features, like step tracking, a weather app, basic messaging, and even reminders to improve medication safety and appointment attendance.

Medical Guardian offers a caregiver portal called MyGuardian. Access is included with each equipment package. Caregivers can log on via the smartphone app or online portal to update their loved one's information, chat with other caregivers, organize tasks, view location history, pay Medical Guardian bills, and view system status. 

The customer service options through Medical Guardian are pretty standard. Paying customers will get access to an online portal where they can view things like account details and payments. If you have a question, check the page’s FAQ section first. From here, you can find answers on anything from Medical Guardian's products to how to get fall alerts.

I used Medical Guardian's live chat feature dozens of times when fact-checking this review and our numerous best-of medical alert rankings. The customer service reps were always prompt to reply and easy to understand. They also didn't make me feel like I had to call and talk to a sales rep to get answers—what a relief!

Most of the customer reviews I read also reported friendly representatives, reliable products, and even competitive price matching. But I also saw feedback from upset customers who claimed issues like deceptive pricing—so be sure you fully understand whether you're paying a one-time fee or signing up for a monthly charge whenever you add an accessory or optional service to your bundle. The majority of customers seemed satisfied with the quality of Medical Guardian’s customer service and equipment.

One advantage of choosing Medical Guardian is that you don't have to worry about the in-home panic pendants running out of batteries. Medical Guardian's monitoring team keeps an eye on each pendant's battery life and sends you a brand-new pendant when it starts to run low—which usually takes about 5 years.

While Medical Guardian's price range doesn’t fit everyone’s needs, you get what you pay for with high-quality equipment. The signal range and battery life for most of its equipment leads the medical alert industry. We also think it's the best medical alert provider for system customization.

Don't see your question? Check our full list of senior safety FAQs.

• Best Life Alert Alternatives
• Best Medical Alert Systems with Fall Detection
• Best Senior Smartwatches and Wearables
• How to Choose a Medical Alert System
• How to Talk to Your Parents About a Medical Alert System