Five-year home security cost calculator
This tool does math on numbers you enter. It gives no personalized financial advice and stores nothing. As of July 2026 we have no active affiliate partnerships and no company paid for inclusion. Read our full disclosure.
Bottom line
The advertised monthly price is not the number that decides whether a system is expensive. Total cost over five years is, and the two setups below often land more than $2,000 apart once equipment, fees, and monitoring are counted. Put your own figures in, or load an example, and compare like with like.
Home security marketing leads with a low monthly figure and lets the equipment, activation fees, add-on plans, and contract length hide in the fine print. This calculator adds them all up over one, three, and five years so you can compare two setups side by side, a DIY no-contract system against a traditional professionally installed contract, or any two options you are weighing.
Nothing is submitted or saved. Enter what a provider actually quoted you (or use our examples as a starting point), and read the result as an estimate to verify against current pricing, not a guaranteed total.
| Setup | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | Effective $/mo over 5 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enter numbers above to see the totals. | ||||
How this is calculated: each total is upfront equipment + one-time fees + (monthly monitoring + monthly add-ons) × 12 × the number of years. It does not add financing interest unless you build it into the monthly figure, and it does not subtract promotional discounts or possible early-cancellation fees. For contracts, the honest question to enter is what you actually pay every month for the full term, including financed equipment.
Example figures, and where they come from
The example button loads illustrative July 2026 figures drawn from our own research, not a specific quote: a DIY no-contract setup around $400 in equipment with about $20 a month monitoring and no add-ons, against a traditional professionally installed setup with little upfront but roughly $50 a month plus a $10 camera plan over a 5-year commitment. These are starting points to show the shape of the gap. Always verify current pricing with the provider, this category discounts constantly. The ranges behind them are explained in our costs, contracts, and cancellation guide.
Not sure which two setups to compare? Answer a few questions in our find the right setup selector and it will point you at a category, then come back here to price it. Size the kit itself with our door and window sensor planner so the equipment number is realistic.
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Related
- Security system costs, contracts, and cancellation: the fine print
- Best no-contract home security systems (research-based)
- Find the right security setup: a short selector
- Alarm permits and false-alarm fines by city
Sources
- Our costs, contracts, and cancellation guide (pricing ranges and sources, updated July 2026)
- Our no-contract comparison (per-provider monitoring and equipment figures, accessed July 2026)