The SimpliSafe Alternative With Footage You Own

SimpliSafe plays fair on contracts - there are none, and you can cancel any time. The structural catch is the recording model: without a monitoring plan the cameras give you live view and alerts but save nothing, so the footage layer costs 66p to 93p a day for as long as you want it. We install the other model: hardwired cameras recording continuously to a box inside your own property, with no plan, no cloud, and nothing to keep paying.

We are not affiliated with SimpliSafe. Their prices and product facts below are from their own published UK pages and the sources at the end of this page, checked 3 August 2026.

What to Check Before You Buy a SimpliSafe Kit

First, the honest headline: SimpliSafe reviews well - the FMB's review puts its Trustpilot score at 4.8-4.9 stars. The checks below are structural, not complaints, and every one is cited to SimpliSafe's own pages or a named review at the end of this page.

The cameras are Wi-Fi and battery devices. Know what that means at your property.

SimpliSafe's own spec sheet: the outdoor camera runs on 2.4GHz Wi-Fi with a rechargeable battery "designed to last up to 3 months, depending on settings, installation location and usage". When SafeWise tested the outdoor camera hands-on, their verdict on motion detection was blunt: it "picked up leaves, bugs, and other random things. Ironically, it missed some humans" - with no sensitivity settings to tune it (US model tested; attribute accordingly).

The base station has a cellular backup, so the alarm side is more resilient than the cameras. But a motion-triggered Wi-Fi camera is a different instrument from a hardwired one recording continuously - on Leicester's solid-brick housing stock, 2.4GHz through 230mm of Victorian wall is exactly where consumer cameras struggle. For the physics: PoE vs Wi-Fi comparison.

The no-contract promise is real. The recording layer still costs monthly.

Credit where due: "no contracts or hidden fees, cancel anytime" is SimpliSafe's own promise and it holds - plans can be paused or restarted whenever you like. The structural check is what stops when you do: by SimpliSafe's own pages, without a plan the cameras give live view and motion alerts but "recording functionality is only available with select monitoring plans", and the system "will function as a siren" with no guard dispatch or call.

So the hardware is genuinely yours; the evidence layer is a service at 66p a day (Pro Standard) or 93p a day (Pro Premium). If saved footage is the point of the purchase, price the plan over the years you will own the system before setting it against an owned recorder.

The published numbers to compare.

SimpliSafe publishes its prices, which deserves credit in a market where the big monitored brands quote-only: systems from under £200 (their homepage), packages the FMB puts at £204.96 to £589.87, plans at 66p or 93p a day (the FMB's monthly equivalents: £19.99 and £29.99), optional pro install from £129, a 60-day money-back guarantee and the first month of monitoring free. All checked 3 August 2026 - the arithmetic further down builds on exactly these figures.

Know what the response actually is.

SimpliSafe's UK monitoring works by video verification: on the top plan, the monitoring centre confirms an incident visually, can alert the authorities and can dispatch a Securitas guard. Their UK pages do not mention a police URN - the registration scheme under the national police policy that monitored alarm installers use for a graded police response - so if guaranteed-pathway police attendance matters to you, ask them directly how attendance is requested and on which plan.

For context, no brand can promise police attendance: under the national policy, response runs through verified activations and is withdrawn after repeated false alarms, whoever the provider is.

It is an alarm-first system. Evidence is a different job.

SimpliSafe is fundamentally a DIY alarm with cameras attached - TechRadar's overall take was that it is "a little more basic than some, offering fewer devices and features than many of its rivals", which is also why it is cheap and easy to live with. Motion-clip cameras answer "did something trigger?"; they are not built to answer "what exactly happened here between 2am and 4am?".

Continuous evidence-grade recording - every camera, all the time, reviewable after the fact - is what a dedicated CCTV system does. Which one you need depends on whether an alert or the footage is the thing you actually care about.

SimpliSafe Is Not Cheap Once You Add the Subscription

SimpliSafe: hardware + plan over 5 years (their published prices)

Hardware: packages £204.96-589.87 (FMB's range; SimpliSafe's own "from under £200")

Monitoring plan: 66p/day Pro Standard or 93p/day Pro Premium - about £19.99 or £29.99 a month

Five years of plan: roughly £1,200 (Standard) to £1,800 (Premium), as arithmetic on those published rates

Without a plan: live view and alerts stay; saved recordings and dispatch stop (their own pages)

Five-year total at published prices: roughly £1,400-2,400. Framing arithmetic, not a quote.

Doberman: one-off purchase, yours forever

Hardware and installation: £950-2,500 for a 3-6 camera PoE system, fully installed, with NVR and 30-day local recording

Monthly fees: zero. Local recording. No cloud. No subscription.

Without a plan: there is no plan. Every feature works from day one, forever.

Recording: continuous 24/7. Every camera, all the time, for 30 days.

One-off cost: £950-2,500. You own everything. Every feature included.

Over five years at SimpliSafe's own published prices, the running total lands in the same territory as a professional CCTV system bought once - except the owned system records continuously, stores footage locally, and has nothing left to pay in year six. They are different products doing different jobs; the arithmetic is just worth seeing before you choose. For a detailed cost breakdown: CCTV costs in Leicester.

Paying monthly to keep your recordings?

We will tell you exactly what a system costs for your property.

SimpliSafe vs What We Install

	SimpliSafe	Doberman
Recording	Motion clips; plan needed to save	Continuous 24/7
Storage	Cloud, 30 days (plan required)	Local NVR (no fees)
Cameras	Wi-Fi; outdoor cam battery-powered	Hardwired PoE
Without a plan	Live view + alerts, no recordings	Everything works, always
Contract	None - cancel anytime	None - nothing to cancel
Monthly cost	£19.99-29.99/mo plans (published)	Zero
Response	Verification + guard dispatch (top plan)	Self-monitored via app
Install	DIY (pro from £129)	Professional, night-commissioned

What You Get Instead

Hardwired PoE camera systems using professional-grade equipment. Every camera runs on a single Cat6 cable - no Wi-Fi, no batteries, no disconnections. The system records continuously to a local NVR inside your property. Every feature works without a subscription.

Hardwired, not wireless

PoE means power and data on a single Cat6 cable. No Wi-Fi dependency, no batteries to recharge, no signal variables. The camera runs 24/7 regardless of what else is on your network.

Every feature included. No plan required.

Video saving, 30-day history, motion detection, AI alerts, remote access - all included from day one with no subscription. There is no "basic" tier. There is no paywall. You paid for the system. It works.

Evidence-quality footage, not motion clips

4K continuous recording with matched lenses. Identifiable faces at 8-15 metres. 25m+ night vision verified after dark on your property. Continuous footage you can scrub through, not a short motion clip.

One person who fixes it the same week

The person who surveys your property is the person who designs, installs, and supports your system. No hold queues, no ticket numbers. Local to Leicester.

Why Customers Switch from DIY Systems

The pattern

The people who come to us after a year or three on consumer wireless kit tend to cite the same three reasons: they want footage they own rather than a plan they rent, the motion clips were not enough when something actually happened, and the subscription arithmetic stopped making sense against a one-off system. On the survey we measure Wi-Fi signal at the existing camera positions - through Leicester's solid-brick stock it is routinely the weak link - and design the hardwired replacement around what we find.

Weighing up DIY vs installed?

Tell us what is not working and we will give you an honest assessment.

When SimpliSafe Is the Right Choice

We would rather be honest than oversell you. There are situations where a DIY system like SimpliSafe genuinely makes more sense than professional CCTV.

You are renting

No drilling, no cable runs, take it with you when you move. For a rented flat where the landlord will not allow permanent installation, wireless DIY is your only realistic option.

You want a basic alarm, not CCTV

If all you need is entry sensors and a siren - not cameras, not evidence, not footage - a simple wireless alarm is cheaper and adequate. Do not spend £1,500 on cameras if a £200 alarm solves the actual problem.

Budget is genuinely limited right now

If the choice is between a £200 SimpliSafe kit today and no security at all, get the SimpliSafe. Something watching is better than nothing watching. You can always upgrade later when circumstances allow.

From DIY to Real CCTV in 3 Steps

Free site survey

We visit your property, assess coverage zones, identify camera positions, and design a system around your specific layout. We will tell you honestly whether professional CCTV makes sense or whether your current setup is adequate.

Install day

Cat6 cable runs through walls and soffits. Cameras mounted at 3m+ height. NVR set up inside your property. The person who designed your system is the person who installs it - no subcontractors.

Night commissioning

We return after dark to verify every camera view in real conditions. IR range, street lamp glare, facial identification distance - all checked and adjusted. Your system is not finished until it works at night.

Skip the Subscription. Own the System.

One-time cost. No monthly fees. No feature tiers. No paywalls. Hardware-only pricing - installation quoted after your free site survey.

3-camera

~£950

inc. VAT

5-camera

~£1,900

inc. VAT

10-camera

~£3,520

inc. VAT

Every system includes professional-grade PoE cameras, NVR recorder with local storage, MicroSD failover on each camera, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. 2-year warranty on all equipment.

Our Guarantees

30-day money-back guarantee

Not happy within 30 days? We remove everything, make good the fixings, and refund in full. No subscription to cancel, nothing to send back by post.

2-year warranty

All equipment covered for two years. If a camera fails, we replace it. No engineer callout fees.

Night commissioning included

Every system verified after dark. IR range, facial ID distance, glare - all checked in real nighttime conditions on your property.

Zero features behind a paywall

Video saving, motion alerts, remote access, AI detection, 30-day history - every feature works the day we install it and every day after. There is no plan. There is no tier. It just works.

Sources

Every SimpliSafe figure and product fact on this page comes from the sources below, checked on 3 August 2026. Treat ranges as framing, not a quote, and go off the listing you are actually looking at.

Own footage that is always recording.

We visit, map the blind spots, and quote one fixed price on the spot.