Vivint vs. ADT overview
Vivint and ADT are two of the most popular home security system companies out there. In most situations, Vivint’s got ADT beat, but it’s not perfect for everyone. Below you can dig into how Vivint and ADT compare so you can pick the one that works for you.
Vivint vs. ADT | Compare Security Giants
Vivint
4.5Plans starting at
$29.99
/mo.
High-end smart home support
Contract-free option
High up-front equipment costs 
ADT
3.9Plans starting at
$27.99
/mo.
Decades of industry experience
Same-day/next-day installation
Expensive monitoring plans 
November 29, 2019
Compare Vivint vs. ADT
| Security system | Vivint | ADT |
|---|---|---|
| Brand logo | | |
| Lowest monitoring cost | $29.99/mo. | $27.99/mo.* |
| Installation & activation fees | $99 | $99 |
| Contract length | No contract** or 42, 60 mo. | 36 mo. |
| Home automation rating | Cutting-edge | Standard |
| Learn more |
Data effective 08/02/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.
*ADT’s entry-level package offers only landline monitoring while Vivint’s base package includes cellular monitoring. If you want cellular monitoring from ADT, it will cost at least $58.99 per month.
**Vivint’s contract-free option requires the purchase of all equipment up front.
Vivint and ADT pros and cons
Vivint
Pros
- High-end smart home support
- Contract-free option
- Industry-par monitoring prices
- Mobile app access for all plans
Cons
High up-front equipment costs- Long contracts (if opting for a contract)
ADT
Pros
- Decades of industry experience
- Same-day/next-day installation
- 6-month return period
- More monitoring centers than most competitors
Cons
- Expensive monitoring plans
- Limited mobile app control
Notable similarities
Installation
Both Vivint and ADT require a professional installation with a fee of at least $99 attached. You’ll have to make an appointment and be home when the installer arrives, which may mean taking time off work. That’s not super convenient, but that way, you can oversee the installation yourself. And it gives you a chance to talk to a security expert during installation without calling a brand customer service department.
Features and equipment
Vivint equipment
ADT equipment
ADT and Vivint both offer high-end security system features like smartphone control through a mobile app and home automation integration, but those features cost more with ADT than with Vivint.
Vivint also leads the security industry when it comes to equipment, though ADT isn’t far behind.
Customer service
ADT and Vivint are both ahead of security competitors when it comes to customer service availability. Both companies offer 24/7 support over the phone and through chat. ADT also offers email support.
Both companies also have some critical online reviews, just for different reasons. We’ll go into those more in individual brand review sections later.
What if I have to move?
Both Vivint and ADT will reinstall your home security system in your new home for a fee. If you don’t take your system with you, you’re still responsible for either buying out your contract or continuing to pay monthly fees—even with the security system not in use. Vivint will waive the fee if you’re moving for military deployment though.
Major differences
Monthly costs
How much is Vivint? The lowest package is $29.99 a month. It appears that ADT is a better deal at $27.99 a month, but that price gets you landline monitoring. It doesn’t offer cellular monitoring until the $45.99-per-month package.
That means Vivint’s monitoring costs are lower than ADT’s, particularly if you want a plan that supports video monitoring or home automation integration. The exception is if you want landline monitoring. While we recommend cellular monitoring in most cases, landline monitoring does have the benefit of a stable wired connection. Landline monitoring’s especially useful if your area has sketchy cell service reception. And $27.99 per month isn’t a bad price.
Overall, though, compared to ADT, Vivint’s plans give you more security features at a lower price point. For one thing, every Vivint plan comes with mobile access. ADT, on the other hand, charges close to $60 before providing that kind of convenience. That’s $30 more than what you pay with Vivint’s base plan and $15 more than what you pay with Vivint’s top-tier plan.
Compare Vivint and ADT security systems cost
| Brand | Vivint | ADT |
|---|---|---|
| Base plan | $29.99/mo. | $27.99/mo. |
| Midlevel plan | $39.99/mo. | $48.99/mo. |
| Top-tier plan | $44.99/mo. (additional $5/mo. per camera) | $59.99/mo. |
| Learn more |
Data effective 08/02/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.
Equipment costs
Conversely, ADT is usually less expensive than Vivint for equipment. ADT doesn’t advertise its pricing, so it’s hard to keep track of exact numbers, but we’ve generally found the prices to be more affordable than Vivint’s.
Protect Your Home, the ADT Premier Provider we recommend, includes an essential security equipment kit at no extra cost at every monitoring level, which could mean hundreds of dollars in savings. If you choose Vivint, you have to either pay for equipment up front or spread out the cost of equipment by paying extra each month (on top of the monitoring price) and signing a 42- or 60-month contract.
ADT is usually less expensive than Vivint for equipment.
Equipment
Vivint designs and offers a lot of its own equipment—even smart home devices. This means easy compatibility. For example, Vivint sells an award-winning doorbell camera with night vision and two-way communication. You can pair it with a Vivint smart lock to see who’s there and unlock the door for them remotely.
Proprietary designs also mean the brand responds directly to issues or improvements. There’s nothing more frustrating than contacting the company that sold you a device only to learn that it didn’t make the merchandise and can’t help you fix the issue.
ADT, on the other hand, uses equipment made by third parties like Alarm.com, Honeywell, and DSC. The third-party equipment isn’t quite as impressive as Vivint’s proprietary gear, but Alarm.com and Honeywell both make reliable and easy-to-use equipment.
One thing to note: Vivint offers a larger selection of equipment than ADT, especially if you’re looking for cameras or home automation devices.
Installation costs
Both ADT and Vivint have $99 installation fees for basic and midlevel plans. But ADT’s top-tier plans cost a whopping $299 and $499 to install, while Vivint’s still costs $99.
Customer service
The differences between customer service with the two companies mostly come down to installation, contracts, trial period, and cancellation.
Installation timing: As we mentioned, both companies professionally install your equipment and help you understand how it works. But our preferred ADT provider, Protect Your Home, can usually install your system within 24 to 48 hours of your phone call. It may take longer to get a Vivint installation scheduled.
Contracts: Vivint gives you more flexibility by offering a no-contract option if you pay for your equipment up front. ADT requires you to sign a contract no matter what. However, if you do sign a Vivint contract, it will be longer than the contract required by ADT.
Vivint verbal contract renewal
Vivint has an unusual system for renewing contracts, according to customer reviews. A Vivint service representative may ask if the customer’s satisfied with their service and, if they say yes, offer a contract extension at a reduced rate. The Vivint rep then reads aloud a disclaimer that states the user is committing to a contract renewal. However, many Vivint customers don’t seem to remember hearing the disclaimer, so we wanted to point it out.1
Trial period: Vivint gives you a three-day trial period, while ADT offers an unrivaled six-month trial period. Trying out a new security system and having only three days to decide whether to keep it is...not good. If the three days fall during a busy week, you may not even be around to observe the system’s effectiveness.
Cancellation: ADT has one of the most lenient cancellation policies in the security systems industry. If you cancel your ADT contract, you have to pay 75% of your remaining balance. Vivint, on the other hand, requires 100%.
Compare Vivint plan prices
| Package | Smart Security | Smart Home | Smart Home Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $29.99 | $39.99 | $44.99 (additional $5/mo. per camera) |
| Installation fee | $99 | $99 | $99 |
| Mobile access |  Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Smoke and CO monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Medical pendant | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video monitoring |  No | No | Yes |
| Smart home integration | No | Yes | Yes |
| Learn more |
Data effective 08/01/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.
We like that these plans range from standard to comprehensive video coverage. They cover the sliding scale of needs from users who just want a basic home security system to those who want it all. Vivint also provides mobile monitoring with every single plan, which is a huge plus.
All three plans offer a medical alert pendant, which is perfect for anyone with medical needs. And even when the monthly monitoring costs go up, the installation costs don’t.
Vivint pricing structure
Remember, you do have to pay for the security equipment and the alarm monitoring. You can pay for it up front or over an extended period of time. When you choose the extended period of time, this means you’re being “financed,” or essentially getting a loan. If you arrange to cancel the service before the equipment is paid off, you may still have equipment payment obligations even after the monitoring bills stop.
Equipment
Vivint equipment includes the following:*
- SmartHub Panel: $549.99
- Door and window sensors: $50.00
- Recessed door sensors
- Motion sensors: $100.00
- Tilt sensors
- Glass break detectors: $100.00
- Key fobs
- Medical pendants
- Carbon monoxide detectors/alarms: $100.00
- Smoke detectors/alarms: $100.00
- Temperature/flood sensors: $50.00
- Lamp modules
- Vivint Doorbell Cameras (with two-way voice): $249.99
- Indoor cameras: $199.99
- Thermostats: $169.00
- Dead locks/deadbolts: $100.00
- Garage door controllers
- Outdoor cameras: $299.99
- Vivint Smart Drives: $249.00
*Not every Vivint price is readily available to customers.
Customer service
Vivint used to get a bad rap for its customer service. We’ve seen a lot of improvement, and Vivint reps are available 24/7 through phone, email, and chat to resolve issues. There are tons of compliments about the customer service of the company salespeople, installers, and service agents.
That said, some notable items keep coming up in customer reviews. One is the verbal contract confusion we called out earlier. Reviews suggested that customers are more likely to cancel in frustration from repeated verbal contract renewals than because of problems with the equipment itself.
Another issue is that some customers contend that Vivint ran a hard credit check without permission or copied their electronic signature to contracts other than the ones they signed.
APX Alarm Security Solutions
Vivint was founded in 1999 as APX Alarm Security Solutions. The company rebranded as Vivint, Inc. in 2011.2
>>Read more in our Vivint review.
Compare ADT plan prices
| Plan | Basic | Basic + Wireless Connect | ADT Pulse + Video | ADT Pulse + Smart Home Connect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $27.99 | $48.99 | $58.99 | $59.99 |
| Installation fee | $99.00 | $99.00 | $299.00 | $499.00 |
| Monitoring type | Landline | Cellular | Cellular | Cellular |
| Mobile access |  No | No |  Yes | Yes |
| Smoke and CO monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Medical pendant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video monitoring | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Smart home integration | No | No | No | Yes |
| Lifetime equipment warranty* | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learn more |
Data effective 08/01/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.
*Lifetime equipment warranty is valid only if you have an ADT monitoring plan.
The biggest added value of the high ADT costs is the lifetime equipment warranty. Also, like Vivint, the company offers a medical alert pendant with each plan. Otherwise, ADT monitoring costs are at a premium.
The two ADT Pulse options have really only one difference between them: smart home integration. If you have any other smart home products, it’s more than worth it to spend a dollar more to integrate your system.
The telegraph alert system
ADT started life in 1874 as a telegraph company that eventually started sending alerts through its system. The name’s short for American District Telegraph.3
Equipment
ADT equipment includes the following*
- Digital control panels
- Entryway contacts (door and window sensors)
- Wireless keychain remotes
- Motion sensors
- Smoke detectors/alarms
- Carbon monoxide detectors/alarms
- Flood sensors
- Emergency buttons
- Indoor cameras
- Video doorbell cameras
- Smart locks
- Garage door sensors
- Sirens
*ADT does not advertise equipment prices.
Customer service
Like Vivint, ADT’s customer service has 24/7 availability. And you can call, email, or contact them through web chat.
Also like Vivint, ADT has customer criticism for unauthorized credit checks and electronic contract signatures. But the big issue most customers have is the third-party dealers.
ADT does all the monitoring, but it contracts with multiple third-party dealers who sell and install the equipment. This sometimes makes it difficult for customers to get a consistent experience.
ADT contract cancellation
Some of ADT’s responses to customer reviews indicating that the brand’s policy requires customers to accept three ADT technician visits for a problem before accepting contract cancellation requests.
Personally, we like ADT dealer Protect Your Home for both purchase and installation. You can save a lot of money through getting its essential security equipment kit.
>>Read more in our ADT review.
Our recommendation
ADT and Vivint security systems both offer quality equipment and dependable monitoring, but in most cases we recommend Vivint because you get more features for your money.
If you’re looking for a contract-free option or lots of home automation support, Vivint’s the company for you. You can get a system with or without a contract, use your phone to check on your home, and choose from a great selection of high-end equipment. To learn more about Vivint, read our full review.
ADT and Vivint both offer quality equipment and dependable security monitoring.
If you want a super fast system setup or a set of starter equipment, you’re probably best off with ADT. It has tons of security experience and some of the most reliable monitoring in the industry. Check out our full review to learn more about ADT’s plans.
Sources:
- Leagle, “Venditto v. Vivint, Inc.”
- Bloomberg, “To Sell Home Automation, Vivint Needs ‘Some Aggressiveness’”
- ADT, “Our History”
Contributing author: Brianna Jensen
Mike, your missing the point. No way the equipment should have been worth $2800. I could buy the same with a more flexible system for less then $1500. Sensors through other companies are about $30 a piece, the deadbolt they use is about $150 (and is insecure). The indoor camera is proprietary and not as good as the nest Camera, but even at a stretch is worth $200. Keyfobs are about $30 each, space monkey is $75 and the 3GiG panel is about $200. That’s only about $1100 of equipment at CONSUMER PRICES. The kid/company made over $1700 on that sale. No college kid is going to “eat” the money. It’s just part of the aggressive sales tactics that Vivint is known for.
I’m not sure where you’re going with that statement. ADT has their own monitoring Centers and more than any other agency out there. That’s why they are still the leading edge in home security (not home automation) after 100+ years. Vivint focuses on high end gadgets as opposed to ADT who focuses on the actually protection and security of their customers with the best guarantees in the industry. However, they both provide great services depending on what your specific needs are. Just out of curiosity, what does Vivint manufacture? This is their second attempt at being a competitor in the home security market. APX Alarm Security Solutions re-branded as Vivint in February 2011. Monitronix or Moni are re-branding themselves as “brinks” now to stay with the competition. ADT has been ADT for over 100 years and have 4 million more customers than either of the two companies. That’s just my two cents…
Hey Michael, thanks for your message. As you can find in our disclosure (https://revert-asl-redrock.pantheonsite.io/disclosure/) we pride ourselves on our unbiased reviews, which we diligently research. Vivint typically ranks higher due to their flexible payment, contract options, and regular updates to name a few. However, ADT is still in our top 10 best home security systems.
Thanks,
Amy
I think I fell for the same thing last night, but we needed a new security system. I was charged $50 per month for Vivant’s service and about $2460 for all the equipment and installation. FYI, at my home the guy started at 4 p.m. and left at 10:30 p.m. The installation included a door lock that opened through my phone which is a life saver because I have an elderly mom at home and if anything happened she would be able to use that emergency button and unlock the door so the paramedics can get to her without breaking down the door.
I also purchased 4 security cameras to see all around the house which precluded me from needing the doorbell camera because not only can I see the garage and driveway and postal deliveries, I can also see the sidewalk for who is trying to enter the gate and come into the yard. Plus I got 3 updated fire alarms, two window break glass and a carbon monoxide unit on both floors. They used pretty much all of the existing ADT equipment except for what I stated beforehand.
I just got scared with ADT because of the cut the wire thing. I like locking and security the home when I’m away and seeing all around the house even if I’m in another city. Honestly, I originally wanted AT&T security but that one didn’t get good reviews whereas Vivant did. Vivant was $10 more per month for the monitoring. I’m a little scared about their customer service and maintenance from what I’ve read, but I do like their equipment and system so far.
Also, when I talked with ADT for even 1 camera which only covered 100 feet, I was told my monitoring would increase $10 per month and I would have to pay $700 for just one camera or ring doorbell to be added.
Hey Jean Paul – We work hard to be as non-biased as possible when making recommendations. Although we do have affiliate relationships that allow us to keep the site running and provide in-depth reviews, those relationships are not considered when we rank companies. We gather data and use algorithms to rate home security providers as fairly as possible. Our top recommendations are companies we’d use ourselves and companies we’d be comfortable recommending to our family members.
Are you talking about ADT or Vivint? ADT’s activation fees vary quite a bit depending on the local installer, but Vivint’s service doesn’t require an activation fee.
Hi Elizabeth – Sorry to hear about your poor experience with ADT. What company are you looking at switching over to? I’d love to help you find one that best fits your needs. – Lia
I am currently a Vivint customer, not for much longer though. Their equipment is always messed up and after I called to cancel they just kept changing the company name up and trying different amounts so they could still take out money after I put a stop payment order on them. Didn’t stop until I changed my account number. Crooks in my opinion.
I have been a sales manager for Vivint for 5 years. Vivint is unconventional in their approach by thinking outside the box but has become the worlds #1 Smart Home company because of it. Partering with Amazons “Echo”, Googles “Nest”, and having there name outside NBA arenas “Vivint SmartHome Arena” in Utah. They have become the fastest growing alarm company in the country and #1 in smart home services in the world. With over a million customers they are also getting 4 1/2 out of 5 stars on the App Store. Like the posts below you can find good & bad reviews online but Vivint hands down is the most fully integrated product & service out.
Incorrect. Maybe for an exclusive home security company. There are many more integrated smart home vendors that offer home security and have much more integration. Nest and Echo integrate with everyone. What about Hue? Logitech Harmony, Smartvacs or the like. And most importantly what about a coded key lock that has more then five buttons? I had a friend just “guess” one of my codes by randomly hitting buttons.
Furthermore when Vivint’s system fails, and it does, you get no notification. When the panel dies, you get no notification. And if something doesn’t work for you, your stuck in a contract. I have a system that’s useless and I’m paying $75 a month. I was told I could cancel at any time, but I can’t.
Question, door rep. Says I have no choice if I want this installed. They will be back in one month to install the camera and I have to pay for installation
I had a visit from a VIVINT door to door salesman…young kid right out of college. Don’t know if we got scammed or not, but we bought a huge system that includes:
10 window sensors
3 door sensors
5 glass break sensors
1 remote auto locking deadbolt for front door
one indoor camera
free phone apps
2 keyfobs
spacemonkey 1 TB cloud storage
We are pretty happy so far..it’s been a week or so since the install.
His sales pitch was that he is picking “certain families”, and our house was one of the ones he randomly picked. He said we will get a “free system” meaning all of the above hardware is free, and installation is free. We pay $90.99 per month for monitoring, and it’s a 5 year contract.
He said that because we’re getting free install and free equipment, that we are required to advertise and tell our friends and neighbors about Vivint. He also said not to tell them what we paid (free), because he would be charging the neighbors the “full price”.
I think it was a good deal considering everything was free and he said typically it’s about $2800 that the average Joe would be paying for the install and equipment.
The more I’ve researched it, Im thinking that there is no “Deal”. I think we got the regular system that everybody gets, and he just said it’s a special deal just to get us to sign up. I’m still happy with the system, but do feel like I’ve been fed some bull.
Anybody with some knowledge care to comment?
Thanks!
He definitely fed you a ton of bull. I’m kinda surprised you fell for all of that. You should be a little more discerning and skeptical in the future.
Agreed!
It’s only $50/month for their monitoring plan, so you’re paying an extra $40/month for 5 years ($2,460), yea I’d say you paid FULL FULL price for the equipment. Unfortunately — you got played/misled. I’d call and get some credits for this unorthodox method of selling which puts a bad taste in my mouth they have sales tolls out there taking advantage of folks. Terrible business practice and they need to STOP IT!
I’m not security analyst, but Mike Parx might even work for ViVint, $90/mo, you got played by a college kid needing summer money…OMG !!!
You’re right, there isn’t an installation fee, but there is an activation fee. Our prices have come direct from Vivint Corporate. I hope this helps! – Lia
I got my security system for free installation and free activation…
There is no installation fee for Vivint.
I had ADT for 4yrs, I have only a couple months left and just paying out my contract. I bought a house and moved out of state and switched to Vivint. ADT would not allow me to just move my service although the house I purchased already had ADT equipment here. They said I would have to be locked in to a 3yr contract. I don’t think I could be stuck with them for another 3 yrs. From the very first time I signed up with ADT they ripped me off, sales guy promising me free installation. Never happened and they never did the right thing. When we upgraded and had a camera put in they never mentioned another 2 yr contract they just did it without warning. I had to figure that out myself. Also, ADT Pulse was a complete nightmare it dragged down the wifi and would constantly be system outage on the phone App. So here I am paying for security service on 2 programs because instead of allowing me to cancel after all I been through with them, their 150 bucks is worth way more, then customer satisfaction. I will be the word of mouth warning people to not sign up because honestly they do not care about their customers, just their profits. Being a person in a professional Retail Management field I deal with things everyday that we may have just not been able to make a customer happy.
However, I would rather them say at least they gave me money back and did the right thing in the end.
Unfortunately with the ADT system it can easily be bypassed between vivint and ADT vivint is by far the better choice as well as. Although ADT says it iseems witless it still runs off the Internet which is still a wire to the side of your house. Unlike vivint who is cellular with a GSM model which can not be by passed. And no I am not a sales rep for vivint for anyone who thinks I am I am not.
Thank for taking the time to share your two cents about the comparison of Vivint and ADT. I agree, cellular monitoring is preferred. It’s much more reliable and cannot be stopped by a pair of wire cutters!
That’s wrong…. ADT sends alarm signals over the GSM network with automation and video across internet. Same with Vivint however The ADT system uses an internet gateway or Ihub creating proprietary wifi for adt devices only, while Vivint piggy-backs on the properties personal wifi creating an issue when the subscribers modem takes a dump, with ADT you just plug the gateway into the new router and don’t have to re-enroll all of the devices. The only devices in the industry, to my knowledge, that will send images via the GSM network are the Image sensors from GE and avail on Monitronics and these are just images and not video.
This information is not totally correct. Vivint is $49.99 a month. They provide up to $2,000 of security, fire, and medical equipment or 9pts of your choice free for that monthly price. The only time it would be more is if you wanted home automation products aka smart home products and you didn’t want to buy them full price from them, online, or at a local store. They are the largest home automation company. They have a program that allows you to turn your home into a smart home and not have to pay for all the extra features all at once. You can choose to pay off your home automation products over time with your monthly monitoring bill. Another benefit is you don’t have to try and install or program those items. The tech will do everything for you while he is setting up the security system at no additional charge. Also that small appliance module aka lamp mod, that glass break sensor, recessed door contact, flood and freeze sensor, garage door tilt sensor, Carbon CO3, panic pendant, etc… that you have posted separate comes with the security system free if you choose. You have a lot of options with a $2,000 budget. All the equipment and features aren’t posted here and they are releasing even more products this summer. If you call in set up an account you would need to make sure the items you choose protect the home correctly. The tech will help with placement of the items you chose. If a rep comes to your home they can do a walk threw with you and help you choose the items to cover your home the best. There is some things that they are required to cover to guarantee your home is protected properly but that still leaves you with around $1,505 worth of extra stuff you can choose to add at no cost to you or increase in the monthly bill. Talk to a rep and get all the options and details first. Don’t go off of what someone that doesn’t work for the company says. Maybe even check with multiple employees. Some have worked for the company much longer and may know more details and options.
I’ve worked for both ADT and Vivint, and I’d have to say ADT is the better company. Vivint doesn’t offer discount security options, and at least with my dealer and ADT’s protectron lineup, at the $50/month mark we could offer lifetime warranty, touchscreen panel w/ remote access and alerts, weather, essentially everything that Vivint offers, same activation, plus guard service and free service calls (Vivint charges for service calls and does not offer guard service). My managers at Vivint taught sleezy sales tactics and were not great to work with either. The only good thing about Vivint in they have slightly better camera integration and a cool doorbell cam, but on the other hand the ADT dealer could get Ultra HD motorized cameras and DVRs. I’ve also heard nightmare stories about Vivint support from current and former customers that I never heard from ADT.
ADT is a nightmare! Customer service lied, They still don’t have the technology that safetouch or Vivint has – was told they have the same and would be brought and installed the next day if we did another contest w/them for 3 years.
Showed up, none of the equipment and they don’t even have it!! Had to waste hours dealing with multiple people to get refunded as they did not deliver what was agreed on the phone.
The entire process was painful. ADT is also so behind on technology.
Safe touch is better.
Vivint is best of the 3.
What does 140 years have to do with anything? How long has Kodak made cameras or Radio Shack sold electronics? Vivint is much more innovative and gives someone a modern product. I switch over 200 accounts a year from ADT because you are charging people $50 a month for a 1980s calculator looking security panel. ADT is a joke. #doorbellcamera
As a sales rep for Vivint for 3 years I know our product and service very well. If you look up reviews on any large company(ADT and Vivint) you’re going to read bad reviews, people don’t generally write good reviews. With that said, Vivint is a way better deal. We do smart homes not just alarms. You get a touch screen panel (LCD), indoor cameras, doorbell camera (with 2 way communication), the nest thermostat, garage door controller, doorlocks and lighting control. I’m sure there are some bad sales reps but most are good and we have cleaned house to protect our brand. If you have any questions feel free to text me. I will cover all equipment fees and install fees. There is a 42 month (3.5 year) contract but it also is a price lock and if you move you get one for free anywhere in the US and Canada.
518-596-8669
I bought into Vivints line of bull. They scheduled an install 4 times over a months period, and finally after 30 days an installer showed up with only part of the equipment. They had over 30 days to come up with the equipment I ordered so I felt they should of had everything. So I call the office and after being transferred 5 times they said they would give me a month service for free. I said what good is a free month with only half the stuff I requested was there to install. They said when it comes in they will be back to install. I said forget it and send my money back. I think it will take them 30 days or more to do that. I called ADT and they are coming in 2 days.
That’s not fair to say that’s not Vivint’s fault for having bad sales reps.
I agree. They can’t control the sales reps in the field. They do what they can to protect the customer by doing full background checks and requiring a service call with the customer so they can ask questions before they will process anything. I feel like for the most part they have great employees. The door to door summer guys can sound pushy at times because they are paid on there performance not hourly. They don’t have time to keep coming back so they need a for sure no before they check you off but at the same time those reps are willing to work with you a lot more to get you set up. If that means paying out of pocket some themselves to help you some are willing to do that for you. Door to door sales reps have to deal with a lot of rude people all day everyday. They have to knock on the next door with a smile and pretend the last guy around that corner just found out his gf had been cheated on him, got a flat tire on the way home, and who’s dog crapped all over the house and went threw the trash wasn’t a total tool to him. lol
Sounds like Ronald is a sales rep for Vivint. Vivint use to be Apex they changed name due to legal issues. Also Vivint will sign you up for a 5 year contract. Also Vivint sales reps will tell you anything to get you to sign up. A Vivint rep came to my house and stated that Vivint bought the security company I am with and that they own ADT. So me personally I wouldnt go with Vivint they will just lie to you.
Like Ronald said. That was one sales rep that was doing wrong. He would and probably has been fired for that. They require a service call before they will proceed and on that call they ask if you have a security system in place already and if you are aware that vivint is not affiliated with any other alarm company. APEX changed there name to vivint when they became a home automation aka a smart home company. vive = live + int = intelligent. vivint means live intelligent.
I just signed up for Vivint. My installation fees were waived and the $99 activation was as well. I have the following equipment:
1 Touch Screen Control Panel
1 Motion Sensor
1 Glass Break Sensor
2 Door sensors
4 window sensors
1 Exterior 1080p camera activated by motion
1 Door Bell Camera activated by motion
1TB of cloud storage
Monthly rate is $44.99.
Each automation device is an extra $5/mo. Door bell camera and exterior camera fall in there.
Making my total $54.99.
I had a sales rep come out because you can negotiate with them. They get paid commission. He was able to customize everything according to the features I wanted. I feel I got a pretty good deal. I will advise later about the monitoring experience.
She’s good ^
How is that all going? We had full filled our 2 year contract with ADT and were completely satisfied. We hate contracts. We had a salesman drive up and walk down driveway trying to sell us VIVINT. He opened his binder and had an old ADT sticker in it. I brought it up to him. He was able to use some of our ADT devices with our system but we used to pay $123 every 3 months and now pay $75-80 EACH month!!! :O with a 5 year contract. A company who wants to send service techs out with $75. I have freaked out on them and blew up! We dont have a credit issue and we will drop them in a heartbeat!! I am going to see if ADT will come take back over!! FFFFFF VIVINT!!
They are a JOKE!! HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!!
hey Michael, how is your monitoring experience
These prices listed are wrong, Vivint actually offers a basic protection with cellular primary for $49.99 and activation can be $99. Vivint has really turned themselves around and have a 2% cancellation rate with over 2,000,000 customers.
Hi Ronald, Vivint gave us these prices directly. Can you send us a link of where you are getting your pricing online? Then we will review it. Also, where did you get the information regarding a 2% cancellation rate with more than 2 million customers? Thanks!
Kimberly, can you send us a link of where you are getting these listed prices online? Vivint doesn’t list their prices, they leave it up to a SmartHome professional and the customer to customize a system that fits the customer’s needs and base the price on that, just like Michael McCann commented earlier.
I can appreciate that you’re trying to list all the prices on your website so people will go here and click your links when they want to buy so you get paid, but the information you’re giving just isn’t accurate.
You chose a company to protect your home and your family right? In this discussion you have option A and option B (meaning ADT or Vivint). Is response time important to you, is it the most important above cost, above free, above all? If you answered yes to that question your family and home is the most important to you. In the event you have a break in what addition would you pay to have the police at your home sooner? (You say nothing) now let’s say your wife or your child/children are home and your home is broken into. Now how much are you willing to pay to have the police respond to your home faster. I’ll use your entry door as an example. Your open front door is kicked in now you have 30sec generally to disarm your system. If you haven’t because it is an intruder now your alarm sounds. Your alarm will sound for a minimum of 60sec giving you time to disarm your system again. That is one of ADT’s ways of reducing false alarms. Now after that minute and a half is up your system sends out a signal provided your phone line is intact and the power is on to your home. (Yes you have a battery backup. Your battery backup does not power digital phone service it powers the system.) Now ADT calls you on your home phone. Well you are in the home with this intruder so you didn’t answer. Now ADT calls a minimum of two more emergency contacts you have listed. If they do not answer or if they do answer but can’t confirm that your home is actually experiencing a real emergency ADT now calls the local police/sheriff’s office and lets them know your alarm is going off. This is now dispatched as a non emergency. Now let’s say you have ADT cell backup installed. And you have a wireless keypad on your wall. This would remove your system from not working if your phone-line was cut right? Yes and no. Yes to the cut no because of the way ADT monitors. Remember earlier when I said that when the door opens you have 30sec to disarm your system. Then the siren goes off for an additional 60sec giving you time to disarm again in case it was an accident. Provided it’s you it’s fine. If it’s that intruder in your home with your wife and kids it’s no longer fine. Earlier I explained that your system only calls out to ADT after the first minute and a half from the time your main entry door is opened. So in that minute and a half with your ADT cell backup your keypad is ripped from the wall and destroyed knocking that cell chip inside of it out ADT will never know there is someone in your home with your wife and kids at this point. Vivint is your smarter choice. Try it at your home now if you have ADT and time how long it takes to get that first phone call. Then go to a friends house and do the same with a Vivint system. I tell all my customers that I will pay them $100 out of my own pocket when our tech takes you offline with ADT and they get a call from an ADT person in the next week that says they are not connected anymore. In six years I haven’t had to pay $100 out. Vivint is your smarter choice. It’s your family how much is your family worth to you?
I worked for Vivint, they have the EXACT same wait time. In fact, with the Protectron stuff Vivint and ADT’s services are near identical. The difference comes down to customer service, cost, and bundled features. Equipment differences are almost non existent, and they both have the same wait time.
I’m deciding to switch to vivant. We been with ADT for 5 years. And havnt been dissatisfied but I want to upgrade to pulse and they told me I have to have every windows redone with new sensors and that was going to cost hundreds or thousand. So vivant said they would convert my sensors to there panels and no extra cost. Plus more features for the same money I’m paying adt. And ADT said well only new customers get the newest package cheaper and we had to pay 450. Upon changing. Duh. So I’m switching to vivant. They didn’t even care of how long we were even with them or helping us out.
Not a comparison please do explain this scenario below. Please don’t reply I’m wrong because I know and you know once you contact your tech support they will verify that I am in deed 100% accurate. Here’s to you ADT rep – The reason your response time is so long and I’ll use your entry door as an example. You open your front door, you have 30sec generally to disarm your system. If you haven’t now your alarm sounds. Your alarm will sound for a minimum of 60sec giving you time to disarm your system again. That is one of ADT’s ways of reducing false alarms. Now after that minute and a half is up your system sends out a signal provided your phone line is intact and the power is on to your home. Now ADT calls you on your home phone if no one answers they call a minimum of two more emergency contacts you have listed. If they do not answer ADT now calls the local police/sheriff’s office and lets them know your alarm is going off. This is now dispatched as a non emergency. Now let’s say you have ADT cell backup installed. And you have a wireless keypad on your wall. This would remove my system not working if my phone line was cut right. Yes and no. Yes to the cut no because of the way ADT monitors. Remember earlier when I said that when the door opens you have 30sec to disarm your system. Then the siren goes off for an additional 60sec giving you time to disarm again in case it was an accident. Provided it’s you it’s fine. If it’s a burglar in your home and in that first minute and a half your keypad is ripped from the wall and destroyed knocking that cell chip inside it out ADT will never know there is someone in your home. Vivint is your smarter choice.
This is not a valid comparison. I am a rep with an ADT Corporate office and I can tell you that this is not even close to an apples to apples comparison. We have video monitoring for much less than Vivint, we have much more comprehensive packages and basically, the packages and prices that you put on here are all kinds of wrong. I really hate that the Authorized Dealers are not held to the same standards as us corporate reps. What you did in this article is you took the information from one “trunk slammer” and applied it to an entire corporate structure. The fact of the matter is that over 7 million satisfied customers can’t be wrong. When you’ve been in business for 140 years and you are the company who pretty much invented the industry, you must be doing something right!!!
I have two houses and have used Vivint in both of them for the past four years (the term of my contract). As my contract is expiring, it’s time to decide if I want to stay with this company or switch to ADT. My only real complaint with VIVINT is their customer service. They have consistently demonstrated a failure to keep the separate notification protocols for the two houses accurate in that they almost always called the wrong people for the different houses. I’m interested in anyone’s experiences with ADT customer service and their ability to manage multiple properties – good or bad, I would love to hear your comments.
Shaun.
Hi Shaun, ADT does not have the greatest record when it comes to customer service. One thing to keep in mind is that ADT uses local dealers, so there is no real consistency (some local dealers excel at service and others do not).
I have a few other articles on our site that I recommend you check out: ADT Complaints & Home Security Systems Reviews. As you can see in that second link, our experience shows that FrontPoint offers the best customer service.
Thank you Jeff – do you know if they have regional alarm call centers or one centralized location for notifications when an alarm is activated.
FrontPoint uses Rapid Response as their central monitoring station. The main monitoring station is in New York, but I do believe they are opening up another one in another region soon.
ADT has six monitoring stations that are scattered around the United States.
Thanks again – I doubt I will stay with VIVINT, organized customer service is pretty high in my expectations of a company protecting my family and property and they just don’t have it. Going to look further into ADT.
Try it at your home now that you have ADT and time how long it takes to get that first phone call. Then go to a friends house and do the same with a Vivint system. I tell all my customers that I will pay them $100 out of my own pocket if they get a call from an ADT person in the next week that says they are not connected anymore. In six years I haven’t had to pay $100 out. Vivint is your smarter choice.
I had ADT for a short period of time and they made promises that they couldn’t keep. One issue was ADT always had additional charges for anything you needed. Two I paid for a two way communication and it never worked. The response time once your alarm goes off is to long. They didn’t make a attempt to come and replace the alarm system and this was all in one of having there services. ADT would not be my choice ever again.
Sorry to hear this. Don’t worry, Vivint is investing over $30 million to increase customer service issues and hire more techs!
My apartment was broken into in March even with Vivint. So I switched to ADT. Just call them 888-672-3017 if you are looking for the ultimate security of your home and family.
Sorry you had to deal with a break-in Mason. Glad that you’re happy with ADT now! Thanks for sharing your feedback on A Secure Life 🙂
vivints system can’t be bypassed if it was done correctly and used correctly. They are actually the only company that guarantees this. They are so confident in this that the contract actually states that they will cover the cost if they are at fault in any way.
I am currently a contractor working for Vivint. The deals on the equipment we offer at no cost on here don't really give us a fair shot of the deal we can offer those who are interested in one of our systems and what equipment is included with the packages. Anyone looking for an estimate or would like any further questions answered feel free to call 855-300-1751. Also, at Vivint we are now offering Internet services and Solar Panels for homeowners. Feel free to contact me with any questions!
Thanks
We've had an ADT system in our house for years. When we moved in, we chose ADT out of necessity and name regonition. Another commenter mentioned seeing ADT signs all over the neighborhood, and that's what we saw, so we just went with them. We're now looking at buying a new home, and we'll definitely look at Vivint, rather than just migrating our ADT system out of convenience. Thanks for the review and easy to read comparison!
It seems like every street I turn down is smattered with ADT signs in the front yards. Why is it that they seem to be so huge? I thought I would look it up and found this article. Surprised to find out about Vivint (never heard of them before) but glad I did. I have contacted both to see who gets me the better deal for what I need. Based on your review, it seems that since I am looking to control everything (including lights and locks) from my cell phone, Vivint should be the winner. It's ON! Ha 🙂
Thanks for this review comparing the two companies side by side so I can get a real apples to apples comparison. I've had ADT for some time now and am ready for a chance but instead of doing all the research on my own you did a lot of the digging for me. It's sometimes difficult to make a switch when you are comfortable and loyal to a company but I've been disappointed with ADT's customer service lately and have been hearing great things about other companies out there like Vivint and some of the smaller players who are now competing with ADT. A little healthy competition is good to help ADT get their act together and realize that if they don't take good care of their customers they risk losing them, like me.