We asked our audience to weigh in on the manufacturers that provide the best home security—from cameras and smart locks to full systems—to help you find the peace of mind you deserve.
Good news: Property crime is down nationwide, according to the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Burglary (when someone steals property from your residence without force) plummeted 10.5% from May 2024 to April 2025. Larceny (theft that involves some threat of harm) dropped 8% during that same time period.
Still, given public opinion, you wouldn’t know all that. Most Gallup polls from 1993 to 2024 show that around 60% of US adults believe crime is on the rise. That mindset is reflected in the growth of security technology—cameras, video doorbells, smart locks, and entire monitored systems that include those devices and more, including motion sensors. SafeHome.org reports that the $56.1 billion industry will grow 8.9% annually through 2030.
“Smart home security devices are popular, which in turn leads to more brands jumping into the fray,” says PCMag senior writer for home and wearables Andrew Gebhart. «You can find plenty of good options for professional and contract-based services, but my preference is for DIY systems. Most still let you add professional monitoring without locking you in, and they’re modular, so you can grab just the devices you need and control all of the setup yourself.»
The best way to feel truly safe is to get security products and services from a trusted brand. To find out which are the best, we once again turn to you, our readers. The results of our latest survey on home security are below.The Top Home Security Systems for 2025
A full security system can have many permutations—for our purposes, we consider it any setup that has, at a minimum, intrusion-detection technology and the option for off-site monitoring by professionals. In numbers almost identical to last year’s survey, 86.1% of respondents with a full security system say they use window and door sensors, while 83.6% have motion detectors installed.
About half of our respondents have a home security system that they or a professional can monitor from afar. That’s well above the national average: Consumer Affairs reports that 28% of US households have a paid security service. Among our readers, 78.9% with a system pay for a subscription to have someone watch over them. Among those with a full system, 47% use outdoor cameras, 41.6% have indoor cameras, and 38% have a video doorbell. Only 16.5% have a smart lock integrated.
Only 47.3% say their home security systems are professionally installed, down slightly from 50% last year. The do-it-yourself home security era is in full effect, made all the simpler by kits sold by vendors like Ring and SimpliSafe. In fact, less than 6% of readers using those two vendors went for the professional installation.
Perhaps that’s why both of those brands lead with the DIY-inclined PCMag crowd this year. While they’re close in overall satisfaction, Ring—an Amazon-owned brand—comes out slightly ahead. It’s once again the Readers’ Choice award winner for home security systems.
(Note: Click the arrows in our interactive charts to view various elements of our survey results.)
This is Ring’s second year in the top spot, supplanting previous longtime winner SimpliSafe. But while Ring has many outstanding scores in our various subcategories, such as reliability and monitoring, SimpliSafe ties with Ring on setup and ease of use, and does better on the measures for cost, tech support, and, perhaps most importantly, the likelihood to recommend.
“There are a lot of great smart home security brands like Abode, ADT, Arlo, SimpliSafe, and Vivint, but it’s no surprise that Ring retains its win for a second consecutive year in the home security system category,” says Angela Moscaritolo, PCMag editor for home security products.
“The Ring Alarm Pro won our Editors’ Choice award for DIY smart home security systems, partly for its versatility, because it doubles as a Wi-Fi 6 mesh router», she continues.