Before we get into a head-to-head comparison, it's worth noting that you can always view all of Boundary's prices online. We want to be totally transparent, from our hardware costs to our monthly plans.

Currently, Verisure only provides quotes over the phone or in person, via their salespeople. During our research, we’ve found this can lead to variances in quotes as well as contract length. However, we have made every effort to obtain accurate pricing and have indeed listed the lowest prices obtained to ensure our comparison is as fair as possible.

Alarm Systems

For the simplest comparison, we’ve compared a custom quote obtained from Verisure with the Boundary Small House Bundle. We have made every effort to make sure the quote we obtained from Verisure matched our Small House bundle to ensure the comparison is as fair as possible. These are:

Most homeowners keep their alarm system for an average of seven years or more. That’s why it’s useful to compare costs over time. Especially when there’s a monthly fee.

Here's a Total Cost of Ownership* (TCO) comparison between Boundary and Verisure.

* Total cost of ownership: an estimate of all the direct and indirect costs involved in buying and using a product over its lifetime. Verisure does offer additional products included within the monthly fee that Boundary does not such as their Zero Vision product, however for the sake of comparison these are not included. Prices are obtained from the Boundary website and from a custom quote provided by Verisure.

Both Boundary and Verisure provide maintenance services within the cost of the monitored plans.

If you want to add extra sensors to your Boundary system you only pay for the cost of the sensors, it doesn't affect your monthly fee. With Verisure, your monthly fee increases on top of the sensor costs, e.g. two additional movement sensors cost 2 x £90, plus an additional £4 per month or £48 per year.)

Installation options

Currently, Verisure only offers professional installation. With the Boundary alarm you can choose between self-installation and pro-installation (for an additional fee)

24/7 Monitoring and Police Response

If you choose Boundary's Complete plan then your alarm will be professionally installed and monitored 24/7 by an alarm receiving centre (ARC). If there's a break-in the police will be requested, with a level 1 immediate police response.

Verisure offer 24/7 monitoring but the ARC cannot request a police response unless there is visual verification, even then, as the Verisure system does not have a URN, no response is guaranteed. Should a response be given, it may be significantly slower.

Verisure does have the ability to dispatch a private guard to your property in the event of a break-in at which point they are permitted to dial 999 from the scene of the crime, should a crime still be in progress. Private guard call-out fees may be incurred. The table below explains in more detail what happens when a break-in occurs:

Alarm Standards and Certification

* Boundary alarm is currently being tested to meet required standards but has not yet completed the testing process. Police response plans will be available shortly after launch
** SSAIB certification only applies to our professionally installed product and does not extend to DIY installs
*** The NSI Gold certification for Verisure only extends to their Alarm Receiving centre

Level 1 Police response is only available for alarm systems that conform to a “Type A” installation as detailed above. Type B systems cannot use the same “direct to Police” request from a monitoring centre or expect a Level 1 response. More information can be found on the NSI & SSAIB websites here:

https://www.nsi.org.uk/information-centre/information-for-businesses/police-policy/

https://ssaib.org/page/monitored-systems-for-police-and-fire-response/

There is an argument to be made that the Police are duty-bound to respond to any event that is confirmed as a break in however only Type A systems are accepted by the Police as a monitored installation within residential premises. Systems must also be supplied by a company accepted onto each Police forces compliant systems list.

The end result is that Police forces will treat Type A systems activations with a higher priority than those who do not have a URN issued.

For your alarm system to be professionally monitored and registered with your local police force it must:

• Be a system that has a minimum grade 2 rating
• Have the system installed by an NSI or SSAIB certified company
• Be monitored by an Alarm Receiving Centre that is also certified by the NSI or SSAIB
• The supplying company be registered with the local police on their Compliant Systems list
• Have a URN (Unique Reference Number) issued by your local Police force after installation

If your system doesn’t meet these key criteria then it won’t receive a Level 1 response from the Police in the event of a break-in. Instead, the monitoring company will confirm a break-in before contacting keyholders and calling the Police via 999. Unfortunately, this is no different from a member of the public calling the Police to report a break-in and simply will not provide a rapid response.

Features

The Boundary system is packed with features and the table below shows a direct comparison with Verisure:

The Verdict

Verisure is a worthy contender. But as you can see, Boundary is one of the most secure and feature-packed alarm systems available. It’s been designed and built from the ground up by UK security experts and software designers to solve the problems of traditional alarm systems with leading-edge technology thinking. For protection against all known threats and a system you can control easily from your phone, there’s only one choice.