Best Home Security System Without a Subscription (2026): Self-Monitored, Local Options

Our picks at a glance

These picks are based on published specs, Home Assistant integration data and each company's plan terms, checked in October 2026. We haven't run lab tests, and Kotoh Home takes no commissions from any brand here.

What a security system needs

Strip away the branding and every alarm system has the same parts. Knowing them helps you see where a subscription is truly needed and where it's just a business model.

• Entry sensors on doors and accessible windows.
• Motion or glass-break sensors for the main paths through the house.
• A siren, loud enough to hear outside.
• A brain that knows whether the house is armed and decides what to do: the alarm panel or hub.
• A way to arm and disarm, such as a keypad, phone, key fob or automation.
• Alerts to your phone, and optionally to a monitoring center.
• Cameras to see what triggered the alarm. See our guide to security cameras without a subscription.

None of that requires a cloud service. The parts that usually do are professional monitoring and cloud video storage. Both are optional if you design the system around local hardware.

Best if you have an old wired alarm: Konnected

Many houses, especially older and larger ones, have wired door, window and motion sensors left behind by a previous alarm contract. The sensors usually still work; it's the old panel and its monitoring contract that people want to drop. Konnected's Alarm Panel Pro connects to those wired zones and turns them into smart sensors.

Home Assistant lists Konnected as part of the Made for ESPHome program. It says Konnected devices "work locally," with status updates and control happening instantly over your network, and rates the integration Local Push. Konnected's own help center also covers Hubitat, SmartThings and even Control4. The Alarm Panel Pro is the current model; the older 6-zone Wi-Fi panel is discontinued.

Why reuse wired sensors

Wired sensors have no batteries to replace, can't be jammed like some wireless ones, and are already hidden in the door frames. Reusing them can save a lot of sensor hardware and patching. An installer checks each zone, labels it, and replaces any sensors that have failed.

Best for UniFi homes: UniFi Alarm Hub

Ubiquiti now sells alarm hardware that lives alongside UniFi Protect cameras. On October 12, 2026, its store listed:

• Alarm Hub Kit, $399: 32 wired input zones for hardwired intrusion sensors, powered by PoE++, with optional battery backup.
• SuperLink wireless sensors: entry sensors from $39, motion sensors from $49, and a glass-break sensor at $59, with multi-year battery life.
• Sirens at $109: a PoE siren and a battery or DC-powered SuperLink siren, both rated at 110 dB.

These prices are before Ubiquiti's separately listed tariff surcharge. The appeal is one system for cameras, doorbell, alarm and network, with no monthly fee. The trade-off is that you're committing to Ubiquiti's ecosystem.

Most flexible: Home Assistant as the alarm

Home Assistant includes a Manual Alarm control panel integration that "enables you to create an alarm system in Home Assistant." It handles armed-away, armed-home and disarmed states, entry and exit delays, and codes. Add any local sensors, and Home Assistant becomes the alarm panel.

For new installs, the sensors are typically Zigbee or Z-Wave. Both are low-power mesh radios that run locally through Home Assistant's ZHA and Z-Wave integrations. Our guide to Zigbee vs Z-Wave vs Thread explains how to choose.

What Home Assistant adds

• Arm automatically when the last person leaves, and disarm when a trusted phone arrives.
• Turn on every light in the house when the alarm sounds.
• Send a camera snapshot with each alert, so you can judge whether it's real.
• Combine security with home health: a water leak, freeze or power-loss alert uses the same alert path.

What goes where: a sample layout

Every house is different, but most self-monitored systems follow the same pattern. Here's a starting point for a typical two-story home.

• Every exterior door: an entry sensor, including the door from the garage, which is easy to forget.
• Ground-floor windows you can reach from outside: entry sensors, or a glass-break sensor covering a room with many windows.
• Main hallway and stairs: one motion sensor each, placed where someone moving through the house must pass. Pet-friendly settings help if you have dogs.
• Siren: one inside where it's loud for an intruder, and one outside where neighbors can hear it.
• Keypad or fob: by the door you use most, so arming and disarming is a habit, not a chore.
• Cameras: at the front door, the driveway and the back door, recording locally.

Start with the doors and the main paths. You can always add more sensors later, and with a local hub each one costs a one-time price rather than raising a monthly bill.

Avoiding false alarms

False alarms are the main reason people stop arming their systems. Give yourself an exit delay long enough to get out the door, use "armed home" mode at night so motion sensors stay off while doors and windows stay protected, and send a camera snapshot with every alert so you can tell a real break-in from a cat on the counter.

Self-monitoring vs professional monitoring

Self-monitoring means the alerts come to you. Professional monitoring means a call center watches your system around the clock and can request police, fire or medical dispatch. Here's how to think about it.

For comparison, SimpliSafe's professionally monitored Pro plan was $1.10 a day in October 2026, and Ring's plans start at $4.99 a month for video. Home Assistant's documentation says SimpliSafe systems work with its integration on all plans, including the free one, though the integration is cloud-based. Whether insurance discounts apply to your setup is a question for your insurer.

A middle path for second homes

Many second-home owners don't need a monitoring center if a caretaker or house manager gets the same alerts. Home Assistant can route alerts to different people by type: a break-in alert to you and the caretaker, a leak alert to the plumber-on-call list. That's the core of our second-home monitoring service.

Keeping it working when things go wrong

• Power: put the hub, router and any PoE switch on a battery backup, so the alarm keeps running through a power cut.
• Internet: the alarm runs locally, but alerts need a way out. An optional cellular backup keeps them flowing during an outage.
• Tamper: mount the hub and recorder out of sight, and alert if any sensor or camera goes offline.
• Network: put alarm and camera devices on their own network, separate from guests and computers. See our network and security service.

Where Kotoh Home fits

Kotoh Home designs and installs self-monitored security as part of a private smart home, from reusing an old wired alarm with Konnected to a new wireless system on Home Assistant. Every tier runs a Home Assistant hub in the house, and devices are quoted separately from the AI assistant. The walk-through is free.