The Ranking
Our top 5 home security companies in Austin
Most Austin homeowners shop for a security system after something happens nearby: a package taken off the porch, a car broken into on the street, or a neighbor's garage left open overnight. A good installer will start with your doors, ground floor windows and the path a delivery driver takes to your front step, then talk about cameras.
The first choice is monitored or self monitored. A monitored system sends alarms to a central station that calls you and then dispatches police. A self monitored system only sends alerts to your phone, so you are the one who has to act. Every company on this list sells professional monitoring, and most also install video doorbells and outdoor cameras that you can watch from an app.
Read the contract before you sign. Ask how many months the monitoring agreement runs, what an early cancellation costs, whether the equipment belongs to you once it is paid off or stays leased, and whether the rate can rise during the term. Ask too whether the panel reports over cellular, since a cut line or a Wi-Fi outage should not stop an alarm. Austin summers regularly pass 100 degrees, so ask which outdoor cameras are rated for that heat and where they should be mounted out of direct afternoon sun. The February 2021 winter storm showed how long the power can stay off here, so battery backup on the panel and router matters too.
The City of Austin requires an alarm permit for every alarm system in a home within the Austin Police Department's jurisdiction, and the application has to be in before the system is turned on. The Austin Police Department Alarm Administration office issues permits, which are good for one year and must be renewed. If police respond to an alarm at a location with no permit, the city can charge $220 per response, and operating without a permit can bring a Class C fine of $75 for a first offense and $100 after that. If your alarm goes off by accident, call your monitoring station to cancel instead of calling 911.
In Texas, alarm companies are licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety Private Security Program. Every company here shows its licence number on its website, and you can look it up yourself on the DPS TOPS public search before anyone installs equipment in your house.
