Cove vs. ADT 2024

ADT is one of the best home security systems we’ve reviewed. But we wanted to see how Cove’s budget-friendly DIY option compared.

After six weeks of testing and comparing the equipment, monitoring services, apps, and automation features, we found that ADT was the overall winner.

Cove has affordable equipment that’s easy to set up yourself. However, the quality of ADT’s hardware is better, especially now that it’s powered by AI. Plus, the monitoring service is among the best we’ve tried.

In this guide, we’ll share our experiences installing both systems, how the equipment performed, and what happened when we simulated an emergency.

Key Similarities

You might think a company with over 150 years of history wouldn’t have a lot in common with a newcomer. But, Cove and ADT share similarities.

• DIY installation: We were pretty proud of ourselves after setting up Cove and the ADT Self Setup system we tested. Both brands provided step-by-step guides, and we were up and running in around 30 minutes.
• Cellular backup: If your internet drops out during the most climatic moment of a movie, it might disrupt date night. However, it won’t affect your security system. Both ADT and Cove have cellular backup.
• Google and Alexa integrations: You can control your home security system via Alexa and Google Assistant. ADT lets you adjust the thermostat, dim the lights, and lock the doors if they’re compatible smart products.

>> Check Out: The Best Smart Home Security Systems of 2024

Key Differences

There’s also plenty that separates Cove and ADT. Here’s what stood out to us.

• Lock-in contracts: Cove doesn’t make you sign on the dotted line, but ADT requires a minimum 36-month commitment (24 if you’re in California). If you plan on financing the equipment, it can be as long as five years.
• Camera storage: ADT cameras store footage in the cloud. You need the Essential + Video plan for this feature, which is $10 more than the Essential plan. We used a microSD card to save videos on our Cove camera. That saved us the $2.99 per month, per camera cloud storage fee.
• Third-party product integrations: We added third-party equipment to the ADT app, including our Sonos speakers. That made it easier to manage, since everything was in one place. Otherwise, we had to switch between each native app. You can add any of the 4,000 Z-Wave smart devices, too.

How Does the Equipment Compare?

Cove lets you mix and match your products to fit your property type. Some of the devices we picked up were:

• Alarm panel and hub
• Door sensor
• Window sensor
• Motion sensor
• Glass-break detector
• Indoor camera
• Outdoor camera
• Doorbell camera
• Smoke detector

Cove’s cameras are made by Eufy, which produces award-winning home security devices. But we found them too sensitive for our liking. They detect any movement, whether it be our dog zooming across the room or a breeze blowing against the curtain.

Each movement was captured, which means we needed to review each clip. That’s how our microSD card filled up so quickly — usually within a few days.

You can build your own home security system with ADT or choose a pre-made package. If you’re unsure what you need, you can use ADT’s chatbox and ask for help building a system based on your home. Watch out for those upsells, though, by asking why they recommend each product and service.

Here’s an overview of ADT’s packages:

You can pay upfront or finance your equipment for up to 60 months. The amount is shown separately from the monitoring costs on your bill.

We found ADT’s cameras to be smarter than Cove’s. We set up a custom trigger for animal detection to avoid notifications during doggy dinner time. Another feature we used was Zones. It let us limit the motion detection range to specific areas, such as windows or doorways. This way, we wouldn’t get alerts every time we sat on the couch in the living room.

Equipment winner: ADT’s equipment is more advanced than Cove’s. It also has more functionality, excludes unnecessary events, and limits monitoring to specific areas.

Read More: ADT Home Security Review 2024

Ease of Installation

We were shocked at how easy it was to set up Cove and ADT home security systems.

Most of the devices from both brands plugged into a wall socket or were battery-powered. The sensors had adhesives that stuck to windowsills and doorframes. When we weren’t sure what to do, we perused the step-by-step guides on their respective websites.

Overall, we were set up in around 30 minutes.

If you prefer to have a professional set up your equipment, Cove and ADT can organize for a technician to install everything. ADT sends out their own technicians, while Cove hires this out to a third party. Cove’s pricing starts at $129, and ADT’s is $99. They’ll talk you through how everything works and how to use the apps.

Installation winner: It’s a draw. We barely needed a screwdriver to install our Cove and ADT equipment. Plus, it didn’t take us long to get it up and running.

Learn More: The Best DIY Home Security Systems of 2024

Monitoring Comparisons

You need a monitoring plan for your Cove and ADT equipment to work. They both offer two choices, so you’re not paying for features you won’t use.

Cove

Here’s an overview of Cove’s monitoring plans:

Cove’s pricing is not the cheapest, but it is a good deal. Paying the extra $10 a month for Cove Plus might save you money in the long term. The lifetime equipment warranty protects you from replacing malfunctioning equipment, and you get a credit to expand your system.

Our favorite feature is the lifetime monitoring rate-lock guarantee. With most brands lifting prices yearly, you won’t need to worry about Cove sliding into your DMs with a rate-rise notification.

ADT

Here’s what’s included with each of ADT’s monitoring plans:

If you added security cameras to your plan, you need the Essential + Video plan. While it costs more than Cove, the service is superior. For reliability, we haven’t found better than ADT’s 12 redundant monitoring centers spread throughout the country. That means if one goes down, there are 11 others to cover for it; you would never know it went down. Cove has six.

Both ADT plans include smart home automation, and the premium option has cloud storage. It also comes with video verification. With this feature, the monitoring center can confirm your situation and get help without waiting for your response.

Monitoring winner: It’s more expensive, and you’re limited to one plan if you have security cameras, but ADT’s monitoring service is worth every cent.

App Performance

We managed our Cove security system from the iPhone app. It let us check the status of our devices, review notifications, and self-monitor cameras.

One of our favorite features is Recipes. We set up a series of schedules so we didn’t need to manually arm and disarm the system every day. We also added rules for when an action happens. One had our cameras start recording when a window opened.

If you check the same devices regularly, you can add them to the home page to save time navigating to them.

ADT has two apps. One is for your home security system, and the other can centralize your smart home devices. We used the ADT Control app to create schedules for our setup; this included disarming the alarm when we walked in the door after work.

We added our smart devices to the ADT+ app. It became our hub for the thermostat, lights, sockets, blinds, and locks. We set up automations like locking the door as it closed behind us and lowering the blinds after 6 p.m. When it got chilly one night, we opened the app and turned up the heat on the thermostat — without getting out from under the blanket.

App winner: Cove has an excellent app. However, both of ADT’s apps allowed us to manage our security system and all of our smart devices efficiently.

Third-Party Integrations

Cove can connect to Alexa and Google Assistant. But you need the premium plan to use voice commands.

Meanwhile, ADT connects to Alexa, Google, and is one of the best options for the Apple HomeKit.

Speaking of Google, ADT partnered with them and integrated the Nest family into the system. You can connect all of Nest’s products including:

• Nest Doorbell
• Nest Cam Wired
• Nest Cam Battery
• Nest Thermostat
• Nest Hub

To see how far this integration went, we added the Google Nest Hub Max we tested and turned up the volume via the app.

As we mentioned, ADT runs on the Z-Wave platform, which opens it up to thousands of compatible smart devices. So, for products that ADT doesn’t sell, like split-system air conditioning controllers, you can buy one that’s Z-Wave-compatible and add it to the ADT+ app.

Third-party integrations winner: ADT has more functionality than Cove. Plus, it opens up more possibilities with Nest products and devices that use Z-Wave technology.

Customer Support Options

Cove and ADT are available 24/7 for any questions or help you may need.

You can contact them by phone or web chat. We decided to ring Cove first and got through quickly to their call center. They answered our questions about whether the sensors needed a Wi-Fi connection. Turns out, they don’t. Only the cameras need Wi-Fi.

Learn More: Cove Home Security System Review for 2024

We forgot to ask something, so we jumped on a web chat and, thankfully, avoided speaking to a bot. The responses were quick, and the whole interaction was wrapped up in about five minutes.

ADT’s web chat was great, too. The agent was responsive and looked up our system so they knew what equipment we had. But, we didn’t love the phone option. It took a while to get through to someone, and they didn’t have the answers we needed — like how many infrared sensors are in the indoor camera. We prefer web chats anyway, so it wasn’t an issue for us.

Customer support winner: Cove did a better job responding to our queries and answering our questions.

Testing Response Times

Cove and ADT spring into action the moment an alarm is triggered.

For Cove, they confirmed we needed assistance before sending emergency services. But, you need to be quick. We took too long to respond to one alert and got a knock on the door by local law enforcement.

ADT can alert you and the emergency contacts you’ve nominated. We added our babysitter, so they could cancel alarms if they accidentally set one off. ADT also confirms your status via video to ensure you’re not under duress. Like Cove, they are fast. Our phone lit up in about 15 seconds during our testing.

Response time winner: It’s a draw. ADT and Cove didn’t waste any time reacting to an alarm. We experienced firsthand how quickly police arrived when we didn’t cancel an alert.

Overall Winner: Cove or ADT

We love that we could set up our Cove and ADT security systems ourselves. There was a sense of pride when everything worked correctly and alerts were coming through.

But, the quality of ADT’s equipment was no match for Cove. It offered more functionality. We could connect the other gizmos and gadgets we’ve accumulated over the years. Managing them all from one ADT app made our lives easier.

Although it’s more expensive and requires a contract, ADT is the best home security system available today.