Vivint Home Automation and Voice Control

Vivint earns strong marks across the board for professional installation, hardware quality, and smart home device selection. But home automation is where it really pulls ahead. In our testing, the ability to chain devices together and control the whole setup by voice stood out as one of the more impressive things we put through its paces.

Vivint works with a solid range of third-party IoT devices including Nest thermostats, Kwikset smart locks, and Philips Hue lighting, and supports hands-free control through both Amazon Echo and Google Home. We get into the full scope of those capabilities below.

Third-Party Devices

Vivint’s third-party compatibility extends well beyond its own hardware lineup, covering smart speakers, smart locks, smart lighting, and more. In our testing, we built out automations through Vivint’s own devices that then triggered third-party devices elsewhere in the home. Here’s how a few of those integrations played out.

• Google Nest Mini: The Nest Mini slotted into our Vivint setup without friction. We used it to check system status, arm and disarm through Google Assistant, and pull up live camera feeds on the Nest Hub Max by voice. Saying “OK Google, show the backyard camera on the Nest Hub Max” brought up a clear Vivint camera feed immediately. At $49, it’s an affordable addition that doubles as a capable voice control hub for the broader setup.

• Nest Thermostat: The Nest Thermostat brought a noticeable layer of intelligence to our setup. It learned our preferred heating and cooling schedule over time and picked up on room occupancy without any manual input. We controlled it through both Alexa and Google Assistant, but the more useful integration was tying it directly into the Vivint system. One automation we ran during summer had the central air shut off automatically whenever the system was armed. It removed the hassle of adjusting the thermostat every time we left the house and shaved off our cooling costs that season.

• Kwikset Smart Lock: Once you’ve used a smart lock, it’s hard to go back to a traditional key. In day-to-day use, we unlocked the door via a numerical code rather than digging through a bag, and when we weren’t sure whether we’d locked up before leaving for work, a quick check in the Vivint app confirmed it — or let us handle it remotely. The app also flagged the door when we left it unlocked, which proved more useful than expected. For guests, we created up to 30 unique access codes directly in the app, a feature that came in handy during visits. We also set the locks to engage automatically whenever the system was armed, which removed the low-level anxiety of wondering whether the house was secured. If Vivint was armed, the doors were locked.

• Philips Hue smart lighting: Nothing sets the mood quite like lighting, whether it’s the fluorescent bulbs of a boring office or the soft, yellow hues of a living room. We have a ton of smart bulbs from Philips Hue, so just like the smart lock, we had all of our lights go on “away mode” when our Vivint system was armed. What exactly is away mode? Well, it adjusts your interior lights to make it look like someone’s home even when you’re gone, which deters burglars.2 But rather than just leaving our lights on all day, we set up the away mode to turn them on and off periodically, which mimics someone being home more realistically.

Aside from hooking up our Vivint components to other IoT devices in our smart home, we also controlled everything using our voices alone when we were too lazy to reach for the Vivint app.

Alexa

Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, worked nicely with our Vivint system and its connected devices — so much so that it shows up on our Best Security Systems for Alexa list. We could have Alexa perform the following tasks for us, without having to lift a finger:

• Turn off smart lights
• Control smart thermostats
• Close the garage via a smart garage door controller
• Lock doors
• Show our footage on different devices like the Echo Show 8 or Fire TV
• Arm our security system.

Google Assistant

We had similar capabilities with Google Assistant, like:

• Controlling our smart thermostat
• Unlocking our doors
• Arming our security system
• Showing our footage on devices like the Google Nest Hub Max

The Catch: Monthly Fees with Vivint

While this all sounds great, there is a shoe about to drop. Vivint isn’t exactly the most affordable security system around. Aside from the costs of the devices themselves, we had to pay a month-to-month service fee to control our system remotely in the first place. Also, we had to pay a separate fee to use our cameras and a fee on top of that for cloud storage, according to a Vivint representative we spoke to.

While technically, we weren’t required to pay any monthly fees, our system would become local-only without them. We wouldn’t be able to control it remotely, watch footage from the Vivint app, or receive notifications about our alarms. So, we broke down Vivint’s fees into three categories, attempting to make the system’s fee structure as straightforward as possible.

Vivint Fees: A Breakdown

Vivint’s monthly monitoring costs range from $24.99 to $59.99 per month depending on equipment and features. Some companies we’ve tested, like Ring, charge half that for professional monitoring, cloud storage, app control, and basic automation. The key word? “Basic.” Vivint’s automation features are significantly more advanced, so we think the premium is justified.

We paid for the equipment upfront, but financing is popular too. Just know that financing increases monthly costs for the first five years (the maximum payoff period). With financing, you’ll pay one combined monthly fee covering equipment and monitoring.

Since we paid upfront, our monthly costs were on par with ADT’s, which range from $24.99 to $50 monthly depending on features. Check out our full ADT vs. Vivint comparison for the complete breakdown.

Although six cameras were the maximum we could’ve had under one account, we had three cameras in our tests. Given our addition of the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro, the Vivint Doorbell Camera, and the Indoor Camera Pro, which our system came with initially, that brought our cost up to $60 a month, which included all our cameras and IoT devices.

Keep in mind that when we bought our Vivint system, the company had a different pricing structure than it does now. Vivint has since updated its offerings with more accessible entry-level options starting at $199. However, they still do not publish the exact price of their extra equipment or monitoring fees. That’s why we called up Vivint to get the breakdown for you. Here’s a list of the prices quoted to us by our Vivint sales rep:

Monitoring Costs

For storage, we had two options. First, we could buy the Vivint Playback DVR for $250, giving us 24/7 camera recording. We recommend the Playback DVR for maximum coverage, though it’s definitely pricey. The upside? It’s a one-time purchase with 1 TB of storage.

The second option was financing the Playback DVR into our monthly bill, adding $4.17 per month. Either way, Vivint’s monthly costs rank among the highest we’ve seen. If you’re on a tight budget, Vivint probably isn’t for you. Check out our Vivint pricing guide for the full breakdown.

The Vivint App

We set up all our automations in the Vivint app (available on iOS and Android)—everything from triggering smart lights to locking doors. The app also let us watch live camera feeds anytime, day or night.

Motion alerts came through from the Outdoor Camera Pro, Doorbell Camera, and Indoor Camera Pro. As long as we had Wi-Fi, we could control every IoT device from anywhere. Having everything in one app was incredibly handy, and honestly? Setting up automation triggers was actually fun.

Recap

In terms of smart platform integrations, Vivint is at the top of its game. We found easy integrations with Alexa, Google Assistant, and a slew of other third-party devices in our tests. Although Vivint isn’t one of the most affordable security systems around, given the quality of its devices and how nicely they fit into our smart home, we think it was worth every penny. To learn more, visit our full Vivint security system review.