"No monthly fees" is true, and it's also not the whole picture. A subscription security system spreads its cost out over years. A DIY system asks for more of it up front, once.
The hardware
A basic budget package — a doorbell, a couple of door/window sensors, and a lock — runs a few hundred dollars. Add cameras and full-perimeter coverage and you're in the $600–$800 range for a complete, best-of-breed setup.
The hub
If you want everything on one dashboard instead of five apps, you'll want a small Home Assistant hub. The Home Assistant Green currently runs about $199. It's optional — you could run Home Assistant on a spare computer instead — but the Green is the simplest path if you'd rather not think about it.
Add it up honestly
A complete package — devices plus the hub — lands around $950, once. Compare that to a monitored alarm company: $40–$70 a month is $480–$840 a year, every year, indefinitely. The DIY route usually pays for itself inside 18–24 months and then keeps paying for itself every month after that.
What you give up: 24/7 professional monitoring that dispatches police or fire automatically. What you get: full ownership of your footage and data, and a system that keeps working exactly the same way whether or not you keep paying anyone.
See the exact shopping list
Budget and recommended tiers, real prices, and where the hub fits in — all in the Blueprint.
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