Wyze Home Monitoring Kit Review: The Best Budget Security System
Wyze is shaking up yet another market with ridiculously affordable devices and great performance.
Our Experts
Pros
- The price
- Smart home integration possibilities
- Did I mention the price?
Cons
- No cellular backup
- Limited third-party device integration in the Wyze app
Disclaimer: We aren't recommending that consumers purchase Wyze products at this time. Over the past several years, Wyze has suffered from repeated data leaks and security breaches, including a 2019 user data leak, exposed databases in 2022, and exposed video files that same year. More recently, Wyze has seen both 2023 and 2024 security flaws that let at least 13,000 people see through other Wyze security cams owned by unrelated users.
Currently, Wyze's forum report on the latest breach includes an update from February 19, 2024: "Our engineering team has added a new layer of verification between users and event videos to prevent this from happening again. We've also removed the client library and will not be using caching until we can find a new client library and stress test it for extreme scenarios like we saw on Friday."
This response is a start, but Wyze has repeatedly struggled to reliably update its approach to security and meaningfully communicate with its users. While we have seen security companies bounce back from security problems in the past, we haven't seen this kind of improvement from Wyze yet. So we are not endorsing their products or any services where you need to create a Wyze account with your personal info.
We'll keep you updated on Wyze's security and privacy if our recommendations change. If you're looking for security brands that have made notable security improvements or have good privacy track records, we can recommend products from Ring, Google's Nest, Blink, and Arlo.
Wyze is well known in the smart home industry for one thing: Pushing prices lower than they've ever been. At a time when Wi-Fi-connected cameras were regularly over $100, Wyze launched a $20 smart cam. While video doorbells are still almost all over $100, Wyze launched (a slightly less successful) $30 doorbell cam. Wyze also participates in the home security game with $10-per-month professional monitoring.
Those prices are ridiculously low (I'll show you exactly how ridiculously low later), but the question is, how does the technology perform? I installed the system and tried out the monitoring, and it was surprisingly solid -- with one or two notable exceptions. If you want the sleek, hassle-free, integrated smart security experience of a professionally installed system, Wyze isn't it. But are you looking for reliable home monitoring for a third of your monthly streaming service subscription costs? You can't beat Wyze.
How cheap is it, really?
Home security systems have a reputation for exploitative contracts and expensive monitoring subscriptions. While many companies are improving these -- particularly by adding more transparency and removing contracts altogether -- prices are still fairly high, especially for professionally installed systems.
To compare, Vivint and ADT charge $500 to $600 for their base systems, which include a handful of sensors and a touchscreen hub. Comcast Xfinity's base system is $360. Among DIY systems like Simplisafe and Ring, starter kits start at around $200 (give or take; sales are common) and include sensors, a keypad and a bridge.
Wyze's system costs $82. Yes, under 100 bucks. And it comes with more door/window sensors than Simplisafe's and Ring's base kits (Ring does include a Wi-Fi range extender that Wyze doesn't). In addition, you can add a 3-pack of door/window sensors for $24, a motion detector for $9 and a variety of Wyze cams for as little as $30. Again, those prices are pretty unbeatable.
OK, but what about monitoring? Surely Wyze can't beat competitors on everything, price-wise.
Au contraire, reader. Wyze's professional monitoring fee is $10 per month, compared to Simplisafe's $28-per-month and Ring's $20-per-month base plans. The professional systems from ADT ($46-$60 per month), Vivint ($30 per month) and Xfinity ($30-$40 per month) are even higher -- and you often have to pay significantly more for home automation features and cloud storage for cameras.
Like many DIY home security kits, Wyze's setup includes a keypad, two door/window sensors, a motion detector and a base station with a built-in siren.
Wyze includes all its smart home features at no extra fee and charges only $2 per month per camera for comparable cloud storage. What's more, if you pay for a year of professional monitoring ($100), you get 50% off your system and a free Wyze Sense Hub.
How affordable is Wyze's Home Monitoring kit? As I said before, ridiculously affordable.
OK, but is it good?
The Wyze Home Monitoring security kit includes a hub with a built-in siren, a three-pack of door/window sensors, a keypad and a motion detector. Setting it up took me about 20 minutes, and it went about as smoothly as most DIY security setups. It wasn't quite as easy as Abode Iota's setup (Abode's devices come paired already), but it was relatively painless.
The door/window sensors worked as they do in every system, accurately indicating when an entry point was closed or open. The motion sensor never missed me walking through a room -- even when I was over 30 feet away -- but wasn't over-sensitive. It didn't report tree branches waving outside nearby windows, for instance.
The keypad is small but feels well-made. All of the devices are battery-powered and should last about 18 months before needing those batteries replaced, according to Wyze. The batteries are AA and AAA, which makes those replacements relatively convenient.
The Wyze app itself is also super simple to understand and navigate. One problem, though: If you want to use the Wyze app for home monitoring and smart home integration, you'll need to use only Wyze devices -- its connected bulbs, cameras, plugs, locks and so on. Granted, we've liked many of these devices, but it's a more restrictive experience than what you might get with, say, Ring Alarm, where you can integrate some third-party gadgets from Yale, Kwikset and Leviton.
Door/window sensors can be hugely helpful gadgets for automating your house. As an example of just one of many tricks, you can use them to trigger your lights when you walk out onto the back porch.
To integrate Wyze's security system with other smart home devices, you'll need to use other integration platforms, like IFTTT (an app that specializes in connecting smart home devices from different developers). For some people, this won't be a problem at all -- Wyze is a DIY home security system, after all, so taking the time to set up triggers between Wyze's door/window sensors and, say, your Philips Hue lightbulbs may not bother you.
Integrations with IFTTT can give you a ton of flexibility and freedom that you don't get (or don't get cheap) with higher-end home security systems. For instance, IFTTT can trigger connected devices like lights when a smart cam detects motion (and this can be accomplished using only Wyze devices). That level of depth isn't possible even on our favorite professional security system, Comcast Xfinity.
In addition, Wyze works well with both Google Assistant and Alexa. You can call up live camera feeds on Nest and Echo smart displays and control your Wyze smart locks with a four-digit PIN. As of now, however, you can't arm or disarm your security system with a voice command and PIN.
The biggest drawback of Wyze Home Monitoring is the lack of cell backup. If your Wi-Fi goes down, the system will still detect breaches and set off the local alarm, but it won't contact the monitoring service. Most professional and DIY alternatives offer cell backup (occasionally for a small price bump), so this feels like Wyze's one big deficit compared to the competition.
Even if the power goes out, Wyze's sensors can still communicate with the base station and set off your siren in an emergency.
That said, as long as there isn't a power outage, monitoring seems to work well (and even if there is, Wyze still at least has a battery backup to maintain the local security measures).
I tested Wyze's armed modes (home and away), but I didn't go through the process of triggering a real warning. According to the company, if you do so, you'll get a text message within five seconds, a phone call within 30 seconds and authorities will be notified within a minute. That allows you time to stop a false alarm and not waste moments in case of a real emergency.
Is Wyze the best budget security system?
Wyze has jackhammered through the subfloor beneath another smart home gadget with the Home Monitoring system. It's cheap, effective and… well, did I mention cheap?
Of course, that $82 price tag and $10 monitoring fee mean Wyze can't compete with everything the pricier competitors offer, and cell backup is the most notable cut feature. But no cell backup is better than no professional monitoring -- so if you're between a fully self-monitored system and Wyze's $10-per-month system, Wyze will give you the much better value.