Brinks Home vs. Vivint Review

It’s one thing to be stuck between two similar security options, but what about two services with almost nothing in common, like Brinks Home vs. Vivint?

We’ll walk through each service's pros and cons as we explore prices, equipment, automation, and customer experience.

Although Vivint’s basic plan is cheaper than Brinks Home’s, Brinks Home offers video at a lower price, and its equipment is much cheaper than Vivint’s. It doesn’t have Vivint’s no-contract option, though.

If you want to buy Brinks Home, your equipment package starts at $199. That’s almost the lowest price you can get in the industry.

Vivint equipment packages are more in the range of $599. Yes, you read that right—it’s $400 more than Brinks Home equipment. That’s a lot to pay for security. Sure, Vivint’s proprietary gadgets are some of the latest and greatest in securing your home, but $600 is wildly more than almost any other security company is asking.

The good news? You don’t have to pay the $599 in one go. You can choose a financing plan that lets you pay off your equipment gradually.

The bad news? You have to pay it all at once if you want Vivint’s no-contract option. Vivint keeps you in a contract of up to five years while you owe the brand equipment money.

Brinks Home charges $40 to $50 a month for monitoring services. Happily, all of Brink's plans include video storage and smart home support.

Your monthly Brinks Home fee will also include emergency features, like an emergency button on the control panel and keychain, a duress code, and a quick-contact system that Brinks Home calls ASAPer.

View Brinks Home Plans | Read the Brinks Home Security Review

Just like Brinks Home and its three monitoring plans, Vivint customizes its plans to various levels of needs.

Vivint’s monitoring price starts at $29.99 ($10 less than Brinks Home’s), but it shoots up to $44.99 if you want video.

If you choose to finance your equipment with Vivint, you’ll also pay an extra monthly equipment fee on top of your monthly monitoring payments.

View Vivint Plans | Read the Vivint Home Security Review

Brinks Home’s equipment comes from tried-and-true security device manufacturers, while Vivint’s equipment is largely brand-made. Vivint also has more (for lack of a better word) stuff.

Brinks Home has generic devices from brands like Alarm.com and SkyBell. (It used to have a fancier option aka a security suite from Google Nest Secure, but Google no longer sells Nest Secure.)

Vivint designs most of its own equipment, and it includes high-tech features you don't get from some generic brands. You might have heard of Vivint's Smart Hub control panel (formerly known as Sky Control) or the Vivint Indoor Camera with outbound call functionality.

Because Vivint pours so much work into its equipment, it costs a lot more. While we think the prices for some of the devices make sense (like the cost of the super-awesome Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro), some of the pieces are a bit overpriced (door and window sensors).

Either way, Brinks Home is more affordable, if that’s what you’re looking for, while Vivint is more innovative.

Similar to the basic equipment, Brinks Home cameras are more affordable, but Vivint’s offer more unique features.

Brinks Home cameras are fairly generic. The indoor and outdoor cameras look like standard Alarm.com issue, while the video doorbell is from SkyBell.

The indoor and outdoor cameras both use 1080p vision, while the doorbell has 720p. Similarly, the outdoor and doorbell cameras both have motion detection, while the indoor camera does not.

You don’t have to pay extra for video storage with Brinks Home, which is a boon.

As with most Vivint equipment, these cameras are proprietary pieces you won’t find anywhere else. The doorbell camera is especially impressive with person and package detection and theft-deterrent features.

To learn more about Vivint cameras, read our Vivint Cameras Review.

To use any Vivint cameras, you have to sign up for Vivint’s most expensive monitoring plan, the Smart Home Video.

To get local storage, you have to purchase the uber-expensive Vivint Smart Drive. But, once you have it, you get 30 days of continuous video recording.

In contrast, the cloud storage plan not only has a shorter storage time, it only captures event-based recordings—which means you might miss something.

Both Brinks Home and Vivint have well-rated apps for easy remote access and mobile control. Both are compatible with prominent smart speakers and the Z-Wave protocol.

Brinks Home smart home integrations:

• Amazon Alexa
• Google Assistant
• Z-Wave

Vivint smart home integrations:

• Amazon Alexa
• Google Assistant
• Z-Wave

These systems both work with a lot of the same products, like Kwikset locks or Nest thermostats. However, Vivint sells more branded smart products and has an easy smart home screen in its app.

Both Brinks Home and Vivint are highly rated by some customers, but they also have some prominent customer service issues. Vivint historically has more (and more serious) service complaints.

Brinks Home started as an armored wagon business way back in the 1800s.¹ It expanded into home security in the late 1900s and went through several iterations of its services. Most recently, Brinks Home took over MONI/LiveWatch’s security and monitoring options.

According to multiple customer reviews we saw, these branding changes have caused some confusion and contract issues.

Vivint has often come under fire for deceptive contractors/salespeople. As the company has matured and expanded, there are fewer of these complaints, but they still pop up from time to time. Unfortunately, Vivint was recently involved in a $20 million lawsuit with the FTC because of concerning door-to-door salesman practices. While we still think Vivint’s offerings are swell, we suggest calling them yourself to avoid the door-to-door deceptions.

When it comes to contacting these companies, Brinks Home representatives are available by text or by phone from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. CST. Vivint will also talk on the phone (though we aren’t sure of the hours), plus the company offers a live chat with a customer rep. No text or email, though, so you won’t be able to contact them asynchronously.

• Brinks Home customer service number: 800-447-9239
• Vivint customer service number: 801-377-9111

Comparing these two systems is difficult because they take such different approaches to home security.

Vivint is currently our top-recommended security system. It’s comprehensive and high-tech. But if you just want a good system without all the fuss, Brinks Home is cheap and easier to install.

• Prices and monitoring plans: Brinks Home is known for going the extra mile with monitoring full of helpful emergency features.
• Security equipment: Vivint has better equipment, but its sometimes extraordinary prices can make Brinks Home’s affordable equipment the better option overall.
• Cameras: Brinks Home has more affordable options, while Vivint offers more camera benefits.
• Smart home integrations: Smart home is a key feature of Vivint, which offers easy connectivity to other smart home devices. Brinks Home has smart home connectivity as well, but it’s not quite on Vivint’s level.
• Customer service: Brinks Home has fewer customer service issues than Vivint does, though neither has a stellar reputation.

Read the Brinks Home Security Review | Read the Vivint Home Security Review

When we rate security systems, we assign stars based on these five main categories:

• Price
• Equipment
• Home automation
• Cameras
• Customer service

We’ve spent several months using a Vivint system and performed countless hours of research on both Brinks Home and Vivint to draw our conclusions for this article.

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