Link Interactive vs. Brinks Home

At first glance, Link Interactive and Brinks Home Security systems are so similar they could be twins. They offer the same basic equipment, and their monitoring prices are within five bucks of each other.

But Link Interactive has a few things going for it that leave Brinks Home in the dust. If you want a totally custom system with an indoor camera that will make your neighbors jealous, then Link Interactive is the way to go.

Price is not going to decide this one for you. Link Interactive and Brinks Home have very similar pricing. Sure, Brinks is slightly more expensive, but if you choose Link Interactive’s highest-priced plan, then you’ll still be just two dollars away from Brinks Home’s most expensive option.

Brinks Home does have one thing that you don’t get with Link Interactive: mobile app access on all of its plans—even the cheapest one. Link Interactive makes you pay for at least the Gold plan before you can get mobile control, whereas Brinks Home gives it to you with its most basic plan, the Home Complete.

Brinks Home's Smart Security Essential plan will cost you the same as Link Interactive's Gold if you want the lowest price along with mobile access. But for the most part, there’s not a huge price difference between these two companies.

Both Brinks Home and Link Interactive do contracts, but Link gives you more flexible options.

First of all, you don’t have to sign a contract with Link Interactive. Not if you’re willing to shell out the cash for all of your equipment up front (rather than pay for it over time). And even if you do go for a contract, Link Interactive lets you choose between 12, 24, or 36 months, which is great if you know you’ll be moving in a year or two.

Brinks Home doesn’t care so much about options. You have to sign a contract, and it’s always for 36 months. That’s fine if you’re in your dream house and plan to hang out for a decade, but moving security systems can be a hassle—and Brinks Home locks you in for three years.

Both these systems have DIY installation, so break out your toolkit because you’ll be installing this stuff yourself.

Okay, it actually doesn’t require many tools. Plus you get to skip installation and activation fees. But there’s still one fee you might run into: cancellation.

If you sign a contract with one of these companies and then break it off early, expect to pay a pretty big chunk of change to cancel, depending on how much time you have left in your contract.

Link Interactive has the more generous policy—it only makes you pay off 75% of your remaining contract, whereas Brinks Home wants the full 100%.

This one’s a bit of a toss-up, but overall we’ll give it to Link Interactive for having a lower cancellation fee, cheaper available monthly plan, and way more flexible contracts than Brinks Home.

These brands use the same equipment. No really, it’s the exact same. Both Link Interactive and Brinks Home use Alarm.com equipment. Everything, from your cameras to your control panels, looks pretty much identical between the two companies. The installation process for both is also super similar.

Link Interactive might use the same manufacturer as Brinks Home, but it does carry some devices Brinks Home doesn’t. Link Interactive stocks hard-to-find sensors like a gun tilt sensor and an outdoor entry sensor (for gates, pool covers, etc.).

That said, if all you want is a control panel and some basic door sensors and motion detectors, then it doesn’t really matter which company you choose.

Does that control panel look familiar? That’s because it’s the same model as Link Interactive’s. Brinks Home has a pretty decent array of sensors (although not as many as Link Interactive), but the control panel and basic everyday sensors are going to look exactly the same as Link’s.

We’re back to most things being the same. Link Interactive and Brinks Home offer the same indoor and outdoor security cameras (both made by Alarm.com). But Link Interactive does have one model Brinks Home does not: the Premium Indoor Camera.

Link Interactive has indoor, outdoor, and doorbell cameras. The most impressive of the lot is the Alarm.com Premium Indoor Camera, which has some cool extra features we rarely see, like outbound calling.

If your kids are with the babysitter and they need to reach you, they can just press a button on this camera, and it’ll call your phone through the mobile app. It’s a nice little feature if you don’t have a landline (and who does anymore).

Brinks Home carries indoor, outdoor, and doorbell cameras. It currently does not offer the Alarm.com Premium Indoor Camera, but the cameras it does have all record in 1080p (which is full high definition) and have all the features we look for, like night vision.

Link Interactive offers more types of sensors and one more camera than Brinks Home does. If you need a specific device, or you just want the fanciest indoor camera around, then Link Interactive has what you need.

Both Link Interactive and Brinks Home have home automation support through Z-Wave.

Z-Wave is a super common connection type you need to install things like smart door locks and smart light bulbs. Both Link Interactive and Brinks Home let you add on all the smart devices you want, as long as they work with Z-Wave.

Link Interactive home automation integrations:

• Z-Wave
• Google Home
• Amazon Alexa

Brinks Home home automation integrations:

• Z-Wave
• Google Home
• Amazon Alexa

Link Interactive and Brinks Home offer the exact same home automation integrations, and both let you add on Z-Wave smart devices.

Link Interactive takes this one, hands down. Link gets excellent scores on Trustpilot2 and has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.³

Brinks Home also has an A+ rating from the BBB,⁴ but it also has way more complaints than Link Interactive (almost 2,000 compared to 8). Plus it doesn’t score as well on Trustpilot.⁵

Link Interactive gets better customer reviews than Brinks Home from pretty much everyone, and it has a reputation for good customer support. Brinks Home has some work to do on its customer experience.

Link Interactive and Brinks Home have similar pricing and almost the exact same equipment, but Link Interactive has a few things that make it stand above the fray, like more sensor options and a better camera.

Brinks Home is a good choice if you want a lower-priced plan that still gives you mobile app access, but, for the most part, we’re team Link Interactive.

Pricing winner: Link Interactive—Brinks Home has slightly more expensive monitoring plans than Link Interactive, and Link has more flexible contracts and charges a lower cancellation fee.

Equipment winner: Link Interactive—Link Interactive and Brinks Home use the exact same equipment manufacturer, but Link Interactive offers more types of devices so you can totally customize your system.

Home automation winner: Tie—Brinks Home and Link Interactive have the exact same home automation integrations. You can use either of them to turn your house into a smart home.

Customer experience winner: Link Interactive—Link Interactive gets consistently better customer reviews than Brinks Home, and it has fewer complaints with the BBB. This one’s an easy win.

Still not sure which system would work best for you? Check out our best home security systems review and compare all the top systems to find your favorite.

Sources

1. Better Business Bureau, “Brinks Home Security, Bankruptcy”
2. Trustpilot, “Link Interactive”
3. Better Business Bureau, “Fire Protection Service Corporation”
4. Better Business Bureau, “Brinks Home Security”
5. Trustpilot, “Brinks Home Security”