Best Home Security Systems for Pet-Owners of 2022

Your pets are a part of your family, and you want to keep them safe when you’re not around to protect them yourself. A home security system can give you peace of mind that your property is safe as well as your four-legged friends.

Keep your furry friends safe while you’re home and away with one of these pet-friendly home security systems.

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The best pet-friendly security systems in 2022

1. Vivint: Best overall
2. ADT: Best for dog owners
3. Frontpoint: Best DIY system
4. SimpliSafe: Best Pet
5. Ring Alarm Security Kit: Best Security System for On

Compare pet-friendly security systems

Info current as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. *Landline monitoring only. Some restrictions apply. (Full disclaimer)

Reviews: Pet-friendly security systems

1. Vivint: Best overall

If you want a professionally-monitored and installed security system that works for your family and pets, Vivint is the cat’s meow.

The sensors installed in your home connect to Vivint’s mobile app, allowing you to monitor your home and your pets in real-time. For example, you can set emergency and non-emergency alerts so you can distinguish when your pet’s up to their normal mischief or if they’re in real danger.

Vivint's cameras have all the features you need to keep an eye on your pets while you’re away. The two-way communication can comfort anxious pups or catch cats in the middle of their antics. It has crystal-clear infrared night vision and a wide-angle HD view to watch them from your living room, kitchen, or bedroom at all times.

It is worth mentioning that Vivint costs a pretty penny up front and requires a 60-month contract, but it’s a worthwhile service for many customers who want to protect their human and animal family.

Learn more in our full Vivint review.

2. ADT: Best for dog owners

ADT requires professional installation on all systems and quite frankly, we often consider that as a drawback because of the $99 installation fee. However, professional installation actually works in favor of pet owners. When we had an ADT system installed, we informed the technician about the two-year-old Poodle we were watching, Tucker, so he adjusted the motion sensor’s sensitivity based on his size. Tucker weighed about 50 pounds, making him a pretty medium-sized Poodle (but no body-shaming here!). He also positioned the sensor so that it pointed slightly higher than normal to avoid picking up movements on the floor. We were informed that the sensor can ignore pets up to 2.5 feet tall and 85 pounds.

ADT is a highly reputable company with over 140 years of experience. That alone makes ADT a formidable home security option. So what was our experience like with ADT? Well, for $40 to $60 per month, they monitored our apartment 24/7 for burglary, fire, and medical emergencies. The system had cellular backup, so it maintained a connection with ADT’s monitoring centers even during power outages, landline or Internet failures. And speaking of monitoring centers, ADT has a total of 10 facilities in different locations across the country. That level of redundancy gave us peace of mind because we knew we’ll always have access to a dispatcher even if one of those centers went down. It was for those reasons that we chose ADT as the most trustworthy option for pet owners.

Learn more in our full ADT review.

3. Frontpoint: Best DIY system

Frontpoint is our favorite DIY system for pet owners. Installing your own security system may seem like a big task, but it’s as easy as a walk in the dog park. Most of Frontpoint’s components use peel-and-stick backing, so all you need to do is place your sensors and program them into the system.

Although the pet-immunity of Frontpoint’s motion sensor wasn’t anything extraordinary, we found other useful features for pet owners, particularly with the Ultimate Plan. For about $50 per month, the Ultimate Plan included video monitoring features, which we used to check on our Tucker while we were away. And thanks to the cloud storage included in the plan, we were able to share his funny antics, like harassing the mailman, to our friends right from the Frontpoint app. The Ultimate Plan also included smart home features, which allowed us to remotely open our door to our sitter using Frontpoint’s Yale-branded Z-Wave smart lock and turn on our Z-Wave LED lights for our pup whenever we were staying out late. He doesn’t love the dark, and who can blame him?

Learn more in our full Frontpoint review.

4. SimpliSafe: Best budget system

SimpliSafe may not be best in show, but it is a solid pick for a professionally monitored DIY system. There’s no contract or cancellation fees, so it requires much less commitment (and cleanup) than a puppy. Installation is also easy enough to complete in an hour. Simply plug in the smart hub, place the sensors, and connect them together through the app.

All SimpliSafe packages come with at least one pet-friendly motion sensor, meaning pets up to a certain size and weight won’t set off the sensor. By default, SimpliSafe’s motion sensor ignores pets that are up to 25 pounds, but if you have cats or a larger pet like Tucker, SimpliSafe offers some recommendations. For cat owners, they recommend mounting the sensor on a wall rather than on a shelf and away from furniture that your acrobatic feline friends might climb. For owners of dogs weighing more than 25 pounds like Tucker, the trick is to flip the sensor upside down and mount it four to five feet off the ground to avoid false notifications.

Learn more in our full SimpliSafe review.

5. Ring Alarm Security Kit: Best Security System for On

The motion sensor that came with our Ring Alarm system was pet-friendly to some degree. By default, it was super sensitive to all kinds of movement, but Ring’s mobile app provided us a way to reduce the sensor’s sensitivity. At the medium setting, it ignored pets less than 30 pounds. At the lowest setting, it was immune to pets up to 50 pounds. However, it wasn’t immune to larger pets, so Ring recommends limiting the use of the sensor to areas where there aren’t a lot of pet movement, a bit of a disappointment for owners of bigger animals.

How Pet-Friendly Is The Ring Alarm?
The motion sensor that came with our Ring Alarm system was pet-friendly to some degree. By default, it was super sensitive to all kinds of movement, but Ring’s mobile app provided us a way to reduce the sensor’s sensitivity. At the medium setting, it ignored pets less than 30 pounds. At the lowest setting, it was immune to pets up to 50 pounds. However, it wasn’t immune to larger pets, so Ring recommends limiting the use of the sensor to areas where there aren’t a lot of pet movement, a bit of a disappointment for owners of bigger animals.

Learn more in our full Ring review.

Final word

With a pet-friendly home security system like Vivint, you can keep an eye on them all day and come to the rescue when they need you most. Monitoring from the professionals at Vivint also helps you reach emergency services quickly if you need them.

Even the sharpest border collie can’t call 911, so it’s important to find a system that alerts you to real threats like fires and carbon monoxide leaks. If a security system isn't right for you and your fur baby, you might consider buying a pet camera instead.