Why You Can Trust Us
At U.S. News & World Report, we rank the Best Hospitals, Best Colleges, and Best Cars to guide readers through some of life’s most complicated decisions. To build our ratings, we researched more than 14 home security systems, analyzed 10 professional reviews and four consumer review sources, and tested eight home security systems in our Lab. Our 360 Reviews team does not take gifts or loans of products or services we review. Any sample product provided for reviews is donated afterward.
The following describes our 360 approach to researching home security systems to guide prospective consumers.
360 Methodology for Home Security Systems
1. We researched the companies and products people care most about.U.S. News analyzed and compared a variety of publicly available data, including internet search data, to determine which home security systems Americans are most interested in. We found 14 home security systems that stand out in terms of volume of searches and research among consumers, as well as across the different rating sources. After conducting a thorough analysis, we were able to condense the initial list to the 10 overall Best Home Security Systems. With the products determined, we conducted comprehensive research on their features to create a general summary of what consumers should know to assist with their purchasing decisions.
We then compared the available home security systems across several criteria, including but not limited to price, installation options, video storage time, home automation, voice compatibility integrations, and smart device integrations. Research shows that these are the most important criteria for people shopping for home security systems.
2. We created a 360 Overall Rating based on an analysis of third-party reviews and proprietary data.U.S. News’ 360 Reviews team applied an unbiased methodology that includes opinions from critics and users, as well as our own in-house data. To calculate the ratings:
(a) We compiled two types of third-party ratings and reviews:
- Critic Ratings and Reviews. Many independent sources have published their assessments of home security systems. We consider several of these third-party reviews to be reputable and well-researched. However, critics often make recommendations that contradict one another. Rather than relying on a single source, U.S. News believes consumers benefit most when these opinions and recommendations are considered and analyzed collectively with an objective, consensus-based methodology.
- User Ratings and Reviews. U.S. News also reviewed published user ratings and reviews of home security systems. Sources with a sufficient number of quality user ratings and reviews were included in our scoring model.
Please note that not all critic and user rating sources met our criteria for objectivity. We assigned “source weights” to each source used in the consensus scoring model based on our assessment of how much the source is trusted and recognized by consumers and how much its published review process indicates that it is both comprehensive and editorially independent. The source weights are assigned on a one-to-five scale. Any source with an assigned weight less than two was excluded from the consensus scoring model.
(b) We standardized the inputs to create a common scale.
The third-party review source data were collected in a variety of forms, including ratings, recommendations, and accolades. Before including each third-party data point in our scoring equation, we had to standardize it so that it could be compared accurately with data points from other review sources. We used the scoring methodology described below to convert these systems to a comparable scale.
The 360 scoring process first converted each third-party rating into a common zero-to-five scale. To balance the distribution of scores within each source’s scale, we used a standard deviation calculation to determine how each company’s score compared to the source’s mean score. We then used the standard deviation to create a standardized U.S. News rating.
(c) In addition to our analysis of professional and consumer reviews, we added information of particular interest to home security shoppers. We combined these scores in a formula with weights, which means that each data point is evaluated differently to line up with shoppers’ expectations.
For our Best Home Security Systems rating, we performed tests aimed at self-monitoring, camera footage quality, motion detection, glass break sensors, and entry sensors in our Lab. Our research team evaluated each home security company’s trial period, warranty, smart home integration, and mobile app. Finally, the Lab testers came up with their own score after testing each home security system. Each of these subcomponents makes up our expert score.
(d) We calculated the 360 Overall Score based on a weighted-average model and three main component scores: a critic score, user score, and expert score.
The result is an overall score for each home security system, which allows us to make head-to-head comparisons and rate them against one another. The U.S. News Rating and each component score ranges from zero to five, with five being the best possible score.
The ratings are periodically updated based on the latest information from third-party reviews and data sources. Check back to see how the latest Best Home Security System ratings are shaping up.
U.S. News 360 Reviews takes an unbiased approach to our recommendations. When you use our links to buy products, we may earn a commission, but that in no way affects our editorial independence.