SimpliSafe Monitoring Plans 2026: Core, Pro and Pro Plus, and What Video Verification Buys
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Contents
Quick Answer
SimpliSafe’s 2026 lineup is Core, Pro and Pro Plus. Core is professional monitoring: agents available 24/7 to request dispatch for a break-in, fire or medical emergency. Pro adds video verification, which SimpliSafe says produces a faster police response compared to unverified alarms, plus Active Guard Outdoor Protection from 8pm to 6am. Pro Plus runs Active Guard 24/7. If you own cameras, the step from Core to Pro is the one that changes what happens during an actual break-in.
The Three Tiers as They Stand in 2026
If you are reading an older comparison, the plan names in it are probably wrong – this category renames its tiers regularly. As of this writing SimpliSafe presents three monitoring plans: Core, Pro and Pro Plus. Everything below describes those.
The baseline that all three share is worth stating first, because it is the thing people are actually buying. SimpliSafe describes security agents ready around the clock to request dispatch for break-ins and emergencies, and specifically ready 24/7 to request dispatch in the event of a break-in, fire or medical emergency. That is professional monitoring, and Core has it.
SimpliSafe’s three 2026 monitoring tiers and the feature that actually separates them.Video Verification Is the Real Upgrade
The single most consequential difference between the tiers is video verification, and SimpliSafe is unusually specific about what it does. The company describes it as a feature you enable in the app that allows agents to relay information to emergency dispatch, resulting in faster police response compared to unverified alarms.
That comparison – against SimpliSafe’s own unverified alarms – is the honest framing and worth reading carefully. It is not a claim about response times against other companies. It is a claim that an alarm accompanied by someone describing what they can see gets treated differently from an alarm that is only a signal.
Why that matters is a matter of public record rather than marketing: many police departments prioritize alarm calls by whether anything corroborates them, because the overwhelming majority of alarm activations turn out to be false. We covered how that plays out in practice, including departments that will not dispatch without corroboration at all, in our piece on verified response.
What the dispatcher receives
Unverified alarm
- A signal that a sensor was triggered
- An address and a system ID
- No information about what is happening
- No way to distinguish it from the false alarms that dominate the category
Verified alarm
- The same signal, plus an agent who has looked at the video
- A description of what is actually happening at the property
- Corroboration that something is in progress
- SimpliSafe states this produces a faster police response than its unverified alarms
What Active Guard Actually Is
Active Guard Outdoor Protection is the feature that separates Pro from Pro Plus, and it is a different idea from monitoring in the traditional sense. SimpliSafe describes an AI-powered outdoor camera working with live agents to act proactively, and requires a monitoring plan with Active Guard Outdoor Protection for it to function.
The company’s own description of the sequence is the clearest explanation: if your system is armed during service hours, a monitoring agent can start reviewing the live video feed, and if there is a threat to safety the agent will immediately call for police assistance, with video evidence helping to get a faster response.
The phrase to notice is during service hours. On the Pro plan, Active Guard is available 8pm to 6am local time; on Pro Plus it is available 24/7. That distinction is the entire difference between the two upper tiers, and whether it is worth paying for depends on a simple question: is the property empty during the day?
How Active Guard is described as working
1
System armed during service hours
The feature is tied to arming and to the hours your plan covers.
2
Agent reviews the live feed
A monitoring agent can begin watching the outdoor camera’s live video.
3
Agent judges the situation
The point of the design is intervention before an alarm triggers, not after.
4
Agent calls for police assistance
If there is a threat to safety, with video evidence supporting a faster response.
This runs ahead of a traditional alarm sequence, which begins when a sensor is already triggered.
The Plans Side by Side
| Capability | Core | Pro | Pro Plus |
|---|
| 24/7 professional monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Agents request dispatch for break-in, fire, medical | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video verification for faster police response | No | Yes | Yes |
| Active Guard Outdoor Protection | No | 8pm to 6am local | 24/7 |
| Requires cameras to get the video benefits | n/a | Yes | Yes |
| Best suited to | Sensor-based systems with no cameras | Households empty overnight | Properties empty during the day too |
Note what is not in that table: prices. Monitoring pricing in this category changes often enough that any figure printed here would be wrong within months, so check SimpliSafe’s current terms directly. What does not change as fast is the shape of the tiers, which is what this comparison is for. If you want the wider cost picture across the industry, our home security cost breakdown breaks down what actually drives the total.
What You Get With No Plan At All
SimpliSafe systems function without a monitoring subscription – the sirens sound, the app notifies you, and you decide what to do. What you lose is the part you are actually buying when you subscribe: somebody else watching when you are asleep, in a meeting, or on a plane.
That is a real choice rather than a trap, and for some households it is the right one. A self-monitored system with a loud siren still deters, still wakes you, and still records. What it cannot do is call anyone on your behalf. We cover the whole category of systems designed to work this way in our no-subscription roundup, and our SimpliSafe review explains where SimpliSafe’s hardware sits against the competition.
Requesting Dispatch Is Not the Same as Police Arriving
SimpliSafe’s own language is precise on this and worth reading exactly as written: agents are ready to request dispatch. A monitoring center does not dispatch police. It contacts the relevant emergency service and asks, and what happens next is determined by that department’s policy, its workload at that moment, and increasingly by whether the alarm is corroborated.
This is not a criticism of SimpliSafe, which describes the process accurately. It is a correction to a widespread assumption that a monitoring subscription buys a guaranteed police response. It does not, and no company can sell you one. It buys a trained person who makes the call quickly and can tell the dispatcher something useful – which is precisely why video verification is the tier upgrade that matters most.
For context on the underlying risk, the Bureau of Justice Statistics recorded household burglary rates falling 56%% between 1994 and 2011, from 63.4 to 27.6 victimizations per 1,000 households. That data is over a decade old, so treat it as direction rather than a current rate – but it is a useful counterweight to marketing that implies constant threat.
How to Judge Any Monitoring Service
Monitoring is one of the few parts of home security with genuine industry standards behind it, and knowing they exist gives you better questions to ask than any feature list. The Monitoring Association publishes a set of standards for monitoring centers, including ANSI-accredited ones – among them a standard on alarm validation scoring, a monitoring center video procedural standard, and procedures covering alarm confirmation, verification and notification.
The existence of a video procedural standard and an alarm validation scoring standard tells you something useful: verification is not a marketing invention, it is an area the industry has written formal procedures around. TMA also runs operator training and false alarm awareness programs, which is the other half of the picture – the quality of the person who answers matters as much as the technology that reached them.
Questions worth asking any monitoring provider
Verified?
Can an agent see or hear what triggered the alarm before calling
Hours?
Which features run 24/7 and which run only part of the day
Request or dispatch?
No provider dispatches police – they request it
Standards?
Whether the monitoring center follows recognized industry standards
The first and last of these separate providers more than any feature comparison does.
Which Tier Fits Which Household
Core is the right plan if your system is sensor-based and you own no cameras. Video verification and Active Guard both depend on cameras, so paying for them without cameras buys nothing.
Pro fits the common case: a household that is out during the day and asleep at night, with outdoor cameras already installed. You get video verification whenever an alarm triggers, plus Active Guard through the overnight window when the property is most often targeted.
Pro Plus earns its place when the property is genuinely unoccupied during daytime hours – a second home, a rental between tenants, a small business premises, or a household where everyone is out from morning to evening. Active Guard running 24/7 rather than 8pm to 6am is the whole difference. If you are still deciding whether a full system is the right shape at all, our alarm-system-versus-cameras guide is the better starting point.
What to Actually Do
Start on Pro if you own outdoor cameras, and Core if you do not. That single rule resolves the decision for most households, because the features separating the upper tiers from Core – video verification and Active Guard – are camera-dependent, and paying for them without cameras buys nothing you can use. Where you do have cameras, video verification is the upgrade with the clearest stated effect: SimpliSafe says it produces a faster police response than its own unverified alarms.
Move to Pro Plus only when the property is empty during the day as well as overnight, since the difference is Active Guard running 24/7 rather than 8pm to 6am. For a household where somebody is home most afternoons, that is a window you are unlikely to use.
What would change this: if what you want is a system that costs nothing per month, no tier is the answer – a self-monitored setup still sounds, still records and still alerts your phone, and the honest question is whether you want somebody else making the call when you cannot. And whichever tier you pick, read the language carefully: agents request dispatch. That is what a monitoring subscription buys, and it is worth having, but it is not a guarantee that anyone will arrive.
SafeBode does not yet run an in-house product testing program. This guide is built from manufacturer specifications, official support documentation, current retail listings and verified buyer feedback rather than hands-on testing, and we say so plainly rather than implying testing we have not done.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between SimpliSafe Core and Pro?
Pro adds video verification, which lets an agent relay what they can see to emergency dispatch, plus Active Guard Outdoor Protection between 8pm and 6am. Core is professional monitoring with agents ready 24/7 to request dispatch, but without the video layer.
Is Pro Plus worth it over Pro?
Only if the property is empty during the day. The difference is that Active Guard Outdoor Protection runs around the clock rather than overnight only. For a household where someone is usually home in the afternoon, you are paying for hours you will not use.
Does video verification actually get police there faster?
SimpliSafe states that it results in a faster police response compared to its own unverified alarms. That is a comparison against unverified signals rather than against other companies, and it reflects a real pattern – departments increasingly prioritize alarm calls that something corroborates.
Do I need cameras for these plans to be worth it?
For Pro and Pro Plus, yes. Both video verification and Active Guard Outdoor Protection depend on cameras, so on a sensor-only system the upper tiers add features you cannot use.
Will SimpliSafe send the police?
No monitoring company can. SimpliSafe’s own wording is that agents request dispatch – they contact the emergency service and ask. What happens next depends on that department’s policy and workload, which is exactly why verification matters.
Does the system work without a monitoring plan?
Yes. Sirens sound, the app notifies you, and cameras record. What you lose is anyone else watching or calling on your behalf when you are asleep or away, which is the actual product a monitoring plan sells.
How can I tell whether a monitoring center is any good?
Ask whether it follows recognized industry standards. The Monitoring Association publishes standards covering alarm validation scoring, video monitoring procedures, and alarm confirmation and notification, and runs operator training programs – a provider that engages with those is a different proposition from one that does not.
Why are the plan names different from what I remember?
This category renames its tiers regularly. The current lineup is Core, Pro and Pro Plus. Any older guide describing a different set of names is describing a previous structure, which is why it is worth checking the current terms rather than a comparison article’s price table.
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