Pricing · Rate-beat guarantee · Year-to-year terms
One honest number beats three clever packages.
The security industry prices in packages because packages are easy to advertise and hard to compare. We do it the older way: a licensed technician walks your property, you get one fixed number in writing, and the number covers the actual building you live in — not a tier somebody designed for a brochure.
And the guarantee holds either way: hand us a written quote from any licensed provider and we will beat it on comparable scope, then show you line by line where their number goes — which is usually the more educational half of the conversation.
How pricing works here
Three steps. None of them involve a salesman at your kitchen table.
Equipment, installation and monitoring arrive as one written number after a free survey, because the number of openings in your building is a fact about your building — not a marketing tier.
Step one · Free
A technician walks your property
Not a call-center script two time zones away — a licensed technician on your property, finding the gate nobody locks and the window the fence hides. Twenty minutes, no obligation, and it is the reason our quotes fit the building instead of a package tier.
- On-site survey by a licensed technician
- Every opening and weak point mapped
- Existing equipment evaluated for takeover
- No obligation of any kind
Step two · Fixed
You get one fixed number, in writing
The quote covers the whole job — equipment you will own outright, professional installation, and monitoring on a simple 12-month agreement that renews year to year. Fixed means fixed: no day-of adjustments, no discovery in the attic.
- Equipment, installation and monitoring — one document
- You own the equipment outright from day one
- 12-month agreement, renewed year to year
- No activation fee, no account setup fee
Step three · Guaranteed
Bring any competing quote — we beat it
Any licensed provider, comparable scope, in writing. We beat their number and then read their agreement with you — the auto-renewal window, the escalation clause, the provision that lets them sell your account. That part is free whether or not you switch.
- We beat any written competitor quote
- Comparable scope — nothing quietly deleted
- Line-by-line read of the competing agreement
- Free whether or not you switch
Commercial monitoring, access control and multi-site accounts are quoted after a walkthrough. Every account — residential or commercial — includes free service calls with no trip charge, at any distance inside our service area.
Head to head
How we stack up against the names you have heard of.
We have tried to be fair here rather than flattering. SimpliSafe and Ring genuinely offer good value if you are willing to design, install and maintain the system yourself — and if you are, you should. The comparison that matters is against companies selling you a professional service.
| San Antonio Protection ServicesThat's us | ADT | Vivint | SimpliSafe | Ring Alarm | Brinks Home | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business model | Locally owned, direct install | National brand, dealer network | Door-to-door + inside sales | DIY retail, self-install | DIY retail, self-install | National brand, dealer network |
| Monthly rate | We beat any written quote | $45 – $60+ | $40 – $60+ | $20 – $32 | $10 – $20 | $40 – $50+ |
| Contract term | 12 months, year to year | 36 months typical | 42 – 60 months financed | Month-to-month | Month-to-month | 36 months typical |
| Equipment ownership | You own it outright | Commonly leased or financed | Financed over the term | You buy it | You buy it | Commonly leased |
| Service calls | Free — no trip charge | Fee-based outside warranty | Fee-based outside warranty | You are the service call | None offered | Fee-based outside warranty |
| Installed by | Our own licensed W-2 technicians | Authorized dealers and subcontractors | Seasonal and contract crews | You, on a Saturday | You | Authorized dealers |
| Who answers the phone | San Antonio office, local number | National call center | National call center | National call center | National call center | National call center |
Five years, all in. This is the comparison that matters.
Monthly pricing is how the industry gets compared, and it is the wrong unit. A system is a five-year decision. Look at the terms over that horizon — who owns the hardware, what the rate does over time, and what it costs to walk away.
| SAPSThat's us | Typical national brand | DIY self-monitored | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Owned outright — one fixed written quote | "Free" (leased, returned) | $300 – $700 (owned) |
| Professional design & install | Included | $0 – $199 | Not available |
| Monitoring rate | Beats any written competitor quote | $45 – $60 /mo typical | $10 – $32 /mo |
| Rate over the term | Locked for each 12-month term | Escalation clauses are common | Subject to change anytime |
| Agreement length | 12 months, year to year | 36 – 60 months | None |
| Service calls (est. 4) | Free — no trip charge | $400 – $600 | Your weekends |
| Own the equipment after | Yes | No | Yes |
| Cost to walk away | $0 at each annual renewal | Balance of remaining term | $0 |
The rate-beat guarantee, in full
Bring us a written quote from anybody. We beat it, in writing.
Here is how it works and what the words mean, because a guarantee with undefined terms is a slogan.
Written means a document from a licensed provider with a monthly monitoring figure, an equipment list and a term length. A verbal number a salesman said on your porch is not a quote, and neither is a website advertisement.
Comparable scope means the same protected openings, the same monitored life-safety devices, and the same signaling path. We will not beat a price by quietly deleting your monitored smoke detectors or dropping you to a single communication path. If the competing quote already did that, we will point at the line.
In writing means our number comes to you on paper, fixed, before any work begins. No day-of adjustments, no discovery that the install requires an upgrade once the technician is already in your attic.
We will also read the other agreement with you and identify the auto-renewal window, the escalation clause and the assignment provision that permits them to sell your account. We do that whether or not you switch. Occasionally it results in us advising someone to stay where they are for four more months until their cancellation window opens, and then call us back. That is a poor short-term sales tactic and an excellent long-term business.
Free · No obligation
Beat my current quote
Tell us what you have. We will tell you what we can do — and what their number is actually buying.
Step 1 of 5 · Property
Pricing questions, answered plainly
- Why are there no prices on this page? +
- Because a real number requires seeing the building. A 1,400 square-foot house with six openings and a 4,200 square-foot house with nineteen are not comparable jobs, and a website price that pretends they are is a package, not a quote. We would rather send a technician, count the openings, and hand you one fixed written number — then beat any written quote you bring us from anybody else.
- How does the rate-beat guarantee work? +
- Bring us a written quote from any licensed provider. We beat it on comparable scope, in writing. Comparable scope matters — we will not match a price by quietly removing the monitored smoke detectors or dropping to a single-path communicator, and if the competing quote does that, we will show you where.
- How long is the agreement? +
- Twelve months, renewed year to year. The industry standard is 36 to 60 months with an early-termination balance; with us you are never more than a year from a free exit, and your rate is locked for each term you are in — no escalation clauses.
- Are there installation or activation fees? +
- Standard residential installation is included in the written quote. Commercial installations, access control and multi-site work are quoted after a walkthrough because the labor genuinely varies. There is no activation fee and no account setup fee — the number on the quote is the number.
- What is actually free about the service calls? +
- The whole call. No trip charge, no diagnostic fee, no thirty-minute limit. Parts under manufacturer warranty are covered; parts outside warranty are quoted in advance and you approve before we order. This applies at any distance — Hondo, Devine and Bandera included.
- Do I own the equipment? +
- Outright, from the day it goes on the wall. No lease, no financing rider, no return shipping when you leave. If you ever move on, the hardware stays yours and any licensed company can take it over — which is precisely why companies that lease equipment would rather you not think about this question.
Free survey · No obligation
Bring us a written quote. We will beat it.
Any competitor, comparable scope, in writing. A licensed technician walks your property, maps the real entry points and gives you a fixed number — whether or not you hire us.
TX DPS PSB Lic. #B16898 · Serving San Antonio, Austin, Houston & Dallas since 2010