Life Alert Cost Comparison: Cheaper and Better Options For You

While Life Alert is a household name that has become synonymous with medical alert systems, we don’t recommend it to our readers. Continue reading to find out why!

Life Alert’s high cost, lack of advanced system features, and a three-year contract lock-in make it a bad deal.  In fact, the first year cost of a Life Alert system is typically double the industry average.  

Simply put, there are better systems on the market for a lower cost.  

Let’s take a detailed look at the Life Alert’s cost and how it compares to other major medical alert systems.

Start Up Cost

Depending on the type of system you buy, medical alert providers charge you an initial cost.  That start up fee may be labeled as an “equipment cost,” “activation fee,” “programming fee” or something similar.  These fees typically cover the cost of the system hardware.  

Among the companies we tested, Life Alert, Lifeline, and ConnectAmerica MedicalAlert.com still charge a startup fee for their landline system, with fees ranging from $79 for ConnectAmerica to $197 for Life Alert.   

On the other hand, Bay Alarm Medical and Medical Guardian change no such fee for their landline systems, making them very affordable.

Life Alert has the most expensive initial cost and their $197 fee is nearly double that charged by Lifeline, who has the next highest fee.

Here’s how the equipment/activation fee compares for a landline medical alert.

For the more modern, mobile GPS systems, companies charge an equipment fee ranging anywhere from $0 – $197, with the average fee being $67.18.  Two companies – Medical Guardian and MobileHelp – change no initial fee for their mobile systems, a feature we really appreciate.

Life Alert’s $197 activation fee is again the highest on the list and nearly three times the industry average fee.

Here’s how the fee compares for a GPS mobile medical alert.

Monthly Fees

In addition to any equipment/activation fees, your medical alert provider will charge a monthly subscription fee. That fee pays for 24/7 monitoring by their emergency call center.  

In our view, this monthly monitoring has important benefits, since the emergency operators know your location as well as your medical history, and can communicate with emergency responders and your loved ones.  

While all of the monitored medical alert systems we review operate reliable, high quality monitoring centers, the price of monthly monitoring varies significantly between companies.  

It can range from as little as $24.99 per month to as much as $69.95 per month.  The difference between the cheapest and most expensive monitoring adds up to nearly $540 per year!

Life Alert charges $49.95 per month for their landline system and an additional $20 per month if you add their GPS system. That means Life Alert tops the list of monthly monitoring fees.This is on-top of the already expensive activation fee. For your convenience, we go over the total 1st-year cost later below.

Here’s how monthly monitoring fees break down between companies for a landline system.

And here’s how they compare for a GPS mobile system.

Total First-Year Cost

To get the true cost of owning a medical alert system, it’s a good idea to combine their start-up cost with their monthly fee over a 12-month period. This gives you the true first-year cost of ownership.

For landline systems, here’s how Life Alert compares to others.

At a first-year cost of $796.40, Life Alert is the most expensive company on the list.  Its cost is $323.41 more than the average of our list.

Here’s how Life Alert’s Help On The Go mobile option compares to other companies.

At a whopping $1,036 first-year cost, Life Alert is $450.33 more expensive than the average.  

Stuck In The Past?

Price alone is sufficient reason to choose a medical alert system other than Life Alert.  But there are other more important reasons beyond price for choosing someone else.  

As an organization that reviews all the major medical alert systems on the market, we find that Life Alert hasn’t kept pace with the industry, which directly translates to the level of protection these devices provide you.   

Life Alert systems lack newer features, like automatic fall detection or a caregiver tracking portal. Nor does Life Alert offer a medical alert smartwatch for those active life styles. (You can learn more about medical alert smartwatches here.)  

But perhaps most importantly, purchasing a Life Alert system locks you into a 3-year service contract.  All other players on the market are no-contract systems. That means you can cancel their systems in case of a problem or if you choose not to use their medical alert.  

But with Life Alert, the contract lock-in means you owe the full 3-year cost of the system, no matter how much or how little you use their system.

Lastly, contract lock-in and lack of up-front transparency have caused the Life Alert company to be fined $750,000 after being sued by New York State. The court ordered the company to refund customers who had tried to cancel contracts and met obstacles.

Choosing Another Medical Alert System – Your Best Options

Read our article “6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Buy Life Alert” to hear other reasons we don’t recommend Life Alert. 

To learn more about the other companies mentioned in this review, see the articles below.

Read this article on the best medical alert systems of 2024.

Read this review of the best landline medical alert systems.  These systems are your most affordable option for a monitored medical alert at home. 

For those that leave their house and still want medical alert protection, read this review of the best mobile medical alert systems.  These modern systems are a great choice for active seniors. Many also offer caregiver tracking, which allows your loved ones to know your location at any time.

For those with an active life-style, read this review for the latest on medical alert watches.  These exciting devices are the latest in personal emergency response systems.