The following describes our approach to researching home security systems to guide prospective consumers.
The following describes our approach to researching home security systems to guide prospective consumers.
U.S. News Methodology for Evaluating 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. From our initial list of 24 home security systems, we narrowed our evaluation to 14 systems that had the highest volume of consumer searches online as well as sufficient professional review source data. Our research team then reviewed this list and removed products that were not true systems (for example, security cameras only), and products that had been discontinued or had a newer version. This resulted in the list of 8 home security systems included in our ratings analysis.
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. We selected these criteria based on the results of our Home Security Consumer Survey in May 2023. Of 100 responses collected, these were the most important criteria for people shopping for home security systems.
2. We created a U.S. News Rating based on an analysis of professional reviews, consumer reviews, and proprietary data.
U.S. News’ home services research and editorial teams applied an unbiased methodology that incorporates the opinions of professional sources, the opinions of consumers, and analysis using our own in-house data. To calculate the ratings:
(a) We compiled two types of third-party ratings and reviews:
- Professional Ratings and Reviews. Many independent sources have published their assessments of home security systems. We considered 10 of these third-party reviews to be reputable and well-researched. 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.
- Consumer Ratings and Reviews. U.S. News also reviewed published user ratings and reviews of home security systems. Sources with a sufficient number of quality consumer ratings and reviews were included in our scoring model.
Please note that not all professional and consumer rating sources met our standards for quality and trustworthiness. Therefore, some sources were excluded from our model. To meet our criteria for objectivity, the professional and consumer sources evaluated by our editorial team are judged on several metrics. Professional sources are assessed on their methodology, journalistic independence and brand reputation, while consumer sources are evaluated on their methodology, user verification and quality control, and brand reputation.
(b) We standardized the inputs to create a common scale.
The professional and consumer review source data were collected in a variety of forms, including ratings, recommendations and accolades. Before including each 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 scoring process first converted each third-party rating into a common 0 to 5 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 score from each source.
The scores across our professional review sources were then combined using a formula to produce our Critic Score for each evaluated home security system. The scores across our consumer review sources were similarly combined to create the Consumer Score for each system.
(c) We incorporated additional data points based on our research and our testing. For the home security systems where we performed hands-on testing, we evaluated product performance for self-monitoring, camera footage quality, motion detection, glass break sensors, and entry sensors. In addition, our research team evaluated each home security company’s product data, including trial period, warranty, smart home integration, and mobile app. These subcomponents were combined in a formula to create our Expert Score.
(d) We calculated the U.S. News Rating based on a weighted-average model that incorporated the following components: Critic Score (25.0%), Consumer Score (25.0%), Expert Score: Testing (42.5%), and Expert Score: Product Data (7.5%). The U.S. News Rating and each component score ranges from 0 to 5, with 5 being the best possible score.
The U.S. News Rating for each home security system allows us to make head-to-head comparisons and rankings. The ratings are periodically updated based on the latest information we collect from our testing, reviews analysis and additional data sources.
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