What’s the Real Cost of Life Alert?

"Life Alert" might be synonymous with medical alert systems, but the actual company is a bit more mysterious. A quick glance of Life Alert's website and you may notice its outdated design and lack of pricing. 

Instead of online carts and equipment selection, the price of Life Alert systems includes an emotionally taxing call to its sales team to get basic answers. 

To find out Life Alert cost and details, we contacted the company to get the facts about its equipment, policies, and pricing to bring you some solid answers.

If you’re looking for more affordable alternatives to Life Alert, here are a few of SafeWise’s top choices from our guide to the best medical alert systems.

Started in 1987, Life Alert is famous for its, "I've fallen and I can't get up" campaign. It was the first medical alert company on the scened and provided specialized technology that allowed aging adults to live independently for longer. But its policies, equipment, and sales tactics haven't changed much in the near 40 years it's been around. 

Life Alert doesn't have an online cart or shopping system on its website. Instead, customers have to call in to request a brochure or speak with a salesperson to learn more or place an order. 

But with salespeople working on commission, straightforward answers about Life Alert costs don't come easy (our call lasted a full thirty minutes).

A basic Life Alert system has a base station and a pendant with a button. When you press the button on the pendant, the base unit acts as an extra-loud, highly sensitive speakerphone and connects you to a Life Alert-owned and operated monitoring center.

If you need assistance, the dispatcher can either contact a friend or family member, or if it’s more serious (or if you don’t respond), they can dispatch emergency responders. Additional Life Alert equipment includes a waterproof “help” button and a GPS unit.

The cost of Life Alert varies by three tiers, starting at $49.95 per month for a simple At-Home system. This particular set can work with a cellular or landline connection and has a service range of 800 feet from the base station. 

You can add a wall button for a $79.90/month charge and a GPS unit for a whopping $98.95/month fee for the whole system. All three options come with a $197 activation fee.¹ 

And none of this includes hidden fees or cancelation. Life Alert requires a three-year contract which can leave you with costs between $2,000 to $3,400.²

Life Alert is pricey, but is there a good reason for the higher cost? Life Alert certainly has some perks to justify the high price and set it apart from competitors, but it has its fair share of negatives as well.

As soon as you order your system, Life Alert pulls a system from stock, tests it, and sends it out to you via two-day air—at no extra cost.

On the day you receive your system, you’ll get a call from Life Alert to schedule your professional installation appointment. You may even get same-day installation.

No matter how many times you push the button, your monthly fee stays the same for as long as you own the system. There are no fees or penalties for false alarms.

If your equipment stops working or is faulty for any reason, Life Alert will send out a professional technician to replace it.

Pendants and buttons all have ten-year battery life, which means you never have to worry about charging them.

Life Alert has had decades of experience fine-tuning its products and its monitoring service.

You can’t get a Life Alert system without talking to a salesperson, so be prepared to listen to a lengthy sales pitch and feel some pressure to buy.

You won’t actually own the equipment, so you’ll have to return it when your contract is up.

Life Alert requires a minimum three-year contract, and you can only cancel it if the user dies or goes into a nursing home.

None of Life Alert’s devices offer fall detection, and company representatives say that it’s because the technology is not yet reliable enough to work properly.

If you try out Life Alert and you don’t like it, you’re still locked into a three-year contract.

While some systems allow family members to use a loved one’s GPS device to track their location, Life Alert’s GPS devices do not offer this feature.

When it comes to medical alert systems, Life Alert is definitely on the higher end of the spectrum. You can expect to pay $20–$30 a month for monitoring service with most other medical alert companies, with one-time activation fees between $0–$150. At $50–$90 a month and activation fees between $90–$200, Life Alert costs nearly twice as much as its competitors across the board, without many notable differences in equipment or service.

If you’re looking for a tried-and-true company with a longtime history of quality products and reliable medical monitoring, then Life Alert may be right for you. It does cost more than competitors, but its equipment and customer service are among the best in the industry.

But if the high cost for Life Alert outweighs the benefits and you’re on a budget, or if you don’t want to be locked into a three-year contract, then there are a variety of other reputable alternatives in the marketplace. Check out our list of Best Medical Alert Systems to explore more options.

• 5 Signs Your Loved One Needs a Life Alert
• Best Medical Alert Systems with GPS
• Medical Alerts With the Best Battery Life
• Most Affordable Medical Alert Systems
• How to Talk to Your Parents About a Medical Alert System

1. National Council on Aging, "Life Alert Review 2024: Complete Expert Analysis," December 14, 2023. 
2. New York State Office of the Attorney General, "Attorney General James Scores Victory for Thousands of Elderly New Yorkers," March 2021. Accessed August 31, 2022.