Best Life Alert Alternatives

What Are the Best Alternatives to Life Alert?

When discussing medical alert systems, one of the first catchphrases people think of is, “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” coined by Life Alert. As a pioneer in the market of personal emergency response systems, Life Alert responds to more than 2 million calls per year. In 2020 alone, more than 40,000 people were saved from a catastrophic event by using Life Alert.

Life Alert was one of the first big names in medical alert systems and has been dominating medical alert advertising ever since its debut in 1987. A company like Life Alert offers clear benefits to older adults and people more prone to medical emergencies, like those with disabilities or health conditions, and their longevity in the industry is a definite benefit if you’re looking for a trusted brand. 

Now, nearly four decades later, there are quite a few medical alert companies offering similar services with a variety of features, coverage, and prices. It’s important to evaluate your options and choose a system that best aligns with your lifestyle and medical needs, but we’ll first touch on the benefits of choosing Life Alert before discussing alternatives.

Life Alert Pros

1. The medical alert company has been in the business since 1987 and is an established, reliable brand. 

2. Built-in backup batteries in the base station last 72 hours, ensuring continued connection to the Life Alert emergency response center during a power outage. Most competitor base stations have only 24- to 32-hour backup batteries.

3. Life Alert’s waterproof pendants or medical alert bracelets can be worn in the shower. Most packages also include waterproof help buttons to place in your shower, bathroom or other high-risk areas for extra protection. 

When determining where most falls occur, it was found that around 60% of falls occur within someone’s home. The National Institutes of Health determined that a fall in the bathroom was almost two and a half times more likely to result in injury than a fall in the living room. Waterproof equipment helps protect you or your loved one in more high-risk areas. 

Six Reasons to Consider an Alternative to Life Alert

The benefits of a medical alert device such as Life Alert are obvious when it comes to preventing serious injury in older adults. Although Life Alert is a commonly recognized brand, it’s not the only option. Let’s take a closer look at some of the drawbacks of Life Alert. 

Life Alert Cost

Life Alert is more costly than other medical alert devices. Monthly subscription fees range anywhere from $49–$89, compared with other brands like MobileHelp, Medical Guardian, and Aloe Care Health whose highest-prices subscription options are around $50 per month. Life Alert also has equipment activation fees ranging from $95–$198, whereas many competitors have lower (if any) equipment activation fees. While they are more expensive overall, Life Alert does offer free shipping and no monthly equipment fees, as do many other medical alert system brands.

Life Alert Pricing Compared

Length of Contract

Life Alert requires a three-year contract that you can only cancel under specific circumstances. We tried to get some clarification about their contract and cancellation, and found their customer service representatives to be resistant to discussing the terms in detail. They did explain that the contract is actually a billing agreement as opposed to a service contract, meaning that the user is agreeing to be held liable for three years of payment. Cancellation is only allowable in the event of the user’s death, or in rare instances where the user can confirm that they no longer require a medical alert system. Most other medical alert system companies don’t have long-term contracts and let you cancel your subscription at any time., though you may be charged for the full month of service regardless of when in the month you cancel.  

Lack of Pricing Transparency

Life Alert’s website does not offer clearly noted packages and pricing. You’ll need to speak with a Life Alert sales representative to learn more about each package and the total cost. In addition, Life Alert representatives are reluctant to give any information about their products, pricing, or policies until you’ve given information including your name, phone number, and mailing address. Many other companies have their features, prices, and additional fees listed prominently on their website, as well as options to sign up for service easily online.

No Automatic Fall Detection Available

Life Alert doesn’t offer fall detection for any of its devices. Automatic fall detection technology triggers an alert to the emergency call system if the sensor detects a rapid change in position or fall. Some medical alert devices do this using accelerometers. The help button does not need to be pressed for a fall detection alert to be sent to the monitoring center. This is especially helpful if you lose consciousness or hit your head.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are around 36 million falls reported among older adults annually. One out of every five of these falls results in serious injury, such as a broken bone or traumatic head injury, requiring emergency medical care. This technology can greatly reduce the risk of serious injury and help decrease medical treatment costs. 

No Trial Period

Once you’ve purchased your package, you are locked into your subscription until the contract expires or is up for renewal. This is not the norm among medical alert system companies. Aloe Care Health, MobileHelp, and Bay Alarm offer 30-day risk-free trial periods during which the system can be returned and fully refunded, and Medical Guardian requires no contract and no cancellation fee at any time.

Additional Features Not Available

The medical alert industry is constantly evolving to offer add-ons based on changing needs for older adults and their loved ones. These features might include medication reminders, appointment reminders, activity tracking, and home environment monitoring, which can help family members and caregivers customize their package to their loved one’s needs. While Life Alert offers a mobile system with GPS tracking, it doesn’t have other common add-on perks like secure lockboxes, a caregiver app, or medication reminders.

Compare Alternatives to Life Alert

Best Life Alert Alternatives

Medical Guardian Vs. Life Alert

Pricing listed for in-home system is based on the Classic Guardian system and pricing for mobile system is based on the Mobile 2.0, which are the company’s most affordable options.

MobileHelp Vs. Life Alert

*Pricing listed for MobileHelp are based on the Classic in-home system and Solo mobile system, which are the company’s most affordable options. 

Bay Alarm Medical Vs. Life Alert

*Pricing listed for Bay Alarm Medical are based on the In-Home Basic system and Mobile Lite, which are the company´s most affordable options.

Aloe Care Health Vs. Life Alert

*Pricing for Aloe Care Health is based on the Essentials package, which is the company’s most affordable option. 

Why You Can Trust Our Review

Our experts independently research and recommend products we believe provide value to the lives of our readers. We’ve collectively spent more than 1,700 hours conducting in-depth research on medical alert systems. 

Our team tested multiple medical alert devices, including Medical Guardian, Aloe Care Health, Bay Alarm Medical, and MobileHelp to better understand features and provide the most accurate feedback and recommendations for our readers.  All four of these brands are featured in our best medical alert systems review. We didn’t include Life Alert in our testing process because we believe its products have too many drawbacks.

To decide on our top picks, here’s what we did:

• Engaged in ongoing independent research
• Consulted with geriatricians and adult caregivers
• Mystery shopped the brands
• Surveyed medical alert system users
• Tested various medical alert systems
• Interviewed experts in the field
• Read hundreds of verified customer reviews from trusted third parties such as Better Business Bureau and Consumer Reports

We grade each medical alert company using a 1-10 rating scale and score them according to the following categories:

• Essential features
• Product functionality
• Special features
• Customer service
• Purchasing process

Features and criteria within each of these five categories are assigned point values. The more points a company receives for each criteria, the higher the company scores in the overall category.

See our full explanation of how we rate medical alert systems for a full breakdown of our scoring