The 5 Most Affordable Medical Alert Systems, Tested by Caregivers

Bay Alarm Medical has been around for over 70 years. We’ve always been very impressed with its quality products and dedication to customer service. All its systems come with a 30-day risk-free trial, so you can try it out and return it for a full refund (minus shipping) with no questions asked.

Bay Alarm prices start at $19.95 per month for its in-home landline system, which includes a base station and a help button (on either a wristband or a lanyard). The cellular version costs an extra $10 per month.

In addition to its stellar monitoring center, which routinely answered our test calls in about 16 seconds, Bay Alarm’s in-home system boasts some impressive specs. The base station has a backup battery that lasts 32 hours — hopefully enough to keep you protected through a power outage. Its help buttons are also waterproof, so you can remain protected in the shower, tub, or pool.

Another way Bay Alarm Medical helps you save is through its free spouse monitoring. Many companies require an additional subscription fee to add another person to your system, but Bay Alarm charges only a one-time $35 fee for an additional help button.

While the home systems from Bay Alarm Medical come with no extra setup fees, their mobile systems will cost an extra $99 to $159. Luckily, these charges are a one-time thing.

>> Read more: Bay Alarm Medical Watch Review

When it comes to affordable medical alert systems, there’s hardly a better option than Bay Alarm Medical. For more information on this company and its other systems, check out my full review of Bay Alarm Medical.

MobileHelp has long been one of our favorite brands due to their quick response times and reliable equipment. They’re also highly affordable, starting at $24.95 per month with no long-term contracts.

>> Read more: MobileHelp Costs

While MobileHelp offers a variety of medical alerts for both in-home and mobile use, their most affordable system is the MobileHelp Classic, which costs $24.95 per month. MobileHelp also requires no long-term contracts, meaning you can cancel your service at any time and stop making payments.

The MobileHelp Classic requires no landline, as it uses a cellular connection, and it includes a waterproof help button, worn as either a pendant or wristband. In our tests, this system performed exceptionally well, connecting us to help in an average of 20 seconds.

With this system, you can add fall detection for $11 per month. While this price is slightly higher than the standard $10, the low price of the system itself more than makes up for this. You won’t find a cheaper home medical alert system on this list.

The main drawback of the MobileHelp Classic would have to be its lack of caregiver tracking. Unlike systems from Medical Guardian and Aloe Care Health, MobileHelp offers no way for a loved one to communicate with a system.

Lack of caregiver features aside, we can’t get over how affordable MobileHelp is, and in our tests, it performed just as well as systems that cost nearly double its price.

To learn more about this provider, read our full MobileHelp review.

Lively is an interesting company. Rather than offering a traditional in-home system, it has a range of wearables and phones with emergency features. Its range is designed to be practical, sleek, and usable for even the most active and style-conscious senior. Best of all, it costs as low as $25 per month.

The Lively Mobile2 is one of the best mobile medical alert systems. Unlike an in-home system with a standard help button and base station, the Lively Mobile2 combines both devices into one unit that can be either worn or carried. Its cellular connection also means you can take it just about anywhere, both in and out of your home. The Lively Mobile2 starts at just $24.99 per month (with a one-time $49.99 device fee) — far cheaper than the average mobile system.

The Lively Mobile2 has an IPX7 waterproof rating, which means it can be fully submerged in water and still function. It also has a standby battery life of 82 hours. In our tests, the rechargeable battery lasted just over two days, an impressive length considering how much we used it. Lively’s monitoring center answered each of our calls promptly, with an average response time of 13 seconds.

This mobile system also has optional fall detection, access to nurses and board-certified doctors, and a helpful caregiver app. These features, however, cost extra on top of the standard $24.99 per month.

There’s no way around it; the Lively Mobile2 is unattractive. Not only is it larger than other medical alert necklaces, but it’s also an unappealing plastic. If you’re looking for something a bit more discreet, then we’d recommend a mobile system from Bay Alarm Medical.

Appearances aside, the Lively Mobile2 is easily the most affordable mobile medical alert on the market. If your loved one lives an active lifestyle, then there is hardly a better way to keep them protected in and out of the home.

For more information on this system, check out our Lively Mobile2 review.

While more costly than some of the other companies on this list, Aloe Care Health impressed us with their advanced caregiver app and voice-activated systems. These systems start at $29.99 per month with no long-term contracts.

Aloe Care Health’s Essentials system, costing $29.99 per month, looks more or less like a traditional home medical alert system; however, its traditional base unit and bracelet combination have some unexpected features that helped it stand out in our tests.

Central to Aloe Care Health systems is the Aloe Care Health app. Through this app, we were able to remotely view information from the Aloe Care base unit. This included:

• Home temperature
• Air quality
• Motion

These metrics would be an ideal way to make sure that a loved one is doing okay, even when you can’t be around for them.

Aloe Care Health is also the only company on this list to allow caregivers to make calls directly to the medical alert system. With this feature, we could use the Aloe Care Health app to place phone calls directly to our test system. Alternatively, we could press the call button on the base unit to place an outgoing call to loved ones. If your loved one doesn’t have a cell phone, then this would be a great way to keep in touch.

In terms of basic medical alert features, we were also impressed by the reliability of our Essentials system. In our 10 test calls, response agents answered us in an average of 19 seconds. While this is higher than other systems on this list, it’s still better than average.

All of Aloe Care’s advanced communication features require Wi-Fi to function, so if your loved one does not have this in their household, then we’d recommend a system from Lively or MobileHelp.

An Aloe Care Health system provides the best features for caregivers as well as reliable medical alert performance.

While Medical Guardian is more expensive than the other providers on this list, we can’t overlook how quickly their agents responded to our calls. In all of our test calls, they answered the phone in an average of eight seconds!

Medical Guardian’s most affordable system, the MGClassic, costs $31.95 per month. There’s a slight catch: This system requires an existing landline. If you don’t have a landline, you’ll have to go with their MGHome Cellular, which costs $38.95 per month.

Regardless of which home system you choose, you’ll get access to water-resistant help buttons, a 1,300-foot in-home range, and the ultra-fast response times from Medical Guardian’s monitoring center. No other system answered our calls as fast as Medical Guardian.

Additionally, we found that Medical Guardian has one of the more advanced apps for caregivers. Through MyGuardian, we were able to track our system’s connection and receive notifications whenever the system placed an emergency call.

Unfortunately, Medical Guardian’s exceptional performance came at a price. At $38.95 for a cellular home system, the MGHome Cellular is easily among the more expensive home medical alert systems, not to mention its one-time equipment charge of $149.95. Luckily, Medical Guardian requires no long-term contracts on any of its systems.

While the prices may be high, you won’t find a more reliable medical alert company than Medical Guardian. To learn more about our experience with this provider, read our full Medical Guardian review.