Best Life Alert Alternatives for 2025 (No Contracts)

Life Alert is arguably the most famous medical alert system on the market — and also the most expensive. Bay Alarm Medical is our favorite alternative to Life Alert, because you get the same medical alert devices and quality service without exorbitant fees, long-term contracts, or confusing sales tactics. But if you’re looking for something specific, try one of our other recommended brands.

Bay Alarm Medical is also our top pick for the most affordable Life Alert alternative. Buying all of Life Alert’s devices costs $198 up front and nearly $90 per month. If you buy the same types of devices from Bay Alarm Medical, you’ll pay $79 up front and nearly $50 per month.

That’s a savings of $119 up front and $40 per month by choosing Bay Alarm Medical instead of Life Alert. Plus, if you buy a second pendant for someone who lives with you, Bay Alarm Medical will monitor it for free. 

Learn more in our full Bay Alarm Medical review or take a closer look at Bay Alarm Medical vs. Life Alert.

With Life Alert’s GPS pendant, only the monitoring center knows where you are when you ask for help. In contrast, Medical Guardian gives caregivers the ability to see where you are through a mobile app. But Medical Guardian understands that your privacy is still important — caregivers don't get real-time location updates unless you press the help button.

Medical Guardian's prices technically start at $31.95/mo., but that's an in-home price. Medical Guardian's GPS trackers start at $39.95 a month. You can get a slight discount for paying for a full year upfront, and you can cancel any time and get a prorated refund. This medical alert company doesn't offer a free lease option right now for on-the-go systems, so expect to pay about $125 to $200 for equipment.

That's still more affordable than Life Alert's various activation fees and equipment fees, especially when you consider that Life Alert's mobile device must be bundled with the in-home base station. You'd easily pay about $200 in activation fees and about $70 in monthly fees for a GPS device from Life Alert. Plus, you're locked into a 3-year contract, so you won't be able to cancel if your financial situation changes.

Learn more in our full Medical Alert review or take a closer look at Medical Guardian vs. Life Alert.

The MobileHelp Classic is an in-home medical alert system that connects to a cellular network, so you don’t need a landline to use it. Just like Life Alert’s basic in-home system, it includes a base station and a pendant.

MobileHelp offers its systems for free and no longer charges a one-time activation fee. All you have to pay is the monthly monitoring fee, which starts at $19.95 a month (for the classic, home-based system). Life Alert’s pendant-only system costs $96 upfront and nearly $50 a month, so you save $30 each month by choosing MobileHelp.

Plus, MobileHelp has the most affordable fall detection fee at just $5.50 per month. Most medical alert companies charge $10 or $11 per month for fall detection. Life Alert doesn't offer fall detection at all.

If you want to add a waterproof wall button to keep in the shower, your monthly MobileHelp bill increases by about $3 per month (total of $27.94/month). Life Alert charges an astonishing $20 extra for a shower button, bringing the total up to almost $70/month. 

And if you want an in-home system, wall button, and a mobile GPS device, you can bundle all three in MobileHelp's Home Duo for $47.94 per month ($44.95/mo. plus $2.99/mo. for the wall button). Life Alert's in-home system, wall button, and mobile device bundle costs nearly twice that at $98.95 per month, plus a one-time activation fee of $197. 

MobileHelp has plenty of additional devices and services that you can add to your system, so the total price can get expensive. But no matter how much you pay with MobileHelp, its overall value is much better than Life Alert’s.

Learn more in our full MobileHelp review, or check out other affordable medical alerts.

 LifeFone's monthly monitoring starts at $30 per month, and if you don't choose any extra accessories, you'll pay $0 for LifeFone equipment. But LifeFone offers several upgrades that can land you between $65 and $83 per month.

Without upgrades, you'll save around $20 per month with LifeFone versus Life Alert. You save on equipment costs, too. Life Alert's lowest equipment price is $95, whereas you can get LifeFone equipment for nothing. The only up-front fee you need to pay is shipping, which starts around $17 for standard ground shipping.

Plus, included with every LifeFone system you get a free lifetime warranty, free low-battery button replacements, a price lock guarantee, and free spouse coverage. And, LifeFone has been in business for 47 years — three years longer than Life Alert.³ 

We chose LifeFone as the best in-home alternative to Life Alert because the company offers two unique check-in services. First, the monitoring center agents will call the base station once a day for an additional $19 per month. This is a great way to get medication reminders or to tell someone you need help if you happened to fall without wearing your button. An additional service, called Activity Assurance, is available for $6 per month and offers a less invasive way to confirm that you're okay.

Learn more in our full LifeFone review.

Like Life Alert, Medical Alert charges some up-front fees but loans out its devices for free. Expect to pay $79 for activation programming. If you opt to pay monthly, you'll also have to cover shipping costs.

The mobile system — which gives you coverage at home and around town — costs $39.95 a month if you can pay for a full year in advance. If you want to pay monthly, that price jumps to $47.95, but you can pay for six months at a time for $44.95 a month. Fall detection costs an extra $10 per month — the industry standard — but it's more than worth it for Medical Alert's three-sensor fall detection.

If you don’t want a mobile system, you can get Medical Alert's landline in-home system for just $19.95 per month (paid annually) or $27.95 if you pay monthly. Depending on the type of system and how you pay, you can save between $30 and $10 per month with Medical Alert compared to Life Alert. If you add fall detection, your base price goes up $10 per month — but that extra cost gets you fall protection that Life Alert doesn't even offer. 

Medical Alert offers a top-tier fall detection device with some of the best sensors and a track record of accuracy. But there are more affordable options available from other brands.

Learn more in our full Medical Alert review.

We began our search for the best Life Alert alternatives by identifying Life Alert’s main features and strengths: a solid reputation, fast response to calls, a waterproof wall button with two-way talk, and a long battery life. 

We then identified other brands that provide the same (or very similar) products and services at a more affordable price or with extra features like automatic fall detection or a caregiver app. We evaluated the quality of those brands by testing products hands-on, reading customer testimonials, and leaning on our overall editorial experience in the medical alert field.

We also did first-person research by calling Life Alert several times as mystery shoppers. This helped us learn how much Life Alert cost, the terms of its contract, and what kinds of sales pitches they use.

To learn more about what we consider when recommending medical alerts, read the methodology section of our Best Medical Alerts page.

We struggle to recommend Life Alert because it’s so much more expensive than higher-quality alternatives. Regardless of why you’re drawn to Life Alert, there’s a more affordable option:

• Bay Alarm Medical for the best blend of features and affordability
• Medical Guardian for GPS tracking
• MobileHelp for the best deal
• LifeFone for industry stability
• Medical Alert for fall detection

1. Better Business Bureau, “Bay Alarm Medical.” Accessed July 14, 2025.
2. Better Business Bureau, “Life Alert Emergency Reseponse, Inc.” Accessed July 14, 2025.