Two smart security systems that integrate with your current collection of smart home goods are Alexa Guard and Nest Aware. Your gadgets can provide you extra home security features by turning on one or the other, including notifying you when a smoke alarm goes off or turning lights on and off while you’re away.
Both Google and Amazon have created lists of surprisingly useful features for their own platforms, so there is a lot to enjoy about both services. They’re a terrific (and economical) method to keep your house safe without having to make a new equipment investment, even though they probably won’t cover all the gaps that a specialised security system would.
To assist you in deciding which is best for your house, here is a comparison between Alexa Guard vs Nest Aware.
Alexa Guard
Two distinct levels of service are available through Amazon’s Alexa Guard: a free version of the home surveillance system called Alexa Guard and a paid version of the service called Alexa Guard Plus.
In the free tier, Alexa Guard will listen for noises of glass shattering and fire/carbon monoxide alarms in your house using the far-field microphones on your Echo products. Any mobile device that has the Alexa app installed will receive a notification if these sounds are found. In addition, Alexa Guard may be combined with Ring Alarm, ADT Pulse, ADT Control, and Scout Alarm for even more comprehensive home surveillance. When activated, Alexa Guard can also erratically turn on and off smart lights to give the impression that someone is home.
Additional advantages of Alexa Guard Plus include access to Amazon’s 24-hour emergency hotline and the ability for Echo products to listen for suspicious sounds within the house. If your Echo speaker or display detects motion or hears an intruder, it will also play dog barks and siren sounds.
Nest Aware
Both of the two service tiers offered by Google’s Nest Aware are locked behind paywalls. A handful of Google’s Nest cameras and video doorbells are compatible with the basic Nest Aware plan, which enables you to save motion-triggered event videos in Google’s cloud for up to 30 days. Without a Nest Aware membership, you can still operate a Nest camera or doorbell, but you won’t be able to save any video events.
A feature known as “familiar face detection” enables your smart cameras to identify your friends and family by adding them as recognised visitors in the Nest app. This feature is included in the standard Nest Aware plan along with monitoring of Nest speakers and displays for the sounds of glass breaking and smoke/carbon monoxide alarms. Thus, your Nest doorbell will notify you anytime your uncle knocks on the door and announce, “Uncle Mark is at the front door.”
Nest Aware Plus, the second tier of service, provides 60 days of video event storage and 10 days of 24/7 continuous video recording. Users also have the option to call 911 using the Google Home app as part of both service tiers in case of an emergency.
For each Nest gadget in their smart ecosystem, users had to purchase a Nest Aware subscription in the past. It’s a relief that Google made Nest Aware plans applicable to all compatible Nest devices on your network, which lessens the burden.
The winner
Alexa Guard and Nest Aware are quite close in terms of overall capabilities, however Nest Aware gives users the option to save potentially important event footage to the Home app for later use. Although Alexa Guard comes with a lot of features in both editions, event recordings cannot be stored in the cloud. Nest Aware is credited as a result.
Price
Alexa Guard
Amazon offers Alexa Guard in two tiers, as was already mentioned. Actually, the basic Alexa Guard plan is cost-free. All of the Echo devices connected to your network are covered by the second tier, Alexa Guard Plus, which costs $5 per month or $50 annually.
Also keep in mind that once you’ve connected your Ring and Amazon accounts, Alexa Guard Plus is bundled with your Ring Protect Pro and Plus (1st Gen) subscriptions.
Nest Aware
There are also two tiers for Google’s Nest Aware. Nest Aware Plus costs $12 per month or $120 per year in addition to the basic Nest Aware membership price of $6 per month or $60 per year. Remember that the latter gives homeowners 24/7 continuous video recording as well as an additional 30 days of video event storage.
Setup and compatibility
Alexa Guard
The Alexa app handles the simple and quick procedure of activating Alexa Guard. Grab whichever device your Alexa app is on and launch it to get things going. After that, tap Settings. Tap Guard, then select Set Up Guard under Settings. From here, all you have to do to finish your setup is adhere to the on-screen directions.
Saying “I’m leaving” to your Echo device is all it takes to activate Alexa Guard when you’re leaving the house. A spinning white light on your smart hub will show that Alexa Guard is activated. Simply say “I’m home” to turn off Guard when you get back home.
The Echo and Echo Dot speakers, Echo Show displays, and Echo Plus products all work with Alexa Guard and Alexa Guard Plus.
Nest Aware
When a Nest Aware plan is installed to your Google Home account, unlike Alexa Guard, it becomes active on all of your devices until you opt to stop using it. There is no switch to turn on or off.
Google’s Nest Cam IQ, Nest Hello, Nest Cam Outdoor, Nest Cam Outdoor IQ, and Nest Hub Max all support Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus.
The winner
Although convenient, the ability to turn Alexa Guard on and off isn’t necessary a deal-breaker when comparing the two systems. Both Guard and Nest provide excellent interoperability throughout their respective smart home ecosystems in terms of support. Let’s declare this a tie.
The verdict
While you’re away for the day or taking a long vacation, Nest Aware and Alexa Guard both provide several ways to keep your house secure. Although Nest Aware is a little more expensive, Google Home users greatly benefit from the option to store event-triggered and regular video recordings (with Nest Aware Plus).
For those who wish to give it a try without committing to a monthly membership, Alexa Guard offers a free tier of the Guard service as well as a tonne of its own fantastic features and full Echo compatibility.
Indeed a difficult decision. We’re going to raise the white flag and declare this contest a tie in order to be fair to both brands.
