Home security scorecard

Every check below is weighted by one thing: how much time and noise it costs someone trying to get in at the point where they are deciding whether to bother. That is the only measure that matters, and it is not the same as price. Several of the highest scoring items here are free.

Tick what you already have. Nothing is stored, so refreshing the page starts you over.

  • Doors and locks

  • Windows and ground floor

  • Light and sightlines

  • Alarm and response

  • Cameras and footage

  • Keys and habits

0 out of 100

    The weights are ours and they sit on every line, so you can disagree with them item by item. They follow one rule: the more a measure costs an intruder in time and noise at the point of entry, the more it is worth. Nothing on this list scores points for being expensive.

    Why the weights fall where they do

    Doors and locks carry the most weight because most break-ins are still an attack on a door, and most of those attacks are on the frame rather than the lock. A euro cylinder with anti-snap rating in a door with a weak strike plate is a strong lock bolted to a weak wall. Fixing the strike plate costs a few pounds and three screws long enough to reach the stud.

    Cameras score modestly, and that surprises people. A camera does not stop an entry. It gives you a recording afterwards, and it deters the small share of people who notice it and care. What raises a camera’s score is the thing behind it: footage stored somewhere the camera itself is not, so that taking the camera does not take the evidence.

    Alarm and response carries a heavy single item for monitoring or a nominated keyholder, because an alarm nobody responds to is a noise complaint. Neighbours who know you are away and know what your car looks like are worth more than most hardware.

    What is deliberately not on the list

    Fake cameras, fake alarm boxes and dog stickers. There is no reliable evidence they do anything, and they cost you the honest signal that a real system gives.

    Also missing: anything that depends on a subscription staying paid, unless the hardware still works without it. A camera that stops recording locally when the card payment fails is a camera you do not have.

    Where to start if you scored low

    The tool prints your four highest-weight unticked items. Do those in the order given. In almost every case the list will open with the door frame and the ground floor windows, because that is where the weight sits, and both are cheap.