The Bamburgh vs The Foundation: SimpliSafe Package Comparison

Among SimpliSafe’s UK package lineup, two offers stand out: the high-end Bamburgh package, and the low-end Foundation package.

Choosing the right package comes down to three decision areas:

1. Home size: Are you in a small flat, or a mid-size home?
2. Security level: Are you looking for basic alarm and video, or advanced features like panic buttons?
3. Extension: do you plan to extend your system over time?

Our comparison will compare current discount pricing commercial link and equipment to illustrate which package is best for your situation.

Bamburgh vs Foundation Package Pricing

Simplisafe Package	Disount price	Regular price	Saving for Pro Plan customers	Annual cost of Pro plan
The Bamburgh	£363.22	£518.88	155.66	£191.88
The Foundation	£184.78	£263.97	79.19	£191.88

The biggest difference shoppers notice between SimpliSafe plans is the price. At the discount rate, The Bamburgh is almost twice the cost of the Foundation package (96.57% more to be exact).

However, the bamburgh makes a strong case for itself by providing more equipment per pound; 13 pieces in total, compared to only 4 on The Foundation system.

Still, small flats and single-occupancy homes may find The Bamburgh to be overkill, since a lot of that extra money is paying for an additional siren and extra door sensors.

If you only have one door in and out, extra door sensors are overkill; particularly since a motion sensor can easily cover a whole room, or a combo living/dining room.

As for the siren, the base stations itself emits a very loud 95dB siren; so in a small space, the extra is really best for backup in case the base station is completely smashed before sounding (unlikely) or if the area being secured is very large.

Another item unique to The Bamburgh is the panic button. This piece of kit is most useful for customer with reasonable fear of a bedroom being entered directly, rather than via another monitored room such as a kitchen or dining room.

Bamburgh vs Foundation Package Equipment

Both The Bamburgh and The Foundation include the following base equipment items:

• Base station
• Keypad
• Motion sensor
• Door sensor
• One indoor camera

This is enough kit to cover a small flat, particularly single-occupancy flats. The camera is the key piece of equipment here, since it’ll sound an alert for motion just like a motion sensor.

The Bamburgh has the following extra pieces:

• 2 extra door sensors
• 2 motion sensors
• 1 Glass break sensor
• 1 Panic button

This makes The Bamburgh a strong upgrade contender if you have up to three entry doors, and/or multiple living rooms in need of motion sensor coverage.

Overall, The Bamburgh’s extra equipment is geared towards homes with 2–3 bedrooms, and doors at both the front and back of the house. Homes with more than three entries, or more than two primary living spaces, will need to add-on extra equipment to reach full coverage.

How to Choose the Right SimpliSafe Package

Security experts often talk about “layered security,” meaning that there should be more than one mechanism sounding an alarm during a break-in.

SimpliSafe has two key pieces of equipment that are useful for layering: motion sensors and door sensors.

Choosing the right package largely comes down to counting the doors on your home, and making sure your package has enough door sensors to cover each entry point. From there, you need at least one motion sensor for each area that has accessible windows. In the case of a window break-in, the motion sensors and camera are used to sound the alarm.

As discussed in my full SimpliSafe review, you have to be comfortable designing your own system to some degree, even when buying an off-the-shelf package. Those looking for full-service system design should compare SimpliSafe with Verisure and similar full-service providers.

Small Home vs Large Home

Small homes should consider getting a base package like The Foundation and simply adding one-off equipment pieces as needed to extend coverage. The Foundation has enough kit for most small one-bedroom flats, and can function as a “base level” security system for larger homes.

Basic Security vs Advanced Alarms

Customers who simply want a loud alarm sounded during break-ins can opt for the cheaper SimpliSafe packages like The Foundation or The Starter.

Those who want multiple methods of sounding the alarm, including manual security contact via panic buttons, should consider larger packages like The Bamburgh or The Windsor. “Build your own” packages are also a good fit for this demographic.