The Boundary Blog

Ajax is an intruder alarm company based in Ukraine. With a focus on cutting-edge hardware, Ajax’s alarm has a lot of similarities with ours, but we differ in some key areas – we go through these below.

To do this comparison we requested a quote from an Ajax authorised installer. As you can choose from several installers, prices vary.

How you buy

As alluded to above, the main way to buy an Ajax alarm in the UK is from an authorised installer. You’ll be sent a quote for the alarm system and installation, on request.

On our side, you purchase the Boundary alarm on our website. The prices are easy to find and you design the alarm yourself.

Alarm Systems

Below we compare our alarm system prices with Ajax’s:

The Ajax quote also had a “pre-config cost” of £104.40. We’re not sure what this is, but it “includes delivery by courier.”

PIR Motion Sensors

Motion sensors are the watchmen of your home. From the corners of rooms, they scan for burglars by detecting changes in infrared heat.

Both Boundary and Ajax offer motion sensors which are pet-friendly, but with different specifications:

Wireless Connectivity

To allow sensors to communicate with the Hub and your phone, Ajax uses its own proprietary technology called Jeweller. This was developed in-house so any problems are up to Ajax to fix. It also makes future integrations with 3rd party smart devices trickier.

The Boundary alarm uses Z-wave 700, a widely-used wireless technology that uses low-energy radiowaves to connect the Hub and its sensors.

Z-wave is extremely secure and reliable, which is why it’s been chosen by over 3,000 other smart home devices worldwide. Read more about Z-wave here

Costs of Ownership

Most homeowners keep their alarm system for an average of seven years or more, and sometimes there’s a monthly fee, so it’s useful to compare all the annual costs.

We compared the cost of our Boundary Small House Bundle, on our Plus plan, with its Ajax equivalent, using the quote’s pricing. Here are the results:

*Plus plan is £8 per month – cheaper plans are available. See a summary of our plans

Installation options

You can install an Ajax alarm yourself, but the recommended approach seems to be professional installation. In the quote we received installation cost £185, but this would vary depending on how far the installer has to travel. 

With the Boundary alarm you can choose between self-installation, with no cost, or pro-installation, which costs £199.

24/7 Monitoring and Police Response

This appears to be available with an Ajax alarm, but the installer we spoke to wasn’t clear on pricing or the process.

If you choose Boundary’s Complete plan then we’ll take care of everything. We’re currently setting up our network of UK installers, and we’ve selected an alarm receiving centre to monitor Boundary alarms. This service will be available in Spring 2021.

Features

The Boundary system is packed with features and the table below shows a comparison with Ajax: