Business Security Without an Alarm Contract

Unified Security in a Single App

If you are looking for a business alarm system without a monthly fee, the UniFi alarm system provides a unified alternative. UniFi Protect, the camera application, also runs intrusion alarm sensors, sirens and wired alarm zones, so cameras, the alarm and door access sit in one app. Ubiquiti states that Protect, including AI detection and recording, carries no licence fee at any camera count.

Automated Alarm Responses and Alerts

Alarm Manager sets the response: a person seen after hours, a door forced open, a leak or a smoke alarm can send a push alert, sound a siren, turn on lights, move a camera or lock doors. Alerts arrive with the camera clip attached, so the person alerted sees what tripped the sensor. Location-based alerts can be set to fire only when the owner, or everyone, is away from the building.

Wireless and Wired Sensor Options

SuperLink is Ubiquiti's long-range wireless protocol for alarm sensors; a SuperLink Gateway reaches sensors up to 2 km away in line of sight. One SuperLink Gateway supports up to 96 SuperLink sensors, and there is no limit on gateways per console. SuperLink sensors include door and window contacts (surface and recessed into the frame), motion, glass break, leak and temperature, smoke and CO, relays, key fobs and sirens.

The Alarm Hub Kit (UP-AlarmHub-Kit) is a steel wall panel with 32 wired alarm sensor inputs using end-of-line resistors, one emergency input and two relay outputs for sirens or strobes. The Alarm Hub Kit is powered over PoE++ and charges a 12 V sealed lead-acid backup battery; it is for indoor use. Because the Alarm Hub takes end-of-line-resistor zones, the wired contacts and motion sensors of an old burglar alarm can often be reused; that is confirmed per building at the survey. Published price, checked 2026-10-26 on store.ui.com: Alarm Hub Kit $399 (US list).

Monitoring Limits and Code Compliance

Professional monitoring through Noonlight is announced for UniFi Protect 7.4 and was not yet available when checked on 2026-10-26; it will be US only and will arm and disarm from a keypad. Until that ships, the UniFi alarm is self-monitored: alerts go to the owner and staff, not to a central station. Ubiquiti notes that some cities and counties require a permit for a professionally monitored alarm and fine false alarm dispatches.

UniFi does not provide a UL central-station alarm certificate; a business whose insurer or lease requires one keeps a UL-listed alarm company for that. Fire alarms stay on a listed fire alarm system inspected under NFPA 72; Ubiquiti's own smoke sensor page says its smoke alarms are not a substitute for complete fire detection systems in commercial or multi-occupancy buildings. A fire alarm panel can be wired to a UniFi Access hub so a fire alarm unlocks the doors for evacuation, and the app cannot override that.

Keyless Door Access and Evacuation Control

Door access replaces keys with cards, fobs, PINs, phones, faces or fingerprints, each tied to a named person. Removing a person or cancelling a visitor stops their credentials at every door, with no locks to rekey. Visitors such as cleaners and contractors get a schedule limited to chosen doors, and their PIN or QR code stops working when the visit ends.

Every unlock and every refused credential is logged, and Alarm Manager can alert on a door unlocked after hours or a refused badge. Site-wide or single-door lockdown and evacuation can be triggered from the app or from a camera reader with an admin card or PIN. UniFi Access door hubs and readers are certified to UL 294 Level 1 by Eurofins MET Labs.

Gate Intercoms and Plate Unlocking

When replacing a gate call box, the existing unit can be replaced by a UniFi intercom that rings the Access app, the staff app, a phone number or a desk phone, and opens the gate from the call. The UniFi Gate Hub drives sliding, swing, barrier and roll-up gates plus one pedestrian side door, and can open for listed licence plates read by a UniFi AI camera.

Plate unlock at a gate works only when the gate operator's UL 325 entrapment protection devices are connected. Published prices, checked 2026-10-26 on store.ui.com: Access Gate Hub $279; G3 Intercom $479 (US list).

Site Surveys and System Handover in the Lowcountry

CloudCentric is a managed IT provider in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, serving businesses across Charleston and the Lowcountry. We serve owners and managers of restaurants, shops, medical offices, offices and warehouses. Call us at (844) 422-7000 to begin your project.

CloudCentric surveys the existing alarm, doors and gate first: what is wired, what the monitoring contract requires, and what an insurer or lease asks for. Where a monitored or fire alarm is required, UniFi runs alongside it: cameras, doors and self-monitored intrusion sensors on one app, and the listed alarm on its own line. Each sensor is tripped and each door and gate tested at handover, and the people who receive alerts are set up on their phones.