Is the Free and Qiara anti-burglary pack really a good deal?

“The Free of remote surveillance”. According to Nicolas Thomas, the general manager of Free, Qiara will revolutionize alarms and home automation with its low prices and ease of installation.

Financed in particular by Xavier Niel, Qiara is a cousin of Free. After serving as Deputy Managing Director of Iliad-Free, Alexis Bidinot, its founder, decided to launch in 2023 a French startup specializing in connected homes, including part of the Freebox teams. Qiara takes up part of Free’s DNA, both in aesthetics and in prices.

In itself, Qiara’s security pack is not cheap (249 euros for the general public, 199 euros for Freebox subscribers), but the market targeted by the startup is not the one that knows how to tinker and build its own home automation ecosystem . It is that of those in search of serenity. In this aspect, the market is “like before the arrival of Free in telecoms. », according to the group. Understand: too expensive, too complicated and designed to play on customer ignorance. Qiara claims to cut prices and aims for a million homes equipped in five years, but is it really as revolutionary as Free a few years ago?

What the Free and Qiara offers offer

To equip yourself with home automation with Qiara, you must acquire the equipment (it was previously offered with the Freebox Delta). The price is 249 euros for non-Freebox customers and 199 euros for Freebox customers. At this price, we obtain (and we can obviously buy other optional equipment):

• a surveillance camera,
• a mermaid,
• a keyboard to activate/deactivate the alarm,
• a motion detector,
• a door opening sensor.

One of Qiara’s choices is to focus everything on its own application, without compatibility with Matter, Google, Apple or Amazon. A choice which risks frustrating more than one, but which can be explained by the chosen target. Qiara is not aimed at people who already have connected equipment, but at people who want low-cost security. The company prefers to bet everything on its own application, available on iOS and Android, and its own protocol operating on 868 MHz, suitable for large homes.

One of Qiara’s strengths is that it is a service without engagement. This means that you can subscribe to maximum remote surveillance only during your vacation, while taking advantage of the alarm and manually controlled cameras during quieter periods. It’s a real advantage, but is it suitable for Qiara’s target audience? People who want to create a personalized ecosystem have everything to gain from combining their security products with their other connected objects, which involves using Apple Home Or Google Home to create routines. Qiara supports Siri shortcuts, but the possibilities are limited.

With a paid Ultra subscription, Qiara becomes a real competitor to services like Verisure, since it can intervene in your home, watching the camera feed in the event of an intrusion. An SOS button in the application also allows you to request help from an employee at any time. The free version simply provides access to the application. The Plus version unlocks just a few options in the app.

Verisure or Ring: what do the competitors offer?

Qiara is right on one point: the connected home is increasingly developed (with bulbs and sockets galore), but remote monitoring is much less so. Two different approaches exist today:

• All-in-one solutions: players like Verisure and Somfy offer comprehensive packs with equipment, installation and subscription. It is generally expensive, but comprehensive, with few options for the user who conveys their trust to the company.
• Customizable solutions: Brands like Ring or Aqara sell equipment individually, with optional subscriptions to benefit from advanced service. The user has to tweak a little more and does not have the same service as with a high-end subscription.

In a way, Qiara positions itself at an intermediate level. Its solution aims to appeal to as many people as possible, with great ease of installation, but claims to offer a quality of service equivalent to that of a high-end service like Verisure. There is no real equivalent to its offering.

How much do competing solutions cost? It is difficult to find prices with certain players, since it is sometimes necessary to make a personalized quote and then negotiate. For the following table, we have selected equipment equivalent to that of Free and Qiara (sensors + alarm + a camera), retaining only the most complete packages, even when they do not include remote monitoring 24 /7:

A solution like Ring, which is similar to that of Qiara on paper, does not allow you to call a network of experts, but contacts three loved ones in the event of an emergency. Enough to disqualify it from the comparison, even if it is the cheapest and should be suitable for certain uses. The Maison Protégée d’Orange relies on equipment rental, which means that you lose it when you unsubscribe. It is therefore less competitive than that of Free.

Another element to consider: the prices selected above are only for lightweight equipment, equivalent to those of Qiara. Each additional door and window costs extra money. It’s relatively reasonable at Qiara and Ring (around 30 euros), but it’s more at the others. In short, protecting a house necessarily costs more.

With its prices, Qiara is effectively positioning itself as an equivalent that is twice as affordable as its competitors who offer remote monitoring, even if its offer is still limited and the purchase price is rising quickly.

For people aiming for simplicity, who do not want to use equipment purchased elsewhere and group them together in Apple or Google applications, this is an interesting offer… provided that its 24/7 remote monitoring is effective.

Another thing to consider: everything goes through the digital keyboard and the telephone at Qiara, where Verisure and Somfy offer badges or cards. On the other hand, if you want to tinker and you don’t care about the Ultra subscription, the Qiara pack at 250 euros is not the most profitable on the market.

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