Yacht Security System Cost: What the Four Layers Actually Bill (2026)
Updated 1 September 2026. Hardware prices are current published retail from named chandlers and are quoted before installation. Labour, cabling, making-good and commissioning are almost never published by anyone in this industry; we say so rather than inventing a multiplier.
Four layers, four very different price bands
“Yacht security” is four separate products that get sold as one. Every vendor in the market sells one or two of them and compares the others unfavourably, which is why quotes are so hard to line up side by side. Our security systems category page compares the four layers on capability; this page prices them.
| Layer | What it does | Realistic hardware band | Published pricing? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alarm & tracking | Intrusion, high water, shore power loss, geofence, GPS recovery | $360 – $2,300 | Yes — openly retailed |
| CCTV | Cameras and a recorder; deterrence and evidence | $1,500 – $8,000 | Yes — openly retailed |
| Thermal & night vision | Sees a tender approaching at night, at range | $3,000 – $35,500 per camera | Yes — openly retailed |
| Perimeter detection & access control | LiDAR/laser boundary, asset tags, biometric doors, citadel | Unknown — see below | No — every vendor is quote-only |
Layer 1 — alarm, monitoring and tracking
This is the cheapest and best-documented layer, and for most boats under 80 feet it is the one that actually earns its money. Published retail:
| Product | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Siren Marine MTC monitoring, tracking and control device | $359.88 | West Marine |
| GOST Nav-Tracker 1.0 with 30′ cable, insurance package | $1,349.99 | Hodges Marine |
| GOST Nav-Tracker 1.0 Elite with 30′ cable | $2,069.99 | Hodges Marine |
| GOST infrared beam sensor with 33′ cable | $1,088.99 | Hodges Marine |
| GOST wireless outdoor motion detector | $332.99 | Hodges Marine |
| GOST high-water sensor | $485.99 | Hodges Marine |
| GOST wireless smoke detector | $296.99 | Hodges Marine |
| GOST water-resistant strobe | $341.99 | Hodges Marine |
Monitoring subscriptions — the recurring line
Hardware is once. Airtime is forever, and it is the line owners forget when comparing quotes.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Siren Marine cellular, monthly | $22.00 |
| Siren Marine cellular, seasonal | $150.00 |
| Siren Marine cellular, annual | $225.00 |
| Siren Marine cellular, 3 years / 5 years | $575.00 / $900.00 |
| SirenSat satellite, annual (cellular plan also required) | $350.00 |
Published on Siren Marine’s own subscriptions page, read 1 September 2026. Note that West Marine’s product page still shows an older, cheaper tier — the vendor’s own page is the one to quote.
If the boat goes offshore, the real monitoring number is $575 a year, not $225. SirenSat satellite requires the cellular plan underneath it. That is the kind of detail that turns a tidy comparison into a surprise renewal.
GOST, Boat Fix and Nautic Alert publish no subscription pricing at all. GOST retails its hardware openly but keeps airtime behind an activation portal; Boat Fix lists both device and subscription as “contact for pricing”; Nautic Alert puts its VTracker and X2 prices inside images with nothing readable for the Insight X3. If you are comparing monitored systems, you will have to phone three of the four.
Layer 2 — marine CCTV
Cameras are the layer where shopping the part number pays. The same Raymarine CAM210 is $749.95 at one retailer and $914.99 at another — a 22% spread on an identical box.
| Camera | Published price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Furuno FIP-460 network IP camera | $429.95 | The GPS Store |
| Garmin GC 14 | $329.95 – $367.99 | GPS Store / Defender |
| Iris 3MP IP mini dome (through-hull / flush options) | $315.62 – $363.70 | Hodges Marine |
| Simrad CAM-1 stainless IP | $579.00 – $614.00 | GPS Store / Defender |
| Raymarine CAM300 Mini day/night IP | $569.95 – $626.99 | GPS Store / Defender |
| Raymarine CAM210 IP day/night | $749.95 – $914.99 | GPS Store / Defender / West Marine |
| Iris 5MP HD IP bullet | $756.34 | Hodges Marine |
| Iris Photon ultra-low-light 4K night vision | $1,007.13 | Hodges Marine |
| Iris miniature marine PTZ dome, stainless | $1,173.51 | Hodges Marine |
| Iris Atom A418 2MP IP PTZ, 30× optical + IR | $2,087.51 | Hodges Marine |
| Iris A395 dual-payload thermal + 1080p visible, 10× | $4,305.37 | Hodges Marine |
Recorders
| Recorder | Price |
|---|---|
| Iris IP camera recorder with Iriscontrol, 1TB, 32 camera inputs | $1,169.62 |
| GOST Watch HD XVR base package, 4TB, up to 8 cameras | $2,249.99 |
| GOST Watch HD XVR with 4G/LTE, 4TB, up to 8 cameras | $4,499.99 |
The $2,250 gap between those two GOST recorders is the price of being able to watch the boat from ashore. That is the single clearest “what does connectivity cost” datapoint published anywhere in this category.
Layer 3 — thermal and night vision
This is where the budget breaks. One stabilised thermal camera can cost more than every other component on the boat combined.
| Camera | Published price |
|---|---|
| Sionyx Nightwave (low-light, fixed) | $1,895.00 |
| Sionyx Nightwave Digital | $2,895.00 |
| FLIR M232 pan/tilt thermal | $3,095.00 |
| FLIR MD-324 static | $5,515.99 |
| FLIR MD-625 static | $6,299.00 – $7,714.99 |
| FLIR M332 | $9,995.00 |
| FLIR M364 stabilised | $15,495.00 |
| FLIR M364C stabilised thermal + colour | $24,995.00 |
| FLIR M364C LR long range | $35,495.00 |
Prices from The GPS Store and Defender, read 1 September 2026. Yachting Pages put superyacht-grade thermal imagers at £8,000–£20,000 in 2022, which the retail band above still brackets.
The honest question to ask before buying thermal. A $3,095 FLIR M232 and a $24,995 M364C both “see at night”. The difference is stabilisation, range and whether the image is usable at anchor in a swell. If the boat sits in a marina, the M232 does the security job. If you anchor out in places where you want to identify a tender at half a mile in a seaway, it doesn’t. Nobody selling you the expensive one will frame it that way.
Layer 4 — perimeter detection and access control
There is no published pricing in this layer. None. We checked Fortecho, Videoworks, Priavo, MSS, Sea Eagle and Yacht-Aware. Fortecho’s marine page goes as far as saying “with competitive pricing, the payments can be made upfront or staggered over time” and stops there. Boat International’s September 2025 feature on LiDAR perimeter systems describes the technology in detail and carries no figure at all.
The two published numbers that exist anywhere near this layer:
- Biometric access control: £500–£1,300 per custom reader installed (Yachting Pages, 2022).
- $4 million for a MARSS NiDAR counter-drone and surface-surveillance installation across a 120m+ Oceanco yacht and a 70m+ support vessel, including loud hailers and searchlights (Satellite Evolution, February 2024).
That $4M figure is the only hard number in public for an integrated superyacht security fit, and it should not be scaled down — it covers two vessels, one of them 120 metres, with counter-UAS. It tells you the ceiling exists, not what a 40-metre costs.
What a realistic build costs
Three examples, built only from the published component prices above. Hardware only — installation is extra and, as the next section explains, nobody publishes it.
1. A 50-foot sportfish: monitoring plus basic CCTV
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Siren Marine MTC | $360 |
| 4 × Iris 3MP IP mini dome | $1,401 |
| Iris IP recorder, 1TB, 32 inputs | $1,170 |
| Hardware | ≈ $2,931 |
| Siren Marine cellular, annual | $225/yr |
2. An 80-foot motor yacht: CCTV, thermal, remote viewing and intrusion
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| FLIR M232 pan/tilt thermal | $3,095 |
| Iris Atom A418 PTZ, 30× optical + IR | $2,088 |
| 4 × Iris 3MP IP mini dome | $1,401 |
| GOST Watch HD XVR with 4G/LTE, 4TB | $4,500 |
| GOST infrared beam sensor | $1,089 |
| Hardware | ≈ $12,173 |
3. The same 80-footer, specified for offshore anchoring
Swap the M232 for a stabilised FLIR M364C at $24,995 and the hardware goes from $12,173 to $34,073. One line item, nearly triple the bill. This is the decision that actually determines the budget, and it should be made on where the boat anchors, not on a spec sheet.
Installation: the number nobody publishes
We could not find a single marine electronics integrator anywhere publishing a rate card, and we could not find any credible published rule of thumb for installation as a percentage of hardware. Several vendor blogs assert one; none cites a source. We are not going to repeat a number we cannot stand behind.
What does exist is yard and marine service labour, which is the floor an integrator quotes against:
| Rate | Where | Dated |
|---|---|---|
| Shop labour $165/hr; yard labour $115/hr | Bass River Marina, MA | 2026 |
| Standard $195/hr; overtime $292.50/hr; helper $110/hr; travel $160/hr | Marine Diesel Inc., SC | 2026 |
| $110–$125/hr Florida east and west coast, $125/hr West Palm / Jupiter | The Hull Truth — owner-reported | 2017, older |
The lines that genuinely move an installation quote — cable runs through finished joinery, making good the interior afterwards, commissioning, crew training and the annual service contract — have no published pricing anywhere. Get them itemised in writing before you sign, because a quote that omits them is not a cheaper quote, it is an incomplete one.
Who actually installs this in South Florida
Yacht security work is almost never done by a security company. It is done by marine AV, electronics and electrical integrators — the same firms that run your networks, satcom and entertainment — because the cameras, sensors and access control land on the same cabling, switches and touchscreens. That is why the trade is easier to find under “marine electronics” than under “security”.
These are South Florida firms that publish marine security, CCTV or monitoring work on their own sites. It is a starting list of who does this work in the market, not a ranking and not an endorsement:
| Firm | Where | What they publish on security |
|---|---|---|
| Concord Marine Electronics | Fort Lauderdale (Lauderdale Marine Center) | Camera monitoring systems and a dedicated FLIR thermal practice; NMEA certified; states 35+ years |
| Frankentek Security | Fort Lauderdale + Barcelona | Purpose-built yacht security: CCTV incl. underwater PTZ, biometric and proximity access control, MARSEC compliance |
| Triton Technical | Fort Lauderdale office | “Surveillance & Security” as a named service line alongside AV, IT, satcom and automation |
| Palladium Technologies | Fort Lauderdale HQ | SiMON X monitoring, control and alarm platform for megayachts; intrusion and cyber security |
| TESS Electrical | Fort Lauderdale + Barcelona | Yacht security and fire detection alongside marine electrical engineering; Frankentek distributor |
| Fine Line Marine Electric | Fort Lauderdale (Lauderdale Marine Center) | CCTV and security installation, monitoring and fire safety; ABYC certified, NMEA dealer |
| PI Marine | Fort Lauderdale + Stamford CT | Security listed as a core service alongside integration, entertainment, communications and environment |
| Marine Electronics Installers | Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Stuart | “Security & Camera Systems” as a named service; NMEA 2000 certified technicians |
| Nauti Tech | Fort Lauderdale | CCTV, burglar and fire systems, PTZ/IR cameras, NVR/DVR, perimeter and water-intrusion sensors, GPS/AIS tracking |
| dmg Martinez Group | Miami | Video surveillance/CCTV plus remote monitoring and alarm systems for superyachts and refits |
| Marine Tech Miami | Miami | Dedicated marine security systems practice; states 30+ years |
| Videoworks of Americas | Fort Lauderdale (US arm of the Italian group) | Installation, commissioning, crew training and maintenance; the group publishes LiDAR-based yacht security work |
Want it priced? Send ZipYacht one job spec and we will bring back three estimates from three South Florida firms written against identical scope.
Compiled 1 September 2026 from each company’s own website. Inclusion means the firm publishes marine security work in this market — nothing more. We have not tested, rated or ranked them, and none has paid to appear here. If you run a South Florida firm that belongs on this list, or one that should not be, tell us.
Credentials that actually mean something here. NMEA dealer and NMEA 2000 certification for the electronics, ABYC for the electrical work behind it, and for anything class-related, evidence of Lloyd’s Register or ABS approval on the equipment itself. Residential AV credentials — CEDIA, HTA, Control4 dealer status — tell you a firm can wire a house beautifully. They tell you nothing about whether the through-hull camera penetration will pass survey.
What else changes the bill
- Retailer spread is real. The same FLIR MD-625 is $6,299 at one retailer and $7,714.99 at another. Get the part number and shop it.
- Satellite monitoring stacks on top of cellular, not instead of it. $575/year, not $350.
- ISPS applicability. The Code applies to ships on international voyages including cargo and passenger ships of 500 GT or more, so commercial yachts at 500 GT+ on international voyages are typically in scope and private yachts generally are not (KRM Yacht). In scope means a Ship Security Officer, a Ship Security Plan and a five-year ISSC with periodic verification — a compliance cost, not an equipment one.
- Crew security training is priced and cheap by comparison. An STCW Ship Security Officer course for superyachts is £475 + VAT over 21 hours online; a three-day MCA and USCG approved ISPS Security Officer course is $950.
- The exotic end has published numbers too. Yachting Pages puts a yacht LRAD at £14,000–£27,000 and marine security drones at £8,500 basic to £40,000 full spec. A guarding team with a UK team leader in the Indian Ocean was quoted by MAST’s COO at around $15,000 for ten days.
How to buy this without being sold to
- Decide the threat first, then the layer. Marina theft and shore-power failure are an alarm-and-tracker problem, solved for under $600 plus airtime. Anchoring in remote places is a thermal problem. Boarding at anchor in a busy roadstead is a perimeter problem. They are not the same purchase.
- Ask what the recurring cost is over five years, not the install price. On a Siren Marine fit, five years of cellular airtime costs more than twice the hardware.
- Get cabling, making-good and commissioning itemised. These are unpublished everywhere, which means they are where quotes diverge.
- Ask who owns the recordings and where they live. A cloud-connected NVR on a charter yacht is a data question as well as a security one.
- Ask for the annual service contract price up front. Nobody publishes it and everybody charges it.
- Check the certification that matches the work. NMEA and ABYC for the install; class approval for the equipment if the boat is classed.
Red flags. A quote for “a security system” that does not say which of the four layers it covers. A vendor who will not name the camera model. Thermal specified without anyone asking where the boat anchors. No line for making good the joinery. And an integrator whose only credentials are residential — the sea is harder on a cable gland than a living room is.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a yacht security system cost?
It depends entirely on which layer you buy. A monitored alarm and tracker is about $360 of hardware plus $225 a year. A four-camera CCTV system with a recorder is roughly $2,500 to $3,000 in hardware. Adding a stabilised thermal camera takes a single device to $15,000 to $35,500. Installation is extra everywhere and is not published by anyone.
How much does a marine CCTV camera cost?
Published retail runs from about $315 for an Iris 3MP mini dome to $2,088 for an Iris Atom A418 PTZ with 30x optical zoom. A Raymarine CAM210 sits in the middle at $749.95 to $914.99 depending on the retailer, which is a 22% spread on the same part number.
How much does a marine thermal camera cost?
A FLIR M232 pan/tilt is $3,095. A FLIR M364C stabilised thermal and colour camera is $24,995, and the long-range M364C LR is $35,495. Between them sit the M332 at $9,995 and the M364 at $15,495. The difference you are paying for is stabilisation and range, which matters at anchor in a swell and does not matter alongside in a marina.
What does boat monitoring cost per month?
Siren Marine publishes $22.00 a month, $150.00 for a season or $225.00 a year for cellular. Satellite monitoring is $350.00 a year on top of the cellular plan, not instead of it, so full offshore coverage is $575 a year at list. GOST, Boat Fix and Nautic Alert do not publish subscription pricing.
How much does a superyacht security system cost?
No vendor publishes a figure. The only hard number in public is a reported $4 million MARSS installation covering counter-drone and surface surveillance across a 120m+ yacht and a 70m+ support vessel, including loud hailers and searchlights. That is the ceiling, not a benchmark, and it should not be scaled down to a 40-metre.
Why will nobody give me a price for perimeter detection?
Because every vendor in that layer sells bespoke installations and prices per vessel. We checked Fortecho, Videoworks, Priavo, MSS, Sea Eagle and Yacht-Aware; not one publishes a figure, and Boat International’s own feature on LiDAR perimeter systems carries no cost at all. Expect to run a competitive tender rather than compare list prices.
How much does installation add?
Nobody publishes it, and there is no credible published rule of thumb for installation as a percentage of hardware, despite several vendor blogs asserting one. What is published is marine labour: $165 an hour shop rate at one 2026 yard rate card and $195 an hour at another, with Florida owner-reported electronics rates around $110 to $125 an hour. Cabling, making good the interior, commissioning and crew training are unpublished everywhere and are where quotes diverge.
Who installs yacht security systems?
Marine AV, electronics and electrical integrators, not security companies. Cameras, sensors and access control land on the same cabling, switches and touchscreens as the networks, satcom and entertainment, so the same firms do all of it. In South Florida that means marine electronics integrators in Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach and Miami rather than land-based security contractors.
Does my yacht need to comply with the ISPS Code?
The Code applies to ships on international voyages, including passenger and cargo ships of 500 GT or more. In practice commercial yachts of 500 GT and above on international voyages are typically in scope and private yachts generally are not. In scope means a Ship Security Officer, a Ship Security Plan and a five-year International Ship Security Certificate with periodic verification.
What certifications should a yacht security installer have?
NMEA dealer status and NMEA 2000 certification for the electronics, ABYC certification for the electrical work behind it, and where the vessel is classed, evidence that the equipment carries Lloyd’s Register or ABS approval. Residential AV credentials such as CEDIA or Control4 dealer status say nothing about whether a through-hull camera penetration will pass survey.
Find an installer
ZipYacht lists yacht security systems specialists and marine AV and IT integrators worldwide, with what each one actually covers across the four layers. If the system is going in during a yard period, the refit project management and haul-out cost guides cover the rest of that bill.
Keeping track of what is fitted, when it was commissioned and when the service contract renews is exactly what ZipYacht Management is for — equipment register, service intervals and documents on one screen, $1,790/year plus $189/month. Book a 10-Minute Look.
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Sources: retail pricing published by Defender, The GPS Store, West Marine and Hodges Marine; subscription pricing published by Siren Marine; labour rates published by the named yards; and the trade-press reporting linked above. All read 1 September 2026. Prices change without notice and are quoted before installation, tax and freight — treat them as a planning baseline and confirm before you buy.