Leading Security Integrators in North America (2026): Rankings and How to Compare Their Bids

As of SDM Magazine's July 2026 Top Systems Integrators report, the four largest commercial security integrators in North America are Convergint, Securitas Technology, Everon (formerly ADT Commercial) and Pavion. The ranking is based on 2025 North American security integration project revenue, and the Top 100 together reported $9.72 billion in that revenue, up 15% on the prior year. If you are drawing up a bid list, treat the ranking as a map of who has the scale to take your project, not as a verdict on who should win it: a sound list pairs one or two of these national firms with a screened local contractor, all pricing the same written scope.

That last point is where we spend most of this page. We run a free quote-comparison service for commercial security projects, and the gap between a national bid and a local one on identical scope is one of the most useful numbers a facilities director can get during procurement. Below: who the ranking names, what each firm is built for, where Johnson Controls and Vector Security fit, and a checklist for comparing proposals fairly.

What a security integrator is, and what it is not

A security system integrator is a contractor that designs, engineers, installs, programs and services multi-technology electronic security systems (access control, video surveillance, intrusion detection, intercom, perimeter and often fire alarm) as one coordinated project, usually sourcing hardware from several manufacturers and tying it together on a shared platform. SDM's ranking uses essentially the same definition: firms that derive a significant portion of revenue from the sale, design, installation and service of multi-technology electronic security systems for commercial, industrial, institutional and government customers.

Four other kinds of commercial security systems companies get confused with integrators, and the confusion costs buyers money:

• Alarm dealer. Sells and installs intrusion (and sometimes fire) panels, typically tied to a monitoring contract that produces recurring monthly revenue. Dealers are ranked separately in the SDM 100, which measures recurring revenue, not project revenue. Many dealers do solid single-building work; fewer can engineer a 200-door access control rollout.
• Monitoring company. Operates a central station that receives signals and dispatches. Some integrators own one; many resell a third-party station. The monitoring contract is often the longest and stickiest document in the whole deal, which is why we cover it in our business alarm monitoring guide.
• Manufacturer. Makes the cameras, controllers, panels and software. Johnson Controls is the clearest example of a manufacturer that also installs: its security brands include Software House, Kantech, Exacq, American Dynamics and DSC, alongside the Tyco and Simplex fire lines, and it sells through its own branches as well as through independent integrators. A manufacturer-installer will, reasonably, propose its own platform.
• Guard company. Provides staffed security. Allied Universal and Securitas are both guard companies first, with technology divisions (Allied Universal Technology Services, Securitas Technology) that rank as integrators in their own right.

The practical test: ask who will own the design, who will program the head-end software, and who you call when a door controller fails in year three. An integrator answers all three with its own staff.

How the SDM ranking works, and what it leaves out

SDM ranks security integrators by North American revenue from security systems integration projects in the prior calendar year. For the 2026 report, that is revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025, and it includes design, project management, product, installation, programming, start-up, training and time-and-materials service. It excludes recurring monthly revenue such as monitoring and managed services, which SDM reports in a separate Top 25 by RMR table. Companies submit audited or reviewed financial statements or tax returns; a few figures are SDM estimates, flagged with an "e."

That is a sound basis for a size ranking, and a buyer should still know its limits:

• It measures size, not quality. There is no customer-satisfaction, response-time or project-outcome input. Revenue is continental, so a firm can rank in the top ten and still have a thin branch in your metro; local capacity is a function of the nearest office, not the headline number.
• It does not measure price. Larger firms carry larger overheads and national-account pricing models; the ranking says nothing about what your 40-door building will cost.
• Participation is voluntary. Firms that do not submit are absent, however large they are. Johnson Controls does not appear in the 2026 Top 100, and neither does Paladin Technologies, which now operates as part of Bosch Building Technologies North America. Absence from the table is not a mark against either.

Two SDM columns matter more to a buyer than rank: smallest project size and top three markets. The first tells you whether a firm will engage at your budget. The second tells you where its engineering depth actually is. Both appear in the table below.

The 2026 ranking: the leading security integrators and what each is built for

Figures below come from the SDM 2026 Top Systems Integrators report (published July 2026, 2025 revenue; "e" marks an SDM estimate, NA means not reported). Updated October 2026. The "built for" column is our reading of SDM's market data and each firm's public positioning, not an SDM judgement.

Is Everon the same company as ADT Commercial? Yes, in substance. Everon is the business that was ADT Commercial until private equity firm GTCR acquired ADT Commercial in 2023 and renamed it Everon. SDM lists Everon at No. 3 in 2026 and notes it acquired ADT's multifamily business in September 2025. If an older proposal or reference says "ADT Commercial," it refers to the firm now trading as Everon.

Three segments, and the project each is built for

Revenue rank tells you who is biggest. It does not tell you who fits your building. The field sorts into three segments, and knowing which one you are shopping in prevents both overbuying and underbuying.

National incumbents

National incumbents (Convergint, Securitas Technology, Everon, Pavion, M.C. Dean, Allied Universal Technology Services) serve enterprise and multi-site customers who need one contract, one platform and one account team across dozens or hundreds of sites. These firms are built for programs: a 40-campus healthcare system, a 300-store retailer, a hyperscale data center build. Their smallest project sizes in SDM's data run from $2,000 (Pavion) to $10,000 (Convergint), so they will quote a single building, but their pricing models, engineering overhead and national-account service structures are designed for the program, not the one-off. For a single 20,000-square-foot office with 12 doors and 24 cameras, that model can be overkill: you may pay for enterprise platform licensing and project management you will never use.

Major challengers

Challengers (Pye-Barker, Security 101, CBX Solutions, Cobalt Service Partners, Vector Security, Minuteman, Kastle, Unlimited Technology) serve mid-market and institutional customers who want a firm with multiple branches, vertical depth and bonding capacity, but with pricing and attention closer to a regional firm. Most are growing by acquisition, which means the branch near you may have been an independent company eighteen months ago. That is not a defect, but you should ask who signs your service agreement and whether the acquired team's technicians hold the certifications on the platform being proposed.

Regional and vertical specialists

Regional and vertical specialists (the rest of the Top 100 and thousands of licensed firms below it) serve single buildings, campuses and metro-area portfolios where local response time, a known technician and code familiarity with the local AHJ matter more than a national footprint. SDM's own report is full of them: ECC's correctional-facility control systems, ORR Protection's fire work in data centers and battery storage, Dallas Security Systems' mobile surveillance trailers. For a single-site project in the ranges our cost guide describes for most single buildings ($3,000 to $25,000 installed, up to $50,000 to $150,000 for larger or multi-building sites), this is the segment to price first, provided the firm is properly licensed, insured and experienced with your building type. It is underpowered when you need a single contract across many states or a 24/7 enterprise SOC integration.

Integrator strengths by building type

SDM asks each firm to name its top three markets, which is the closest thing the industry has to a published specialization map. Pairing that with the compliance questions each building type raises:

• Healthcare. Everon, Allied Universal Technology Services, Security 101, CBX, Cobalt and Vector all list healthcare in their top three. The scope question is HIPAA: a camera that can read a nurse-station screen is capturing protected health information, so placement, access to footage, export and retention are security-rule decisions, as we explain in our healthcare facility security guide. Ask bidders how they have handled that on a comparable hospital or clinic.
• Education. Everon, Pavion, Security 101, CBX, Cobalt and NextGen list education. Classroom locking is the sensitive item: egress doors must release from inside without a key, tool or special knowledge, which rules out most barricade devices (see our schools and education guide).
• Office and commercial real estate. Pavion, Allied Universal Technology Services, Unlimited Technology and Kastle list office. Kastle's managed access model is purpose-built for multi-tenant buildings. Stairwell re-entry and fire-command-center unlock rules drive the access design, which our office building security guide walks through.
• Data centers. SDM reports data centers as the most-mentioned vertical opportunity among its 2026 respondents, with Everon, NextGen and ORR Protection calling it out. This is national-incumbent and specialist-fire territory; a local generalist rarely has the mantrap, biometric and clean-agent suppression experience.
• Retail. Securitas Technology, Everon, Pavion and Vector Security list retail. Multi-site retailers get the most from national accounts with monitoring and remote video services. A single store is better served by a local firm following OSHA's late-night retail guidance on sightlines, lighting and cash controls, which we cover in our retail loss prevention guide.
• Industrial and warehouse. Vector, NextGen, GSI, Cook Solutions Group and Ferndale Electric list industrial. Perimeter, gate and CTPAT documentation requirements shape the scope; our warehouse and industrial guide covers what CTPAT expects of camera coverage and footage review.

National integrator vs. screened local contractor: invite both

A local licensed contractor belongs on the bid list whenever the project is a single site or a metro-area portfolio, whenever service response time matters more than national account management, and whenever you want a price check on the national bid. Invite both when the scope sits in the upper single-building tier of our commercial security system cost guide, roughly $50,000 to $150,000-plus for buildings over 25,000 square feet or multi-building sites: large enough that a national incumbent will quote, small enough that a well-run regional firm is fully capable.

The local bid is useful even if you ultimately hire the national firm, because it tells you what the national bid's pricing contains. When quotes are built on the same scope, compare the hardware lines first: bidders are buying the same cameras and controllers from the same distributors, so a wide spread there points to a scope mismatch rather than a pricing difference. Then look at the three lines where real differences live: labor and project-management hours, software licensing and platform fees, and the monitoring or service agreement attached to the install. If a national proposal is well above a local one on identical door and camera counts, those three lines are where to ask the national firm to justify the gap. The reverse is also true: a local bid far below the others on a complex access control job may be omitting licensing, head-end hardware or commissioning time.

Our benchmarks for what "normal" looks like are in that cost guide: most single-building projects land between $3,000 and $25,000 installed plus $40 to $150 a month for monitoring, rising to $50,000 to $150,000-plus for buildings over 25,000 square feet or multi-building sites.

How to compare integrator proposals on one scope

An integrator proposal should show four things before it can be compared with any other: the installed price itemized by hardware, labor and programming; every recurring fee, including monitoring, software licensing and service plans; the contract length, notice window and renewal term; and who owns every piece of equipment at the end of the term. If any of the four is missing, ask for it before you compare totals.

Proposals from different integrators rarely arrive in the same shape. One quotes a lump sum with a 60-month service agreement folded in; another itemizes every door but leaves licensing off; a third leases the panel. The checklist below (current as of October 2026) normalizes them. Put every line into one spreadsheet before you compare totals.

1. Installed cost, itemized. Hardware, labor, programming, commissioning, training and project management as separate lines. For access control, a standard card or mobile-credential opening should land around $1,500 to $3,500 installed, or $3,000 to $5,000 all-in with first-year software, per our access control installation cost guide. Glass storefront, masonry and gate openings run higher.
2. Recurring fees, every one. Monitoring, cloud video and access licensing, managed services, maintenance plans and any per-door or per-camera subscription. Basic commercial intrusion monitoring runs $30 to $75 a month; supervised fire reporting $60 to $150; video-verified or multi-site accounts $150 to $500-plus, per our business alarm monitoring cost guide. Cloud access software is typically $3.50 to $15 per door per month; if a bid shows $30, ask what tier is included.
3. Contract length and renewal. Commercial monitoring and service agreements commonly run 36 to 60 months and auto-renew for another full term unless you cancel inside a narrow notice window. Get the term, the notice window, the renewal term and any annual escalator in writing.
4. Equipment ownership. A low install price or a low monthly rate can mean the provider retains title to the panel or head-end. Require a statement of who owns every piece of equipment at the end of the term.
5. Platform lock-in. Ask whether panels are non-proprietary, whether you receive installer codes and administrator credentials, and whether the cloud licensing is tied to the dealer or to you. Proprietary panels and locked programming mean only the installing firm can ever service the system; a takeover later becomes rip-and-replace.
6. Response times and service levels. Guaranteed on-site response for critical failures, remote-support hours, and whether the technicians are the integrator's W-2 staff or subcontractors.
7. Licensing and insurance. State alarm or low-voltage contractor license number (verify it on the state board site), general liability certificate naming you as certificate holder, and workers' compensation. For fire alarm scope, confirm the fire alarm license and NICET-certified staff for the AHJ submittal.
8. Building-type references. Two completed projects in your building type, with the compliance element you care about (HIPAA, classroom egress, CTPAT, state cannabis retention rules) handled.
9. Total cost over the term. Installed cost plus every recurring fee multiplied by the full contract term, including the first auto-renewal if you are unlikely to cancel on time. Compare that number, not the install quote. Our 3-quote, 60-month method has a worksheet for this.

How to run the bid

The single most effective thing a facilities director or consultant can do is write one building profile and send the identical scope to every bidder. Door and opening count with door types, camera count with coverage areas, panel and zone count, monitoring level (intrusion, supervised fire, video-verified), whether this is a new install, upgrade or takeover of existing equipment, and the required term and ownership position. Integrators are good at proposing; they are less good at proposing the same thing as each other unless you make them.

If you would rather not assemble the bidder list yourself, that is the work we do. Businesses submit one building profile through our quote request form (systems needed, building type, square footage, timeline, new install or takeover, ZIP code), and we send it to up to three contractors we have screened for a current state license, a general liability certificate, a clean complaint history and experience with that building type. The quotes come back on comparable scope, showing installed cost, monitoring rate, term length and who owns the equipment at the end, so the comparison above is already half done. We do not install, monitor or sell equipment, and the contractors pay us for the introduction, so the service is free to the business; the full process is on our how it works page and our about page.

For a large or multi-site program, use both tracks: request proposals directly from two or three of the national or challenger firms in the table, and let a screened local contractor price the same scope alongside them. The local number keeps the national bids honest, and occasionally it wins outright.

Frequently asked questions

Who are the leading commercial security integrators in North America in 2026?

According to SDM Magazine's 2026 Top Systems Integrators report, the ten largest by 2025 North American integration revenue are Convergint, Securitas Technology, Everon, Pavion, M.C. Dean, Allied Universal Technology Services, Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, Security 101, CBX Solutions and Cobalt Service Partners. Vector Security ranks 11th. The Top 100 reported $9.72 billion in combined integration revenue.

Who is the largest security systems integrator in North America, and how big is the market?

Convergint Technologies is the largest, with $2.407 billion in 2025 North American integration revenue per SDM's 2026 report, ahead of Securitas Technology at an estimated $1.184 billion. The SDM Top 100 together reported $9.72 billion in 2025 integration revenue, up from $8.40 billion in 2024 and $7.17 billion in 2023. Those figures exclude recurring monitoring and managed-service revenue.

How does SDM's ranking work, and what does it not measure?

SDM ranks firms by North American revenue from security integration projects (design, product, installation, programming, start-up, training and service) in the prior calendar year, based on audited or reviewed financials or tax returns, with a few SDM estimates. It excludes recurring monthly revenue, which is ranked separately. It does not measure service quality, pricing, customer satisfaction or local branch capacity, and firms that do not submit data are absent.

What is the difference between a security systems integrator, an alarm dealer, a monitoring company and a manufacturer?

An integrator designs, installs and services multi-technology systems (access, video, intrusion, often fire) as one project. An alarm dealer sells and installs intrusion panels tied to a monitoring contract. A monitoring company operates the central station that receives alarm signals. A manufacturer makes the hardware and software; a few, such as Johnson Controls, also install through their own branches. Many firms do more than one of these, so ask which role each bidder is playing on your project.

What size of project is a national integrator built for?

National incumbents are built for multi-site programs and large single projects. SDM's 2026 data show Convergint's largest 2025 project at $24.6 million and Pavion's at $12.8 million, with minimum project sizes of $10,000 and $2,000 respectively. They will quote a single building, but their platform, licensing and project-management models are designed for large projects and portfolios of several sites. For a single building in the typical cost-guide ranges, a challenger or screened regional firm can offer comparable engineering, and should be invited to price the same scope.

When should a local licensed contractor be on the bid list next to a national integrator?

Always for single-site or metro-portfolio projects, and whenever you want a price check on a national bid. A local contractor with a current state license, insurance certificate and experience in your building type buys the same hardware as a national firm and may price labor, licensing and service terms differently. Invite both when the project is a larger single building or a small portfolio, and compare on identical scope.

How do I check an integrator's licensing, insurance and experience with my building type?

Look up the alarm, low-voltage or fire alarm contractor license number on your state licensing board's website and confirm it is current and in the bidding entity's name. Request a certificate of general liability insurance and workers' compensation naming you as certificate holder. Ask for two completed references in your building type that involved the specific compliance issue you face. We verify the state license, the general liability certificate, complaint history and building-type experience on every contractor in our network before a quote request reaches them; request the workers' compensation certificate and references yourself.

Methodology and sources

Ranks, revenue, project sizes, market lists, employee and location counts come from the SDM 2026 Top Systems Integrators report (published July 2026, covering calendar 2025) and the accompanying SDM Top Systems Integrators Report page. Everon's corporate history is from Everon's own account; Paladin's status is from Paladin Technologies. Johnson Controls' brand portfolio is from Johnson Controls. Cost benchmarks are from our own published cost guides. The segment groupings and "built for" descriptions of these security integrators are our editorial reading of SDM's data and each firm's public positioning; we have no manufacturer relationships, we do not install, monitor or sell equipment, and we do not rank ourselves among the integrators because we are not one. We will refresh this page when SDM publishes its 2027 ranking.