ADT Solar Review – CNET

Editor’s note, Jan. 26: ADT announced in a January 2024 press release that it’s closing its solar business. While the information in this review was accurate and relevant when we last published it, it is no longer applicable. We recommend you look at CNET’s current picks for best solar company.

You can get in contact with ADT through a short online form, which authorizes the company to contact you via phone or email. ADT then conducts a site visit and presents you with a quote.

Is ADT Solar the best choice?

As with most major purchases, it’s best to check out multiple options before choosing one solar provider over another. If you need to finance your panels, you should shop around, too. 

ADT’s price-match guarantee means it should be as affordable as other installers. On top of that, while you’ll need to read the details of the warranties you’re offered, 25-year production, workmanship and weatherization warranties are longer than most on the market. ADT’s preferred brands for panels, inverters and batteries are high quality and have a strong track record. Among the major solar providers, ADT appears to be a good choice.

While there isn’t robust, publicly available customer satisfaction data for the solar industry, ADT Solar has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. This suggests that it’s responsive to concerns when issues crop up. (The customer reviews left there are less positive.)

While I researched as deeply as was reasonable, it’s important to note that I didn’t go through the purchasing process or get any hands-on experience with an ADT installation. Solar installers are difficult to review in a traditional sense, and this overview doesn’t rely on any independent, empirical testing by CNET. Be sure to do your own research into the best fit for your home and include smaller, local installers in your search.

Read more: Want something smaller than a whole-home solar system? See our picks for the best portable solar panels and solar generators.

Pros

• Offers price match guarantee
• Offers well-regarded equipment
• Offers warranties longer than many competitors

Cons

• Not up front with pricing

ADT Solar reviews: What are customers saying?

While ADT Solar’s score from the Better Business Bureau is an A+ (which reflects, among other things, its responsiveness to customer complaints), the customer reviews left there appear to skew much more negative toward ADT, as they do for most companies. You’ll need to scroll back to August 2022 past a parade of one-star reviews to find a couple of five-star ratings.

Customer reviews offer a look into a customer’s specific experience with a company and may not track with your own in the future. Pay attention to them, but focus on trends and use them to identify questions you may not have thought to ask before signing up with a company.

Here’s a sample of the good and the bad from the Better Business Bureau’s customer reviews.

Five-star ADT Solar reviews

“[We] have had our system installed a little over 10 months and have had great luck with it. Our salesman was awesome and super straight forward [and] didn’t sell us a pipe dream. We have not had an electrical bill over 13 dollars yet. We are waiting on our state incentives and have already received our Federal Tax Credit. Great crew and sales staff. Communication took a day sometimes.” Eydra C. 3/20/2023

“The team doing the work installing the system on our tile roof was excellent in informing us as to problems encountered and resolved.” Charles P. 8/25/2022

One-star ADT Solar reviews

“I am writing to express my extreme frustration with the communication and permit process regarding a solar panel detach and reset as a roofing contractor on behalf of one of our clients. We signed up the homeowner in early December! and it has now been several months of delays and miscommunications that have significantly slowed down the process of replacing their roof.” Angel V. 5/4/2023

“ADT Solar is not to be trusted. I entered into a contract with them on 14 April 22. To date I am still not connected, or even producing any energy. Over a year I have been waiting on them to get permission.” Vernon W. 4/20/2023

How we evaluate solar companies

Reviewing solar companies in a hands-on way is difficult. Accounting for all the differences project to project is impossible. To provide a helpful review, we focused on what we can measure and meaningfully compare among companies.

We focus on three buckets of criteria: equipment, warranties and service. 

Within the equipment category, companies receive scores for the panels, inverters and batteries they install. Warranties include the guarantees on the panels, workmanship and weatherization against leaks. Companies earn points for service if they offer a price match, a meaningful level of price transparency and a well-rated app for monitoring solar production. They lose points if there are major issues pertaining to customer service (lawsuits, investigations or clear reputations for shoddy service). These issues will always be detailed in the review.

You can read a detailed look at how the scoring breaks down.

We don’t consider the average price of a company’s installations in their score. This information is difficult to find and hard to compare across service areas (and even roof to roof). Companies are often slow to disclose it, too. We also leave out easily found but not useful information like how many states a company operates in.

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