How to Cancel ADT & 4 Ways to Avoid the Termination Fee

You've made up your mind to leave ADT. Now you want to know how to actually do it, what it's going to cost you, and, if you're still under contract, how much the termination fee is or whether there's a way to get out without paying it.

I went through the fine print in my own signed ADT contract so you don't have to. Below is everything you need to know, with screenshots of each clause. So you will be prepared to when it comes time to cancel.

Quick links:

• How to cancel ADT step by step
• Can you cancel online or without calling?
• How long ADT contracts last?
• How much is the cancellation fee and how it's calculated
• 4 ways to avoid the termination fee
• The 3 day right to cancel
• Do I keep my ADT equipment after cancelling?

How To Cancel ADT Service Step By Step

Here's the order to do it in:

1. Find your contract and check the date you signed and the length of the initial term. It's on page 1 under "Your Service Contract Term".

2. Call ADT at 800.238.2727. If you're under contract, you may need to pay an early termination fee. Skip to 4 ways to avoid the termination fee

3. Tell the rep you want to cancel and the date you want the service to end.

4. If you're under contract, ask for the final amount, including any termination charge and equipment balance, and get a confirmation number.

5. Send a cancellation letter the same week and keep a copy.

6. Check your next bank or card statement to make sure the billing stopped.

That number is the one printed in paragraph 2 of my contract: "I may terminate my service by calling ADT at 800.238.2727 (1-800-ADT-ASAP)." As far as my contract is concerned, that call is the ADT cancellation process. The rest of this guide is about making the call go the way you want it to.

There a lots of phone numbers floating around to cancel ADT on the internet. This number 800.238.2727 is the one that came from the fine print in my agreement.

What To Have Ready Before You Call

Have the following details ready before you call ADT:

• Your ADT account details. This includes your account number, the name the account is registered in, your home address and phone number.
• Your ADT contract. It will be a digital copy via docusign

If you can't find your copy of the contract, ask the rep to read you the term and the start date before you say anything else.

What To Expect On The Cancellation Call

When you call to cancel ADT, expect the rep to try to keep you before anything gets processed. Expect a range of offers and discounts designed to change your mind.

Eventually, you'll get through to a regular customer service rep. You'll be asked some questions to verify you are a genuine ADT customer. You can then ask about the charge for canceling your contract, if one applies.

Just because you ask them to cancel over the phone doesn't mean it's over. You'll be expected to send it in writing which I cover more in detail below.

You need to give a minimum of 30 days notice when you cancel ADT. However, your contract will end on the last day of your current contract term. So don't expect the service, or the billing, to stop the day you call.

Decide before you dial whether a lower price would change your mind. If it wouldn't, say so once and move on. If a discount would keep you, ask whether accepting it changes your contract term, and get that in writing too.

Follow Up With Written Notice

Page 5, paragraph 4 of the ADT contract says that if you don't give ADT the required written termination notice, it can withhold 30 days of service charges from any refund it owes you. It's not a huge amount of money, but there's no reason to give it away, so send the letter.

The contract doesn't give a template, so I'd keep the cancellation letter short and factual:

• Your name, service address, and account number
• A clear statement that you are terminating the service
• The date you want the service to end, at least 30 days out
• A request for written confirmation of the end date and any charges

Keep a copy and note when you sent it. If you pay for ADT's Quality Service Plan, it renews in its own 30 day terms and needs its own 30 days notice in writing, so name it in the letter too.

Can You Cancel ADT Online Or Without Calling?

Not with a professionally installed system. The ADT contract names one way to cancel after the first three days: calling 800.238.2727. It doesn't mention an online cancellation process at all. It does require written notice of termination, which you send after the call.

The contract never mentions the app or the ADT website. The closest thing to canceling ADT without calling is mailing your termination letter at least 30 days before the end of your current term. Since the contract names the phone call as the way to terminate, do both: call, then mail the letter the same day. The one time the written route stands on its own is the 3 day window, covered further down.

How Long Are ADT Contracts?

The contract terms are the same for everyone, but the length of the initial term isn't. It depends on how you paid for the equipment and where you live, and it's printed on page 1 under "Your Service Contract Term." Generally it's either 12 or 36 months.

The screenshots below are from my account: 12 months at $47.99 a month, or 12 payments totaling $575.88.

The length comes down to how you paid for the equipment. Pay for it upfront, like I did, and the agreement is a 12 month minimum. Finance the equipment and it's a 36 month agreement, with the equipment cost rolled into your monthly bill, and you keep the service as long as there's a balance on the equipment. ADT used to lock everyone into three years, which is where the "adt 3 year contract" searches come from. If you signed back then, or you financed, 36 months is probably what you're dealing with.

Does The Contract Automatically Renew?

Yes ADT contract auto-renews, but only month to month.

Page 2 says the initial term "renews month to month thereafter," and page 5, paragraph 1A says it renews automatically in 30 day terms unless you or ADT give at least 30 days' notice before the end of the current term.

When you do terminate, the contract ends on the last day of the then current term, so the timing of your notice decides whether you pay for one more month. And the renewal is automatic. Page 1 says it in plainer words: you're charged every month "until you cancel with at least 30 days' advance notice to ADT."

Prepaying doesn't get you out of anything either. Page 3 says that if you prepay the total of payments before the end of the initial term, "there is no penalty or refund." Paying off the term is allowed. It just doesn't end the agreement.

ADT Cancellation Fee And Early Termination Fee

If you cancel your ADT security system during the initial term of your contract, you'll be charged 75% of the total remaining monthly service charges. This amount is "payable immediately in full."

ADT refers to this as a "contract termination charge" and explicitly states that it "is not a penalty." If ADT cancels your contract during the initial term because you've violated the terms of the contract, for example by failing to pay your monthly bill, you'll be hit with the same charge.

The "is not a penalty" line made me laugh. Whatever ADT calls it, it's money you pay to leave, and it's due all at once. The one thing in its favor is that it's 75% of what's left, and the contract frames it as "an alternative to me having to pay the full remaining charges."

How The Early Termination Charge Is Calculated

The formula is 0.75 x months left x your monthly service charge. Say you're on a 12 month term at $47.99 a month, which is what I pay, and you cancel with 6 months left. That's 0.75 x 6 x $47.99 = $215.96.

Here is the termination charge you would pay, based on a $47.99 per month service charge, at various points during a 12 month ADT contract:

Months Left In Contract	Termination Charge (75% of what's left)
11	$396.92
9	$323.93
6	$215.96
3	$107.98
1	$35.99
0 (month to month)	$0

The same formula applies to a longer agreement, and that's where it hurts. At $47.99 a month, 24 months left on a 36 month contract is 0.75 x 24 x $47.99, or $863.82. Plug in your own number from page 3. And since prepaying the remaining months costs 100% of them, terminating at 75% is the cheaper way out if the price is why you're leaving.

If you paid a security deposit when you first set up your ADT account, any remaining deposit will be refunded within 45 days after your service ends, less any amounts you owe ADT, including any termination charges. Note that ADT doesn't refund any credits of $5 or less.

How To Cancel ADT Without Penalty

Searches for "loopholes to get out of an ADT contract" are popular, and I understand why. Unfortunately there are none. But not all hope should be lost. There are a few ways depending on your situation where you can combat the early termination fee.

There are 4 legitimate ways to get out of your contract without paying the 75% termination charge.

1. Object To A Price Increase

After the first year of your contract, ADT can increase your monthly service charge. If you object to the increase within 30 days of ADT sending you notice, and ADT refuses to waive the increase, you can terminate your contract effective 30 days after ADT receives your notice. No termination charge applies.

This is the one I'd watch for on a 36 month agreement. ADT has "the right to increase the service charge at any time after the first year." If that notice arrives, you have 30 days to object, and if ADT won't waive the increase, you can leave with no termination charge. So read your bills.

2. Military Relocation

The termination charge is waived for active military personnel who can provide proof of military service and orders to relocate from the home where the ADT system is installed.

A regular move doesn't qualify. The relocation waiver covers active military personnel with proof of service and orders, and nothing in the contract waives the charge for anyone else. Getting the early termination fee waived outside these four situations comes down to asking, and the contract doesn't guarantee ADT will say yes.

3. Wait Until You're Month To Month

No termination charge applies if you cancel during the 30 day renewal periods that follow the initial contract term. This is the route most people will take.

The contract says no termination charges are due if you terminate "during the thirty (30)-day renewal period(s)." It doesn't say whether notice given in the last 30 days of the initial term counts as terminating during that term. The safe play is to let the initial term finish and cancel inside a renewal period, which may cost you one extra month. Ask the rep that exact question and get the answer in writing.

4. When ADT Cancels For Its Own Reasons

If ADT has to cancel your contract for reasons such as its monitoring center being damaged, or it can no longer maintain the signal connection between your home and the monitoring center, ADT will refund any advance payments and no termination charge applies. You can't make this happen, but if it does, don't let anyone bill you a termination charge for it.

Don't Just Stop Paying

If you try to get out of your contract by simply stopping paying your monthly service charge, ADT can end your contract and charge the 75% termination charge, after giving you 10 days notice to fix the problem. But ADT can go further: It can demand the entire remaining balance of your contract, not just 75%, in one lump sum, plus any costs it incurs trying to collect the money, plus interest. Finally, ADT can report you to the credit bureaus. Don't stop paying!

ADT's 3 Day Right To Cancel

Within 3 business days of signing your contract, you have the right to cancel "without any penalty or obligation." Saturdays count as business days. I signed on 1/28/2026, for example, so my deadline was midnight on 1/31/2026, a Saturday.

If you live in Alaska you have 5 business days to cancel. New York state residents have 7 business days to cancel a personal emergency response unit and Alabama residents have 30 business days to cancel an alarm or locking system if the buyer is 75 years or older.

To cancel during this right to cancel period, either call 800.327.4348, a different number to ADT's main line, or mail or deliver the provided Cancellation Form, or any other written notice of cancellation, to the ADT sales office. The address is printed on the form. In my case it was an office in Aurora, CO, attention "Sales Manager".

Once ADT receives your notice, it will refund any payments you made within 10 business days. You need to make your ADT equipment available at your home, in "substantially as good condition as when received," or, if ADT requests, you need to ship the equipment back to ADT at ADT's expense. If ADT fails to pick up the equipment within 20 days of receiving your cancellation notice, you can keep the equipment or get rid of it. You have no further obligation to ADT.

This is the one guaranteed no-cost exit in the whole contract, and it's short. If you signed within the last three business days and you're having second thoughts, make that call today, then mail the form anyway so there's a paper trail.

What Happens To The ADT Equipment after I cancel?

The contract states that after your contract ends, ADT can remove, disable or even "abandon" its equipment in your home. More often than not, you keep the equipment after cancelling.

You get to keep the cameras too. The Nest cameras ADT installs aren't locked to ADT, so if you cancel they keep working through the Google Home app.

Looking for a replacement? Here is my top Recomendation

If you still want home security after canceling ADT, take a look at my list of the best ADT alternatives. The company I recommend is Vivint. It has everything the ADT system has, plus better cameras and a better app, and it's month to month if you pay for the equipment upfront. Monitoring starts at $29.99 a month. After going through this, that month to month part is the one I'd care about most, because it means you never have to do this again. You can get a quote from Vivint here, and the alternatives article makes the full case.

> > Vivint Promo: $0 Activation with Professional Installation or call (833) 606-2573