Best No Subscription GPS Trackers: Top No Monthly Fee GPS

Whether you’re looking for GPS trackers to monitor business assets or to keep an eye on loved ones, you might not need the devices operating every day throughout the year.

For example, service businesses like HVAC repair or construction companies often find that business slows down during certain seasons. Families that want a GPS tracker for their children’s backpacks during the school year might not need the service during the summer.

That’s why the pricing plan you sign up for can significantly affect the overall value you get from your GPS tracking solution. You don’t want to commit upfront to a multi-year GPS contract and then realize a few months into the agreement that you won’t need the service for several months at a time.

In this guide, we’ll discuss what we believe is the most customer-friendly plan available: no subscription GPS trackers. We’ll walk you through some common use cases where it makes sense to choose a GPS plan that doesn’t require a subscription. We’ll crunch the numbers to show you why a no-subscription plan can give you the greatest ROI from your GPS tracking service.

Important Features to Look for in GPS Tracker Without Subscription

Tracking your company’s assets or loved ones without committing to a long-term contract is an enormous benefit. But getting this cost-saving benefit shouldn’t require sacrificing valuable GPS tracking functionality. (If you choose one of the best-in-class providers below, you won’t need to.)

Here are some key features you should always demand from your GPS tracking solution.

1. Real-time tracking

Whether you need to monitor your business’s fleet to help your dispatchers coordinate service calls more efficiently or tracking new teen driver, you’ll want to know their locations down to the minute.

That’s why you should insist on a GPS tracker that frequently sends you updates on your drivers’ locations (and driving behaviour).

Ideally, you’ll want a GPS tracking solution that can update you every minute or even every few seconds.

2. Geofencing

Another valuable GPS tracking feature you should demand is geofencing capability.

A geofence is a digital geographical boundary you can draw using the map function in your GPS tracking solution.

The boundary might be the construction site where your company works and keeps its trucks and heavy machinery parked overnight. Or, if you’ve placed a GPS tracker in your child’s backpack, you might draw a geofence around their school or daycare facility.

If one of your tracking devices moves outside the geofence you’ve created, your GPS tracking solution can immediately email or text you an alert.

Because this feature is helpful for personal safety and protecting your business assets against theft, you should make geofencing capability a must-have feature from your GPS vendor.

3. Long battery life

If you opt for GPS devices that run on batteries (magnetic GPS trackers, for example), you’ll also want to compare the battery life of the various providers’ devices.

The battery powering a magnetic GPS tracker can last as little as a few weeks or as long as several months. Having to remove the tracker more frequently so you can recharge its battery will undermine the convenience that probably led you to choose the magnetic device in the first place.

4. Weather resistance

Finally, a vital component of a good GPS tracker is its ability to function under any conditions.

Harsh weather like rain can stop a non-weather-resistant GPS device from capturing and reporting the data you’re counting on. So, make sure the GPS tracker you select can stand up to the elements and keep functioning.

9 GPS Trackers Companies That Don’t Require a Subscription

Let’s get specific. Here are nine providers offering GPS tracking solutions that don’t require a contract.

1. Brickhouse Security GPS Tracker for Vehicles No Monthly Fee

Brickhouse Security GPS Tracker for vehicles offers robust tracking without a monthly fee, making it an economical choice for vehicle monitoring. It features real-time location updates and a user-friendly interface, ideal for both personal and professional use.

• REAL-TIME SURVEILLANCE WITH 1-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION: This GPS tracking devices comes with a one-year subscription plan. Brickhouse Security's car tracker device is an ideal choice for monitoring the location of your loved ones or assets in real-time.
  
• INTERNATIONAL TRACKING WITH FULL 4G LTE COVERAGE: Our GPS tracker offers coverage across the entire 4G LTE cellular networks worldwide extending its capability to seamless international tracking. Unlock access to a comprehensive range of features tailored to enhance your experience and ensure seamless operation globally. With this feature, you can confidently monitor your assets, loved ones, and valuable possessions with ease and precision even when abroad.
  
• CONVENIENT PORTABLE GPS TRACKER: Our small tracking device is super handy and slim! With a size of 3 x 1.58 x 1 inch, and a weight of 9.1 ounces, these hidden GPS tracking devices can be considered lightweight and compact.

2. Moto Watchdog’s GPS Tracker for Vehicles

Moto Watchdog's GPS Tracker for vehicles provides efficient and reliable real-time tracking without subscription fees, ideal for vehicle security and management. It's designed for ease of use and is perfect for both personal and business applications, offering a cost-effective solution for monitoring vehicle movements.

3. Tunaves’ GPS Tracker for Vehicles

Tunaves GPS Tracker for vehicles is a mini magnetic real-time car locator offering full USA coverage without a monthly fee. It is designed for long standby time and is suitable for tracking vehicles, personal items, or even individuals discreetly and efficiently.

4. Morngree’s Mini-Magnetic Car Locator

Morngree Mini-Magnetic Car Locator is a compact, hidden GPS tracker ideal for vehicles, offering real-time tracking and no monthly fees. It features a powerful magnet for easy attachment and is perfect for discreet surveillance of cars and assets.

5. Oldores’ Mini-GPS Tracker for Vehicles

Oldores Mini-GPS Tracker for vehicles offers a robust no-subscription solution with strong magnetic attachment, making it ideal for anti-theft and real-time tracking applications. It is especially valued for its compact size and ease of use, providing discreet yet effective vehicle monitoring.

6. OPTIMUS’ GB130M GPS Tracker for Vehicles

OPTIMUS GB130M GPS Tracker for vehicles features easy installation directly on a car's battery, providing reliable, real-time tracking without the need for frequent battery changes. This device offers a low-cost subscription plan, making it a practical choice for long-term vehicle monitoring.

7. NGXDFL’s GPS Vehicle Tracker

NGXDFL GPS Vehicle Tracker offers real-time tracking and multi-vehicle management capabilities, making it suitable for both personal and fleet use. It features a strong magnetic base for secure attachment and comes with a user-friendly app for easy monitoring and control.

8. Vebiso’s Real-Time GPS Tracker for Vehicles

Vebiso Real-Time GPS Tracker for vehicles ensures constant monitoring with real-time location updates, suitable for both personal and business vehicles. This device is praised for its accuracy and reliability, providing peace of mind through enhanced vehicle security.

9. Family1st No Monthly GPS Tracker

Family1st No Monthly GPS Tracker is a compact and discreet device offering real-time tracking for vehicles, kids, and elderly without a monthly fee. It is praised for its long battery life and effectiveness in preserving the safety of loved ones and valuables continuously .

Use Cases for No Monthly fee GPS Trackers

As noted above, there are some common GPS tracking scenarios, both business and personal, when opting for a no-subscription service plan makes sense. Here are a few of these use cases.

1. Company vehicle tracking

If you run a landscaping or AC repair company in a cold climate region, business slows during winter. In that case, you shouldn’t pay the full monthly fee to keep all of your vehicles’ GPS trackers active. After all, many of them might spend the cold months sitting in your business’s parking lot.

If you’ve chosen GPS trackers without a subscription, this won’t be a problem. You can ask your provider to deactivate some of your trackers for the winter. If you’re paying month to month, you can also pay to keep a few of your trucks’ GPS devices running and not pay for the rest until business picks up again.

2. Personal vehicle tracking

If you have a new young driver in the home and want to keep an eye on their movements, you might want to buy a small, discreet tracker and install it in the car they’ll be driving. A great option here is a magnetic GPS device, which you can quickly slap onto the car’s undercarriage or beneath the seats, where it will be undetected.

But in this scenario, you should use GPS tracking data only for a few months until you gain confidence that your new driver behaves safely on the road and no longer needs monitoring. In this case, you won’t want to be locked into a multi-year GPS tracking contract. You’ll want to pay a month (or at most a few months) at a time and be able to stop paying as soon as you’re ready.

3. Tracking loved ones

Your young child may be going to a month-long summer camp. Or perhaps an elderly relative is going on an overseas vacation for the first time in years.

In these cases, you might want a GPS tracker that you can activate for a relatively short time and then turn off when you no longer need to monitor your loved one’s whereabouts minute by minute. Here’s another example of when you’ll find it ideal to sign up for a no-commitment GPS tracking service that you can turn on and off as needed.

4. Pet tracking

Imagine spending part of your summer in a rental home, and you and your family are bringing your dog.

To ensure your dog can enjoy the vacation as well and your family doesn’t risk him wandering off, you might want to buy a small GPS tracker that you can attach to his collar or harness.

You’ll want to make sure the tracking device can send you the pup’s location over a long range, just in case he wanders off. And of course, you’ll want to make sure the device is waterproof so you can find and rescue the poor thing even if he gets lost in bad weather.

However, you should also opt for a GPS tracker that doesn’t require a long-term contract—or any type of contract.

When you return from vacation, you can remove the tracker from your dog’s collar, stop paying for the month-to-month service, and keep the tracking device handy in case you need to sign up for a new month of tracking for some other reason, like monitoring your new teen driver.

How a GPS Tracker Without Subscription Can Save You Money

At first glance, some GPS trackers seem so much less expensive than their competitors that they appear to be the obvious choice. But the details of the contract can make all the difference in how much you’ll be paying over the life of your GPS tracking plan.

So, let’s look at the numbers of two standard pricing models.

If you focus only on the first three fields above, the subscription-based GPS solution is the better deal. Many new buyers will focus almost exclusively on the $0 device cost. But the trackers are “free” only because the GPS provider knows they’ll lock the buyer into a three-year subscription commitment.

Let’s assume you need a device’s tracking services for only 10 months. After those 10 months, you’re ready to stop collecting the data from the tracker, at least for the time being. What would your total cost commitment be to each company at that point?

As you can see, a GPS service that requires a long-term commitment will eventually cost almost twice what you’d pay for a no-subscription GPS tracker.

Those cost savings aren’t evident at first glance, mainly when focusing only on the two visible prices: cost per device and monthly fee. But when you factor in the months or even years that you’re committing to pay, your overall cost goes way up, and the overall return on your investment in GPS tracking can fall significantly.

Start Tracking Your Most Valuable Assets Now

We hope this guide gives you a clearer picture of the advantages of signing up for a GPS tracker without a subscription and some of the best-in-class providers offering no-commitment GPS tracking services.

If you’d like more help customizing a no-subscription GPS tracking for your needs, contact a BrickHouse Security Sales Consultant: 800-654-7966