Evolv Pricing 2026: How Much Does Evolv Express Cost? Real Line Items From a Public School District Pricing Sheet, Why the "$2,500 a Month" Figure Is Misleading, and What a Weapons Screening Lane Actually Costs
Evolv does not publish list pricing, so almost every number online traces back to the same rough estimate: about $2,500 per month per scanner, roughly $120,000 over a four-year contract. A pricing sheet filed as a public board document by Buffalo Public Schools (New York) shows what that average hides. On that sheet a single indoor lane came to $78,810 all-in over four years, while a dual-lane outdoor unit came to $153,290. Here are the actual line items.
How Much Does Evolv Express Cost?
The number repeated all over the web is that Evolv costs about $2,500 per month per scanner, or roughly $120,000 across a four-year contract. It is a useful ballpark and nothing more. The Buffalo Public Schools pricing sheet, filed publicly under RFP 22-0623E5-119 and quoted by the reseller Ink Labs, breaks the same product into four configurations, and the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive is enormous: $78,810 for a single indoor lane over four years, and $153,290 for a dual-lane outdoor unit over the same term. One of those is well under the rule of thumb and the other is well over it.
Run the arithmetic on the sheet and the monthly picture gets clearer. $78,810 spread over 48 months works out to about $1,642 per month for one indoor lane. $153,290 over the same 48 months works out to about $3,194 per month for a dual outdoor lane. So the "$2,500 a month" figure is only accurate for the middle of the range. It is not a price, it is an average of two very different products.
What moves the number is not negotiation skill or software tiers. It is two configuration choices: lane count, and indoor versus outdoor. Nothing else comes close.
The honest caveat: these are one district's negotiated reseller figures from a public procurement, not a current national list price. Evolv does not publish list pricing. Your real number comes from Evolv or an authorized reseller and will move with configuration, contract term, and volume. Treat the sheet below as the most concrete public anchor available, not as a quote.
One more thing belongs on any page about what Evolv costs, because it goes to the contract you would be signing. In November 2024 the Federal Trade Commission announced an action against Evolv Technologies over what it alleged were unsupported claims about the system's AI-powered weapons screening, including claims about detection accuracy, false alarm rates, and scanning speed relative to traditional metal detectors. The Commission vote was 5 to 0. Under the proposed settlement Evolv is barred from making those unsupported claims, and, most relevant to a buyer, it was required to let certain K-12 school customers who signed contracts between April 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023 cancel out of them. That matters here because the standard commercial term in this category is a four year lock-in, which is a long time to carry a line item this size. If you are a school district that signed in that window, ask about your cancellation right before you renew. Our Evolv weapons detection alternative guide covers the FTC complaint in more detail.
Figures from the Buffalo Public Schools RFP 22-0623E5-119 pricing sheet, a public board document. One district's negotiated reseller pricing, not a national list price.
The Buffalo Public Schools Evolv Pricing Sheet
This is the closest thing to a public Evolv price list that exists. It was submitted to Buffalo Public Schools under RFP 22-0623E5-119 and became a public board document. The header on the sheet reads "Purchase, Subscription, 48 Months" and states that "All prices include installation & setup." Four configurations are quoted, each with a hardware purchase SKU and a matching four-year software and services subscription SKU.
| Configuration | Hardware purchase | Software & services, 4 years | Total contract | Software per year after year 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evolv Express Single Lane, Indoor, Wireless 101-00303-01-WS-HP / 101-00303-01-SS |
$28,650 | $50,160 | $78,810 | $12,540 |
| Single Lane, Outdoor, Wireless 101-00305-01-WS-HP / 101-00305-01-SS |
$38,150 | $54,720 | $92,870 | $13,680 |
| Dual Lane, Indoor, Wireless 101-00207-01-WS-HP / 101-00207-01-SS |
$57,150 | $82,080 | $139,230 | $20,520 |
| Dual Lane, Outdoor, Wireless 101-00308-01-WS-HP / 101-00308-01-SS |
$66,650 | $86,640 | $153,290 | $21,660 |
Three things worth pulling out of that table. First, hardware is a minority of the bill: on the single indoor lane, $28,650 of hardware carries $50,160 of software and services behind it. Second, the contract does not end at year four. The rightmost column is what the district keeps paying annually after the initial term, $12,540 to $21,660, and that is the line that quietly compounds. Third, installation and setup are stated as included, so these totals are genuinely all-in rather than a hardware price waiting to have labor bolted on.
Subscribe or Buy: How Evolv Structures the Contract
Evolv's standard offering, per its own site and FAQ, is a four-year subscription for Evolv Express that covers hardware, software, and 24/7 service and support in one agreement. Customers can also buy the hardware outright, which is what the Buffalo sheet does. The catch either way is the same: an active Software and Services subscription is required to use the hardware. There is no version of this where you buy the unit and stop paying.
The four-year subscription
- ● Evolv's standard offering for Express
- ● Hardware, software, and 24/7 service and support in one line
- ● Predictable annual budget instead of a large capital hit
- ● Support and software updates run for the life of the term
- ● Best when you cannot get capital dollars approved
Hardware purchase plus subscription
- ● Buy the unit outright, as Buffalo did, $28,650 to $66,650
- ● A Software and Services subscription is still required to use it
- ● Software renews annually after year 4, $12,540 to $21,660
- ● Suits grant or bond funding that must be spent on capital
- ● Owning the box does not remove the recurring cost
Count the lanes
This is the single biggest cost driver. A dual-lane unit on the Buffalo sheet costs roughly double a single lane: $139,230 versus $78,810 indoors over four years. Lane count is set by how many people have to pass through in the peak minute, so it is really a throughput decision.
Indoor or outdoor
Outdoor hardening added about $9,500 to the hardware line in both cases on the sheet, taking a single lane from $28,650 to $38,150 and a dual lane from $57,150 to $66,650. It raises the software and services line too, so the all-in gap is roughly $14,000 per unit.
Pick the funding shape
Subscribe and the hardware is folded into the term. Purchase the hardware and you still carry a mandatory Software and Services subscription. Districts and venues usually pick based on whether their money is capital or operating, not on which is cheaper.
Budget the year-five cliff
The four-year figure is not the end of it. After the initial term the software renews annually, $12,540 for a single indoor lane up to $21,660 for a dual outdoor lane. Over ten years that recurring line outgrows the hardware you bought.
One detail worth knowing before you negotiate: every Evolv customer gets the MyEvolv Portal and Evolv Insights analytics, with unlimited user licenses at no extra cost. So the software line on the sheet is not a per-seat charge you can shrink by cutting logins. It is a per-lane charge, and the only way to lower it is to deploy fewer lanes.
What Evolv Costs Per Month, and Why "$2,500" Is the Wrong Answer
Dividing each total contract value on the Buffalo sheet by its 48-month term gives an effective monthly cost per configuration. This is our own arithmetic on the district's numbers, not a payment plan Evolv quotes.
| Configuration | Total over 48 months | Effective per month | Versus the "$2,500" rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single lane, indoor | $78,810 | About $1,642 | Roughly a third cheaper than the figure everyone quotes |
| Single lane, outdoor | $92,870 | About $1,935 | Still below the rule of thumb |
| Dual lane, indoor | $139,230 | About $2,901 | Above it, and this is a common school configuration |
| Dual lane, outdoor | $153,290 | About $3,194 | Nearly 28 percent above the figure everyone quotes |
Read down that "effective per month" column and the problem with the popular number is obvious. Quoting $2,500 as "the price of Evolv" is quoting the midpoint of a spread nearly two to one wide, then presenting it as precision. If you are writing a board memo, price your actual configuration, not the internet's average. For the wider category, our guide to gun detection system cost covers how screening lanes, camera-based detection, and monitoring services price against each other, and our Actuate AI pricing guide covers the software-only side of the market.
Camera Software Is Not a Substitute for a Screening Lane
We make AI video analytics software, so we have an obvious incentive to tell you Evolv is expensive and we are cheap. We are not going to do that, because for the job Evolv actually does, we are not an alternative at all.
Evolv Express is a walk-through weapons screening system. It is physical hardware installed at an entry point, and it detects concealed weapons on people as they walk through it. That is the whole product. Surveillant is camera software, and it cannot do that. AI running on a security camera can only see a weapon once the weapon is visible. A pistol under a jacket is invisible to a camera, and no amount of model quality changes that. It is a physics limit, not a feature gap.
So if your requirement is stopping a concealed gun at the door of a stadium, school, or hospital, a walk-through system like Evolv does a job camera software cannot do, and the $78,810 to $153,290 you are looking at is the price of doing it. Anyone selling you camera analytics as a replacement for entry screening is either confused or hoping you are.
Where software fits is everything the lane does not cover, which is most of your property. A school with two lanes at the front door still has parking lots, loading docks, corridors, and a perimeter with no screening at all, and it usually already has cameras pointed at all of them. That is the gap: AI gun detection and weapons detection AI on cameras you already own, for visibly carried weapons, plus general analytics on the same feeds.
Our pricing is public: Plus is $42 per camera per month, Pro is $39 per camera per month, and a free forever plan covers one camera. Be careful comparing those figures to Evolv's. Per-lane screening hardware and per-camera software are different budget lines, and dividing one by the other produces a meaningless ratio. Most organizations that can afford screening lanes run both.
Hardware at one entry point. Detects a weapon hidden under clothing or in a bag as a person walks through.
Software on existing cameras. Sees a weapon once it is drawn or carried in the open, anywhere a camera looks.
Parking lots, loading docks, corridors, perimeters. No screening lane will ever be installed there.
| Factor | Evolv Express | Camera AI software (Surveillant) |
|---|---|---|
| What it detects | Concealed weapons on people entering | Visible weapons, plus people, vehicles, and behavior |
| Coverage | The screening lane, and nothing else | Every camera on the property, indoors and out |
| Hardware | Physical unit at the entrance, $28,650 to $66,650 | None. Runs on the ONVIF and RTSP cameras you own |
| Pricing basis | Per lane, four-year term, software renews after | Per camera, per month, cancel any time |
| Published pricing | No list price. Quote via Evolv or a reseller | Public: $42 (Plus), $39 (Pro), free plan for 1 camera |
| Best for | Stopping a concealed weapon at a controlled entrance | Watching everywhere there is no entrance to control |
The two are complementary, not competing. If you are also evaluating conventional camera platforms alongside a screening deployment, our Verkada pricing guide covers what a full hardware-plus-license camera stack runs, and our own pricing page shows exactly what adding analytics to cameras you already have costs.
Evolv Pricing: Questions
How much does Evolv Express cost?
On the Buffalo Public Schools pricing sheet (RFP 22-0623E5-119), a single indoor lane totalled $78,810 over four years, including installation, and a dual-lane outdoor unit totalled $153,290. Outdoor single lane was $92,870 and dual indoor was $139,230. Those are one district's negotiated reseller figures, not a national list price.
Does Evolv publish its pricing?
No. Evolv does not publish list pricing, which is why the same rough estimate of about $2,500 per month per scanner gets repeated everywhere. The concrete figures available to the public come from procurement documents like the Buffalo school district sheet. Your real number comes from Evolv or an authorized reseller.
Can you buy Evolv outright instead of subscribing?
You can buy the hardware outright, and Buffalo did, at $28,650 to $66,650 depending on lanes and indoor versus outdoor. But an active Software and Services subscription is required to use the hardware, so buying does not end the recurring cost. Evolv's standard offering is still a four-year subscription covering hardware, software, and support.
How much is Evolv per month?
Dividing the Buffalo totals by the 48-month term gives about $1,642 per month for one indoor lane and about $3,194 per month for a dual outdoor lane. The widely quoted $2,500 per month sits in the middle of that range, so it overstates a small indoor deployment and understates a large outdoor one.
What does the Evolv subscription include?
The standard four-year subscription for Evolv Express covers the hardware, the software, and 24/7 service and support in one agreement. Every customer also gets the MyEvolv Portal and Evolv Insights analytics, with unlimited user licenses at no extra cost. On the Buffalo sheet, installation and setup were included in the quoted prices.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Evolv?
Not for concealed weapons screening at an entrance. Other walk-through vendors exist, but camera software is not a substitute for that job. What is cheaper is covering the rest of your property: AI analytics on the ONVIF and RTSP cameras you already own runs $39 to $42 per camera per month, with a free plan for one camera.
Can security cameras detect concealed weapons?
No. A camera can only see what is visible, so AI running on camera feeds detects a weapon once it is drawn or carried openly, not one hidden under a jacket or in a bag. Detecting concealed weapons requires sensing hardware at a screening lane. Camera AI and walk-through screening solve different problems and are commonly deployed together.
Related Solutions and Guides
Gun Detection System Cost
What screening lanes, camera AI, and monitoring services each cost.
Actuate AI Pricing
Per-camera pricing for software-only gun and intrusion detection.
Weapons Detection AI
Spot a visible weapon on existing cameras and alert in seconds.
AI Gun Detection
Firearm detection on the ONVIF and RTSP cameras you already own.
Verkada Pricing
Camera, license, and cloud costs for a full hardware stack.
Surveillant Pricing
$39 to $42 per camera per month, plus a free plan for one camera.
A Screening Lane Watches One Door
Surveillant adds AI detection and alerts to the ONVIF and RTSP cameras you already own, across the parking lots, corridors, and perimeters no screening lane will ever reach. Start free on one camera, or $39 to $42 per camera per month after that.
Works with the IP cameras you already own. No credit card required to start.