The right pest control provider depends on your individual needs. Based on our research of the best pest control businesses, Terminix and Aptive Environmental are among the top names in the industry. They both offer a range of pest control services and provide protection against common household pests. This guide compares each company’s plans, pricing, availability, and customer service to help you make a decision.

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Terminix vs. Aptive: Overview

Terminix is one of the biggest names in termite and general pest control, with more than 90 years of experience in the industry. Its team of licensed and insured technicians supports more than 2 million customers across the country. Terminix is staffed with leading pest specialists, including PhD-level entomologists. Customer service representatives are available 24/7 to handle requests and schedule a technician visit.

Aptive was founded in 2015 and offers customized treatments. It’s ranked as one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Best Companies in America and is a member of the EPA’s Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program, which helps raise awareness and reduce pesticide use. However, the company is facing lawsuits for aggressive sales tactics and allegedly using customers’ information without their consent.

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Terminix vs. Aptive: Plans

While do-it-yourself pest control can save you money, it’s not always as effective as hiring a professional. Because of this, it’s crucial to work with an experienced technician to develop a plan that’s specific to your home and pest control issues. Both Terminix and Aptive provide plans to protect your home’s interior and exterior against common household pests year-round.

Terminix Plans

Terminix pests covered: Moths, cockroaches, house ants, mice, rats, scorpions, silverfish, spiders (non-dangerous), centipedes, earwigs, house crickets, millipedes, paper wasps

• General pest control plan: This provides protection against common household pests. During the initial visit, a technician will complete a comprehensive inspection of the interior and exterior of your home, develop a customized plan, and treat the interior of your home. With this plan, you’ll have three follow-up exterior treatments, totaling four treatments each year.
• Termite treatments: Terminix provides treatment and preventative services for various types of termites, such as subterranean, drywood, and formosan termites. To start services, a technician will complete a free inspection inside and outside of your home, work to find signs of termite activity, and locate potential access points around your home.
• Bed bug treatments: Your technician will thoroughly inspect your beds, furniture, and linens to determine where the pests are living and breeding. They’ll then remove visible bed bugs and treat the area to eliminate pests and any eggs they may have left behind. Bed bug treatments from Terminix include steam or RapidFreeze, a fast-working and non-toxic solution.
• Mosquito services: Start with a complete yard inspection to build a customized treatment plan, which may include Quick Guard. This treatment starts working immediately to kill mosquitoes and reduce the mosquito population in your yard and creates a zone of long-lasting protection to keep them from coming back.
• Tick services: Your technician will provide you with tips and recommendations for preventing ticks in your yard and will use a combination of liquid and granular treatments. These begin working immediately to target ticks in your yard, including species like American dog ticks, black-legged ticks, brown dog ticks, lone star ticks, and soft ticks.

Aptive Plans

Aptive pests covered: Ants, roaches, crickets, earwigs, millipedes, biting insects, pantry pests, aphids, pill bugs, silverfish, rodents, spiders, fleas, stinging insects, snails

• General pest control plan: This is called the Four-Seasons Protection Plan. This annual plan starts with an initial visit, where a technician determines the areas of risk around your home and provides a customized quarterly treatment plan. When a technician comes to treat your home, they will generally treat the exterior of your home, but they can treat the inside of your home if necessary.

Aptive doesn’t provide a plan to protect against termites, beg bugs, mosquitoes, or ticks.

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Terminix vs. Aptive: Locations

Availability will vary depending where you live.

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Services from Terminix are available in 47 states. You can find a technician in all states except  Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Aptive Locations

Aptive is available in Washington D.C. and the following 24 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

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Terminix vs. Aptive: Cost

The cost of a pest control plan will vary depending on a variety of factors, including the type of pests that are invading your home, the severity of the infestation, the size of your home, and your location. For an accurate estimate that meets your home’s needs, request a free quote from your provider of choice.

Terminix Cost

General pest control services from Terminix start at $139 per quarter for homes under 3,999 square feet.

Aptive Cost

A pest control plan from Aptive ranges from $560 to $620 for 2,000-square-foot homes.

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Terminix vs. Aptive: Customer Reviews

Terminix and Aptive have mixed reviews online. Because it has many locations around the country, Terminix has multiple Better Business Bureau (BBB) profiles that vary in ratings from D to A+. While many reviews are positive and reflect a stellar team of service technicians, other reviews mention trouble with management and customer service representatives.

Aptive is BBB-accredited and holds an A- rating. Customer reviews mentioned good communication with the company, as well as  friendly and punctual technicians. However, customers have reported issues with spam calling and other aggressive sales tactics, and the company has an alleged history of recording phone calls without customers’ consent.

Terminix Reviews

“Excellent service, wonderful service policies. We’ve had them take care of our desert home needs for 15 years and never regretted the decision. Best in the business. Our technician, Kevin, is like family. HE is the best in the business!” —Debra U.

“We had a terrible experience with this company, [and] they ended up costing us hundreds of dollars to repair the mole damage they were paid to prevent. They were unresponsive when they were called about the problem, didn’t show up for 3 weeks, and even then did not get rid of the mole. We had to call back and wait again for someone to come out, requesting it not be the same incompetent guy. The manager came out and took care of it, but the damage was done. This same [scenario] happened more than once.”—Shelby U.

Aptive Reviews

“We have been using Aptive for a couple years now and have always been happy with their service! [Our technician] came by today for our quarterly treatment and took the time to address an issue we’re having with mice, too. Nice to have someone go above and beyond on such a cold day!”—Christine B.

“Shortly after Aptive sprayed our house, our dog became sick and has been vomiting for two days. Has anyone else had this problem? We have asked to cancel our contract so that we do not put our dog at risk, but they say that they will charge us a penalty unless we can prove that our dog was poisoned by their chemicals. We cannot prove this. All we want is to cancel the rest of our contract. We paid for the first two sprayings.”—Allan B.

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Terminix vs. Aptive: Verdict

Either Terminix or Aptive could be a good fit for your needs. Terminix provides more comprehensive services and is available in more states than Aptive. It’s also a trusted name in pest control that has decades of experience treating thousands of homes across the country.

Aptive is known for its customizable treatments and commitment to giving back to the community. Its pest control plan covers common household pests, but it lacks coverage for termites, bed bugs, mosquitoes, and ticks all of which can be difficult to manage on your own. The company is also facing lawsuits for aggressive sales tactics and alleged misuse of customer information.

If you’re interested in getting started with Terminix, call the company at 866-569-4035 or fill out this form for a free quote.

Our Rating Methodology

We back up our pest control recommendations with a detailed rating methodology that we use to objectively score each provider. We review pest control plans, navigate the provider website, speak with customer service representatives by phone and online chat (if available), request quotes, and analyze customer reviews for each provider. We then score the provider against our review standards for plans and services, reputation and customer responses, customer service offerings, workmanship guarantees, financing, and availability to arrive at a final score on a 5-point rating scale.

To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.