Heating Cost Calculator: Gas vs Electric vs Wood vs Pellet

Natural gas is the cheapest common way to heat in 2026: about $16 per million BTU through a newer furnace at this winter’s average price. Electric resistance heat, which includes every plug-in electric fireplace, is the most expensive at about $55. Wood, pellets, and propane land in between. Enter your local prices below and see the ranking for your house, not the national average one.

How we compare fuels fairly

Everything converts to dollars per million BTU delivered into the room: fuel price divided by heat content, divided by appliance efficiency. Efficiency matters as much as fuel price. A wood stove sends 30 percent of the fire up the flue, a modern gas furnace wastes 10 percent, and electric resistance heat delivers all of it.

Fuel	Heat content	Efficiency used
Natural gas	100,000 BTU per therm	90% furnace, 75% fireplace insert
Electricity	3,412 BTU per kWh	100% (resistance heat)
Seasoned hardwood	About 20 million BTU per cord	70% (EPA-certified stove)
Wood pellets	About 16.4 million BTU per ton	80%
Propane	91,452 BTU per gallon	80% (vented fireplace)

Is it cheaper to run a gas fireplace or your furnace?

The furnace, almost always. Both burn the same gas at the same price, but a 90 percent furnace beats a 70 to 80 percent fireplace insert on every therm. At $1.46 per therm that is about $16 per million BTU from the furnace against about $19 from the insert.

The fireplace earns its keep the same way electric does: zone heat. Warming the one room you are in while the furnace holds the rest of the house at 62 can cost less per evening than heating everything to 70. It loses per BTU and wins per bill.

Wood stove vs pellet stove: which is cheaper to run?

Wood, if you pay $300 a cord or less. At the defaults, cordwood delivers heat around $21 per million BTU against $27 for pellets. Cut and haul your own wood and the fuel is nearly free, which is the whole argument for wood heat in one sentence.

Pellets buy convenience: consistent fuel, a hopper that feeds itself for a day or more, no seasoning, no bugs in the basement. Pellet stoves also need electricity to run the auger and fans, so they go dark in an outage unless you have backup power. The Wood and Pellet hub covers both in detail.

Where the default prices come from

Electric rates are EIA April 2026 residential averages by state. Natural gas defaults to $1.46 per therm, the EIA residential average for January through March 2026. Propane defaults to $2.67 per gallon, the EIA weekly residential price at the end of March 2026, when the survey paused for the season. Firewood has no federal price series, so we use $300 for a full cord of seasoned hardwood, a typical 2026 price that runs anywhere from $150 to $500 by region. Pellets default to $350 a ton, typical 2026 retail by the bag.

Gas and propane prices in your area can sit well off the national average, so the best input is your own utility bill or a local quote. We recheck all defaults each September before the heating season.

What this calculator cannot tell you

Running cost is one line in the ownership math. It ignores what the appliance costs to buy and install, which ranges from $100 for a space heater to $10,000 for a gas insert with a new line, and those numbers live in the Fireplace Costs hub. It also does not price your time: wood heat is cheap partly because you are the delivery and loading crew.

One more honest note: an electric heat pump moves heat instead of making it and beats every number in this table per BTU in mild and moderate weather. We left it out because nobody shops for a heat pump as a fireplace, but if you are choosing whole-house heat, it belongs on your list. Size a room first with the BTU calculator, and price the electric option by state with the running cost calculator.

Heating cost FAQ