Plug-in vs installed: the real cost gap

Our category comparison covers what each kind of backup can actually do. This page covers something narrower and more useful when you are shopping: the two categories do not disclose the same things, and once you notice that, the cost comparison changes shape.

Plug-in power station makers publish the price of the box, usually the price of the transfer panel, and in three cases the price of the electrician's labor. Installed home battery makers publish none of the three. We checked both sides on August 19, 2026. We have not tested any of these products, and every figure below is a maker's own published number recorded with its source.

What the plug-in side publishes

All five units we track carry a US price on the maker's own product page, with no address gate and no quote form. Every one also showed a promotional discount that day, so we record the list price as the durable figure and the sale price alongside it.

| Unit | Published list price | Price shown on August 19, 2026 |

| --- | --- | --- |

| EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 | $3,699.00 | $2,799.00 |

| EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra (1 inverter plus 1 battery) | $5,799.00 | $4,199.00 |

| Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus | $2,599.99 | $2,299.99 with an auto-applied code |

| Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus | $3,499.00 | $3,149.00, base variant showing sold out |

| BLUETTI Apex 300 | $1,699.00 | $1,499.00 |

Sources are us.ecoflow.com, ankersolix.com, jackery.com, and bluettipower.com product pages. Treat the right-hand column as a snapshot: each carried a countdown timer, and the BLUETTI banner named August 19 as the last day.

The part people forget to price

A power station on a rug backs up whatever you can run an extension cord to. Reaching your actual circuits takes hardware, and here the makers publish too.

• EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2, described as a 12-circuit sub-panel with 20 ms auto switchover: $1,599.00, listed as a pre-order item.
• Anker SOLIX Smart Home Power Kit, sold as panel, subpanel, circuit breaker, and ground bar: $1,499.00 list, shown at $1,199.00.
• Jackery Smart Transfer Switch: $1,299.00 list, shown at $1,159.00.
• BLUETTI, as rendered in the accessory module on the Apex 300 page: an AT1 and parallel connection cable at $1,440.00, and a Hub A1 package at $699.00.

One published constraint worth reading before you buy either half: Anker's FAQ states that its Home Power Panel "only supports 120/240V split-phase systems" and "does not support 120/208V systems." If you live in a building on a network service, that sentence is the whole decision.

Three makers publish the labor, which is the unusual part

This is what makes the plug-in category genuinely different from the installed one. The wiring is a licensed job in both cases. Only one of the two categories will tell you what it costs.

EcoFlow sells installation as a product. Its turnkey installation service page is headed "From $2000" and lists Smart Home Panel 2 installation at $2,500 with a permit or $2,000 without, Smart Home Panel 3 at $3,400, and Smart Gateway at $3,200. It also offers "Live Installation Support" at $0, which is remote video guidance while your own electrician does the work.

The scope language deserves reading twice, because it is where the published number stops. EcoFlow states that "The standard Installation Service Fee ONLY covers the installation labor costs," and that "Any additional distance or special installation requirements may incur extra charges, subject to assessment by the electrician." The standard scope it describes is an on-site visit by a certified electrician plus installation of the products, including replacing the existing load center where the larger panel is used and wiring the panel or transfer switch to the existing load center. It explicitly excludes wiring to solar and debris disposal.

Anker publishes one figure, as an add-on line on its panel page: "Anker SOLIX Home Power Panel Installation Service (without Permit)" at $2,000.00. We could not find a with-permit price.

Jackery does not sell installation directly but publishes a range in the Explorer 5000 Plus FAQ: "The cost is typically 1500-2000 USD, but it may vary depending on your location and specific home conditions." It also states that "Professional electricians must handle the installation," and routes installation through a third-party network for a free quote.

BLUETTI publishes no installation price on the Apex 300 product page.

Three independent makers publishing labor figures in the same band is more information than the entire installed battery industry offers. That does not make the figures a quote for your house, and EcoFlow's own caveat about distance and special requirements says as much. But it gives you a starting number, which is the thing the other category withholds.

What the installed side publishes

Nothing comparable, and it is remarkably consistent across brands.

Tesla asks for a home address before showing anything on its US order page, and its own support article answers "How much is Powerwall 3?" with an instruction to place an order online to view the price. It does publish list prices in Australia and the United Kingdom, which is covered in our Powerwall 3 cost guide. Enphase renders no price at all on the IQ Battery 5P and 10C product pages and instructs buyers to contact an authorized distributor. FranklinWH describes a process in which a representative reaches out and a certified installer provides a customized design and an accurate quote. Generac publishes no installed price either, as our PWRcell cost guide records.

There is a defensible reason for this. An installed battery's price is genuinely not a property of the battery: it is set by your panel, your backup scope, your mounting wall, your permit office, and local labor, all covered in our installation cost guide. But the plug-in makers face a version of the same problem and publish a starting figure anyway. So the difference is partly real and partly a disclosure choice.

The specs are not comparable either, and that matters to cost per kWh

Three published-data problems make a naive dollars-per-kilowatt-hour comparison across the two categories misleading.

Nobody in the plug-in group publishes usable capacity. All five labels we read are rated or nameplate figures: 4,096 Wh on the DELTA Pro 3, 6,144 Wh on the DELTA Pro Ultra, 3,840 Wh on the F3800 Plus, 5,040 Wh on the Explorer 5000 Plus, 2,764.8 Wh on the Apex 300. Installed battery datasheets routinely publish usable kWh as a separate number. You are dividing dollars by two different quantities.

Cycle life is rated to different endpoints. EcoFlow publishes 4,000 cycles to 80 percent on the DELTA Pro 3 and 80 percent after 3,500 cycles on the DELTA Pro Ultra. BLUETTI publishes 6,000-plus cycles to 80 percent on the Apex 300. Anker publishes 3,000-plus cycles for the F3800 Plus, with a retention figure of at least 80 percent given on a separate comparison page. Jackery publishes 4,000 cycles to 70 percent or better. A 4,000 cycle claim measured to 70 percent and a 4,000 cycle claim measured to 80 percent are not the same warranty of longevity.

Surge is published inconsistently. EcoFlow publishes an 8,000 W surge on the DELTA Pro 3 and 10.8 kW on the DELTA Pro Ultra, and qualifies the smaller unit's continuous rating as "4000W, 6000W with X-boost." Jackery publishes 14,400 W surge. BLUETTI publishes 7,680 W under the label "Lifting Power" rather than surge or peak. Anker publishes no surge figure for the F3800 Plus at all. Our continuous versus peak guide covers why that column decides whether a motor starts.

The gap that is not about money

Adding a published unit price, a published panel price, and a published installation figure gives you a plug-in total before you spend anything. That is real and it is the honest advantage of this route.

What that total does not buy is also published, mostly by omission. Every maker on this list sells a transfer panel because a hardwired 240V load, a well pump or a central air conditioner, cannot be reached any other way, which our 240V guide and transfer switch guide cover. Utility virtual power plant programs, which are now a meaningful part of the economics in several states, generally enroll installed systems. And an installed battery is a fixture with a warranty stated in years, while these units advertise cycle counts.

Neither route gets federal money in 2026. Section 25D expired on December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan purchase of either gets nothing. Section 48E belongs to whoever owns the system and reaches homeowners only through a lease or power purchase agreement, and those are written on installed systems.

How to actually compare the two

1. Build the plug-in total from the maker's own three published numbers: unit, panel, installation. Then add the permit if your jurisdiction requires one, since EcoFlow prices that separately.

2. Get three itemized installed bids, and insist on the split between hardware, labor, permit and interconnection fees, and any panel work.

3. Compare on what each will actually run, not on kilowatt-hours. Start from your hardwired 240V loads, because those are where a plug-in system needs the same electrician the installed system needs.

4. Check the cycle-life endpoint before you compute anything per kilowatt-hour, and remember that the plug-in figures are nameplate rather than usable.

5. Put your own numbers into the Worth It calculator, and read our plug-in roundup for how the five units compare on the specs that matter for a house.