Heat pumps or boilers? Ask five people and you’ll get five different answers. Some will tell you heat pumps are the future and that boilers are on their way out. Others will tell you heat pumps are expensive, and don’t work once it’s really cold, so not to bother. Both can’t be right, and most of the confusion comes down to people mixing up bad experiences with bad information.
This blog goes through the real differences – running costs, what it costs to get one fitted, and how they hold up in a British winter, and whether your home would need major changes to take one on.
By the end, you’ll be able to weigh a heat pump against a boiler with facts, not headlines, and decide which one wins for your home.
How they heat your home
A boiler and a heat pump are doing the same job, but go about it in different ways.
A boiler burns fuel, usually gas or oil, to create heat from scratch. That heat warms water, which gets pumped around your radiators and into your taps. Boilers have been the standard heating choice in the UK for decades, so it’s no surprise many people are reluctant to leave what they know and try something new.
A heat pump doesn’t burn anything, a popular bonus, since it means no fossil fuel emissions. Instead, it pulls in heat that’s already sitting in the air outside, even on a chilly day, and uses a compressor to make it hotter. The heat then gets passed into water, which moves around your home the same way it would a boiler, through radiators, underfloor heating, or your hot water tank.
Put very simply, a boiler is a bit like a bonfire. It creates heat by burning something. A heat pump is more like a fridge running in reverse, it takes warmth that’s already there and it moves it to where you want it.
This difference is why heat pumps use a lot less energy to do the same job, and ultimately why they can save on heating bills in the long run.
Running costs
This is usually the first question people ask, and it deserves a straight answer. Electricity costs more than gas, unit for unit. That’s just true, and there’s no point pretending otherwise.
But that’s not the full picture. A heat pump is so efficient that it can produce three or four units of heat for every one unit of electricity it uses. A boiler, even a good one, gets close to unit of heat for one unit of fuel. So while the electricity itself costs more, you need a lot less of it to heat your home. For a lot of households, that gap closes the price difference, and with an efficient installation, can save money over time.
There’s more to this too. Gas and oil prices don’t sit still. They’re tied to global markets, and when there’s a supply issue or a spike in demand somewhere in the world, your boiler bill can jump with it, as we’re experiencing at the moment with the current fuel crisis.
Heat pumps run on electricity, which has its own ups and downs, but isn’t exposed to the same swings you see with oil and gas. Choosing a heat pump may not save on running costs immediately, but it does mean you’re not at the mercy of fuel prices you have no control over.
So the honest answer is that a heat pump uses more efficient, lower cost energy to begin with, and gives you a bit more certainty over what you’re paying, rather than being tied to the next price swing in oil and gas.
Installation costs
This is the part where a boiler has the upper hand, and it’s worth being upfront about it. A straight boiler swap is a well established job, usually done in a day, and it costs a fraction of what a heat pump installation does. A heat pump often costs significantly more before grants are taken into account.
The reason comes down to what’s involved. A boiler replacement is normally a like for like job – infrastructure is already in place, and the new one drops in roughly where the old one sat. A heat pump install is a bigger piece of work. It usually means fitting an outdoor unit and a hot water cylinder if you don’t already have one, and in some homes, and occasionally upgrading radiators. None of that is needed with a boiler, which is why the two differ so greatly in price.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme helps close that gap, offering a grant towards the cost of a heat pump. It’s the government’s main incentive for households choosing a heat pump over a gas boiler, and as of September 2026 it’s worth up to £7,500 towards the system installation, though there are a few other schemes depending on your circumstances.
On top of that, heat pump installs currently benefit from 0% VAT, while a boiler doesn’t get the same treatment. Even with both in place, the reality is that you will still pay more upfront for a heat pump than you would for a boiler.
That being said, it’s worth knowing where things are heading. From March 2027, the Future Homes Standard means gas boilers won’t be fitted in new build homes in England, with heat pumps set to become the default instead. That doesn’t change anything for an existing gas boiler in your home today, but it does hint at which way things are moving. Whether an early switch adds value to a property further down the line is hard to say for certain, but it’s a fair thing to weigh up if you’re making this decision now rather than later.
Do they work in a British winter?
This is probably the most common worry we hear, and it usually comes from a headline rather than anyone’s actual experience. The claim goes something like ‘Heat pumps stop working properly once it gets cold, so they’re no good for the UK’. It’s not true, and it’s worth explaining why.
Modern heat pumps are designed and tested for exactly this type of climate. Plenty of the units fitted in the UK are the same models used across Scandinavia, where winters are far harsher than anything Norfolk can throw at us. If a heat pump can keep a house warm through a Finnish winter, it can manage a British one without much trouble.
What is true is that efficiency drops a little as the temperature outside falls. A heat pump does have to work a bit harder to pull heat from freezing air than it would on a mild day, so it uses a touch more electricity to do the same job. That’s a real effect, but it’s not the same as the system failing or leaving you cold. It just means running costs can creep up slightly during a harsh cold snap, the same way a boiler burns through more gas when it’s working overtime in January.
The honest answer is that a heat pump will keep your home warm through a British winter just as reliably as a boiler does, it just needs to be sized and installed properly to do so well.
Lifespan, maintenance and reliability
Both systems need looking after, but the pattern of care looks a bit different between the two.
A gas boiler typically lasts 10 to 15 years before it needs replacing, and most households are used to an annual service to keep it running safely and efficiently. A heat pump tends to last longer, often 20 years of more, with fewer moving parts to wear out over time. Regular servicing still matters, usually once a year, mainly to check refrigerant levels and make sure everything is running as it should.
One thing worth knowing is who you can call on for that servicing. A lot of heating engineers who work on boilers every day aren’t set up to work on heat pumps, since it’s a different skill set. Choosing an installer with MCS certification means you’re covered from day one, and it also means your warranty and any grant funding stays valid.
So while a heat pump asks for the same basic care as a boiler, a yearly check and a bit of attention, it tends to reward that care with a longer working life.
So which one comes out on top?
There isn’t a single right answer here, and anyone who tells you otherwise is probably trying to sell you something. What we can do is lay out where each system usually wins, so you can weigh it up against your own home.
A boiler wins on upfront cost. It’s the cheaper, quicker option to install today, and it’s a known quantity – most homes are already set up for one. If your priority is keeping costs down now and you’re not fussed about long term running costs or where energy policy is heading, a boiler remains a solid, reliable choice.
A heat pump wins on the things that play out over time. It’s more efficient with the energy it uses, it isn’t as exposed to the price swings that come with gas and oil, and it tends to outlast a boiler by a good few years. It also lines up with where new build regulations and government schemes are heading, which is worth factoring in if you’re thinking long term rather than just about this winter.
Winter performance and running costs come out fairly even between the two once a heat pump is properly sized for your home, so neither should be a deciding factor on its own.
In the end, it usually comes down to what you’re planning for. A boiler suits a lower upfront cost and sticking with what’s familiar. A heat pump suits a longer view, lower running costs over time, and a system built around where heating is heading in the UK.
We’re not here to convince you on one over the other. Send us an enquiry today, and we’d be more than happy to have a no obligation chat with you about what a heat pump could do for you, and whether you’d benefit from making the switch.