What is the average air fryer cost per hour?
The typical air fryer cost is around 40p an hour, and for most machines it swings from roughly 20p to 60p depending on the wattage printed on the back of yours. Brand, colour and how loudly the box says “crispy” make no difference to the meter. Watts do.
The sums here use the Ofgem price cap, which averages 26.32p per kWh for electricity on Direct Debit from 1 October 2026, or around 26p in round numbers. Your own rate depends on your region and tariff, so read every figure below as an estimate, not a quote.
Here is roughly what one hour of cooking costs at that rate:
- A small 800W model: roughly 21p
- A typical 1,500W model: roughly 39p
- A large 2,000W model: roughly 53p
- A dual drawer 2,400W model: roughly 63p, above the usual range
Almost nobody cooks for a full hour, of course. A 20 minute cook in a 1,500W machine uses about half a unit of electricity, so the air fryer cost per meal is roughly 13p. Add a few minutes of preheating and you are a touch over 15p. Pocket change, until you do it every night for a year.
How do you work out your own air fryer cost?
Working out your own air fryer cost takes one line of maths. Take the watts from the rating plate, divide by 1,000 to get kilowatts, multiply by the hours you cook, then multiply by your unit rate in pence.
Say your machine is 1,800W, you cook for 25 minutes and your unit rate is 26p. That is 1.8 kW for about 0.42 of an hour, which is roughly 0.75 kWh, or around 20p. Your unit rate sits on your bill next to the standing charge, and our guide to reading your energy bill shows where to look.
Two things stop the sum being exact. The rating plate shows maximum power, and an air fryer switches its element on and off to hold the temperature, so the real draw is often a bit lower. Think of the result as a sensible ceiling on your air fryer cost. A plug in energy monitor gives you the exact figure if you want it.
Is an air fryer cheaper to run than an oven?
For a meal for one or two, usually yes. An electric oven is a big insulated box that needs heating before the food goes in, and its rating can run from around 2,000W to well above that. An air fryer heats a small chamber quickly and pushes the hot air round the food.
Take a 2,500W oven running flat out for an hour. That is 2.5 kWh, roughly 66p. In real life the thermostat cycles, so you will pay less than that. But a 40 minute cook plus preheat can still land well above the 13p to 20p an air fryer cost for the same tray of chips or a couple of chicken thighs.
The oven wins when you are feeding a crowd. A roast chicken, a tray of potatoes and a tray of veg cooking together can beat three rounds in a machine that takes a portion at a time. Batch cooking is where the air fryer cost quietly stacks up.
Neither appliance is the villain here. The bigger lever is the price per unit that both of them get multiplied by, and that is the number suppliers are quietly happy for you to ignore.
What pushes your air fryer cost up?
A few choices make the biggest difference to your air fryer cost:
- Wattage: a 2,400W drawer model costs around 60% more per hour than a 1,500W one.
- Cooking in rounds: two 20 minute batches cost about the same as one 40 minute cook.
- Preheating everything: some recipes need it, plenty do not, so check the recipe or the manual.
- Cooking for one in a big machine: a large model may draw more power to heat the same small portion.
The unit rate matters too. The same 1,500W cook costs more at 30p a unit than at 24p, and the rate is the part you can change by comparing tariffs. Ofgem’s current figure also carries no VAT on electricity until 31 March 2027, so the same cook may cost slightly more after that. The details are in Ofgem’s price cap announcement.
Three quick checks to keep your air fryer cost down
You do not need a spreadsheet. Three checks cover most of it.
- Find the wattage on the rating plate, usually on the base or the back, and do the one line sum above.
- Match the batch to the meal. Avoid running two half empty rounds when one sensible round would do.
- Look at your unit rate. If it sits well above the current average for your region, a comparison is worth a few minutes.
Doing nothing about the unit rate has a price of its own, because every appliance in the house is priced off it. Our guides on washing machine running costs and standby power show the same pattern. Checking your rate takes a few minutes.
Key takeaways
- The typical air fryer cost is roughly 40p an hour, from around 20p to 60p depending on wattage.
- A 20 minute meal in a 1,500W model is roughly 13p at today’s average rate.
- Watts divided by 1,000, times hours, times your unit rate gives your own figure.
- The oven can still win when you are cooking a big batch.
- Your unit rate is the number that multiplies everything else in the house.
Frequently asked questions about air fryer cost
- How much does it cost to run an air fryer for an hour?
- Roughly 39p for a typical 1,500W model at around 26p per kWh. Smaller models cost around 21p an hour and large dual drawer models around 63p, so treat these as estimates.
- How do I find the wattage of my air fryer?
- Check the rating plate on the base or back of the machine, the instruction manual or the maker’s product page. The figure is shown in watts, written as W.
- Does an air fryer use a lot of electricity?
- It draws a lot of power while it is on, from around 800W to 2,400W, but most meals only need 15 to 30 minutes. That keeps the cost per meal low compared with running an oven for longer.
- Do unit rates change the air fryer cost?
- Yes. Every appliance is priced off your unit rate, so a lower rate lowers the cost of every cook. Rates vary by region and tariff, and your bill shows yours.
Sources
- Ofgem, Changes to the energy price cap between 1 October and 31 December 2026, 26 August 2026. The 26.32p per kWh electricity unit rate and the removal of VAT on electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027.
Checked 29 September 2026.
