Standby vs. Portable Generator: Which Should You Buy?

A standby generator installs permanently outside your home, runs on natural gas or a large propane tank, and starts automatically within seconds of an outage — no manual setup, ever, once it's installed. A portable generator is cheaper, needs to be manually wheeled out, fueled, and connected each time, but costs a fraction of a standby system.

Standby generators typically cost several times more than a comparable-capacity portable, once you include professional installation — but they're the only realistic option if you want whole-home coverage with zero manual intervention during a storm.

Portable (including dual-fuel and inverter) generators make sense if your outages are occasional, you're willing to manually set up a transfer switch or cords, and you want the flexibility to also use the generator for camping, job sites, or other portable power needs.

If your county has frequent, unpredictable outages and no one is reliably home to set up a portable unit, a standby generator is worth the extra cost. If outages are occasional and predictable (e.g. seasonal storms you can prepare for), a portable generator covers the same need for less money.