Is an air fryer cheaper than the oven?
By Sithum Imarsha Last reviewed
Yes, for one batch. In measured tests (Which? 2026, CHOICE 2023, InfluxData 2025) the air fryer used about 25–56% of the oven's energy for the same dish. For chips 3 times a week that is about $29 a year at 32c/kWh.
Your result
Saved a year with the air fryer
$29
Chips, 320 g frozen: 3 portions a basket. Air fryer is cheaper a cook at 32c/kWh (import rate). The air fryer uses 33% of the oven's energy for this dish and batch count. Gas oven figures are an —, from old efficiency data.
- Air fryer, a cook
- $0.09
- Oven, a cook
- $0.28
- Air fryer, a year
- $14
- Oven, a year
- $43
- Air fryer energy
- 0.29kWh
- Oven energy
- 0.86kWh
- Gas oven energy
- —MJ
- Air fryer pays back in
- 7.3 years
Batches eat the saving. Each basket costs as much as the first. At about 3 batches the oven costs the same, and more batches make the oven cheaper.
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How we calculated this
Take the measured energy for the dish
We use the kWh measured in tests for the same dish cooked to the same end point, not the rating × minutes. Each air fryer batch is one full basket load. A second batch costs as much as the first (Estimate: the basket is already hot, but no test measured it).
0.29 kWh in the air fryer
Adjust the oven for its size, type and fuel
Oven kWh × the size factor. A conventional oven (no fan) uses 1.18 times a fan oven. A gas oven burns about 2 times the energy of an electric oven, counted in MJ (1 kWh = 3.6 MJ). It never burns more than its burner can flat out for the cook time.
0.86 kWh in the oven— MJ of gas (Estimate)
Price one cook
kWh × your electricity rate, or MJ × your gas rate. On your own solar, each kWh costs the feed-in rate you give up instead of the import rate.
$0.09 air fryer · $0.28 oven
Add up a year
Cost per cook × meals a week × 52 weeks. The saving is the oven's cost minus the air fryer's. It turns negative when batches pile up.
156 cooks: $29 saved
| Dish | Air fryer time | Air fryer kWh | Oven time | Oven kWh | Per basket | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chips, 320 g frozen | 23 min | 0.287 | 33 min | 0.863 | 3 portions a basket (Estimate) | Dated third-party source |
| Roast chicken, 1.3 to 1.4 kg | 53 min | 0.54 | 76 min | 1.157 | 1 bird a basket (5.5 L basket or bigger) (Estimate) | Dated third-party source |
| Sausages and roast vegetables | 20 min | 0.28 | 36 min | 0.97 | 2 portions a basket (Estimate) | Dated third-party source |
| Frozen snacks (tenders, arancini, potato gems) | 18 min | 0.25 | 40 min | 1.06 | 2 portions a basket (Estimate) | Dated third-party source |
| Jacket potato, 200 g | 48 min | 0.392 | 68 min | 1.084 | 2 to 4 potatoes a basket (Estimate) | Dated third-party source |
| Sponge cake (3 eggs) | 33 min | 0.223 | 56 min | 0.71 | 1 cake a basket (Estimate) | Dated third-party source |
Which? tested in a lab (3 Sep 2026). CHOICE tested in a home kitchen with a smart-meter app (27 Oct 2023), and its oven times include preheat. Which? does not say whether its oven times include preheat. They are long enough that we treat them as including it. Portions per basket are our Estimate.
| What | Value | Checked | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas oven energy | × 2 | Estimate | Derived from ATA (Renew) 2014 Table 9-1: a gas oven uses 800 MJ a year and an electric oven 400 MJ for the same cooking (we read the table in the report; the data is old) |
| Conventional oven (no fan) | × 1.18 | Estimate | Worked out from a fan oven using about 85% of what a conventional one uses (EU label fiches range 0.66 to 0.85), so conventional = fan × 1.18 |
| Compact oven | × 0.85 | Estimate | Hotpoint DD2 540 energy fiche (Currys): 42 L cavity 0.78 kWh vs 74 L cavity 0.92 kWh a cycle, about 15% less |
| Standard 60 cm oven | × 1 | Estimate | The Which? and CHOICE test ovens were standard 60 cm ovens, so this is the base |
| Large 90 cm oven | × 1.2 | Estimate | Our estimate for a 90 cm freestanding oven. No energy fiche was found |
| Gas oven burner | 10.5 MJ/h | Not yet checked | Westinghouse WVG665SC 60 cm gas wall oven, 10.5 MJ/h natural gas, from a search result only. The archived product page (31 Dec 2025) gives no MJ/h figure. Read your rating plate |
| Meals a week | 3 | Dated third-party source | CHOICE (2022) and Consumer NZ (2024) both test 3 uses a week |
| Air fryer price (payback) | $209 | Dated third-party source | Price of the CHOICE test model, Breville Air Fryer Chef (27 Oct 2023) |
| What | Value | Checked | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air fryer rating | 1.5 kW | Estimate | Typical basket air fryer rating, 1.4 to 2 kW (retailer guides) |
| Air fryer warm-up | 3 min at full power | Estimate | Typical 2 to 3 minutes; one smart-plug test measured 7 minutes (InfluxData 2025) |
| Air fryer average draw | 0.6 kW | Estimate | Measured averages while cooking were 0.41 to 0.84 kW (Which?, CHOICE); our midpoint |
| Air fryer time | 23 min | Dated third-party source | Which? chips time, used as the custom starting point |
| Oven preheat | 0.25 kWh | Estimate | Inside the measured 0.14 to 0.35 kWh (InfluxData 8 minutes, CHOICE 15 minutes) |
| Oven average draw once hot | 1 kW | Dated third-party source | CHOICE (27 Jul 2022): a wall oven at 170 °C uses 0.66 to 1.39 kWh an hour once hot |
| Oven time | 33 min | Dated third-party source | Which? chips time, used as the custom starting point |
Why not rating × minutes? Both appliances switch their element on and off, so the rating overstates both. It also hides the two things that decide the answer: the oven's preheat and its size. An oven's "air fry" mode still heats the whole oven, so treat it as a fan-forced oven. Gas oven results are an Estimate: the efficiency figures behind them are from 2013 and 2014.
Electricity rates are the same default state rates as our other tools: Canstar market average, 4 Sep 2026, except Western Australia (Synergy A1 regulated tariff from 1 Jul 2026). The state rates are: Dated third-party source, except Western Australia (Official source). Gas rates come from the site gas table: a Finder market average in most states, the WA regulated maximum and the ACT standing offer. The gas supply charge is not a cooking cost, so it is left out.
Sources
- Which?: air fryer vs oven energy cost, cooking results compared (3 Sep 2026)
- CHOICE: air fryer energy costs vs oven (27 Oct 2023)
- CHOICE: which cooking appliances are the cheapest to use (27 Jul 2022)
- InfluxData: air fryer vs oven energy consumption (5 Nov 2025)
- Consumer NZ: air fryer vs oven (11 Jan 2024)
- Renew: Are we still cooking with gas? (ATA, 25 Nov 2014)
- Climate Council: Switch and save methods (Oct 2022)
- Currys: Hotpoint DD2 540 oven energy fiche
- Westinghouse: WVG665SC gas wall oven (archived 31 Dec 2025)
- Instant Brands: commissioned energy use report, oven not metered (30 May 2022)
- Victoria Government Gazette S280 (Origin gas standing offer, 1 Jul 2026)
- ActewAGL: ACT standard gas prices from 1 July 2026
- Energy Policy WA: household gas pricing
- Finder: average cost of gas (Sep 2026)
- Canstar: electricity cost per kWh
- EnergyPlans: solar feed-in tariffs July 2026
- OTTER: Tasmanian feed-in tariffs
- WA legislation: Synergy A1 tariff, charges amendment by-laws 2026 (SL 2026/140)
Questions
Is an air fryer 50% cheaper to run than an oven?
For one batch, often better than that: tests measured 44% to 75% less energy for the same dish. Not if you cook in batches. Two basket loads of chips used 67% of the oven's energy, and at about 3 batches the two cost the same.
Where does the "84% less energy" claim come from?
A 2022 study commissioned by Instant Brands, an air fryer maker. It measured the air fryer, but worked out the oven from its rated 2,400 W × the time. An oven thermostat switches the element off for much of a cook, so that method overstates the oven. The tests we use metered both.
Do air fryers need to preheat?
Most say no, but they warm up anyway. In one smart-plug test the warm-up used 96 Wh of the 193 Wh it took to cook chips (InfluxData, 2025). Our air fryer figures are whole cooks, warm-up included.
Why did Consumer NZ find the oven cheaper?
They ran every appliance for the same 30 minutes at 200 °C, with no preheat. A well-insulated oven can hold heat as cheaply as an air fryer once it is hot. We compare the same dish cooked to the same end point, so the air fryer's shorter cook and small warm-up count.
Is a gas oven cheaper to run?
About the same per cook. A gas oven needs about 2 times the energy of an electric oven for the same cooking (ATA, 2014), but gas costs less per unit. For chips at average rates it is $0.29 a cook, against $0.28 in a fan oven. Gas figures are an Estimate from old efficiency data.
How much gas does a gas oven burn an hour?
A 60 cm gas wall oven burner is about 10.5 MJ an hour flat out, by one maker's rating (Not yet checked). Read the rating plate on your oven. The "100 to 150 MJ an hour" some sites quote is wrong: that is more than a whole-house ducted heater.
Will an air fryer pay for itself?
Slowly. At 3 meals a week the saving is about $29 a year at average rates, so a $209 air fryer takes about 7.3 years to pay back on power alone.