We understand that buying a sauna can be a huge decision, and that sauna companies don’t always make it easy to find solid info about what matters and what doesn’t. Our goal is to empower you with honest and reliable infrared sauna cost information to help you pick the best solution for your budget.
Average Cost Of Infrared Saunas: How Cheap Is Too Cheap?
Most infrared saunas for home use, cost anywhere between $250 and $6,500 dollars. A wide range, I know. But there many different types of infrared saunas, so let’s begin with what fits your needs.
First we’ll cover the inexpensive portable saunas, cheap DIY saunas, then we’ll move on the far infrared wooden saunas, and I’ll touch on full spectrum, dome saunas, and near infrared at the end.
Features Worth Splurging For – Or A Waste Of Money Hype?
Some features on the expensive saunas simply aren’t worth the money, even though the sauna companies make it seem like you have to have them, or you may not “get a complete detox.”
For example, one sauna company advertises that if you don’t have near, mid, and far infrared in your infrared sauna, you won’t get all the benefits. Yet they go on to build their saunas with the near infrared LED’s sitting behind a grill, built into the heater wall. Guess what? Near infrared needs point of body contact with no obstructions in order to be effective. Sounds great, but in reality that is a gimmick to make their sauna sound better than the competitors but offers you little to no value health wise.
Others will say, a particular micron range or wavelength is exclusive to their saunas. And you guessed it, if you don’t have it, you won’t get all the benefits. “But wait, you can order our proprietary sauna with XYZ benefit today for $$$$.”
This is usually nonsense, and most people like you are wondering if a lot of these gimmicks are worth the money. (I’m going to update this article with videos showing how I test these products in real life, which makes a HUGE difference compared to a sales agent telling you whatever they can to make a sale)
If you have any specific questions on a specific brand, ask in the comments at the bottom of this page.
Portable Sauna Pricing ($200 – $1,200 on average)
The cheapest infrared saunas, are small zip up 1 person personal portable tent saunas. These range anywhere from $200 – $1,200 dollars, and come in a variety of shapes and infrared heater types.
Generally, you get what you pay for here, and the cheaper portable infrared saunas like you see on Amazon for a couple of hundred bucks, will get you by for a while, but leave something to be desired when it comes to quality.
Mainly the material quality is rather thin, stains easily, and are generally smaller inside. Meaning, a full size man might feel cramped, whereas a smaller framed person might fit on the lower chair and smaller tent size.
The larger portable saunas, sometimes have more infrared heaters also. The cheaper models usually try and keep costs down, which means less heater coverage typically.
The more expensive portable saunas, generally $500 dollars and up, usually come with better chairs, more comfortable sizing options, and better zippers that don’t break. In addition to this, creature comforts also increase, with things like foot warmers and zip out neck liners that you can wash in the washing machine for easy cleaning.
On the high end, personal saunas like the Relax Sauna are the most expensive of the bunch at around $1,200 dollars. It is also the hottest portable saunas on the market, so if you’re looking for high heat to make heat shock proteins quicker, or looking to get the more performance benefit out of your portable sauna, it is worth the money.
For other folks who are on a super tight budget, you might be better off building the DIY tent sauna we designed. It isn’t the prettiest thing, but it gets the job done for cheap.
For those in the middle of the road, the $800 Synergy Sauna or the $900 Therasage are a good fit for you.
This is a work in progress, and I’m adding to it as I have time. I need to take pictures of each model and add them in, which is very cumbersome. Ask you questions at the bottom of this page…
Infrared Sauna Cost Guide
How much does an infrared sauna cost?
Are Infrared Saunas worth it?
Are saunas expensive to run?
Why Infrared sauna is bad for you?
I have Lyme Disease, and would like to start using infrared sauna to detox and get relief. To save money, configure it to the space available in our home (lying, instead of sitting), and to not pay for features that I would not use (bluetooth, speakers, etc), I would like to build my own. I plan to build a wood sauna, not a tent sauna. I like the idea of carbon heaters vs ceramic. Can you recommend a list of quality components (controller, heaters, etc) and a reputable source? Thank you. Jim Culler