Wood or Vinyl Fence: Which Costs Less Over Time?

Vinyl vs wood fence cost: pressure-treated pine is the cheapest to install, at about $2,700 to $5,700 for 150 feet of 6-foot privacy fence, against $4,200 to $11,100 for vinyl. But if you pay a pro to stain every 2 to 4 years, our illustrative math puts pine near $13,000 by year 20 and vinyl near $6,500 to $8,500.

Say you have two bids on the kitchen table for the same job: 150 feet of 6-foot privacy fence around the backyard. The wood bid is a few thousand dollars cheaper than the vinyl one. That gap is real on the day the crew leaves. The better question to ask before you sign either one is which fence you'll have spent less on by the time it turns 20.

Below, we price both materials per foot and in three regions, go through the line items that move a 150-foot quote, and add up two decades of staining, board swaps and post repairs. Then we cover when wood is still the smarter buy, because for plenty of homeowners it is.

What wood and vinyl fences cost per foot

Fence installers quote by the linear foot, meaning one foot of fence line, installed. Fence Advisors' March 2026 pricing guide, built from contractor data in 22 states, compares the three common privacy fence materials side by side for a 6-foot fence:

Other pricing sources put vinyl higher. Ergeon's vinyl fence guide (updated July 1, 2026) gives a $55 per foot average, with typical jobs at $45 to $74. That comes to about $6,750 to $11,100 for 150 feet. Homewyse's May 2026 national figure is higher again, at $58.70 to $82.35 per foot, or roughly $8,805 to $12,353 for the same run.

Cedar's price depends on how far it has to travel. Fence Advisors notes that cedar costs less in Texas and the Pacific Northwest, where mills are closer, and runs 15 to 25% higher in the Northeast and Midwest because of shipping. The boards themselves differ too. Ergeon puts the material cost of a 6-foot pressure-treated pine picket at $2 to $3, cedar at $3 to $4 and redwood at $5 to $10.

Three regions, three different answers

Ergeon publishes regional averages for both materials. Its wood figure blends every species, including cedar and redwood, so treat it as a typical wood job rather than a pine-only price. Its national wood average is $54 per foot, ranging from $44 to $67 by region.

Two things stand out. In the West, Ergeon's average vinyl job costs less than its average wood job, so "wood is cheaper" doesn't always hold even on day one. In the South, the two are within a dollar a foot of each other. Ergeon also lists vinyl at $59 a foot in the Midwest and $55 in the Northeast.

Why vinyl quotes swing so widely

The low end of Fence Advisors' vinyl range and the high end of Homewyse's are more than $8,000 apart for the same 150 feet. Much of that spread comes from the spec. Homewyse prices a flat-top privacy fence with 6-foot panels and vinyl posts with decorative caps (finials), set in concrete every 8 feet in holes up to 3 feet deep. A bid with shallower holes, wider post spacing or no caps can come in lower, but it isn't the same fence. When two vinyl bids are thousands apart, compare the specs line by line before you compare the totals.

What a fair 150-foot quote looks like

The price per foot is only part of the bill. According to Ergeon's cost breakdowns, three line items move a 150-foot quote more than anything else:

• Tear-out and haul-away. Removing an old fence runs $3 to $10 per foot, or $450 to $1,500 for 150 feet. Some bids include it and some leave it out, which can make one bid look cheaper than it really is.

• Gates. Ergeon's averages are $399 for a walk gate and $735 for a driveway gate. Vinyl gates range from $50 to $1,000 each.

• Posts and site conditions. What the posts are made of, how deep the holes go and whether the posts are set in concrete all show up in the price. Slopes, rock and roots add work, and Ergeon says terrain and site prep add 5 to 15%.

A few smaller items shift the number too. Permits run $50 to $400. Changing the height moves the price by 10 to 50%, and choosing premium material over standard adds 20 to 40%.

Here's how a low bid grows. Start with a $4,200 pine bid, add tear-out at $450 to $1,500 and one walk gate at $399, and you're at about $5,050 to $6,100 before permits. Make sure both bids cover the same items before you compare totals.

The running total: years 0 to 20

Vinyl mostly needs washing. Wood needs three things over time: stain, new boards and new posts.

• How often to stain. The U.S. General Services Administration's technical guidance on staining wood says one coat of semitransparent penetrating stain on smooth wood should last 2 to 4 years, and a two-coat system up to 8 years. Coastal, high-altitude cold and south-facing exposures wear stain out faster.

• What a stain job costs. Across 111 completed projects, Ergeon found a median professional fence staining price of $1,298, with a range of $655 to $2,118 (May 2026). The state medians were $1,323 in California, $1,530 in Georgia and $912 in Texas.

• Boards. Homewyse (January 2026) prices a single board replacement at $29.68 to $35.46, which covers removal, re-spacing the boards next to it and debris disposal. A 150-foot privacy fence of 5.5-inch boards has about 330 boards, so replacing 10% of them over 20 years comes to about $1,000.

• Posts. Replacing a post costs about $150 to $400, according to Inch Calculator. Its data was last updated in August 2023, so treat that range as dated. With posts every 8 feet, a 150-foot run has about 20 line posts plus the gate posts.

Put those together and you get the model below. These are our own illustrative assumptions built from the sources above, not sourced totals or a quote. We used the middle of Fence Advisors' ranges for the wood install prices. The vinyl install runs from the middle of Fence Advisors' range up to Ergeon's $55 average. Wood gets five professional stain jobs at the $1,298 median, and five posts are replaced at about $275 each.

If your fence needs six stain jobs instead of five, add another $1,298 to each wood column.

Where wood's head start runs out

In this model, vinyl costs about $2,000 to $4,050 more than pine on install day. Two professional stain jobs add up to $2,596, and three come to $3,894. That means vinyl's extra upfront cost is mostly or fully paid back by the second or third stain cycle, around years 6 to 9 if you stain every three years. Every stain job after that widens the gap in vinyl's favor.

Where you live changes the pace. The Texas median stain job of $912 is about 30% below the national median, which gives wood a longer runway. Georgia's $1,530 median is about 18% above it, which cuts the runway short. A coastal or south-facing fence that needs stain closer to every 2 years cuts it shorter still.

Why wood fence posts rot early, and how to check

A rotted post costs $150 to $400 to replace, several times the price of a single board, so check the post spec before the crew starts digging.

Treated lumber comes with an end tag. The American Wood Protection Association says wood used in ground contact needs Use Category UC4A or higher. UC3B is rated for above-ground use only. The tag should show AWPA U1, the use category, the preservative and its retention (how much preservative the wood holds). Setting a post rated only for above-ground use in the dirt is a common cause of early post rot.

The research on the wood itself is reassuring. In a USDA Forest Service study at a severe test site in southern Mississippi (Lebow et al., 2013), properly treated posts and stakes showed expected durability of more than 50 years with creosote and more than 60 years with several other preservatives. The lesson for homeowners: when a residential fence post rots early, the cause is usually the spec or the installation, not a built-in limit of the wood.

Untreated cedar posts have also held up in testing. An older USDA Forest Service study at Pringle Falls, Oregon (Dahms, 1952) found little or no difference after 15 years between treated lodgepole pine posts and untreated Western redcedar posts. That's one site and one study from 1952, so ask your installer exactly which posts they use rather than assuming.

What vinyl costs you later

Most vinyl upkeep is washing, but repairs work differently than they do on wood.

• Repairs mean a whole section. You usually can't swap out one board. Inch Calculator puts vinyl section replacement at about $25 to $35 per foot (2023 data), which works out to roughly $200 to $280 for one 8-foot panel.

• Grade and climate matter. Ergeon says vinyl lasts 10 to 30 years depending on climate and grade. Fence Advisors puts it at 25 to 30+ years. That's a wide spread, so ask each bidder which product line they install.

• Read the warranty. Ask what it covers, for how long and whether it transfers if you sell the house, and get the answers in writing.

If a cheap vinyl fence ends up at the short end of that lifespan range, you'll pay for a second install and the 20-year math above no longer holds.

When wood is still the better buy

• You'll stain it yourself, or skip staining. Paying a pro to stain is the biggest line in the wood column. Take it out and the pine model drops to roughly $6,600 by year 20 (install, boards and posts) plus your stain and your weekends, which puts it in vinyl's range. Skipping stain keeps pine competitive as long as the fence doesn't need replacing.

• You plan to move within about 10 years. Fewer stain cycles happen on your watch. In the same model, pine at year 10 with two or three pro stain jobs comes to about $6,800 to $8,100 before repairs, close to vinyl's install price.

• You want the look of wood. For some yards, that settles it.

• You'd rather fix one board at a time. A wood board costs about $30 to $35 to replace. A vinyl repair usually means a whole section.

• You ask for a two-coat stain system. GSA says a two-coat system can last up to 8 years, which could cut the number of stain jobs. Ask your painter how the price compares with a single coat.

The real risk with wood is a second install. Fence Advisors quotes cedar at 15 to 20 years with maintenance, while Ergeon puts wood at about 25 years, or 30 to 40 years if sealed. If your wood fence needs replacing before year 20, add another full install to its column.

When vinyl is the better buy

• You'd hire a pro to stain every few years.

• The fence faces south or sits near the coast, where stain wears out faster.

• You plan to stay 20 years or more and want low upkeep.

• Your bids come in close. In Ergeon's West and South averages, vinyl costs the same as wood or less on install day.

Questions to ask both bidders

• What posts are you using? For wood, will you show me an end tag rated UC4A or higher?

• How deep are the holes, how far apart are the posts, and are they set in concrete?

• Is tearing out and hauling away the old fence included, and at what price per foot?

• How many gates, what hardware, and what does each gate cost?

• Who pulls the permit, and is it in the price?

• For vinyl: which product line, and what does the warranty cover, in writing?

• For wood: is a first coat of stain included, and if so, what product and how many coats?

Next step: get two itemized bids

Have installers price the same fence: your actual length, 6 feet tall, the same number of gates and tear-out listed as its own line. Get at least one bid for wood and one for vinyl, or both from each installer. Compare them item by item, then run your own 20-year math using the local stain price. Before you hire, verify the installer's license and insurance, check references and get the full scope in writing. Call The Local can connect you with licensed, insured fence pros in your area for quotes.

Related reading

• How Long Does a Flooded House Take to Dry Out?

• Roofers Have Open Calendars in the Quietest Season Since 1941

• How Much Does It Cost to Paint a House Interior?

• More Fencing coverage

Sources

• Wood Fence Cost 2026: Per Linear Foot Installed (Ergeon, updated July 1, 2026)

• Vinyl Fence Cost 2026 (Ergeon, updated July 1, 2026)

• Fence Staining Cost 2026 (Ergeon, May 13, 2026)

• Cost to Install Vinyl Fence (Homewyse, May 2026)

• Cost to Repair Fence Board (Homewyse, January 2026)

• Fence Cost Per Foot by Material: 2026 National Pricing Guide (Fence Advisors, March 22, 2026)

• Cost to Repair a Fence (Inch Calculator, updated August 2023)

• Applying a Semitransparent or Opaque Stain to Wood (U.S. General Services Administration)

• For Homeowners (American Wood Protection Association)

• Long-Term Durability of Pressure-Treated Wood in a Severe Test Site (USDA Forest Service, Lebow et al., 2013)

• Service Life of Treated and Untreated Fence Posts on the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest (USDA Forest Service, Dahms, 1952)

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