Heater types, and what each one changes about the price

Two home saunas can look alike from the outside and warm you in two different ways. One holds a stove with a bed of stones above the element. The other holds flat panels behind a wooden screen.

That one specification moves the price more than any other field we record. It also moves the wiring you need, the wait before the room is warm, and the kind of heat you sit in.

This page has two halves, and they are deliberately separate. The first half describes what each heater does, in general. The second half records which heater each maker publishes. Every line of that half carries the maker's own page.

What a stove heater does

A stove heater stands inside the room and warms the air around it. Stones sit above the element. The stones hold heat, and they release it slowly once the room is up to temperature.

The room gets hot, and the wood, the benches and the air all get hot with it. A stove has to raise the whole room before you sit down.

You can pour water over the stones. The water turns to steam, and the humidity rises for a few minutes. The heat then feels sharper on your skin. Only a stove with stones gives you that choice.

An electric stove of this kind draws real power. Heating a whole room of air and wood takes several kilowatts. That is physics rather than a choice any maker made.

What an infrared panel does

An infrared panel warms your body rather than the room. The panels sit in the walls, and they radiate heat onto whatever is in front of them. Your skin absorbs it directly.

The air in the cabin stays much cooler than the air in a stove-heated room. People often describe that heat as gentler. A session can also start sooner, because the panels do not have to bring a whole room up first.

There are no stones, so there is no water and no steam. A panel cabin gives you one kind of heat.

A panel array draws far less power than a stove. That single fact drives most of what follows. It is why an infrared cabin so often arrives with a wall plug rather than an electrician.

What each heater changes about the published price

Here the general half of this page ends. Every figure below is one a maker published. Each carries the date we read it and the page it came from.

A stove-heated sauna is a building. Almost Heaven Saunas sells traditional and barrel saunas. We read its outdoor collection on 2026-08-31. The lowest figure that day was $4,036.50 for the Salem 2-person barrel. The highest was $5,877.90 for the Blackwater Mini-Cube. Our maker record holds both.

Redwood Outdoors publishes a wider range of the same kind. We read its sauna collection on the same day. It published $4,299 for the 2-person Alcove Indoor. It published $11,699 for the 8-person Grove Outdoor.

Infrared cabins start lower. JNH Lifestyles published $2,199 for the Joyous 1-Person cabin. We read its sauna range on 2026-09-04. Medical Saunas published $3,349 for the Medical 3 on that date. We read its collection page. Clearlight Saunas published $5,399 for the Premier 1 in basswood, on its price page, read on 2026-08-31.

The heater type does not put a ceiling on the price. Clearlight published $9,799 for the Sanctuary Retreat in mahogany, on that same page. Therasage published $8,560 to $10,500 across the sizes of one infrared model. We read its product page on 2026-09-02.

SaunaSpace published $4,995 to $9,445 on its product page that day. HigherDOSE published $7,999 and $8,999 for the two sizes of its cabin. We read its product page on 2026-08-31.

One maker shows the whole pattern inside a single range. Sun Home Saunas publishes both kinds of heater. We read its sauna collection on 2026-08-31. Its lowest figure was $4,999 for the Solstice 1-Person indoor infrared cabin. Its highest was $45,399 for the Solaris 6-Person outdoor custom traditional sauna.

Plunge sells both kinds too. It published $7,690 for The Infrared Sauna. It published $12,490 for The Sauna in the XL size. We read its product page on 2026-09-02.

So the heat source moves the entry price hard, and the ceiling barely at all. A panel cabin gets you into a sauna for less money. It does not hold you in the lower half of the market once you want size, wood or a name.

Two makers here publish no cabin price at all. Finnleo sends every buyer to a seller rather than to a figure, across its storefront, read on 2026-09-04. We hold no cabin figure from the storefront of Sunlighten either. Its maker record says so. Neither maker can be placed on a price axis by us or by you.

What each heater changes about installation

The power figures we hold separate the two heater types more cleanly than the prices do.

The stoves in this index are 6 kW machines on a 240 V supply. Almost Heaven publishes 6 kW, 240 V and 30 A for the Salem 2-person barrel. It states that the supply is hardwired, on its product page, read on 2026-08-31. Redwood Outdoors publishes 6 kW and a hardwired 240 V supply for the 2-person Alcove Indoor, on its product page, read on 2026-08-31.

Finnleo publishes 6 kW and 240 V for the Solace, on its product page, read on 2026-09-04. Hardwired means an electrician, a circuit and a cost. No maker page can quote you that cost, because it depends on your house.

The panel cabins are a different order of machine. Clearlight publishes 1.37 kW at 120 V and 11.42 A for the Premier 1, on its product page, read on 2026-08-31. JNH Lifestyles publishes 1.32 kW at 120 V and 15 A for the Joyous 1-Person, on its product page, read on 2026-09-04.

Medical Saunas publishes 1.5 kW at 120 V and 15 A for the Medical 3, on its product page, read on 2026-09-04. Sun Home publishes 1.35 kW at 120 V for the Solstice 1-Person, in the specification sheet of that model, read on 2026-08-31. Therasage publishes 1.9 kW at 120 V for its wooden cabin, on its product page, read on 2026-09-02.

Each of those panel cabins runs on a normal household socket. That is the second half of the price difference, and no maker prints it as a number.

Plunge is the exception worth knowing about. It publishes 240 V and 30 A for The Sauna in the Standard size. It also states that the supply is not hardwired, on its product page, read on 2026-09-02. A stove-heated sauna can ask for a heavy supply and still arrive with a plug.

Which heater the makers we record publish

Maker	Sauna types it publishes	Heater figure we hold	Supply we hold	Maker page we read
Almost Heaven Saunas	Traditional, barrel, cabin	6 kW	240 V, 30 A, hardwired	product page, 2026-08-31
Redwood Outdoors	Traditional, barrel, cabin	6 kW	240 V, hardwired	product page, 2026-08-31
Finnleo	Traditional, infrared, hybrid	6 kW	240 V	product page, 2026-09-04
Plunge	Traditional, infrared, cabin	None yet	240 V, 30 A, plug	product page, 2026-09-02
Sun Home Saunas	Infrared, traditional, cabin	1.35 kW	120 V, 20 A, plug	specification sheet, 2026-08-31
Clearlight Saunas	Infrared, cabin	1.37 kW	120 V, 11.42 A, plug	product page, 2026-08-31
JNH Lifestyles	Infrared, cabin	1.32 kW	120 V, 15 A, plug	product page, 2026-09-04
Medical Saunas	Infrared, cabin	1.5 kW	120 V, 15 A, plug	product page, 2026-09-04
Therasage	Infrared	1.9 kW	120 V, plug	product page, 2026-09-02
HigherDOSE	Infrared, cabin	None yet	120 V, 20 A, plug	product page, 2026-08-31
SaunaSpace	Infrared	None yet	None yet	product page, 2026-09-02
Sunlighten	Infrared	None yet	None yet	None yet

Each row links the maker record and the maker page behind its figures. A cell that reads None yet is a gap in what we hold, and it says nothing about the product.

Consider a stove heater if:

• You want steam, because only stones give you the option of water.
• You want a barrel or an outdoor cabin, which is what the stove makers here publish.
• You can pay an electrician, because Almost Heaven and Redwood Outdoors both publish a hardwired 240 V supply for the models above.
• You accept a wait, because a stove heats the room and not you.

Skip a stove heater if:

• Your room has only a household socket, and a hardwired circuit is out of reach.
• Your entry budget is near $2,199 or $3,349, where the published infrared figures of JNH Lifestyles and Medical Saunas start.
• You want the cabin indoors and up a flight of stairs, where a heavy build is a problem.

Consider an infrared panel if:

• You want the lower entry figures that the priced infrared makers above publish.
• You want a plug rather than a circuit, as Clearlight, JNH Lifestyles, Medical Saunas, Sun Home and Therasage all publish for the models above.
• You want to sit down sooner, because the panels heat you rather than the room.

Skip an infrared panel if:

• You want steam, which no panel cabin can produce.
• You want the heat of hot air, which is a different experience and not a lesser one.
• You assume a panel cabin is always the cheaper buy. Clearlight published $9,799 and Therasage published $10,500 for one model size each.

How to read this page

We record what makers publish. We do not test saunas, and we earn nothing from any maker named here. Every price above carries the date we read it. A published price is a fact about a day rather than a fact about a product.

The heater figures come from maker pages and specification sheets, and we hold one model per maker. A maker with a wide range will heat other models with other elements. Read the maker record, and then the maker's own page, before you buy.