TL;DR
- The maths: kilowatts x hours x price per kWh. A 1.5 kW air fryer for 20 minutes uses 0.5 kWh.
- Typical cost per use: around 8p to 15p in the UK, or 6 to 12 cents in the US.
- An air fryer beats an oven on small and medium portions, mostly because it skips a 15 minute preheat.
- An oven wins once you are cooking enough food to fill it. Air fryers cannot scale.
- Wattage is not the whole story. A higher wattage machine that finishes sooner can use less energy overall.
Table of Contents
Air fryers earn a reputation for being cheap to run, and mostly they deserve it. The reason is not efficiency in any clever sense. An air fryer simply heats a much smaller box for a much shorter time, and you are not paying to bring a large steel cavity up to temperature first.
The numbers below use 25p per kWh, roughly the UK average, and 17 cents for the US figures. Substitute your own rate from your bill and the sums still work.
How to work out the cost
| Step | Example |
|---|---|
| 1. Find the wattage | Printed on the back plate. Say 1500 W |
| 2. Convert to kilowatts | 1500 / 1000 = 1.5 kW |
| 3. Multiply by hours used | 1.5 x 0.33 hr (20 min) = 0.5 kWh |
| 4. Multiply by your rate | 0.5 x 25p = 12.5p |
Wattage is a rate, not a total. A 1700 W machine that finishes in 15 minutes uses less energy than a 1200 W one that takes 25. Look at the job, not the label.
Cost per use, by size
| Air fryer size | Typical power | 20 min run | Cost (UK, 25p) | Cost (US, 17c) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compact, 2 to 4 qt | 1000 to 1200 W | 0.37 kWh | 9p | 6c |
| Mid, 5 to 6 qt | 1500 to 1700 W | 0.53 kWh | 13p | 9c |
| Dual basket, 8 to 10 qt | 1700 to 1900 W | 0.60 kWh | 15p | 10c |
| Air fryer oven, 12 qt + | 1700 to 2000 W | 0.63 kWh | 16p | 11c |
| Electric oven | 2000 to 2500 W | 1.5 kWh* | 38p | 26c |
Air fryer vs oven, honestly
The comparison people quote is a small portion of chips, and it flatters the air fryer. Cooking 400 g of chips in an oven means heating 60 litres of steel and air for 15 minutes before the food goes in. Doing the same in a 5 quart basket means heating about 5 litres for 3 minutes. The air fryer wins by a distance.
The picture changes when you fill the oven. Cook a full tray of roast potatoes, a tray of vegetables and a joint together, and the oven is running one heating cycle for three dishes. An air fryer would need three or four rounds, and the preheat advantage disappears.
| Scenario | Air fryer | Oven | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chips for one | 0.30 kWh | 1.5 kWh | Air fryer |
| Dinner for two | 0.5 kWh | 1.6 kWh | Air fryer |
| Dinner for four, one dish | 0.7 kWh | 1.8 kWh | Air fryer |
| Sunday roast, 3 dishes | 2.1 kWh (3 rounds) | 2.4 kWh | Close, oven for convenience |
| Batch cooking for the week | 3+ kWh | 2.5 kWh | Oven |
| Reheating a slice of pizza | 0.15 kWh | 1.4 kWh | Air fryer |
What it costs over a year
Take a mid sized 1700 W basket used five times a week for 20 minutes. That is 0.53 kWh per use, so 2.65 kWh a week, and around 138 kWh a year. At 25p per kWh you are looking at roughly £35 a year. At 17 cents, about $23.
Replacing five oven meals a week with air fryer meals saves in the region of £60 to £70 a year at UK rates. Worth having, though not the transformation some marketing implies. The real gains are speed and not heating the kitchen in summer.
Five ways to cut the cost
- Skip the preheat when reheating. Leftovers do not need a hot start, so you save three minutes of full power.
- Use the right size. A 10 quart machine heating one portion wastes energy. Match the machine to the meal, and our size guide helps.
- Cook two things at once. A dual basket like the Ninja DZ201 runs one appliance for two dishes.
- Keep it clean. Grease on the element slows heat transfer, so runs take longer. Our cleaning guide covers it.
- Do not open it constantly. Every look drops the temperature and the element works to recover.
If you are choosing between models, our comparison tool lists wattage alongside capacity, and the best air fryers roundup notes where a machine draws more power than its size suggests.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run an air fryer?
Around 8p to 15p per use in the UK, or 6 to 12 cents in the US, for a typical 20 minute cook. A 1500 W air fryer running for 20 minutes uses about 0.5 kWh. Multiply that by your electricity rate and you have your number. Larger machines cost a little more, compact ones a little less.
Is an air fryer cheaper to run than an oven?
For small and medium portions, clearly yes, and usually by two thirds or more. Most of the saving is the preheat you skip rather than anything clever about the technology. Once you are cooking enough food to fill an oven, the gap closes and the oven can come out ahead, since one heating cycle covers several dishes.
Does a higher wattage air fryer cost more to run?
Not necessarily. Wattage is a rate of use, not a total. A 1700 W machine that finishes a job in 15 minutes uses less energy than a 1200 W one grinding away for 25. What matters is kilowatts multiplied by hours, so a powerful machine that works quickly can be the cheaper option.
How much electricity does an air fryer use per hour?
Its wattage in kilowatts. A 1500 W air fryer uses 1.5 kWh over a full hour at continuous power, which would cost about 38p in the UK. In practice you almost never run one for an hour, and the element cycles off once it reaches temperature, so real use is lower.
Do air fryers use a lot of electricity in standby?
No, effectively nothing. A digital display and a standby circuit draw a fraction of a watt, which works out to pennies over a year. Unplugging an air fryer between uses saves so little that it is not worth the bother, though it does no harm.
Will an air fryer really lower my energy bill?
A little. Swapping five oven meals a week for air fryer meals saves somewhere around £60 to £70 a year at UK rates. Real, but not dramatic. Buy an air fryer because it is fast and makes food crisp, and treat the saving as a bonus rather than the reason.
Is it cheaper to use an air fryer or a microwave?
A microwave, for reheating. Microwaves put energy directly into the food rather than heating the air around it, so they use less for the same job. An air fryer costs a bit more to run but gives you a crisp result instead of a soft one, which is the whole point for things like pizza or chips.