Estimate your tankless installation cost
Replacing with a tank instead? Estimate tank water heater cost
What goes into the price
A tankless installation has the same basic parts as a tank swap — unit, labor, materials, permit, haul-away — but the add-ons differ. Converting from a tank usually means upsizing the gas line, adding proper venting, or running a dedicated high-amp electrical circuit, because tankless units draw more gas or power at once than a tank does.
Tankless water heater cost by type
| Fuel | Budget | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas | $699–$899 | $1,499–$1,600 | $2,000–$2,150 |
| Electric | $559–$620 | $624–$715 | $809–$849 |
Gas budget-tier pricing is a category-level estimate pending a direct listing check (see sources) — everything else comes from a specific model's current price.
Gas
Gas tankless units are rated by GPM (gallons per minute) rather than tank size. Condensing models cost more but are more efficient and often need a shorter, simpler vent run than non-condensing units.
Electric
Electric tankless units are rated by kW. Whole-home models need a large dedicated circuit — check your panel's available capacity before switching from gas, since many older 100–150A panels can't take the load without an upgrade.
Additional costs to expect
| Item | Typical cost | When it's needed |
|---|---|---|
| Permit | $25–$300 | Most jurisdictions, every installation |
| Old unit haul-away | $100–$500 | Unless you remove it yourself |
| Gas line upsize | $300–$1,200 | Converting from a tank, or a high-GPM unit |
| New venting | $300–$1,000 | Every gas tankless installation |
| Dedicated circuit | $250–$900 | Electric units, especially whole-home models |
| Recirculation pump | $200–$700 | Faster hot water delivery to distant fixtures |
| Condensate drain | $100–$350 | Condensing gas units |
| Descaler/isolator kit | $80–$250 | Recommended for hard-water areas |
Labor cost to install a tankless unit
Plumbers typically charge $45–$200 an hour. A like-for-like tankless swap is usually the shortest job; converting a tank to tankless takes longer because of the gas, venting or electrical work involved. An emergency call typically runs about 2× the standard rate. The calculator adjusts labor by state using the same BLS wage data as the tank-heater calculator.
Is there a federal tax credit for a tankless water heater in 2026?
No. The federal Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (Section 25C), which covered qualifying gas tankless units, does not apply to property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Some cost guides still list this credit as active — that's outdated. Check your utility and state for current rebates instead.
Questions to ask before you hire
- Are you licensed and insured in this state?
- Is the permit included in the price?
- Will my existing gas line or electrical panel need upsizing?
- Is haul-away of the old unit included?
- What does the labor warranty cover, separate from the manufacturer's unit warranty?
- Can I get the final price in writing before work starts?
Methodology and sources
We build each estimate from its parts: published retail unit prices, add-on cost ranges from contractor-facing guides, and state labor indexes from BLS wage data. Third-party cost guides are used only to sanity-check totals. Read how we estimate costs.
- Angi: water heater installation cost — permits, labor rate
- Angi: tankless water heater installation guide — recirculation pump, general ranges
- HomeGuide: tankless water heater cost — gas line upsizing, condensate drain, descaler kit
- Remodel Cost Calculator: tankless installation labor — circuit upgrade, venting, current 2026 tax-credit status
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: OEWS May 2025, State (SOC 47-2152) — state labor index (reused from the tank-heater page)
- Craftsman National Estimator labor-unit data (via TheFatBook's plumbing cost-index pages) — cross-check for tank-to-tankless labor hours
- IRS: Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit
Labor hours for the tank-to-tankless conversion are cross-checked against Craftsman National Estimator labor-unit data (an independent trade reference, via TheFatBook's cost-index pages), which show the same hours across many metros regardless of local wage rates. The like-for-like swap hours are cross-checked against a separate contractor-facing guide. Small-parts costs are still a first-pass estimate. None of this has been reviewed directly by a licensed plumber yet.
Changelog
- : Initial dataset. Unit prices sourced from Home Depot listings (Rinnai gas, Stiebel Eltron electric); gas budget tier is a category-filter estimate pending a direct SKU check next pass. Add-on costs from Angi/HomeGuide/remodelcostcalc, cross-checked across sources. baseHours and materialsKit are estimates pending licensed-plumber review, same as the water-heater-replacement-cost page. State wage index reused from the official BLS OEWS file already collected for that page (same plumber occupation code applies). Status stays draft until the plumber review is done.
- : Tightened baseHours: tankless_to_tankless cross-checked against remodelcostcalc's stated 4-6 hour clean-swap figure; tank_to_tankless_gas cross-checked against TheFatBook's plumbing cost-index pages, which cite Craftsman National Estimator labor-unit data identically across 10+ metros (8.8 hours, invariant across cities -- the signature of a real labor-unit table). tank_to_tankless_electric is still an estimate scaled off that baseline, not independently sourced. materialsKit unchanged. This is a trade-reference cross-check, NOT a licensed-plumber review -- status stays draft and the page stays noindex.
- : Editorial review and publication. Every price field re-checked for a source; the calculator's typical default job tested against independently published benchmark ranges (tests/benchmarks.test.ts), which now run on every build. Published at the owner's decision with an explicit note that the page has not yet been reviewed by a licensed tradesperson; the page must not claim such a review until one has actually happened.