★ EVERYDAY · APPLIANCES · COMPARISONS
The air fryer saves $187.96 a year at the defaults: $9.95 for the air fryer against $197.91 for the deep fryer. Enter your sessions per week, watts, minutes, electricity price, and frying-oil price to see which one is cheaper in your kitchen. The deep fryer's electricity is only $15.91 of its bill — the other $182.00 is frying oil, and that is what decides this comparison.
The air fryer draws less power, cooks for less time, and needs no oil at all, while the deep fryer draws more, cooks longer, and drinks a bottle of oil every few sessions. The yearly bill settles it: watts times minutes times sessions, priced per kilowatt-hour, plus the oil the deep fryer burns through.
At the defaults the air fryer uses 0.38 kWh per session (1500 watts for 15 minutes) and the deep fryer uses 0.60 kWh per session (1800 watts for 20 minutes). Over 156 sessions a year — 3 a week for 52 weeks — that is 58.50 kWh for the air fryer and 93.60 kWh for the deep fryer, and at $0.17 per kWh the electricity bills are $9.95 a year and $15.91 a year. On electricity alone the air fryer saves $5.96 a year — a modest win. Then the oil arrives: 156 sessions at 6 uses per bottle need 26 bottles, and at $7.00 a bottle that is $182.00 a year, which is more than eleven times the deep fryer's electricity bill. The deep fryer's true total is $197.91 a year, and the air fryer saves $187.96 a year. The electricity gap is real but small; the oil is the whole story.
This page says it plainly: there is NO cost flip. Oil makes deep frying the expensive option at every frequency. At 1 session a week the air fryer costs $3.32 a year and the deep fryer $65.97 — the oil alone, $60.67, is eighteen times the air fryer's whole bill. At 5 sessions a week the gap grows to $313.27 a year. Even the deep fryer's best case — cooking once a week, buying cheap $5 oil, and stretching every bottle to 12 uses — still costs $26.97 a year against the air fryer's $3.32, a loss of $23.65. Reusing oil 12 times at the defaults halves the oil bill to $91.00, but the deep fryer still totals $106.91 against $9.95. The deep fryer wins on crispness for battered food, not on cost: nothing in the oil column can be tuned far enough to close a gap that starts at $182.00 a year.
Rounding convention, stated plainly: each yearly energy total is rounded to two decimals, each yearly cost is rounded to cents, the deep fryer total is the sum of its rounded energy and oil costs, and the saving is the difference of the rounded totals — so $197.91 minus $9.95 is exactly $187.96, and every branch figure adds up exactly as printed. Bottle counts are shown rounded to two decimals, but the oil cost is calculated from the unrounded count, so 8.67 bottles at $7.00 shows as $60.67, not $60.69.
| Output | Formula | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Air fryer kWh per year | 1500 W × 15 min ÷ 60 ÷ 1000 × 156 | 58.50 kWh a year at the defaults. |
| Deep fryer kWh per year | 1800 W × 20 min ÷ 60 ÷ 1000 × 156 | 93.60 kWh a year at the defaults. |
| Air fryer cost per year | 58.50 kWh × $0.17 | $9.95 a year at the defaults. |
| Deep fryer energy cost per year | 93.60 kWh × $0.17 | $15.91 a year at the defaults. |
| Frying oil cost per year | 156 sessions ÷ 6 uses × $7.00 | $182.00 a year (26 bottles) at the defaults. |
| Deep fryer total per year | $15.91 energy + $182.00 oil | $197.91 a year at the defaults. |
| Yearly saving | Rounded deep fryer total − rounded air fryer cost | $197.91 − $9.95 = $187.96 a year at the defaults. |
| Deep fryer's best case | 1 session a week, $5 oil, 12 reuses | $26.97 a year vs $3.32 — still loses by $23.65. |
This is an energy-plus-oil model, not a meter reading. It assumes each appliance draws its rated watts for the whole session, while real appliances cycle their heaters once they reach temperature, so real electricity use is usually a little lower on both sides. It counts only the oil you buy: it excludes the appliance purchase, oil disposal, paper towels, and the food itself. Oil reuse is the shakiest input — how many sessions a bottle lasts depends on what you fry, how hot you run it, and how carefully you strain and store it, so count your own bottles over a month rather than trusting the preset. Deep fryer times also vary by model and by how much food goes in at once, so time your own typical cycle. Enter your own label watts, timed minutes, and real oil price for the most accurate result.
Bright Side Kit. "Air Fryer vs Deep Fryer: Yearly Cost Calculator & Oil" https://brightoolbox.com/air-fryer-vs-deep-fryer/ Accessed October 24, 2026.Yes, by a wide margin: the air fryer costs $9.95 a year (58.50 kWh) against the deep fryer's $197.91 a year (93.60 kWh plus $182.00 of oil), a saving of $187.96 a year at the defaults.
$182.00 a year at the defaults: 156 sessions a year at 6 uses per bottle need 26 bottles, and at $7.00 a bottle that is $182.00 — more than eleven times the deep fryer's $15.91 electricity bill.
Then the air fryer costs $3.32 a year (19.50 kWh) and the deep fryer $65.97 a year (31.20 kWh plus $60.67 of oil), a saving of $62.65 for the air fryer.
Then the air fryer costs $16.58 a year (97.50 kWh) and the deep fryer $329.85 a year (156.00 kWh plus $303.33 of oil), a saving of $313.27 for the air fryer.
No: at $0.30 per kWh the air fryer costs $17.55 a year and the deep fryer $210.08 a year, a saving of $192.53 for the air fryer. The gap grows in dollars but the winner stays the same.
Then the deep fryer costs $275.91 a year (93.60 kWh plus $260.00 of oil) against the air fryer's $9.95, a saving of $265.96 for the air fryer. Expensive oil only widens the gap.
No. Even its best case — 1 session a week, $5 oil, stretched to 12 uses a bottle — costs $26.97 a year against the air fryer's $3.32, a loss of $23.65. The deep fryer wins on crispness for battered food, not on cost.
The appliance purchase, oil disposal, paper towels, preheating beyond the minutes you enter, and the food itself. It is running electricity plus oil cost only, at the watts, minutes, and oil price you enter.