Home Battery Brands Compared 2026
The three retrofit-ready home batteries we track closest: Tesla Powerwall 3, FranklinWH aPower 2, and Enphase IQ Battery. Every spec below was verified 2026-08-27 against manufacturer data sheets and our installed-cost database ($700-$1,300 per kWh installed).
Tesla Powerwall 3
Highest continuous output in this set (11.5 kW) plus an integrated solar inverter, which simplifies new installs but is redundant hardware on a pure retrofit.
- Usable
- 13.5 kWh
- Output
- 11.5 kW
- Efficiency
- 90%
- Warranty
- 10 yrs
- Installed (typ.)
- $13,473
Range: $9,450 - $17,550 installed · integrated-inverter
FranklinWH aPower 2
Longest warranty here (15 years / 60 MWh throughput) and stackable up to 225 kWh, enough to carry a whole home for days.
- Usable
- 15 kWh
- Output
- 10 kW
- Efficiency
- 90%
- Warranty
- 15 yrs
- Installed (typ.)
- $15,000
Range: $10,500 - $19,500 installed · AC-coupled
Enphase IQ Battery
Highest round-trip efficiency here (96% on the 5P) and modular building blocks with native IQ8 microinverter integration.
- Usable
- 5 kWh
- Output
- 3.84 kW
- Efficiency
- 96%
- Warranty
- 15 yrs
- Installed (typ.)
- $5,000
Range: $3,500 - $6,500 installed · modular-AC
Buying a Battery in 2026: What Changed
The residential Section 25D credit expired December 31, 2025, so an owned battery now gets $0 federal credit. The commercial Section 48E credit only covers third-party-owned projects that started construction before July 4, 2026 (rolled to Monday July 6 under IRC 7503) - that deadline has passed. What remains: state incentives (CA SGIP, MA ConnectedSolutions, IL rebate, NC PowerPair at $400/kWh), time-of-use arbitrage, backup value, and - in Texas - Tesla's $35/month two-unit battery lease. Renters and short-outage households also have a portable tier: our solar generator review compares nine plug-in power stations that need no install at all.