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Published July 13, 2026. Prices and specs checked August 19, 2026.
Every pellet grill ad shows smoke rings and seared crust. None of them show the numbers that shape three years of ownership. Those are what a bag of pellets costs, how many you’ll burn through in a season, what the auger motor adds to the electric bill, and what a repair part costs the year something jams. This is a ledger, not a highlight reel. The purchase price is only the first line item. It’s often not the one that decides which of these three grills is actually cheaper to own: the Traeger, the Weber or the Pit Boss.
I’ve cooked on charcoal, gas and pellet grills for years, and what surprises people most is how much of the cost shows up after the checkout.
Traeger vs Weber: What Does Each Cost at the Register?
| Traeger Woodridge | Weber Searwood 600 | Pit Boss Sportsman 850 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase price (verified this week) | $899.99, per Traeger’s own site | $999.00, per Weber’s own site | $749.00, per BBQGuys |
| Cooking area | 860 sq in | 648 sq in | 849 sq in total |
| Temperature range | 180–500°F | 180–600°F, with direct-flame searing | 180–500°F, with slide-plate flame searing |
| Hopper | 24 lb | 20 lb | 21 lb |
| Warranty | 10 years | 5 yr cookbox / 3 yr electrical | 5 years |
Prices are approximate, current as of publication, and change frequently — confirm the latest price with the retailer before buying.
Pit Boss is the cheapest entry by $150.99 against the Traeger and $250.00 against the Weber. It delivers nearly Traeger-sized cooking area for that discount. But the purchase price is where most comparisons stop. It’s the smallest number in this whole ledger over any real ownership period.
Traeger vs Weber Pellets: What Does a Year of Fuel Cost?
This is the recurring cost nobody puts on the spec sheet. Independent testing compiled by Smoked BBQ Source found pellet burn rates ranging from roughly 0.75–1.25 lb/hour at low smoking temperatures (~225°F) up to 2–4.5 lb/hour at high searing temperatures (450–600°F), varying by grill efficiency. For this ledger we’re assuming a fairly active backyard cook. That means one 3-hour cook a week for 50 weeks of the year, or 150 hours of total burn time. We use a blended average of 1.25 lb/hour across low-and-slow and high-heat cooking. That’s roughly 187.5 lb of pellets a year. This is a stated assumption, not a manufacturer figure. Your actual usage will move the number up or down.
Pellet prices, verified this week: a 20 lb bag of Traeger Signature Blend runs $19.99 at Home Depot — about $1.00/lb. Weber’s SmokeFire pellets sell in a 3-bag, 60 lb variety bundle for $59.97 on BBQGuys — also about $1.00/lb. Pit Boss Competition Blend is the outlier: a 40 lb bag runs $25.98 at Walmart, about $0.65/lb. That’s roughly a third cheaper per pound than the other two brands’ own pellets.
| Traeger Woodridge | Weber Searwood 600 | Pit Boss Sportsman 850 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pellet price per lb (verified) | ~$1.00/lb | ~$1.00/lb | ~$0.65/lb |
| Estimated annual pellet cost (150 hrs/yr, 1.25 lb/hr blended) | ~$187.50/yr | ~$187.50/yr | ~$121.88/yr |
None of these three grills locks you into buying the matching brand’s pellets. All three burn standard hardwood pellets from any maker. But Pit Boss’s own house pellets are priced meaningfully lower per pound than Traeger’s or Weber’s own blends. That gap compounds every bag, every season, for as long as you own the grill.
Does a Pellet Grill Add Much to the Electric Bill?
All three grills run an auger motor, igniter, and controller fan off standard household power — there’s no propane or charcoal cost, but there is a small electric one. Per The Grilling Dad’s breakdown, a pellet grill draws roughly 300–550 watts during a brief startup cycle. It then settles to about 30–50 watts an hour while holding temperature. At this year’s national average residential electricity rate of 18.44¢/kWh, per Electric Choice’s August 2026 rate report, 150 hours a year at that holding draw is 4.5 to 7.5 kWh (150 hours × 30 to 50 watts), or about $0.83 to $1.38 a year, plus the brief startup cycles. That’s a rounding error next to the pellet bill, but a real one.
What Does a Pellet Grill Repair Cost?
The most common pellet grill failure across brands is the auger motor, the small gear motor that feeds pellets from the hopper into the fire pot. Controller boards and igniter rods follow. A generic aftermarket auger motor repair kit runs about $49.99, per Pellet Stove Parts 4Less. That’s a useful reference point even though the specific part number differs by brand and model. This is where warranty length matters as a cost line, not just a marketing bullet. Traeger’s 10-year warranty covers roughly twice the ownership window that Pit Boss’s or Weber’s 5-year (cookbox) and 3-year (electrical) terms do. That shifts more of any early-failure repair bill back onto the manufacturer rather than the owner.
Traeger vs Weber: What Is the Total Cost per Year?
Here’s the sum. Spread the purchase price evenly across each grill’s own warranty term as a conservative ownership horizon, then add the estimated annual pellet and electricity lines above. That produces a genuinely different ranking than sticker price alone:
| Traeger Woodridge | Weber Searwood 600 | Pit Boss Sportsman 850 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase price ÷ warranty years | $899.99 ÷ 10 yr = $90.00/yr | $999.00 ÷ 5 yr = $199.80/yr | $749.00 ÷ 5 yr = $149.80/yr |
| + Pellets/yr | ~$187.50 | ~$187.50 | ~$121.88 |
| + Electricity/yr | ~$1.38 | ~$1.38 | ~$1.38 |
| Estimated total cost per year | ~$279/yr | ~$389/yr | ~$273/yr |
This math is illustrative, not a guarantee — actual pellet use, electricity rates, and grill lifespan all vary by household. But it reframes the decision usefully. Pit Boss and Traeger land within about $6 a year of each other despite a $150.99 gap in sticker price. Traeger’s far longer warranty and Pit Boss’s cheaper pellets both work against their respective purchase-price disadvantages. Weber is the priciest grill here by every measure in this ledger, on top of having the smallest cooking area of the three.
What Does the Extra Money Buy on a Traeger or Weber?
Cost isn’t the only line item, so here’s what separates these three beyond the ledger. The Weber Searwood is the only one of the three that reaches a genuine 600°F with a full-grate direct-flame zone. It’s the grill that lets an owner sell a separate gas grill. Long-term owners consistently describe it as the pellet grill that finally replaced one. The Pit Boss’s slide-plate searing tops out cooler and covers a smaller hot zone, but it works. It’s the cheaper way to get some direct-flame char. The Traeger Woodridge doesn’t sear at all on the base or Pro models. Traeger’s own answer is a propane side-sear station, and that only ships on the $1,799.99 Woodridge Elite. It does hold the steadiest low temperatures and has the most polished app of the three, per Traeger’s own WiFIRE feature pages.
Patio footprint is the other line the spec sheet buries. Assembled, the Traeger Woodridge measures 50″L x 27″W x 46″H, per Traeger’s own support guide. The Weber Searwood 600 is more compact front-to-back at 38.5″W x 23″D x 45.75″H with the lid closed, per Weber’s own spec sheet. The Pit Boss Sportsman 850 is the largest footprint of the three at 32.3″W x 58.2″D x 52.4″H, per BBQGuys’ listed dimensions. It’s worth measuring against your actual patio space before assuming the cheapest grill is also the easiest one to fit.
So which number should decide it?
Lead with the ledger and the Pit Boss Sportsman 850 wins — lowest purchase price, cheapest pellets, and a total annual cost that ties the far-more-expensive Traeger. Give up some searing polish and app refinement for the savings. Put searing capability first and the Weber Searwood 600 wins — it’s the only true 600°F direct-flame grill here. That feature alone can retire a separate gas grill, which is its own kind of savings the ledger above doesn’t capture. Put warranty security and low-temp precision first and the Traeger Woodridge wins — its 10-year warranty is the longest in the category. The math shows that long coverage is pulling real financial weight against its higher sticker price.
How we built this ledger
We built this comparison around total cost of ownership: purchase price, pellet consumption, electricity draw, and representative repair costs. Each was verified directly against each manufacturer’s own site, current pellet retail listings, and a national electricity-rate report this week, rather than leading with brand reputation or searing ability alone. Long-term owner feedback across grilling communities and retailer reviews informed the qualitative sections on reliability and searing performance. Our full approach is on our editorial standards page. Prices are approximate, current as of publication, and change frequently — confirm the latest price with the retailer before buying.
Cooking away from the patio? Our Weber vs Blackstone vs Coleman portable grill comparison covers the take-anywhere options. Whatever you smoke, a good probe matters — see our instant-read vs leave-in vs smart meat thermometer face-off — and for keeping the drinks and the packer brisket cold, there’s our hard vs soft vs electric cooler comparison. More backyard matchups live in our Beach & Backyard category.
Pellet grill cost questions, answered
Which pellet grill is cheapest to run per year?
By our ledger, the Pit Boss Sportsman 850 and Traeger Woodridge land within a few dollars of each other per year — around $273 and $279 respectively under our stated assumptions — despite the Traeger costing $150.99 more up front, because Pit Boss’s pellets are meaningfully cheaper per pound and Traeger’s 10-year warranty spreads its higher price over more years.
Do I have to buy Traeger or Weber pellets for these grills?
No. All three burn standard hardwood pellets from any manufacturer. The pellet prices in this comparison use each brand’s own house pellets as a like-for-like reference point, but shopping around for hardwood pellets can change the pellet-cost line significantly.
How much does electricity add to the cost of a pellet grill?
Very little — an estimated $1 to $1.50 a year for a fairly active backyard cooking schedule, based on published wattage figures and this year’s national average electricity rate. It’s a real cost, but it’s dwarfed by the pellet bill.
Is the Traeger Woodridge’s 10-year warranty worth the higher price?
The ledger above suggests yes, at least on paper: spreading the Woodridge’s $899.99 price across its full 10-year term works out to less per year than either competitor’s price spread across their shorter 5-year terms. That assumes the grill lasts the full warranty period without a major out-of-pocket repair, which isn’t guaranteed for any brand.
Which grill takes up the least patio space?
The Weber Searwood 600 has the smallest front-to-back footprint of the three at 23 inches deep with the lid closed, versus 27 inches for the Traeger Woodridge and 58.2 inches for the Pit Boss Sportsman 850, per each manufacturer’s or retailer’s listed dimensions. Measure your actual space before buying, since cart and shelf configurations can add width.
