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Home generators offer a permanent, easy solution and remove the hassle and inconvenience of setting up a temporary generator, which can be especially tricky in the middle of the night or during an extreme weather situation. With a home generator, you don’t have to run extension cords or fuel up.

Obviously, the best time to buy a home generator is when you don’t need it. Read on to see our five best-ranked home generators, and discover how to keep you and your family empowered, even during the worst outages.

Explore Most Popular Generators By KOHLER

When you lose power during an outage or storm, KOHLER standby generators provide backup power to your home in just 10 seconds. That means your appliances, air conditioner or heater and security system keep running like nothing happened.

Champion 12.5-kW Home Standby Generator

A newer company in the home generator world, Champion is making a name with excellent quality home generators that are designed to last. Champion’s 12.5kW Home Standby Generator tops our best-of list due to its unmatched 10-year warranty and its whisper-quiet 63 dbs of noise.

Designed for the elements, this Champion generator boasts reliability in temperatures ranging from -22° Fahrenheit to 104° Fahrenheit all while fitting in a standard generator footprint. Champion’s generator also features gull-wing access doors, making regular maintenance significantly more convenient for the home user.

Briggs & Stratton 10 kW Automatic Home Standby Generator, Model 040375

The Briggs & Stratton 10kW Automatic Home Standby Generator is perfect for a small home due to its small footprint and affordable price. This generator’s smart power management can efficiently keep your home’s appliances powered through all kinds of outages by automatically regulating power to where it’s needed.

Briggs & Stratton is one of the top generator manufacturers with over a century of service and an A+ ranking from the Better Business Bureau. Customer reviews highlight strong customer service through call center experts and a nationwide network of dealers.

The Briggs & Stratton 12,000 Watt Generator packs quite a punch for a narrow footprint unit at a solid price. Though it is one of the smallest generators on our best-of list, this product delivers a solid 12,000 watts and comes in as one of the best ranked generators by customer reviews.

With an automatic voltage regulator, efficient alternator and smartphone app control over Wi-Fi, you never have to worry about damaging sensitive electronics with surges, nor under-powering your high-voltage appliances. The generator can also be run on a low-speed mode reducing noise, saving fuel and tightening your control.

Generac 22000-Watt (LP)/19500-Watt (NG) Air-Cooled

If you need serious power, look no further than the Generac 22000-Watt Generator. This air-cooled beast can provide power to multiple homes and numerous appliances, all while coming in at the lowest MSRP per kilowatt of any air-cooled standby home generator that we reviewed.

The Generac 22000-Watt’s True Power™ technology delivers consistent, power quality with low distortion to protect your more delicate electronics. Its self-test mode runs a five-minute low-power test each week so you can sleep comfortably knowing your generator is ready to go in your moment of need.

Honeywell 10kW Home Generator – With Free Mobile Link

The Honeywell 10kW Home Generator features the lowest noise level of any other generator on our list and comes with free access to the company’s mobile monitoring smartphone app. However, note that the Honeywell app is only for monitoring and does not allow control like other generators on this list.

This Honeywell model has a much larger footprint than other 10kW generators on this list and a higher price per kilowatt.

Note: Honeywell generators are manufactured by Generac who make a similar Generac-brand 10kW home generator. We rated this model higher because of its superior customer reviews.

Before buying any generator, you should determine the power requirements of your home and your most essential large electric appliances. Refrigerators, air conditioning, sump or well pumps, medical devices, electric water heaters and portable space heaters will likely have the highest power draw and be most essential during power outages.

Many generator manufacturers have online wattage calculators to help you determine what size generator is the best fit for your home. You can also calculate this number yourself by finding the wattage rating label on each of your essential appliances. Many appliances will be labeled with “Starting Watts” and “Running Watts”, the former is the power-draw when the appliance first turns on, while the latter is the draw once it’s running.

If the Starting Watts are not listed you can usually multiply the Running Watts by three. Add up the Starting Watts for each appliance and multiply the total by 1.5 to create a margin of safety. A small to medium size U.S. household averages a minimum of 5,000 to 7,500 watts, so many generators are sold with 7,500 to 10,000 watt outputs.

Note: Some generators are listed by watt (W) and some by kilowatt (kW). A kilowatt is 1000 watts.

Two important considerations, once you’ve figured out your power needs, are the physical footprint of the generator and the amount of noise it makes. Whether you have a small yard or many acres of land, you’ll want the generator near to your home so the size and sound matter.

The larger generators featured on our list are approximately 30 inches x 30 inches x 48 inches, while the smaller generators are closer to 24 inches x 24 inches x 36 inches. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) code requires generators to be five feet or more away from openings such as doors and windows.

Smaller home generators are allowed as close as a minimum of 18 inches from an exterior wall, though you should always check local codes as they may differ from the NFPA’s standards.

With the generator placed immediately outside of your home, you should also consider the noise level, measured in decibels (dB). Most generators on our list average 60 to 70 dBs, for reference a vacuum cleaner is approximately 70 to 80 dBs.

Home generators can be run by a variety of different fuel types, but all the ones on our list use either liquid propane (LP), natural gas (NG) or both. Those that can use both fuel types are easily converted, without tools, to be ready to burn whichever fuel is needed.

The advantages of propane are its affordability and that it burns “clean”, meaning it leaves little to no contamination. Some houses have a permanent propane tank, but propane is also available in smaller containers at grocery stores, hardwood stores and even gas stations.

Generators that run on natural gas can be directly tied to the home’s natural gas line, allowing practically limitless fuel without having to worry about running out. The disadvantages of natural gas are that it’s less energy-efficient than propane and will therefore produce less power, and that a homeowner is still dependent on the gas grid for backup power. Advertisement THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT AND NOT EDITORIAL CONTENT. Please note that we do receive compensation for any products you buy or sign up to via this advertisement, and that compensation impacts the ranking and placement of any offers listed herein. We do not present information about every offer available. The information and savings numbers depicted above are for demonstration purposes only, and your results may vary. Compare Quotes From Top-Rated Generator Installers Free, No-commitment Estimates Find a Generator Installer

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Unlike portable generators, home generators are ready the moment your power goes out and most will even start themselves automatically when they sense the draw of power from your home’s electrical panel. Even if they don’t start automatically, home generators often have a remote start which is significantly easier than a pull-cord that you might find on a portable generator.

All home generators over 5,000 watt output are required to have an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS). The ATS automatically switches your home’s electrical panel from its connection to the grid to your generator when it detects a loss of power (this is also what can trigger some generators to automatically start).

The ATS protects the city’s electrical grid from being backfed power by your generator. Home generators with less than a 5,000 watt output (uncommon) and portable generators usually have a manual transfer switch which is much less convenient.

Home generators have the largest power capacity of any type of non-industrial generator and are usually able to provide power to an entire home. While portable generators often average between 3,500 and 10,000 watts, home generators usually have a capacity of 10,000 to 50,000 watts, or even more.

With the average U.S. home needing a minimum of 5,000 to 7,500 watts for essential appliances, the increased power capacity of a home generator gives you peace of mind when the power goes out that you can keep everything you need running. In some extreme cases, you may even be able to help provide power to neighbors.

Home generators are permanently installed right outside of your home and with features like automatic transfer switches and electric starts, you may not even have to go outside when the power goes out to immediately get back-up power. A portable generator you have to wheel out of the garage, run extension cables to and then pull a cord to start it up.

Additionally, most home generators run on liquid propane and/or natural gas, both of which can be permanently attached to your generator, so you never need to worry about going to the store and buying fuel. Compare Best Home Generators

To determine the best home generator ranking, the Forbes Home Improvement editorial team analyzed third-party data on 29 major companies, with each product’s star rating determined by evaluating a variety of metrics, including:

*Price and customer reviews 40% of the total weighting.

The best generator to buy for home use depends on many variables, most importantly the power requirements of your home and your most essential appliances such as: refrigerators, air conditioners, sump or well pumps, medical devices, electric water heaters and portable space heaters.

To figure out the generator size you need, the average U.S. home needs a minimum of 5,000 to 7,500 watts to run a house, so common home generator power capacities begin at 10,000 watts and go up from there.

A whole house generator that has an endless supply of fuel and no mechanical issues could theoretically run near indefinitely. A generator engine is similar to your car engine in that it requires up-keep such as oil changes, belt replacements and similar maintenance.

National Fire Protection Association codes allow smaller generators to be a minimum of 18 inches from an exterior wall, however, you should check local codes as they may have more specific requirements. Professional installers should know the local codes and help you plan the optimal placement for your generator.

Home generators can be expensive to install, but will last significantly longer than portable generators and will give you peace of mind that you and your family will be protected during power outages.

With intelligent power management features, automatic transferring and start-up and self-running weekly tests, home generators are designed to last a long time with only simple, regular maintenance. Their power output and general dependability make them a worthwhile investment, especially if you live in an area prone to power outages.

Chauncey grew up on a farm in rural northern California. At 18 he ran away and saw the world with a backpack and a credit card, discovering that the true value of any point or mile is the experience it facilitates. He remains most at home on a tractor, but has learned that opportunity is where he finds it and discomfort is more interesting than complacency.

Samantha is an editor who covers all topics home-related including home improvement and repair. She edited home repair and design content at websites like The Spruce and HomeAdvisor. She also has hosted videos on DIY home tips and solutions and launched multiple home improvement review boards staffed with licensed pros.