Upfront cost, with the grant doing the work
A replacement gas boiler typically runs to a few thousand pounds installed. An air source heat pump averaged £13,431 in late 2025, but the Boiler Upgrade Scheme takes £7,500 off for eligible homes in England and Wales, landing a typical installation just under £6,000. The gap is real but far smaller than the sticker prices suggest, and homes needing little radiator or cylinder work land closer still.
The comparison has a time limit in it: the grant is what closes the gap, and installation is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027. How the scheme works, and the off-grid top-up that takes it to £9,000, is covered in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme explained.
Running costs, lifespan and comfort
On running costs the honest answer is near parity for most homes: the heat pump's efficiency and electricity's higher unit price largely cancel out, with tariffs and system design deciding which side of the line you land, as covered in air source running costs. Against oil, LPG or direct electric heating, the heat pump usually wins outright.
Lifespan tilts the same way: heat pumps are generally expected to serve around twenty years against the ten to fifteen of a gas boiler, so one heat pump can see out two boilers. Comfort is a rhythm change rather than a downgrade: steady low-temperature warmth and no flue in the kitchen, in exchange for a house that heats up more gradually than a boiler-driven one.
Compare heat pump quotes
Up to three trusted, MCS-certified installers quote for the work, grant applied where you qualify. Free, no obligation.
Compare heat pump quotesWhich one suits which house
The heat pump case is strongest when the boiler is dying anyway, the house has or can take suitable emitters, and there is room for a cylinder and an outdoor unit. It is weakest in homes with very high heat loss and no appetite for insulation work, or where space for the kit genuinely does not exist. In those houses a modern condensing boiler run well is a perfectly defensible choice, and comparing boiler quotes is the parallel path.
Either way, the decision deserves real numbers from your actual house rather than national averages. A heat loss survey tells you what a heat pump would involve, and a quote puts a price on it: compare heat pump quotes from MCS-certified installers and set them against a boiler quote for the same house. The right answer usually becomes obvious once both are on the table.
Compare heat pump quotes
Up to three trusted, MCS-certified installers quote for the work, grant applied where you qualify. Free, no obligation.
Compare heat pump quotes