There are dozens of manufacturers offering home solar batteries in the United States, so choosing the right one for your home can be confusing. 

Here are SolarReviews’ top 5 solar batteries: 

We evaluated 15 of the leading home solar batteries in the industry based on battery performance, quality, company reliability, and what hundreds of solar installers say about each brand. 

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Best overall solar battery: Enphase Energy System

Enphase was voted best overall solar battery, with a SolarReviews rating of Elite (5 stars), and estimated cost per kWh of $1,250.

The Enphase Energy System with IQ 5P batteries is our pick for the best home solar battery of 2023.

The IQ 5P is the latest battery from Enphase, offering twice the power output per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of storage as the company’s other batteries. While Enphase still offers the older IQ 5T and IQ 10T, the 5P rises above the rest. Read more about the Enphase IQ battery system here.

Best stackable solar battery: Panasonic EVERVOLT Home Battery

Panasonic EverVolt was voted best stackable solar battery, with a SolarReviews rating of Excellent (4 stars), and estimated cost per kWh of $1,100.

The Panasonic EverVolt battery is our pick for the best stackable solar battery of 2023. Panasonic has been using the EverVolt branding for several years on its solar panels and batteries, and the latest version of its solar battery is a winner!

Best all-in-one solar battery: Tesla Powerwall 2

Tesla Powerwall was voted best all-in-one solar battery, with a SolarReviews rating of Excellent (4 stars), and estimated cost per kWh of $950.

The Tesla Powerwall 2 is undoubtedly the most well-known solar battery available today. Tesla’s sleek 250-pound rectangular status symbol hangs on the wall and comes in one size and color. If you want a Powerwall and need more storage or output than it can offer, you have to buy two. 

Tesla also offers a similar product called the Powerwall+, which comes with its own hybrid inverter and is more suited to pairing with the company’s solar roof tiles. The Powerwall+ is significantly more expensive, which is why we chose the Powerwall 2 to compete in our rankings.

Best solar battery for new installations: LG Energy Solution RESU 16H Prime

LG Energy Solution RESU 16H was voted best solar battery for new installations, with a SolarReviews rating of Excellent (4 stars), and estimated cost per kWh of $1,000.

The LG Energy Solution RESU 16H is the oldest battery in our rankings, at the ripe old age of 3. It can still hang with the latest and greatest because it is simply a cost-effective powerhouse that solar installers like to work with. 

Unlike all the other batteries in the top 5, the RESU is DC-coupled, meaning it doesn’t come with its own inverter. That’s why it’s best for new installations—it must be installed alongside a hybrid solar inverter.

Best value modular solar battery: Canadian Solar EP Cube

Canadian Solar EP Cube was voted best value modular solar battery, with a SolarReviews rating of Excellent (4 stars), and estimated cost per kWh of $950.

The introduction of the Canadian Solar EP Cube was one of the most exciting things about RE+ 2022, the nation’s largest renewable energy conference. The EP Cube carries on Canadian Solar’s tradition of offering great performance at a moderate price point. This excellent value and Canadian Solar’s sterling reputation among installers and financiers earn the EP Cube the 5th spot in our ranking.

Compare the best solar batteries of 2023

Brand/Battery

Estimated cost per kWh*

Storage capacity

Continuous power output

Warranty

Industry average

$1,100

14.85 kWh

7.6 kW

10 years or 3,500 cycles

Enphase Energy System (3 IQ 5P modules)

$1,250

15 kWh

11.52 kW

15 years or 6,000 cycles

Panasonic EVERVOLT Home Battery (4 modules)

$1,100

18 kWh

7.6 kW

12 years or 6,000 cycles

Tesla Powerwall 2

$950

13.5 kWh

7.6 kW

10 years or 37.8 MWh (2,800 cycles)

LG Energy Solution RESU Prime 16H

$1,000

16 kWh

7.0 kW

10 years or 54 MWh (3,375 cycles) to 7% capacity

Canadian Solar EP Cube (5 modules)

$950

16.6 kWh

7.6 kW

10 years or 6,000 cycles

How to choose the best solar battery for you

Every person and every home is different, so the “best solar battery” can change based on your needs. To choose the right battery, you’ll need to know which specifications are important and ask yourself questions about what’s important to you.

Important solar battery specifications

When it comes to solar batteries, there are dozens of different specifications that can make small differences in performance and longevity, but we’re not going to go through all of them.

Our general advice is to trust expert installers to help you decide the right battery for you.

That being said, there are a few key numbers to look out for so you can be an informed consumer:

Deciding what’s important to you

Do you want to keep your whole home powered in a blackout? Do you just want to keep a refrigerator and some lights running and charge your phone? The kinds of needs you have will determine which battery is best for you.

Generally, most solar battery installations are enough to keep a small number of critical appliances, outlets, and lights running for a day or two without power and could last indefinitely with solar recharging on sunny days.

Solar battery cost and incentives

A standard home solar battery setup costs between $12,000 and $20,000 before incentives. A system like this typically includes 14 kWh of storage and a continuous power output of 7.6 kW. Solar panels will cost an additional $20,000, on average.

A system like this can do partial home backup in a blackout and charge from solar on sunny days. If you want a larger system that can back up your whole home for multiple days, expect that price range to double to about $25,000 to $40,000, at a minimum.

There are solar battery incentives to help lower the cost of installing energy storage. The biggest battery incentive is the federal clean energy tax credit, which provides a non-refundable tax credit equal to 30% of the costs you pay to install the battery.

Your state government or local utility company may also offer solar battery tax breaks and other rebate programs that can further reduce costs.

Calculate how much a solar + battery installation would cost for your home

Methodology

SolarReviews’ battery rating methodology is quite different from other websites because we don’t simply rank performance characteristics. Instead, we emphasize factors that lead to long-term success for equipment manufacturers, which provides long-term benefits to homeowners.

Our team of solar experts has decades of experience in the solar industry, and we’ve seen too many manufacturers fail and leave customers without the warranty protection they offered.

As a result, our list not only reflects good performance from the battery but also brands that will be around in 10 to 15 years to stand behind their warranties and provide service if something goes wrong. We also look at the value on a dollars-per-kWh basis and examine a battery company’s popularity among solar installers.

Here are the categories and weights of our battery ranking criteria:

An image showing the percentages that each evaluation factor has on the outcome of our ranking, also listed below

Company financial visibility and strength (20%)

The largest number of points are available in this category, which looks at a manufacturer’s financial performance and transparency. Companies are awarded points for being publicly traded, publishing financial statements, and maintaining high revenue and profitability.

Value (15%)

For this category, we evaluate a battery system based on its cost per kWh of storage, including installation costs, but before any incentives. For DC-coupled batteries, we add the cost of a SolarEdge hybrid inverter to the evaluation to fully represent the cost compared to AC-coupled batteries that include their own inverter.

Warranty coverage (15%)

The warranty is an extremely important evaluation criterion when it comes to batteries. Ten years has been the industry standard for a long time, but several companies now offer warranties of 12 years, and Enphase now leads the industry with a 15-year warranty. Companies get points for length and having cycle-life or total energy throughput clauses in their warranties.

Energy storage capacity (10%)

This criteria represents total capacity for a typical home battery from each company. In the case of modular batteries, we evaluate using the most common or most functional size for the average homeowner.

Continuous output power (10%)

Here, we look at a single battery’s ability to output continuous power. In the case of modular batteries, we evaluate a battery with the number of modules needed to reach the maximum output of the inverter.

System design and usability (10%)

This category looks at how flexible a battery’s design is. Points are awarded based on expandability, modularity, whether a battery is indoor and/or outdoor-rated, and whether it can be AC- and/or DC-coupled.

Investment in the U.S. (10%)

Our country needs home-grown businesses to bring us into a post-carbon world. This category tracks whether a company has offices or is based in the U.S., manufactures its equipment here, and regularly attends U.S. trade shows and industry events.

Industry opinion (10%)

Data for this category comes directly from our annual solar industry survey. We ask installers which battery brands they will work with and award points weighted by the percentage of the industry that says they will install a company’s products. Full points are awarded to companies with at least 50% of installers saying they choose to install the battery.

Other solar batteries we evaluated

Other than the top five listed above, we evaluated the following batteries from other companies for this analysis:

Solar battery FAQ