LOGlast full price check Aug 28, 202622 systems read by hand
Every price on this site carries the day it was read.
Softeners, filters and reverse osmosis
A water softener runs $489 if you fit a cabinet unit yourself, and up to $3,000 installed by a dealer. The gap between those two numbers is where most people lose money, so we publish both, dated, next to the grain capacity, the flow rate and the certifications that decide which one you actually need.
Grains per gallon, or gpg, is the unit American labs use for hardness. The darker the band, the harder the water. This is the scale the whole site is built on.
Hard water starts at 7 gpg on the USGS scale.
Hard water can cut water heater efficiency by up to 48%. That is the reason most people land on this site, and the reason we start with your number rather than with a product.
See water hardness by stateSo every figure published here carries the day it was read, and every product page shows that date next to the price. Here is the state of the notebook today.
The method is published in full, including what we do not test ourselves and where a range comes from a third party.
Read the full methodologyThe single most expensive mistake in this category is buying the wrong stage. Before the sections, here is where each system actually goes in a house.
Each one prints the formula it used and the source of every range, so you can argue with it. Nothing is stored, nothing is emailed to you.
Sizing calculator
People x 75 gallons x hardness x 7 days, computed live with the iron correction applied. Get your grain capacity with the math shown.
Open the sizing calculatorCost calculator
Equipment, installation and consumables by purchase tier, in dated ranges from manufacturer prices checked Aug 28, 2026. No fake precision.
Open the cost calculatorGuided quiz
Seven questions a good plumber would ask first: water source, problem, bathrooms, budget. One honest recommendation, with the reasoning shown.
Start the 7 question quizNot a top ten. One pick per job, with the price we read, the day we read it, and the one specification that decides whether it fits your house.
Hard city waterPick 01
SpringWell
| Key spec | 32,000 grains, 11 GPM service flow |
|---|---|
| Salt needed | Yes, it is an ion-exchange softener |
| Best for | Homes with 1 to 3 bathrooms on hard city water that want true ion-exchange softening at a factory-direct price |
Big family, tight budgetPick 02
Whirlpool
| Key spec | 44,000 grains, max hardness 140 GPG |
|---|---|
| Salt needed | Yes, it is an ion-exchange softener |
| Best for | Big families on a budget: the highest grain, hardness and iron ratings in the big-box aisle |
City water, every tapPick 03
SpringWell
| Key spec | 1,000,000 gallons, 9 GPM |
|---|---|
| Salt needed | No |
| Best for | City-water homes that want chlorine, chloramine and PFAS handled house-wide with the lowest 10-year cost of ownership |
Drinking water onlyPick 04
Aquasana
| Key spec | Reduces 99.99% of 90 contaminants |
|---|---|
| Salt needed | No |
| Best for | Drinking-water protection (PFAS, fluoride, lead) at the best certifications-per-dollar ratio on the market |
Start with the salt column. It removes half the catalogue in one look: no salt means no drain, no electricity and no bags to carry down to the basement.
| System | Priceread Aug 28, 2026 | Key specification | Salt needed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SpringWellSpringWell SS1 Salt Based Water Softener | $1,606.50 | Grain capacity 32,000, Service flow 11 GPM | YesIon exchange | Homes with 1 to 3 bathrooms on hard city water that want true ion-exchange softening at a factory-direct price |
| WhirlpoolWhirlpool WHES44 Water Softener (44,000 Grain) | $619 | Grain capacity 44,000, Flow rate 9 GPM | YesIon exchange | Big families on a budget: the highest grain, hardness and iron ratings in the big-box aisle |
| SpringWellSpringWell FutureSoft FS1 Salt-Free Water Conditioner | $1,785 | Technology TAC (Template Assisted Crystallization), Flow rate 12 GPMRemoves 0 grains of hardness | NoNo salt, no drain, no power | City-water homes that want scale prevention without salt, a drain or electricity, not for anyone expecting soft-feeling water |
| AquasanaAquasana Rhino Whole House Water Filter (1,000,000 Gallons) | $999 | Capacity 1,000,000 gallons or 10 years, Flow rate 7.0 GPM nominal / 14.6 GPM peak | NoFiltration only | Small city-water homes (up to 2.5 bathrooms) that want brand-name whole-house filtration for under $1,000 |
| SpringWellSpringWell WS1 Whole House Well Water Filter | $2,231.25 | Technology Air Injection Oxidation (AIO), single tank, chemical-free, Flow rate 12 GPM | NoChemical-free, no consumables | Well-water homes with light-to-moderate iron, sulfur or manganese that want a chemical-free, no-consumable setup |
| AquasanaAquasana SmartFlow Reverse Osmosis System | $199.99 | Contaminants reduced 99.99% of 90 contaminants, PFAS / fluoride / arsenic 96% PFAS (P473), 90% fluoride, 96% arsenic | NoOne faucet only | Drinking-water protection (PFAS, fluoride, lead) at the best certifications-per-dollar ratio on the market |
Reading this table. A softener removes hardness and is measured in grains. A conditioner prevents scale and removes zero grains, so your water will not feel soft. A whole-house filter takes out taste, chlorine and sediment, and does neither of those two jobs. Prices read Aug 28, 2026 and rechecked every quarter.
Bar scale used in the price column
$0$500$1,000$1,500$2,231.25
A new article goes live every day. Here are the latest.
Same sources, same dated prices, ten minutes instead of twenty.
Ray Calloway
Water treatment expert, technical reviewer
Twelve years maintaining process water systems in food manufacturing, now an independent residential maintenance tech in Central Texas. Ray reviews the technical analysis published on The Home Water Lab before it goes live.
Read about the lab and who works on itSee the testing methodology
