Heat pump cost in Germany: purchase, own share and running costs in 2026
There is no official price list for heat pumps. This page takes the examples KfW publishes as reference points and works out what is left after the grant and in running costs.
Worked through by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
What the heat pump costs you
Cost after the grant
€17,120
| Grant | €12,880 |
| Rate | 46 % |
| Above the cap | €2,000 |
No German authority publishes what a heat pump costs: there is no official price statistic for purchase and installation. The only official reference points are the worked examples of KfW, the federal promotional bank. Its press release of 8 July 2026 uses €32,000 for a single-family house; its product page uses €41,000 for a ground-source heat pump with solar thermal in a two-family house and €20,000 for a split unit in a flat. Of any quote, at most €28,000 for the first home is eligible when you apply by 31 January 2027, so €4,000 of a €32,000 quote gets no grant. If the heat pump replaces a 22-year-old gas boiler, KfW pays an owner-occupier household with €65,000 taxable income €12,880, leaving €19,120 to pay. On €28,000 income the own share falls to €9,600. To run it, a 130 m² class E house in Baden-Württemberg needs about 4,479 kWh of electricity: €1,229 a year, against €2,255 with gas.
No official price, but three reference points
Search for heat pump prices and you find plenty of ranges, none of them from a public body. Official statistics cover energy prices, not the price of heating systems. KfW does use concrete amounts in its own examples, and those are the only public figures with an official sender. We recalculate them with this site’s engine (KfW product page 458, press release of 8 July 2026).
| KfW example | Cost | Grant | Own share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-family house, family with a child, income €40,000 (press release) | €32,000 | €22,400 | €9,600 |
| Two-family house, ground source with solar thermal, oil replaced | €41,000 | €15,580 | €25,420 |
| Owner-occupied flat, split heat pump instead of storage heaters | €20,000 | €8,096 | €11,904 |
For your house only your quote counts. The three cases show how much the type of building shapes the result, though: in the two-family house the cap rises, in the flat it is shared between the units. The ground-source system is dearer in the example but, according to field measurements, uses less electricity.
What is left after the grant
The grant consists of a 30 % basic rate for every owner plus two bonuses for owner-occupiers: the climate speed bonus (Klimageschwindigkeitsbonus), currently 16 %, and the income bonus of up to 40 %. The total is capped at 70 %, or 80 % with income up to €30,000 (guideline of 17 August 2026). For the same €32,000 quote replacing a 22-year-old gas boiler:
| Household | Rate | Grant | You pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income €90,000 | 46 % | €12,880 | €19,120 |
| Income €48,000 | 56 % | €15,680 | €16,320 |
| Income €36,000 | 70 % | €19,600 | €12,400 |
| Income €28,000 | 80 % | €22,400 | €9,600 |
| House let to tenants | 30 % | €8,400 | €23,600 |
| Gas boiler only 12 years old | 30 % | €8,400 | €23,600 |
Note the jump between €48,000 and €36,000: the income bonus grows there from 10 % to 30 %. KfW uses the average taxable income on the German tax assessments for the second and third year before the application (information sheet 458), and income earned abroad counts. Newcomers without those assessments cannot claim the income bonus, and both bonuses need the house to be your main residence. The young gas boiler gets no bonus because the climate speed bonus only starts at 20 years. Rates in detail: heat pump grant and climate speed bonus.
The tax credit as an alternative
If you do not apply for the grant, you can deduct the cost from German income tax under section 35c of the Income Tax Act: 7 % in the year the work is finished and in the next, 6 % in the third, up to €40,000 per property. On €32,000 that is €6,400 over three tax years. Only a home you live in yourself qualifies, the house must be more than 10 years old, the work finished before 1 January 2030, and the grant rules out the credit for the same work. More under tax credit for heating.
Grant or tax credit?
Better: grant
€8,400
| Grant (gas under 20 years) | €8,400 |
| Tax credit over three years | €6,000 |
The tax credit only helps if you pay at least that much income tax.
What the heat pump costs to run
A 130 m² class E house in Baden-Württemberg needs about 15,229 kWh of heat, based on the class midpoint and the local climate. With the SPF that Fraunhofer ISE measured in existing buildings, the yearly costs are:
| System | Cost a year |
|---|---|
| Air-source heat pump, SPF 3.4 | €1,229 |
| Gas boiler, 11.58 ct/kWh | €2,255 |
| Oil boiler, €118.68 per 100 litres | €2,077 |
The gap to gas, €1,026 a year, is what has to repay the higher purchase price. Gas prices come from the Destatis survey. The heat pump cost calculator works it out for your house and state.
What the quote should cover
So that the grant does not fail on formalities, the quote has to meet a few conditions. The unit must be on BAFA’s list of eligible heat pumps and be designed for an SPF of at least 3.0. For air-to-water units, the outdoor unit must be at least 10 dB quieter than the EU limits. Natural refrigerants such as propane are recommended today and required from 1 January 2028. Before you apply, the contract with the installer needs a clause tying it to grant approval; without it, signing counts as starting the project and the grant is lost. After approval you have 36 months to install. The steps are set out under heating grant application.
Financing, and outdated figures online
For your own share there is the top-up loan of up to €120,000 per home, with a reduced rate for households up to €90,000 income. Be wary of cost calculators, English ones included, that still apply a 20 % climate bonus, a 5 % efficiency bonus or a €30,000 cap: that is the position for applications up to 20 July 2026. Treating 70 % as the absolute ceiling is wrong too, since it is 80 % on a low income. For applications from the first quarter of 2027, a 15 % basic grant for heat pumps plus 15 % for EU origin has been adopted; without EU origin the grant in the €65,000 example would fall to €7,358. The full picture of a replacement is under cost of replacing your heating.