Best balcony solar kits: we worked out the payback on 10, and one clearly wins

Plug-in solar kits sold in the U.S. range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. Which one earns its money back first isn't obvious from the price tag.

So we priced 10 of them the way you'd actually pay: delivered, with the seller's own shipping quote and any membership you'd need. Then we asked how many watts each one can really put out.

Every kit gets the same sun and the same electric rate. That way the only thing being compared is the kit.

The ranking

The order doesn't depend on where you live. Better sun or a higher rate shortens every payback by the same share. At California's 34¢ rate, every bar is about 46% shorter.

Bright Saver 360 W: about 4.2 years. Nothing else came within a year.

The winner, and its catches

Bright Saver is a nonprofit that sells its kits at cost to members. Its 360 W kit is two 180 W panels, a 360 W microinverter, a 15-foot cord, and zip ties for a railing.

Delivered, it costs $443: $414 for the kit, free shipping, and a $29 membership. You need the membership only when you buy; the panels keep working if it lapses. That works out to $1.23 a watt, against $1.55 for the next kit.

Three catches:

• Seven states. It ships only to Utah, Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. California, Maine, and Vermont get reservations only.
• Sold out. Pre-orders ship in the order they were placed, with no set date.
• Small. At 360 W, it makes about 641 kWh a year tilted in Los Angeles. But a small kit's power almost all gets used at home, so its savings are the surest.

What pushes a kit down the list

• Shipping. US Solar Supplier charged a flat $499.99 to ship every kit. That turns its $629 880 W kit into $1,129.
• An inverter smaller than the panels. That same kit has 880 W of panels but a 720 W inverter, so it can never put out more than 720 W. We count it at 720.
• Extras. Craftstrom's kits come with mounts and a power meter, and cost $2.16 a watt delivered, the most of any kit we checked.

If you can't buy the winner

US Solar Supplier 1,180 W came second: $1,399 delivered (a sale price when we checked), about 5.3 years. It has 1,180 W of panels and a 900 W inverter, and no mount.

If you want a mount in the box: NAZ Solar Electric 870 W, $1,495 delivered, about 5.8 years. Its seller's page said out of stock when we checked, though its cart still took an order.

Before you buy any kit, check what your state allows. Some states require certified kits, and some cap the size.

How we counted

• Prices were read on each seller's site on October 25, 2026. Shipping was quoted to California, before sales tax. Sale prices and stock change.
• Output: a panel facing south, tilted 30°, with the average sun of six U.S. cities from Seattle to Phoenix (the EU's PVGIS model). No shade.
• Savings: every kWh the kit makes at the U.S. average rate of 18.3¢, as if your home uses all of it. A big kit on a home that can't use its power as it's made will do worse than shown. Why size matters.

Work out yours: the free balcony solar calculator ranks the same 10 kits for your ZIP, your balcony's direction, and your rate.

The bottom line

If you live in one of its seven states, Bright Saver's kit is the one to beat. Everywhere else, compare kits by their delivered price per watt, not the sticker.