Fire pits
The best fire pits for heat
Fire pits ranked on delivered warmth rather than rated output, with runtime and cost computed.
The other option
The radiant alternative, and when it is the better buy
A fire pit is not a worse patio heater. It is a different product answering a different question, and the answer turns on whether people gather around it or spread out.
The question everyone arrives with is answered on one page: patio heater vs fire pit.
A patio heater heats a space; a fire pit heats a circle of people around it. If your seating is spread out or against a wall, buy a heater. If people gather in a ring and the fire is the reason they are outside, buy a fire pit. Output figures do not settle this — geometry does.
Why comparing BTU numbers gets you the wrong answer
A propane fire bowl rated at 58,000 BTU/h has a higher rated input than any patio heater in our registry. A 48,000 BTU tower is lower. Read those two numbers side by side and the fire pit looks like the more powerful heater. It is not, in any sense that matters on a cold evening.
The difference is direction. A patio heater has a reflector engineered to push heat downward and outward across an area. An open fire bowl is, functionally, a chimney: hot gas rises, and the useful output is the radiant fraction that leaves sideways. Both figures are honest ratings of fuel consumed. Only one of them describes where the warmth goes.
This is why the comparison has to be made on geometry rather than specification, and why the head-to-head page is built around five axes instead of one number.
The three products people mean by fire pit
| Product | What it is | Best case | Worst case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood fire pit | An open steel bowl, often with a secondary-burn design to cut smoke | A group standing in a ring, open sky, no neighbors close | Smoke, ash, a fire ban, and nothing on demand |
| Propane fire bowl | A burner under lava rock, fed from a cylinder | Instant flame, no smoke, permitted during many wood bans | Very poor heat per dollar; a hose across the patio |
| Fire table | A propane burner built into a table with cylinder storage | Seating that already has a table in the middle of it | Furniture prices for the least heat in the category |
Chimineas are a fourth case — a chimney design that directs heat forward rather than up. [Compared here](/fire-pits/chiminea-vs-fire-pit).
Running cost, since nobody publishes it for fire pits
Propane fire features are gas appliances with rated inputs, so the same arithmetic that prices a patio heater prices them. At the U.S. average residential propane price, a 58,000 BTU bowl costs about $1.70 an hour and empties a 20 lb cylinder in around seven and a half hours. A 35,000 BTU fire table is about $1.02 an hour and around twelve hours a cylinder.
Wood is harder to price honestly because firewood cost varies enormously by region and by whether you bought it or cut it, so we do not publish a figure for it. What we can say is that a wood fire's output is far higher than any of these — the constraint on a wood fire is smoke, permits and effort, not energy.
Decks change the fire pit answer completely
A fire pit on a wood or composite deck needs a heat barrier underneath, and on composite it needs one even when nothing is close to igniting, because composite boards soften and mark well below ignition temperature. A raised stand helps and does not replace the mat.
It is also the case that an open fire under any roof, pergola or overhang is out of the question — not marginal, out. If your patio is covered, the fire pit conversation ends there and the covered patio page is the one you want.
Where to go from here
- Patio heater vs fire pit — the five-axis comparison, with exits to both catalogs.
- Fire table vs fire pit — whether a fire table is worth what it costs.
- Chiminea vs fire pit — the one design that aims its heat sideways on purpose.
- Best fire pits for heat — picks ranked on delivered warmth rather than looks.
- Deck-safe fire pits — what to buy and what to put under it.
- Smokeless fire pits — what secondary burn does and what it does not.
Everything in this section
6 pages. Roundups and tools first, then the comparisons, then the guides.
Decks
Deck-safe fire pits
The stand-plus-barrier combination that protects decking, and the pits that suit it.
Smokeless
Smokeless fire pits, honestly described
How secondary burn works, what it does not do, and what really determines smoke.
Head to head
Patio heater vs fire pit
Output, direction, cost, wind and permitted use compared, with exits to both catalogs.
Head to head
Fire table vs fire pit
What a fire table costs, what it heats, and the patio where it is genuinely the right buy.
Head to head
Chiminea vs fire pit
The one outdoor fire design that directs heat forward, compared with an open pit.
Common questions
Is a fire pit or a patio heater better for heat?
A patio heater, for warming a seating area. A fire pit puts out plenty of energy but sends most of it upward, and only warms people who are close and facing it. A fire pit wins when people gather in a ring around it; a heater wins when seating is spread out or against a wall.
Are fire pit tables worth it?
As furniture with a flame, often. As a heating strategy, no — a fire table is the poorest heat per dollar in this whole category. A 35,000 BTU table costs about $1.02 an hour to run and warms hands rather than a space.
What type of fire pit is best?
For heat, a wood pit with a secondary-burn design. For convenience and for places with wood bans, a propane bowl. For an existing seating arrangement, a fire table. They rank differently on every axis, which is why there is no single answer.