Head to head
Fire table vs fire pit
A fire table costs more, produces less heat, and is still the right buy for a specific kind of patio. Here is which kind, and what you are actually paying for.
A fire pit produces more heat for less money. A fire table produces less heat, costs considerably more, and gives you a table with a flame in the middle. If your seating already has a coffee table in it, the fire table is furniture you were buying anyway.
The comparison, without the euphemisms
| Fire table | Fire pit | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical output | 30,000 to 40,000 BTU/h | 35,000 to 58,000 BTU/h gas; wood higher |
| Cost per hour | About $1.02 at 35,000 BTU | $1.02 to $1.70 gas |
| Cylinder runtime | About 12.3 hours at 35,000 BTU | About 7.4 hours at 58,000 BTU |
| Where the heat goes | Table height, sideways and up | Mostly up, radiant sideways |
| What else you get | A usable table surface and hidden cylinder storage | A fire |
| Purchase price | Substantially higher | Substantially lower |
| Portability | It is furniture | Most are carryable |
| Cooking on it | No | Wood pits, with a grate, yes |
Cost and runtime computed at $2.674 per gallon and 91,420 BTU per gallon. Purchase prices are not published here — see the live listings on each card.
Are fire tables worth it?
As a heating strategy, no, and we would rather say that plainly than dress it up. Per dollar spent, a fire table is the least warmth in this entire category, including the patio heaters.
As furniture, frequently yes. And that is not a consolation prize — it is what the product is. You are buying an outdoor table, which you may have been buying anyway, that also has a flame in it and hides a propane cylinder inside its base so there is no hose across the patio and no bottle to look at.
Judged as a table with a fire feature, it is often excellent value. Judged as a heater, it is poor. Both statements are about the same object and it is worth knowing which comparison you are making before you spend.
The genuine advantages
- Flame at table height puts heat where hands and torsos are, which is better placed than a bowl at ankle height even though the total is lower.
- The cylinder is hidden inside the base. No hose across the patio, no bottle beside the seating, nothing to trip on. This is the design's real achievement.
- Variable flame height on the better ones makes it livable. Full output is too much for most evenings and a valve you can turn down is what stops it being a novelty.
- Lower burn rate means a longer cylinder — about 12.3 hours at 35,000 BTU against 7.4 for a 58,000 BTU bowl.
- A surface for drinks. Trivial, and it is the reason people keep using it.
The genuine disadvantages
- The worst heat per dollar in the category, on both purchase price and delivered warmth.
- It is heavy and it stays where you put it. A fire pit moves; a fire table is a fixture in practice.
- The flame sits in an open bowl and a stiff breeze disrupts it more than a deeper pit's.
- Refilling means moving furniture or reaching inside the base, which is more awkward than swapping a cylinder beside a bowl.
- It occupies the middle of the seating. Which is the point, and it also means you cannot rearrange around it.
Quick picks
Ranked for fit, not for hype. Output is the maker’s published figure; reach is computed from it or from the maker’s own radius claim, and the table says which. Tap a row for the full write-up, or go straight to the listing.
| # | Product | Best for | Output | Reach | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outland LivingNo photo Outland 401 fire table35,000 BTU of table-height flame plus somewhere to put a drink. As heat it loses to a tower; as a reason to stay outside until eleven it beats one. | A table that is also the fire | 35,000 BTU | 1,750 sq ft | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 | Outland LivingNo photo Outland Firebowl 89358,000 BTU is more rated input than any patio heater in this registry, in a 19 in bowl you can carry. The catch is that an open bowl throws most of that straight up. | The highest published output here | 58,000 BTU | 2,900 sq ft | Check price on Amazon |
| 3 | Solo StoveNo photo Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0The secondary-burn design does genuinely reduce smoke, and a wood fire puts out more heat than any patio heater here. It heats a circle of people, not a patio, and those are different products. | Heat you gather around | Not published | Not published | Check price on Amazon |
Reach marked “claimed” is the maker’s own published figure. Reach without that label is ours, computed from published output at 20 BTU per square foot for an open patio. Neither is a measurement we took.
Top pick · A table that is also the fire
Outland Living 401 Series 44 in Propane Gas Fire Table
35,000 BTU of table-height flame plus somewhere to put a drink. As heat it loses to a tower; as a reason to stay outside until eleven it beats one.
- Fuel
- Propane
- Output
- 35,000 BTU/h
- Reach (computed)
- 1,750 sq ft · 23.6 ft radius
- Cost per hour
- $1.02
What works
- Concealing the cylinder inside the base is the whole design argument — no hose across the patio, no cylinder to look at
- Variable flame height is the feature that makes a fire table livable: full output is too much for most evenings and the valve lets you turn it down
- 35,000 BTU at table height puts heat where hands and torsos are, which is more usefully placed than a tower's overhead radiance
What does not
- Fire tables are the worst heat-per-dollar in this category and it is not close. You are buying furniture with a flame in it
- A 20 lb cylinder at 35,000 BTU/h runs about the same short evening as a tower — the lower output does not buy proportionally more nights
- The flame sits in an open bowl and a stiff breeze is a real problem for it
| Published specification | |
|---|---|
| Rated input | 35,000 BTU/h |
| Size | 44 in rectangle |
| Ignition | Push-button spark |
| Control | Chrome manual valve, variable flame height |
| Fuel | 20 lb cylinder, concealed in the base |
| Maker’s coverage claim | None published — the reach figure above is ours |
| Safety listing | CSA certified per the maker's published product data |
Who it is for
A seating arrangement that already has a coffee table in the middle of it, where the fire is the point rather than the heating strategy.
What it is not for
Heating an area. If the goal is to make a cold patio usable, [a heater does that better for less](/fire-pits/heater-vs-fire-pit).
2 · The highest published output here
Outland Firebowl 893 Deluxe Portable Propane Fire Pit, 19 in
58,000 BTU is more rated input than any patio heater in this registry, in a 19 in bowl you can carry. The catch is that an open bowl throws most of that straight up.
- Fuel
- Propane
- Output
- 58,000 BTU/h
- Reach (computed)
- 2,900 sq ft · 30.4 ft radius
- Cost per hour
- $1.70
What works
- 58,000 BTU with no wood, no smoke and no ash — it is on in ten seconds and off in one
- Propane means it is legal in most fire-ban conditions where wood is not, though check your own county before assuming
- Portable enough to take camping, which no other heat source here manages
What does not
- An open bowl is a chimney. The rated input is the highest here and the useful radiant fraction is among the lowest — do not read 58,000 BTU as 58,000 BTU of warmth on people
- At full output a 20 lb cylinder empties fast. The runtime table has the exact figure
- The hose runs across the ground to the cylinder, which is a trip hazard and a design compromise the fire tables avoid
| Published specification | |
|---|---|
| Rated input | 58,000 BTU/h |
| Diameter | 19 in |
| Fuel | 20 lb cylinder via the included hose and regulator |
| Included | Cover and carry kit on the Deluxe |
| Fill | Lava rock included |
| Maker’s coverage claim | None published — the reach figure above is ours |
| Safety listing | CSA certified per the maker's published product data |
Who it is for
Somewhere that needs instant, smokeless flame on demand, including places where a wood fire is not permitted.
What it is not for
Efficient heating, decks without a [heat barrier](/fire-pits/deck-safe), and anywhere with anything overhead.
Sources for this entry
3 · Heat you gather around
Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0 Smokeless Fire Pit with Stand, 19.5 in
The secondary-burn design does genuinely reduce smoke, and a wood fire puts out more heat than any patio heater here. It heats a circle of people, not a patio, and those are different products.
- Fuel
- Wood
- Output
- Not published
- Reach (computed)
- Not published
- Cost per hour
- n/a
What works
- A wood fire's output is not comparable to a patio heater's — this is the reason the heater versus fire pit question resolves the way it does
- The stand is not an accessory, it is the thing that makes it usable on a surface. Buy the version that includes it
- Removable ash pan turns cleanup from a chore into a step, which is the difference between using it weekly and using it twice
What does not
- Smokeless is a comparison, not an absolute. It smokes noticeably less than an open pit; it does not produce no smoke, especially while it comes up to temperature
- The heat is radiant and low — it warms a ring of people standing close, and does nothing for anyone six feet back
- Even with the stand, this needs a heat barrier on a wood deck. The stand reduces transferred heat, it does not eliminate it
| Published specification | |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 19.5 in |
| Height | 16.75 in |
| Weight | 21.75 lb |
| Material | 304 stainless steel with a high-heat ceramic coating |
| Maker's capacity | Suits 4 to 6 people |
| Ash handling | Removable ash pan under the base plate |
| Maker’s coverage claim | None published — the reach figure above is ours |
| Safety listing | No safety listing applies; this is a wood-burning appliance, not a gas one |
Who it is for
A group that gathers around the fire rather than sitting in a spread-out seating arrangement, on a patio where wood smoke is not a neighbor problem.
What it is not for
Anywhere with a roof — this is an open wood fire and belongs under open sky. Also not for anyone who wants heat at the flick of a switch.
Which one for which patio
Buy the fire table if your seating is a sofa-and-chairs arrangement that already needs a coffee table, if the propane cylinder being visible bothers you, and if you understand you are buying furniture rather than heating.
Buy the fire pit if you want the most fire for the money, if the seating is a ring of chairs rather than a lounge set, or if you want something you can move — to a different corner, to the front of the house, into the garage in November.
Buy neither if what you actually want is a warm patio. Both of these are focal points that happen to produce heat. A patio heater is the product that warms a seating area, and the head-to-head works through why.
The prices every cost figure on this site uses
- Electricity: 18.34 cents per kWh. U.S. average residential retail price, June 2026. EIA, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (residential, U.S. total).
- Propane: $2.674 per gallon. U.S. average residential price, week ending March 30, 2026. EIA, Weekly Heating Oil and Propane Prices (residential, U.S. average). That series only runs through the heating season, which is why the latest reading is a March one.
- Propane energy content: 91,420 BTU per gallon (higher heating value, the same basis appliance BTU ratings use). U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center, Fuel Properties Comparison.
- Conversion: 1 kWh = 3,412 BTU. Which is why a 1,500 W electric heater is a 5,118 BTU/h appliance, and why comparing it to a 48,000 BTU propane tower is not the comparison it looks like.
Common questions
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 category. Buy one because you wanted an outdoor table and like the idea of a fire in it, not because you want a warm patio.
Is a fire table worth it compared to a fire pit?
A fire pit gives more heat for less money. A fire table gives you a usable surface, hides the propane cylinder in its base, and puts the flame at table height where hands are. Which is better depends entirely on whether you needed a table.
How much does a fire table cost to run?
About $1.02 an hour at 35,000 BTU/h and $2.674 per gallon of propane, and a 20 lb cylinder lasts around 12.3 hours. That is cheaper per hour than a high-output fire bowl, because it is producing less heat.
Do fire tables give off much heat?
Enough to warm hands and torsos of people seated around them, and not enough to warm a patio. At 35,000 BTU/h in an open bowl at table height, most of the output rises; what you feel is the radiant share at close range.
Sources
Read next
The best fire pits for heat
Fire pits ranked on delivered warmth rather than rated output, with runtime and cost computed.
Patio heater vs fire pit
Output, direction, cost, wind and permitted use compared, with exits to both catalogs.
How long a propane cylinder actually lasts
The cylinder arithmetic in full: energy content, burn rate, and every size from 15 to 40 lb.
The best patio heaters, sorted by the patio
Six heaters covering every real patio case, with published output, computed reach and cost per hour.