How much does a Wi-Fi router cost to run?

Figures on this page are calculated from typical appliance wattages and the price per kWh you enter, not looked up from a bill. See how we calculate this.

What a Wi-Fi router costs to run: typical 10 W, about $16 a year. Adjust the figures to your own usage and electricity price.

Wattage and running cost

It runs continuously, 24 hours a day. Energy and cost at $0.18/kWh, the US average.

A Wi-Fi router is a small appliance with an outsized presence on the bill, not because it uses much power at any moment, but because it is one of the very few things in a home that genuinely never switches off. Most routers draw somewhere between 5 and 18 watts continuously, all day and all night, all year. This page treats it as an always-on device, so the yearly figure captures the reality that a router runs 8,760 hours a year whether anyone is using the internet or not.

Individually the cost is small — a typical 10 W router costs only a handful of dollars a year — but it is a useful example of how constant low-power devices work. The same watt drawn continuously for a year uses far more energy than a high-power appliance used briefly, which is exactly why standby and always-on loads deserve attention across a whole home. A router, a mesh satellite or two, a modem and a network switch together can quietly add up.

There is not much to optimise on the router itself, and you generally would not want to — turning it off saves only pennies and breaks smart-home devices, security cameras and anyone working from home. The practical takeaway is comparative: if a 10 W router costs so little to run non-stop, it puts the cost of larger always-on appliances like fridges and freezers into perspective, and shows why switching off genuinely idle electronics matters more than unplugging the internet.

Home internet is usually two boxes, not one, and the second is easy to forget. The router does the Wi-Fi and the routing; in front of it there is often a separate modem, an ONT for fibre, or a cable box from the provider, and each draws its own 5 to 10 W. Both run every hour of the year, so the pair is what actually appears on the bill. A mesh system multiplies it again — each satellite is another router, drawing much the same as the main one.

What a Wi-Fi router costs in other countries

The figures above assume $0.18/kWh, the US average. A Wi-Fi router does not change when it crosses a border — the price of the electricity it drinks does. Here is what its 88 kWh a year cost in the 14 countries with a page here, dearest first.

Each figure is in that country's own currency at its average all-taxes-included price; the dollar column is there so they can be set against each other. Ireland to Canada is a factor of 3.8 — same appliance, same hours, 3.8 times the bill. Follow a country for its real retailer tariffs and what makes up that price, or see the full electricity price comparison by country.

How to cut Wi-Fi router running costs

• Leave it on — the saving from switching a router off is tiny and breaks smart devices.
• Do turn off old routers, modems or switches you no longer use and forgot to unplug.
• Group genuinely idle electronics, not the router, on switched strips for real savings.
• Replacing several old separate boxes with one efficient modem-router can trim a few watts.
• Use the router's cost as a yardstick for other always-on devices around the home.

Frequently asked questions