Best portable power stations for home backup
For most homes we'd pick the Jackery HomePower 3000. Its 3 kWh battery runs a fridge, a freezer, the Wi-Fi and a CPAP for about 19 hours. The BLUETTI AC180 is the one to get on a tight budget, the EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 is the only one here with 240 V, and the small EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus has the quickest switchover and recharge.
Published , by Alex Rowan
We haven't tested these units ourselves. The picks come from the makers' spec sheets and manuals, and every price shows the store and the day we checked it. Links to the makers' and other stores pay us nothing. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, so we may get a commission when you buy through an Amazon link. You pay the same price.How we work.
Our picks
Best for most homes
Jackery HomePower 3000
$1,349Jackery price, Oct 27, 2026
- Battery
- 3,072 Wh
- Output
- 3,600 W (7,200 W surge)
- Runs the essentials
- About 19 hours
- Price per kWh
- $439
- Solar input
- 1,000 W
- Weight
- 59.52 lb
At $439 per kWh of battery it costs about the same per kWh as the cheapest unit here, with almost three times the capacity. Three kilowatt-hours gets a fridge and freezer through a night and most of the next day, and 3,600 W of output with a 7,200 W surge covers a fridge compressor starting while everything else runs.
Jackery says it can feed up to six house circuits through a manual transfer switch, which an electrician has to install. The outlets are 120 V only, so it won't run a 240 V well pump. Jackery rates the cells at 4,000 cycles to 70% of capacity, a lower bar than the 80% the other makers use, so the figures can't be compared directly. The five-year warranty applies only when you buy from jackery.com; elsewhere it's three years.
Best on a small budget
BLUETTI AC180
$499BLUETTI price, Oct 27, 2026
- Battery
- 1,152 Wh
- Output
- 1,800 W
- Runs the essentials
- About 7.2 hours
- Price per kWh
- $433
- Solar input
- 500 W
- Weight
- 35.3 lb
The cheapest unit here holds a little over 1 kWh, enough for the essentials overnight or a CPAP alone for about 2 nights. BLUETTI rates the battery at 3,500 cycles and adds expansion batteries up to 4,224 Wh in total.
The 1,800 W limit is the catch. With the whole essentials list plugged in, a fridge starting up can push the load past it, so plug in the fridge first and add the rest once it's running. BLUETTI doesn't publish a switchover time on the product page.
Best for 240 V and house circuits
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3
$2,799EcoFlow price, Oct 27, 2026
- Battery
- 4,096 Wh, up to 12 kWh
- Output
- 4,000 W (8,000 W surge)
- Voltage
- 120 V and 240 V
- Runs the essentials
- About 25 hours
- Solar input
- 2,600 W
- Weight
- 113.5 lb
It's the only one in this group with 240 V outlets, which a well pump, a central air conditioner or a 240 V transfer switch needs. EcoFlow says it ran a 3-ton central AC in its lab with a soft starter fitted. It can feed the house through EcoFlow's Smart Home Panel 2, an inlet box or a manual transfer switch, and two extra batteries take a single unit to 12 kWh.
It costs 2.1 times as much as the HomePower 3000 for 33% more battery, and at 113.5 lb it rolls on wheels rather than being carried.
Best for computers and quick recharges
EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus
$719EcoFlow price, Oct 27, 2026
- Battery
- 1,024 Wh, up to 5,000 Wh
- Output
- 1,800 W (3,600 W surge)
- Switchover
- Under 10 ms
- Wall charging
- 1,500 W, full in 56 min
- Runs the essentials
- About 6.4 hours
- Weight
- 27.6 lb
EcoFlow lists a switchover under 10 ms when the grid drops, tied with the DELTA Pro 3 for the shortest here, so a desktop computer or a router plugged into it is the least likely to notice the outage. It also refills from a wall outlet in under an hour, which helps when storms come in waves and the power returns for a few hours between them.
One kilowatt-hour is small for a whole house. Treat it as backup for a desk and a fridge, or budget for an extra battery.
All five side by side
| Model | Battery | Output | Runs the essentials | Price | Per kWh | Solar input | Switchover | 240 V | Weight | Cycles to 80% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jackery HomePower 3000 (opens in a new tab) | 3,072 Wh | 3,600 W (7,200 W surge) | 19 hours | $1,349 Jackery price, Oct 27, 2026 | $439 | 1,000 W | 20 ms | No | 59.52 lb | 4,000 to 70% |
| BLUETTI AC180 (opens in a new tab) | 1,152 Wh | 1,800 W | 7.2 hours | $499 BLUETTI price, Oct 27, 2026 | $433 | 500 W | Not published | No | 35.3 lb | 3,500 |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 (opens in a new tab) | 4,096 Wh | 4,000 W (8,000 W surge) | 25 hours | $2,799 EcoFlow price, Oct 27, 2026 | $683 | 2,600 W | 10 ms | Yes | 113.5 lb | 4,000 |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus (opens in a new tab) | 1,024 Wh | 1,800 W (3,600 W surge) | 6.4 hours | $719 EcoFlow price, Oct 27, 2026 | $702 | 1,000 W | 10 ms | No | 27.6 lb | 4,000 |
| Anker SOLIX C1000X (opens in a new tab) | 1,056 Wh | 1,800 W (2,400 W surge) | 6.6 hours | $600 Anker SOLIX price, Oct 26, 2026 | $568 | 600 W | 20 ms | No | 28.44 lb | 3,000 |
"Runs the essentials" is the battery's rated capacity times 85%, for inverter losses, divided by the average draw of a full-size fridge, a chest freezer, the Wi-Fi and modem, four LED bulbs, two phone chargers and a CPAP: about 137 W across a day. That's the runtime calculator's starting list. Switchover is the maker's figure for how fast the outlets take over when the grid drops.
How to choose one for your home
Start with watt-hours
Watt-hours (Wh) is how much energy the battery holds, and it decides how long things run. Fridges and freezers cycle on and off, so a modern fridge averages well under 100 W across a day even though its compressor pulls several hundred watts while it runs. The refrigerator page has the figures from ENERGY STAR's test data. The runtime calculator adds up your own list and shows how many hours each battery size gives.
Then check the watts
Output in watts is the most the inverter can deliver at once. Add up what runs together, then allow for motors starting. The generator sizing charts we use put a fridge's startup at 2,200 W on top of what's already running, which is why the essentials list peaks at 3,776 W for a moment. A unit with a high surge rating rides through that; one rated 1,800 W may shut off unless you start the fridge on its own.
120 V or 240 V
Most power stations only have 120 V outlets. A well pump, central air or an electric water heater usually needs 240 V, which narrows the choice to large units like the DELTA Pro 3. Check the label on the appliance or the breaker that feeds it (a double breaker means 240 V).
Getting power into the house
Extension cords to each appliance need no electrician. To run hardwired things like a furnace blower or a well pump, an electrician installs a transfer switch or an inlet box so the power station feeds chosen circuits without sending power back onto the utility lines. Never plug a power station into a wall outlet to power the house; the backfeeding guide explains why it's dangerous.
Recharging between outages
Wall charging speed matters when outages come back to back. Solar input matters for long outages; our solar generator picks cover panels and how much they really add. A small inverter generator can also recharge a power station, as long as it can supply the station's charging watts.
What we left out
We track the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 in our cost data, but on October 27, 2026 its store page said it wasn't available to buy, so it isn't ranked here. Anker's SOLIX C1000X is in the table: it's close to the DELTA 3 Plus on paper, with a 20 ms switchover and 600 W of solar input, and it cost less at the prices we checked.