Which gutter material to buy
By Gutter Report Editorial. Last reviewed August 2026. How we research this.
In brief
Buy aluminum unless you have a reason not to. It costs $10 to $20 a foot installed, lasts 20 to 30 years, never rusts, and it is the only common metal rolled seamless on site. Three reasons override that. You are keeping the house for decades and want the gutters to outlive the roof, which means copper at $25 to $40 a foot and 50 to 100 years. You are spending as little as you can, which means vinyl at $8 to $12 a foot and 10 to 20 years. Or ladders and branches keep denting the run, which means steel. Zinc exists, costs the most at $35 to $45 a foot, and is hard to find a contractor for. This page compares all five on price, life and cost per year, then gives a verdict for each kind of house.
1.0The comparison, on one table
| Material | Installed | 200 feet | Service life | Fails by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD / FT | USD | YEARS | ||
 | $8 to $12 | $1,000 to $2,000 | 10 to 20 | Going brittle, cracking, fading |
 | $10 to $20 | $2,000 to $4,000 | 20 to 30 | Denting, sagging, finish chalking |
 | $5 to $20 | $1,344 to $2,445 | 15 to 50 | Rusting through from the inside |
 | $25 to $40 | $5,000 to $8,000 | 50 to 100 | Almost nothing. Joints open before the metal does |
 | $35 to $45 | $7,000 to $9,000 | 30 to 80 | Almost nothing, same as copper |
Installed rates are HomeGuide's, except galvanized steel, which HomeGuide does not price alone; that row is Fixr's. The steel life column shows the full published spread, because Angi says 15 to 20 and HomeGuide says 20 to 50, and no honest single number exists. Every material page carries the rest of the publishers.
Where the 200 foot column comes from, and where it does not add up. Every figure in it is a total the publisher printed itself, not our multiplication. Two of them do not reconcile with the per foot rate beside them, and we print both rather than quietly fixing one. HomeGuide's own 200 foot vinyl total is $1,000 to $2,000 while its per foot rate would give $1,600 to $2,400. The galvanized steel total of $1,344 to $2,445 is Fixr's, from a table built on $7 to $12 a foot, while the rate in that row is Fixr's own $5 to $20 from its dedicated galvanized page. A publisher disagreeing with itself is a fact about the figure, and smoothing it over would hide exactly what this table is for.
2.0Cost per year of service life
Installed price is what you pay. Cost per year is what you get. Dividing one by the other turns the table above upside down, and it is worth seeing even if it does not change your decision.
| Material | Cheapest case | Dearest case |
|---|---|---|
| USD / FT / YEAR | USD / FT / YEAR | |
| Galvanized steel | $0.10 | $1.33 |
| Copper | $0.25 | $0.80 |
| Aluminum | $0.33 | $1.00 |
| Vinyl | $0.40 | $1.20 |
| Zinc | $0.44 | $1.50 |
That whole table is our arithmetic. Each cheapest case divides the low installed price by the long end of the published life. Each dearest case divides the high price by the short end. Copper at $25 a foot over 100 years is $0.25. Vinyl at $12 a foot over 10 years is $1.20.
Two cautions on reading it. The steel row is the least trustworthy line here, because its cheapest case divides Fixr's $5 floor by HomeGuide's 50 year ceiling, and those two figures come from different publishers arguably describing different products. Its dearest case is $1.33, the worst on the board. Copper's row is the most trustworthy, because every publisher we read clears 50 years for it.
So copper is close to the cheapest gutter you can own and it is the most expensive one you can buy. Both are true and only one is about money you have now. The arithmetic also ignores three real costs: the tear off at $1 to $2 a foot every time you replace, the disruption, and the fact that a second replacement gets priced in future dollars nobody can quote today.
Use this table for one thing only. It kills the argument that vinyl is the frugal choice. On cost per year of service, vinyl is fourth of five.
3.0The verdict, by house
| Your situation | Buy | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary house, staying 10 years or more | Aluminum, .032 thickness | The default for a reason. Ask for .032 rather than .027 if you get snow or hard rain |
| Selling within about three years | Vinyl, or repair what is there | A 12 year system is enough system. From the street it shows the same |
| Garage, shed, porch or a short rear run | Vinyl | Setup cost dominates on a short run, so the material barely moves the total |
| Period house, keeping it, appearance matters | Copper, half round | The only case where the price premium buys something you can see and keep |
| Ladders, equipment or branches hit the run | Galvanized or Galvalume steel | The one thing steel does better. Ask for Galvalume, which carries the only real warranty in the category |
| Coastal or industrial exposure | Aluminum, or stainless if the budget allows | Aluminum does not rust at all. Galvanized coatings have a harder time in salt air |
| Fitting it yourself | Vinyl | The only gutter a homeowner can realistically install. See do it yourself or hire |
| You want the longest life and cost is secondary | Copper | 50 to 100 years, and the NAHB study, the only non-commercial source, still says 50 or more |
Where the publishers disagree, material by material
Every row in section 1.0 hides a spread. These are the ones large enough to change a decision.
- Aluminum installed price. HomeGuide $10 to $20, Fixr $7 to $13, Angi $7 to $12, Modernize $8.25 to $26.40 in one place and $8.80 to $27.90 elsewhere on the same page. Today's Homeowner gives $8.91 to $9.20, a 29 cent national band, which reads as a model rather than a survey.
- Vinyl installed price. HomeGuide's main page says $8 to $12 and its own vinyl page says $3 to $7. The vinyl page carries a 2026 title over a 2022 publication date.
- Steel service life. 15 years at Angi to 50 at HomeGuide, with three publishers contradicting themselves inside their own sites. The likely explanation, which is ours, is that plain galvanized, heavier gauge galvanized and coated Galvalume all get called steel and do not last the same time.
- Copper installed price. HomeGuide and Fixr both say $25 to $40, which is rare agreement. Modernize says $25.30 to $73.80. Fixr's own main table contradicts its copper page at $18 to $32.
- The one non-commercial source. The 2007 NAHB and Bank of America study gives a flat 20 years for aluminum gutters and for galvanized steel, 30 for aluminum downspouts, and 50 or more for copper. It is the conservative floor under everything above, and it does not sell advertising to contractors.
4.0What does not depend on material
Three decisions get bundled with the material choice and should not be.
- Profile. K-style and half round are both made in aluminum, steel and copper. Half round costs $1 to $2 a foot more in the same metal. See K-style against half round.
- Seamless. Any of the metals can be rolled seamless. The premium is $3 to $5 a foot, and it is smaller on copper than on aluminum because the metal is most of the bill. See seamless against sectional.
- Size. A 6 inch gutter carries about 40 percent more water than a 5 inch in any material. See gutter sizes.
One rule does cross all of them: do not mix metals. Amerimax states in its own catalog that mixing metals in one system can cause a galvanic reaction, corrosion and early failure. Aluminum gutter takes aluminum hangers. Copper takes copper or brass.
5.0You may not need a new material at all
Most people comparing materials already have aluminum and a specific complaint. A leak is a seam. A sag is a hanger. Overflow is slope, a clog, or too few downspouts. None of those is the metal's fault, and none of them is fixed by changing it.
Aluminum at 20 to 30 years outlives most reasons people call. If your gutters are 12 years old and one section drips, upgrading the house to copper is a $25 to $40 a foot answer to a problem that a repair at a national average of $275 solves. Work through repair or replace first. We can say that plainly because we do not sell gutters and we do not install them.
Get a quote in the material you picked
Worth pricing two materials on the same run before you commit. Tell us your ZIP code and we will pass your details to one licensed contractor who works there.
A marketing service, not a licensed contractor. Gutter work is performed by independent licensed local contractors.
When you submit this form, your information is shared with a licensed gutter contractor for the purpose of scheduling your free quote.
- What happens after I send this?
- Your details go to one licensed gutter contractor who works in your ZIP code. They contact you to arrange a quote. We are not a contractor and we do not do the work.
Common questions
What is the best gutter material?
Aluminum, for most houses. It costs $10 to $20 a foot installed, lasts 20 to 30 years, does not rust, and it is the only common metal that can be rolled seamless on site. The two reasons to leave it are specific: you want the system to outlive the roof, which means copper, or you are spending as little as possible and accept replacing it sooner, which means vinyl.
Which gutter material is cheapest over the long run?
Copper, on the arithmetic, and almost nobody buys it that way. Dividing installed price by published service life gives copper about $0.25 to $0.80 a foot per year and aluminum about $0.33 to $1.00. That is our arithmetic on published figures, and it ignores the thing that actually decides it: copper wants $25 to $40 a foot today, and most people do not own the house long enough to collect.
Is vinyl gutter a bad choice?
Not always. It is the right answer on a short run, on a house you are selling soon, or on a job you are fitting yourself, because it is the only gutter a homeowner can realistically install. It is a poor answer on a long run in full sun, in hard freeze country, or on a two story house where the labor to hang it dwarfs the material saving.
Does the material change how long the gutter lasts?
Yes, and it is the only thing that does. Profile does not change service life. Seamless does not change service life. HomeGuide gives vinyl 10 to 20 years, aluminum 20 to 30, steel 20 to 50 and copper 50 to 100. The National Association of Home Builders is more conservative at a flat 20 for aluminum and galvanized steel.
Should I match my gutters to my roof or my trim?
Trim, in most cases. Gutters sit at the eave line, next to the fascia and the trim, and they read as part of that band from the street rather than as part of the roof. The exception is copper, which is chosen to be seen and works on a house where the roof or the accents already carry metal.
- Rev
- RevAugust 2026
- Source
- SourceHomeGuide, Fixr, Angi, This Old House, Modernize, NAHB, Amerimax (read 2026-08-21)