How Much Does It Cost to Run a Garage Door Opener? (2026)

A garage door opener runs for about 15 seconds per cycle, so the motor uses almost nothing. Its standby draw of 3 to 8 watts, waiting for the remote, is the real cost.

A typical garage door opener (500 W) costs $0.092 per hour, or about $0.055 per month at 0.02 hours a day in the US. Cheap to run

Hours used per day
WattagePer hourPer dayPer monthPer year
Low 300 W$0.055$0.001$0.033$0.40
Typical 500 W$0.092$0.002$0.055$0.67
High 800 W$0.15$0.003$0.088$1.07

Formula: watts ÷ 1000 × hours × price per kWh. Typical use is 0.02 h/day ≈ 4 kWh per year.

One hour of a garage door opener (0.50 kWh) is the same electricity as

Electricity per year at typical use, on a log scale: #1 of 95 appliances, from least to most.

Around the world per year at typical use, local prices

How to lower the cost of running a garage door opener

In standby it draws about 5 W, which adds roughly 44 kWh ($8.03) per year if it is never unplugged.

Frequently asked questions

How much electricity does a garage door opener use?

Around 30 to 70 kWh a year, nearly all of it standby.

Does a garage door opener use power when idle?

Yes, 3 to 8 watts continuously.

How much does one open and close cost?

A fraction of a cent. Fifteen seconds at 500 watts is 0.002 kWh.

Cost by region

US states
Canadian provinces

Related appliances

Use the generic electricity cost calculator · Which uses more? Take the quiz