What a garage door opener costs

Chain, belt, screw and direct drive openers are priced differently, but most of the cost guides we read price the unit alone, without installation, so there's no installed price by drive type here. Ask each company to quote the opener it'd fit, installed.

Every automatic opener for a home garage door made for sale in the US since January 1, 1993 has to meet a federal safety standard. It has to reverse a closing door that hits something, which the rule calls entrapment protection, and it needs a second safeguard as well: a wall button you have to keep pressed to close the door, a connection for an outside sensor such as a photo eye, or a second sensor built in.¹⁰

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says to replace an older opener that doesn't reverse with one that meets the standard, and that a photo eye should sit 4 to 6 inches above the floor.¹¹

Lay a 2x4 flat on the floor in the door's path and close the door. If it doesn't reverse when it hits the board, the CPSC says to disconnect the opener until it's adjusted, repaired or replaced.¹¹

In California, a replacement garage door can't be hooked up to an existing opener that fails the reversing test or has no battery backup.^12-13

• An installed price by drive type. Only one cost guide prices chain, belt, screw and direct drive openers installed.
• A new opener belt. The cost guides' ranges for it don't line up, so there's no range two of them agree on.

• Whether the price includes taking down the old opener.
• Whether the new opener comes with photo eyes, and where they'll be fitted.
• Whether the company will test the reverse before it leaves.
• Whether the job needs new wiring or an outlet, and who'll do it.

Each company on this site is listed with its phone number where it has one, so you can call two or three and compare. You can also send a request through the request form.