I'm Deven, founder of Sōlace Up North. I'll give you the real figures, including the ones that make my own prices look expensive.
The two units
- Sauna: entry infrared cabins $1,800–$4,000. Traditional outdoor cedar starts around $5,500. Premium outdoor units run $15,000 and up.
- Cold plunge: $3,000–$15,000, driven mostly by tub material, insulation and the chiller. Stainless costs the most and lasts the longest.
A mid-range pairing — a solid traditional cedar sauna and a quality plunge with a good chiller — lands around $10,000–$14,000 for the units alone. The premium end runs two to three times that.
The costs the quote usually skips
- Site prep: a level pad or footing, $400–$1,500.
- Electrical: an outdoor-rated circuit for a traditional heater, $800–$1,500 installed. Many plug-in infrared units skip this entirely.
- Delivery: high-ticket units ship curbside freight. Budget a few hundred dollars and a plan for getting it off the truck and around the house.
- Installation: on a premium outdoor sauna, assembly and setup is usually quoted separately and can run several thousand dollars. Ask before you buy, not after.
What it costs to run
Combined operating cost is usually $35–$75 a month with regular use: more for a traditional electric heater, less for infrared, plus the plunge's chiller and sanitizer. Your electricity rate and how often you actually use it move that number more than anything on the spec sheet.
The five-year total
The honest way to think about a purchase this size is over its life, not at the register. For a mid-range setup:
| Line | Five-year cost |
|---|---|
| Units | ~$12,000 |
| Site prep and electrical | ~$1,500 |
| Running cost ($50/mo × 60) | ~$3,000 |
| Maintenance (filters, sanitizer, re-seal, stones) | ~$2,000 |
| Total | ~$18,500 |
That's about $310 a month amortized, for unlimited use on your own schedule. A premium setup runs closer to $600–$700 a month on the same math. Compare either against a studio membership before you decide.
DIY vs retail
You can build a plunge from a stock tank ($100–$300) and a standalone chiller ($400–$1,200), and plenty of people do. It is genuinely the cheapest way in and it genuinely works. Expect more fiddling, weaker temperature control and a shorter life. A retail setup costs more and gives you a sealed, insulated, warrantied unit that holds temperature for fifteen to twenty years. Neither is wrong. It comes down to whether you want a project or a product.
Financing
Because this is a several-thousand-dollar purchase, many buyers spread it over time, which is normal for high-ticket gear. If you finance, compare the total cost with interest against paying cash, and make sure the monthly figure fits comfortably. I'm not a lender and this isn't financial advice — just a reminder to run the math before you sign.
Those are the real prices, printed here and at checkout. They sit at the top of the ranges on this page, which is the point of the section below.
Why the units we sell cost more than the ranges above
Everything above describes the market. Our own prices sit at the top of it, and it would be strange to publish a cost guide and skip past that.
The sauna is $24,499. An entry infrared cabin is $1,800 to $4,000. Here is what the difference buys, stated plainly:
- Cedar, built outdoor-rated. It lives outside through an Indiana winter rather than in a spare bedroom.
- A 9KW electric stone heater on 240V. Real stones, real steam, the full traditional experience — not a panel.
- Seats three or four. Most cabins at the low end seat one or two.
- A five-year warranty, against the one year that is common.
- Built to order, typically three to eight weeks. Nothing sits in a warehouse.
Is that worth roughly four times an entry cabin? For some people, honestly, no. If you want to find out whether you will use a sauna at all, a cheap infrared cabin or a studio membership is a smarter first move, and we will tell you that on the phone. The premium tier makes sense when you already know this is a habit, you want it outdoors, and you want it to still be there in fifteen years.
What we will not do is pretend the cheaper options don't exist.
Bottom line
Budget $8,000–$35,000 all in. A solid mid-range setup with install lands around $14,000–$18,500, or roughly $310 a month over five years. The premium tier roughly doubles that and buys materials, capacity and warranty rather than a different experience.