Best Boiler Brands

New boilers typically cost between £1,650 and £3,500 installed, so homeowners need to be sure they’re making the right call, not just on the best boiler for their household, but on the best boiler brand, too.

You can see on plenty of review sites just how big the gap is between the best boiler companies and the worst-performing ones. In this boiler comparison, we take some of Britain’s most popular boiler manufacturers and compare them on how real users have rated them online, alongside their guarantees and pedigree.

Quite often, you’ll need extra work doing to your home when you install a boiler, so your final bill could end up anywhere within the figures below:

The experts at Energy UK have worked out that 60% of what you spend on your energy bills is down to your boiler. 

Choose the wrong one, and you’ll miss out on significant savings on your gas and electricity over the next 10-15 years, which is exactly why comparing boiler brands properly, not just picking the cheapest, matters.

Best Boiler Brands In The UK

Worcester Bosch leads this comparison on customer ratings, and it’s also the brand installed most often in British homes, which is reflected in its Royal Warrant. 

Glow-worm isn’t far behind on reviews, while Baxi and Ideal, both long-established boiler companies UK homeowners will recognise, score lower on TrustPilot despite offering some of the longest guarantees, covered below.

It’s also worth knowing about Vaillant, one of the other major boiler manufacturers UK installers work with regularly, and the parent company behind Glow-worm since 2001. 

You can see current Vaillant boiler costs alongside the brands above if you’d like to compare boilers beyond this table.

Boiler Guarantees Compared

Boilers are far more reliable than they used to be, they break down a lot less than they did ten or twenty years ago, because the technology has moved on so much. 

As a result, boiler manufacturers generally offer much better guarantees on their products than ever before.

Cheaper boilers will, in the main, offer shorter guarantee periods, although this isn’t always the case. At the time of writing, these are the guarantees offered by the boiler companies compared in this article:

Finding The Right Installer For Your Boiler

Be sure to speak with your installer in depth about the right make and model for you. It’s worth remembering that online reviews of the best boiler companies are written by real customers, but people tend to feel the need to write about negative experiences far more than positive ones. So, a single low rating is worth reading in context.

Ultimately, your installer knows best on most occasions. They spend their days meeting homeowners and helping them choose the right make and model, and they make far more from installing new systems than from repairing existing ones, so they’re unlikely to steer you towards a boiler brand that’s going to pull them away from more profitable work.

Ready to compare boilers for your home? Get free boiler quotes from vetted, Gas Safe registered installers today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best boiler brands in the UK? 

Based on customer ratings and reputation, Worcester Bosch and Glow-worm currently lead the pack, with Viessmann, Ideal and Baxi also among the most established and widely installed boiler manufacturers in the UK. Vaillant and Potterton are two more major names worth considering alongside them.

Which boiler brand is the most reliable? 

Going by TrustPilot scores, Worcester Bosch (9/10) and Glow-worm (8.9/10) rate highest among the brands we compared. That said, real-world reliability also depends heavily on correct sizing and installation quality, and on keeping up with annual servicing, regardless of brand.

How do the main boiler brands compare on reliability and warranty? 

The two don’t always line up. Worcester Bosch and Glow-worm score best on customer ratings, but Baxi and Ideal, which rate lower on TrustPilot, actually offer the longest guarantees, up to 10 years. Viessmann and Worcester Bosch cap out at 5 years, and Potterton has the shortest minimum guarantee at just 1 year.

Is Worcester Bosch better than Baxi or Ideal? 

It depends what you’re optimising for. Worcester Bosch scores highest on customer reviews and holds a Royal Warrant, plus it’s the brand installed most often in UK homes. 

But Baxi and Ideal both offer longer maximum guarantees (up to 10 years, versus Worcester Bosch’s 5), so if warranty length matters more to you than review scores, either could be the better choice.

What is the best boiler brand for a small home? 

Most of the major brands, Worcester Bosch, Baxi, Glow-worm, Ideal and Viessmann, make compact combi boilers suited to flats and smaller properties. 

Rather than choosing by brand alone, it’s worth asking your installer to size the boiler (its kW output) correctly for your home, since an oversized or undersized boiler will cost you more to run regardless of brand.

Which boiler manufacturers offer the longest warranties? 

Of the brands in our guarantee comparison, Baxi and Ideal offer the longest maximum warranties, at up to 10 years. Glow-worm and Potterton follow at up to 7 years, while Viessmann and Worcester Bosch offer up to 5 years. 

Many manufacturers will also extend the standard warranty if the boiler is fitted by one of their accredited installers, so it’s always worth asking.