Is a portable generator really that much cheaper?

For the hookup, yes, and by roughly ten to one. Making a portable legal costs $900 to $2,300 in hardware: a manual transfer switch at $800 to $1,500 supplied and installed per Kolji Bros. Electrical, an inlet box at $20 to $100, a heavy-duty cord at $30 to $350 and the electrical permit at $50 to $350 per Draper Electric. A 14 to 18 kW standby is $9,500 to $13,000 fully installed per RenoHouse. What that ten-to-one gap does not include is the portable generator itself, which no Ontario source in our price data publishes a figure for.

Why does the tool weight 'is someone home' so heavily?

Because it is the only answer that can make a portable generator useless rather than merely inconvenient. Every other trade-off here is a cost or a comfort you can decide about. If nobody is home, the machine sits in the garage while the freezer thaws and the sump pump stays off, no matter how good it is. It scores three points, the same as having a sump pump or medical equipment on the line, and those two are the heaviest questions on the list for the same reason.

What does 'genuinely close' mean as a verdict?

That your answers came out within one point of each other, and that this tool is not going to manufacture a winner out of that. When the call is close the honest output is the reasoning rather than the verdict, so the page shows all five reasons with the points each carried and leaves the last step to you. A decision tool that always produces a confident answer is one that has stopped measuring anything.

Can I start with a portable and upgrade to a standby later?

Partly. A manual transfer switch or an interlock kit is fitted to your panel and does not carry over: a standby generator needs an automatic transfer switch, which is a different device at $1,500 to $3,000 supplied and installed per Kolji Bros. Electrical. What does carry over is the panel work, if your panel needed upgrading to 200 A anyway, and the knowledge of which circuits you actually missed during an outage, which is genuinely useful information to have before spending five figures.

Does a portable generator need a permit too?

The transfer device does. Draper Electric puts the electrical permit at $50 to $350, and in Ontario a licensed electrical contractor has to pull it. The generator itself does not need a permit, but connecting it to your house wiring does. The Electrical Safety Authority's generator-safety page states that a standby generator permanently connected to your electrical wiring must have a transfer device, and that the device is what prevents generator power flowing back into the utility system.

Where can I see the two options compared properly rather than scored?

Our standby versus portable comparison lays them out side by side across cost, starting, fuel, connection and coverage, with the figures on every row. This page is the other half of that: it takes your particular answers and tells you which of those columns applies to you. The two are meant to be read together, and if you have not decided yet, start with the comparison.

Standby or Portable Generator? Five-Question Picker

Five questions, then a verdict

For your answers

A standby generator

The changeover has to happen without you, which is the one thing a portable generator cannot do at any price.

Standby 92 Portable

Standby, 14 to 18 kW, fully installed (RenoHouse, Toronto, 2026 guide): $9,500–$13,000
Portable: the legal hookup hardware only (Kolji Bros. Electrical; Draper Electric): $900–$2,300

The portable figure is the hookup, not the machine. No Ontario source in this register's price data publishes a figure for a portable generator itself, so none is shown: a plausible-looking number invented to complete the comparison would be the only made-up thing on this page. Budget for the unit separately.

Why it landed there

Points to standby +3
Nobody is reliably home during an outage. A portable has to be wheeled out, fuelled and started by hand, so with the house empty it does nothing at all.
Points to standby +3
Something on the list cannot wait for a person: a sump pump, medical equipment or a home business. Public Safety Canada puts the average cost to repair a flooded basement at over $40,000, and it lists sump pump failure among the flood types insurance is bought against.
Points to standby +2
You want the whole panel, not a handful of circuits. A portable powers what its cords and its transfer switch reach; a standby carries the house.
Points to portable +2
Outages here are short. A tank of fuel covers most of them without a refill.
Points to standby +1
There is a natural gas main at the house, which is the cheapest standby hookup and the one fuel supply that cannot run out mid-outage.

Manual transfer switch, supplied and installed (Kolji Bros. Electrical, Ontario, 2026): $800–$1,500
Generator power inlet box, equipment only (Draper Electric, Ontario): $20–$100
Heavy-duty power cord, generator to inlet box (Draper Electric, Ontario): $30–$350
Electrical permit, transfer switch installation (Draper Electric, Ontario): $50–$350

What the portable hookup figure is made of.

The question that decides it, and the four that adjust it

Whether someone is home is not one factor among five. It is the only one that can take a working machine and make it do nothing: a portable generator that nobody is there to wheel out and start is a heavy object in the garage while the sump pump stays off. That is why it carries three points here, and why having a sump pump, medical equipment or a home business on the line carries the same three. Public Safety Canada puts the average cost to repair a flooded basement at over $40,000, and names sump pump failure among the flood types insurance is bought against.

The other three questions are preferences with a price attached. Wanting the whole panel rather than a handful of circuits is worth two points, because that is the difference between a manual switch selecting six circuits and a service-rated automatic switch carrying the house. Long outages are worth two, because refuelling a portable by hand every few hours through the night in whatever weather caused the outage is the part nobody pictures when they buy one. A gas main is worth one: it makes a standby cheaper to hook up, but its absence only adds a propane tank rather than ruling anything out.

The number this page will not give you

What a portable generator costs to buy. Every price on Home Generator Index traces to a named Canadian source, and no Ontario source in our data publishes a figure for a portable unit. Filling that gap with something plausible would make the comparison look complete and would be the only invented number on the page, so the tool prices the legal hookup hardware and says plainly that the machine is separate.

For the full side-by-side treatment across cost, starting, fuel and coverage, read our standby versus portable generator comparison. If the verdict here was standby, the sizing calculator and the cost calculator are the next two steps; if it was portable, the transfer switch calculator prices the hookup in detail.

Frequently asked questions

Is a portable generator really that much cheaper?: For the hookup, yes, and by roughly ten to one. Making a portable legal costs $900 to $2,300 in hardware: a manual transfer switch at $800 to $1,500 supplied and installed per Kolji Bros. Electrical, an inlet box at $20 to $100, a heavy-duty cord at $30 to $350 and the electrical permit at $50 to $350 per Draper Electric. A 14 to 18 kW standby is $9,500 to $13,000 fully installed per RenoHouse. What that ten-to-one gap does not include is the portable generator itself, which no Ontario source in our price data publishes a figure for.
Why does the tool weight 'is someone home' so heavily?: Because it is the only answer that can make a portable generator useless rather than merely inconvenient. Every other trade-off here is a cost or a comfort you can decide about. If nobody is home, the machine sits in the garage while the freezer thaws and the sump pump stays off, no matter how good it is. It scores three points, the same as having a sump pump or medical equipment on the line, and those two are the heaviest questions on the list for the same reason.
What does 'genuinely close' mean as a verdict?: That your answers came out within one point of each other, and that this tool is not going to manufacture a winner out of that. When the call is close the honest output is the reasoning rather than the verdict, so the page shows all five reasons with the points each carried and leaves the last step to you. A decision tool that always produces a confident answer is one that has stopped measuring anything.
Can I start with a portable and upgrade to a standby later?: Partly. A manual transfer switch or an interlock kit is fitted to your panel and does not carry over: a standby generator needs an automatic transfer switch, which is a different device at $1,500 to $3,000 supplied and installed per Kolji Bros. Electrical. What does carry over is the panel work, if your panel needed upgrading to 200 A anyway, and the knowledge of which circuits you actually missed during an outage, which is genuinely useful information to have before spending five figures.
Does a portable generator need a permit too?: The transfer device does. Draper Electric puts the electrical permit at $50 to $350, and in Ontario a licensed electrical contractor has to pull it. The generator itself does not need a permit, but connecting it to your house wiring does. The Electrical Safety Authority's generator-safety page states that a standby generator permanently connected to your electrical wiring must have a transfer device, and that the device is what prevents generator power flowing back into the utility system.
Where can I see the two options compared properly rather than scored?: Our standby versus portable comparison lays them out side by side across cost, starting, fuel, connection and coverage, with the figures on every row. This page is the other half of that: it takes your particular answers and tells you which of those columns applies to you. The two are meant to be read together, and if you have not decided yet, start with the comparison.

Where these figures come from

Published Ontario contractor pricing, named on every line the tool prints, and set out in full in our standby generator and transfer switch cost guides. The scoring weights are this register's own editorial judgement and are printed on the page rather than hidden, so you can disagree with a specific weight and see exactly what it would change.

Standby or Portable Generator? Answer Five Questions