Does Leaving Your Wi-Fi Router On 24/7 Actually Matter?

A Wi-Fi router running 24/7, 365 days a year, costs between $13.20 and $41.24 annually at the U.S. average electricity rate — even the high end, a mesh system plus modem at 25 W, comes in at about 63% of what a median certified refrigerator costs to run, despite both devices never turning off.

Why "always on" doesn't mean "expensive"

Duty cycle isn't the same as cost — wattage is. A refrigerator and a router are both on every hour of every day, but a compressor draws vastly more power than a router's radios and processor. "Never turns off" only becomes expensive once you're also talking about hundreds of watts, which is why a Wi-Fi router stays cheap despite running around the clock.

What the three tiers actually cost

All figures assume 24 hours a day at the U.S. average rate — the honest default, since routers don't get turned off:

• Basic router (~8 W): $13.20 a year.
• Mesh node / mid-range (~12 W): $19.79 a year.
• High-end + modem (~25 W): $41.24 a year.

How it compares to the rest of your always-on devices

A median certified refrigerator costs $64.96 a year to run; a median certified freezer costs $78.71 — both, like a router, running continuously with no "hours of use" assumption to adjust. Even a high-end router setup costs less than either. WattCost's breakdown of where a home's electricity actually goes and its look at why a freezer never turns off cover the bigger always-on loads worth paying attention to instead.

What actually moves the number

• Router tier. Basic to high-end-plus-modem is roughly a 3x spread — $13.20 to $41.24 a year.
• Number of mesh nodes. Each additional node adds its own wattage; a two- or three-node mesh system's total is closer to the sum of its parts than the single-router figures above.
• Your state's electricity rate. The high-end setup (25 W) costs $27.05 a year in North Dakota versus $102.10 in Hawaii — a 3.8x gap from rate alone.

FAQ

Does leaving a Wi-Fi router on 24/7 waste electricity? Not meaningfully. Even a high-end router with an integrated modem costs about $41.24 a year running continuously — less than a median refrigerator or freezer, both of which also never turn off.

How much does a mesh Wi-Fi system cost to run? A single mid-range mesh node costs about $19.79 a year running 24/7; a multi-node system's total scales roughly with the number of nodes, since each one draws its own wattage independently.

Is a router's always-on cost comparable to a refrigerator's? No — a router costs 20% to 63% of a median refrigerator's $64.96 annual cost, depending on the router tier, even though both run continuously. The gap is wattage, not duty cycle.

Should I turn my router off at night to save money? The savings are real but small: turning a mid-range router off for 8 hours a night saves about $6.59 a year. It's a legitimate habit, just not one that moves a household electricity bill in any noticeable way.