How Much Does It Cost to Replace a Garbage Disposal?

Replacing a garbage disposal costs $230 to $600 installed for most homeowners, or just $130 to $350 if you do it yourself. The unit is $130 to $350 — most people spend $150 to $200 on a 1/2 or 3/4 HP model — and a plumber charges $100 to $250 to swap it in. Do it yourself and your only cost is the unit plus a few dollars of plumber's putty.

These numbers are for replacing a disposal you already have, reusing the outlet, mounting ring and drain connections that are already under the sink. Adding a disposal where there was never one is a bigger job — more on that further down.

What does the garbage disposal unit cost?

A replacement unit runs $130 to $350, and horsepower is what moves the price. Here is InSinkErator's current 2026 lineup and what each tier gets you — list prices from InSinkErator; street prices at Home Depot and Lowe's often run a bit lower:

Horsepower	Model (InSinkErator)	List price	Warranty	Best for
1/3 HP	Badger 1Shop on Amazon →	$129	2 years	One or two people, light use
1/2 HP	Badger 5Shop on Amazon →	$149	5 years	A couple or small household that skips bones and fibrous scraps
3/4 HP	Badger 5XPShop on Amazon →	$179	6 years	Most families of three to five
3/4 HP, quieter	TidyBoss PickEvolution .75HPShop on Amazon →	$299	9 years	Quietest option, and the best warranty-per-dollar in the lineup
1 HP	Evolution 1.0HPShop on Amazon →	$349	10 years	Heavy daily use, frequent bones and pits

Model names above link directly to that exact unit on Amazon — as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. The prices in this table are InSinkErator's own list prices, not Amazon's — they are not sourced from Amazon and may not match what Amazon actually charges; the real, current price is whatever Amazon's own product page shows when you click through.

For most kitchens, 3/4 HP is the practical choice — it is the size manufacturers and sizing guides point families of three to five toward, and it handles chicken bones, mixed vegetable scraps and fruit pits without straining. Half-horsepower is fine for one or two people who are careful about what goes down. Going above 1 HP mostly buys you a taller, wider unit — check you still have room underneath for the P-trap before sizing up.

Between the two 3/4 HP options, our pick is the Evolution .75HP over the Badger 5XP: same grinding power, quieter thanks to the sound-insulating blanket, and a 9-year warranty for about $120 more — the best warranty-per-dollar of the whole lineup. If you want extra headroom for heavy daily use or frequent bones and pits, step up to the 1 HP Evolution instead.

If your current disposal is an InSinkErator, which most are, the garbage disposal age tool reads its build year off the serial number. That tells you whether you are replacing something that owes you nothing or scrapping a unit with years left.

What does installation cost?

Labor alone runs $100 to $250 with the wiring and drain already in place — Home Depot's own install service averages $189, at $50 to $100 an hour for a one- to two-hour job (see the cost bars above for what each path totals with the unit included). Which path actually makes sense depends less on price than on what's already under your sink:

• Plumber — the safe choice if the plumbing under the sink needs adjusting, the drain layout is unusual, or you'd rather not touch the wiring.
• Handyman or installer — often cheaper than a plumber for a clean swap with no plumbing changes.
• Electrician — only needed if there's no outlet under the sink and the old unit was wired directly into the switch leg. Adding an outlet and running the wiring is what pushes a job into electrician territory, not the disposal swap itself.
• Yourself — realistic once the mounting ring, drain connections, and outlet are already there. It's genuinely a one- to two-hour job with a wrench, a bucket, and the mounting ring you already have — on an InSinkErator, which most disposals are, the old unit twists off that ring and the new one twists back on the same way.

Removing the old unit rarely adds real cost on its own — it comes off with the same wrench — but budget a few extra minutes if the P-trap or drain fitting has to come apart first to get the old disposal out from underneath.

What can push the price up?

The base numbers assume everything under the sink is reusable. The cost climbs when it is not:

Adding a disposal where there was not one is a different job — the electrical and drain work put it a few hundred dollars above a replacement. That is a separate question from replacement, and one we will cover on its own.

Is it cheaper to repair instead?

Sometimes — and where the unit is leaking from tells you most of the answer.

A garbage disposal repair runs roughly $70 to $400, averaging around $250 — a jam or a flange reseal sits at the cheap end, a control or motor failure at the expensive end. Our rule across appliances: if the repair quote tops half the price of a new unit, replace it. For a disposal that line comes early, because a new one is cheap — a $250 repair on a $180 unit is not worth it. A jam, a flange reseal or a splash guard is worth fixing at any age.

If you are not sure how old yours is, check it with the garbage disposal age tool — on an InSinkErator the date is the first four digits of the serial, two for the year and two for the month. A four-year-old unit that suddenly quit is almost always just jammed, not dead. For the full decision, see should you repair or replace a garbage disposal?

How to keep the cost down

• Buy the unit yourself and have a handyman or plumber fit it. You avoid paying a markup on the disposal.
• Reuse the mounting assembly if it is not corroded. The new disposal attaches to the same ring.
• Do not over-size. Three-quarter horsepower covers almost every household; 1 HP mostly adds bulk.
• Do the swap yourself if the connections are already there. It is the rare appliance job that is genuinely beginner-friendly.
• Budget for it before it dies. A disposal lasts 8 to 15 years — the maintenance budget calculator folds a replacement like this into a yearly figure so it is not a surprise.