Best Solar Companies of June 2023

What is the best overall solar company?

ADT Solar is CNET’s best solar panel company for 2023, for offering strong warranties, quality solar panels, backup batteries and well-regarded customer service. Each company on our best solar companies list offers quality equipment and gets strong customer service marks, but ADT Solar’s 25-year warranties for workmanship and weatherization are at the top of the group and drive its score up. ADT Solar operates in 23 states (with seven more coming soon), but if you’re not in one of them, or another company might offer a better deal, you’ll find alternative options and guidance to get your best fit here.

If you’re planning to buy solar panels to avoid rising energy costs and blackouts or invest in renewable energy, you’re not alone. Residential solar installations grew by 40% in 2022 from the previous year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

You can get 30% of the cost of solar panels back on your taxes and participate in local incentives and net metering (where available). The Inflation Reduction Act that was passed last year opened up more rebates for energy-efficient home improvements, electric appliances and other renewable energy solutions, which could help you save even more with solar panels.

With climate change expected to fuel severe weather that can cause more power outages, solar panels with a backup battery can keep your home powered.

Solar panels are a significant investment. Since few people can build their own solar panels, you’ll need to carefully research which installer is best for you. Below are my choices for the best solar companies by a few different parameters. However, with a purchase as big as solar panels, don’t let this list be your only stop. Solar panel companies, because their products require lengthy, professional installation, are tested a bit differently than other categories on CNET.

This list and the reviews it draws from aren’t based on any hands-on testing. There’s no feasible way to do hands-on testing of the purchase process, installation or a home solar panel array after it’s installed. Instead, these solar company reviews rely on interviews with company spokespeople, publicly available data and analysis of trends (like solar panel prices). While the reviews are as thoroughly researched as possible, the nature of the product means there are some limitations compared to another category like portable power stations.

Best solar companies of 2023

This best list draws from national and notable installers of (mostly rooftop) solar panels. As we publish reviews of more companies, this best list will be updated to reflect our current top choices. These were rated the best solar companies for the variety and quality of equipment and products they offered, their stated warranties and apparent commitments to customer service. (Customer service is difficult to pin down and therefore makes up a smaller portion of the score, even though it’s a significant part of the purchasing process.)

If you’re looking for a solar panel installer, be sure to get multiple quotes including from local installers where possible. The specifics of a solar array could change given the shape and angle of a given roof or the energy usage and habits of a given family. Solar can be a great investment but requires you to do your own research.

How we evaluate solar companies

Reviewing solar companies in a hands-on way is tough. Each project is as unique as the house it goes on and the family that will use its electricity. To evaluate these solar installers in a meaningful way, we had to focus on what we could measure and what would be useful to you.

We rate companies on three categories of criteria: equipment, warranties and service. 

In the equipment bucket, companies get scored on the panels, inverters and batteries they install. Warranties include the guarantees on the panels (which typically come from the manufacturer), workmanship and weatherization against leaks. Companies gain points for service for offering a price match, a meaningful level of price transparency and a well-rated app for monitoring solar production. They lose points for major customer service issues (lawsuits, investigations or obvious reputations for shoddy service). We’ll always detail these in the review.

You can read a detailed look at how the scoring breaks down.

We don’t consider the average price of a company’s installations in their score. Average prices are hard to find and compare place to place (or even roof to roof). Companies are often slow to disclose it, too. We also leave out information that’s easy to find, but not useful to you, like how many states a company operates in.

This table compares how companies rate by some, but not all of the criteria we use to judge them. To get the full picture, click the company name to visit their review.

Company	CNET’s score	Financing options	Prefered Panel(s)	Battery options	Weatherization	BBB Rating
ADT Solar	8.7	Purchase	Canadian Solar, Qcells, Silfab	Enphase, Tesla	25 years	A+
Palmetto	8.3	Purchase, lease, ppa	Qcells, REC Alpha	Sonnen, Tesla	5 years	A+
SunPower	7.7	Purchase, lease, ppa	SunPower Maxeon, Qcells	SunPower	12 years	A+
Tesla	7.2	Purchase	Qcells	Tesla	10 years	A+
Momentum	6.9	Purchase, lease, ppa	Qcells	Enphase	5 years	A+
Trinity Solar	6.6	Purchase, lease, ppa	Qcells	Generac, Tesla	10 years	A+
Sunnova	6.5	Purchase, lease, ppa	No specified preference	Enpahs, FranklinWh, Generac, SolarEdge, Tesla	10 years	Not rated

Other companies we reviewed

We’ve reviewed other solar companies that don’t appear in our best list above, including some that scored higher overall than Tesla’s solar panels. Given the nature of the solar panel industry, which shifts from state to state and roof to roof, some of these other companies might be better suited to your situation. 

• Blue Raven: Now a part of SunPower, one of our favorite solar companies, Blue Raven installs a variety of panels alongside SunVault batteries using all in-house installation teams. Like its parent company and many other solar installers, Blue Raven could offer a price match guarantee and greater price transparency, but gets strong marks for customer service.
• Primitive Power: Operating on a brokerage model, Primitive Power goes between the customer and installer, promising to offer better prices through a competitive bidding model. Because the business model doesn’t fit our scoring methodology, Primitive doesn’t get a score from us, but could be a good place to get multiple quotes all at once.
• Qcells: This solar panel manufacturer with factories in Georgia will connect you with an installer that works with its products. It doesn’t have in place the same guarantees or policies most of the installers on this list have, so it doesn’t get a score, but if you’re interested in its high-quality, American-made panels, we wrote up all the details.
• Smartflower: The solar sunflower is a beautiful way to install solar panels. Unless you’re trying to advertise your green commitments or find a statement piece for your yard, it’s likely too much money for too little solar.
• Sunnova: Sunnova recently gained loan guarantees from the US government to help low and moderate income families adopt solar. If you have less-than-stellar credit, Sunnova might be a good option for you, though you should still shop around. It installs a wide variety of batteries and offers some strong warranties. It has had customer service issues in the past and lost its Better Business Bureau accreditation, an issue the company and the bureau both said they were working to rectify.
• Sunrun: The biggest solar company in America. Sunrun offers quality panels, a choice of a couple of batteries and quality inverters. It also offers strong warranties. Most of its business is in leases or power purchase agreements, and Sunrun provides stronger warranties for power purchase agreements than purchases. Its overall score is higher than Tesla’s, but just missed edging out the others due to its lacking a price-match policy.
• Tesla Solar Roof: Tesla’s Solar Roof is an exciting way to imagine solar. It’s sleek, it’s low profile, but it’s very expensive. Depending on the size of your roof and your location, it can be several times more expensive than solar panels. 
• Trinity Solar: For a while, Trinity was CNET’s top company for customer service and still receives top marks for there. It also offers quality equipment and warranties, though some of its warranties, like its workmanship warranty, are a bit weaker than other companies’. 

How to choose a solar installer

Choosing a solar installer is like choosing a contractor for any home improvement project. You have to ask a lot of questions, get multiple quotes and make a decision on some combination of who’s giving you the best deal and who you feel most confident in working with. There are some tips for choosing a solar installer, though.

• Get multiple quotes and compare: This is possibly the single most important step. You can’t know if you’re getting ripped off without checking a quote against something else. 
  
• Understand your local incentives: Make sure you know whether your local government and utility have solar-friendly policies that can make solar a safer financial bet.
• Read reviews and complaints: Online reviews aren’t the gospel truth, but they’re useful for educating yourself on the issues that might crop up and common experiences that customers have had with a company.
• Talk to your neighbors who have solar panels: Ask your neighbor how well their chosen company communicated, stuck to the schedule, navigated the permitting process and supported them after installation. If the company has a referral program, you could kick a few hundred dollars your neighbor’s way, too.
• Check licenses and certifications: You can check the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners for certified installers near you. There are other certifying organizations though, so ask installers where their licensure comes from.
• Ask you installer questions: A reputable installer shouldn’t be afraid of questions. If you feel you’re getting the run-around, ask other installers the same and compare their answers.
• Calculate your savings: If a company seems to be promising too much, it might not be on the up and up. Solar panels can save you a lot of money in the long term, but not in all situations. Find out how to calculate your expected savings with solar panels. If your calculation comes in much lower or higher than a salesperson’s, ask about it. 

How does solar panel installation work?

The process of getting solar panels looks a little different from company to company, but the broad strokes are the same.

After initial contact with the company, someone should visit your home. While parts of the design and quoting process might involve looking at satellite imagery, having a professional actually visit your house allows them to take into account trees that might have grown since the aerial images were taken. They’ll also be able to assess the health of your roof and whether it needs to be replaced or not and identify any other barriers to going solar.

Then the system will be designed, approved by you, and permitted. After the company receives permits from the necessary authorities, your installation will be scheduled. Installation typically takes a day or two.

Installation, unless you’re installing certain solar roofs, requires drilling holes through your roof and into the joists that support it. It’s necessary to keep your solar panels securely attached, but you’ll want to pay careful attention to how long your installer guarantees those penetrations will remain watertight.

Installation will also require new wiring to be installed. Sometimes that means new conduit being attached to the outside of your house, though some companies will install it in your attic for free or for an additional charge.

After installation, you’ll need to get permission to operate from your utility, which needs to approve new electricity generation in their service area, unless your system is off grid. Once you’ve received permission, you’ll transition to generating energy, monitoring your array’s performance and maintaining your solar panels to keep them up and running for decades.

While the timeline will vary, it usually takes several months to design, permit, install and switch on residential solar arrays. You should ask installers you interview for their estimated timeline.

What solar equipment goes into a solar system?

While the panels are the most visible and well known component of a solar array, there are other necessary and optional pieces of equipment you’ll need to know.

Solar panels

Nearly 100% of the residential solar panels installed today are monocrystalline, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (PDF). Some polycrystalline panels are still installed though. They’re cheaper, but less efficient, though it likely won’t be a concern for you.

Solar inverters

Solar panels produce electricity in direct current. Our houses and all the appliances within them use alternating current. The solar inverter converts the electricity from direct to alternating current.

There are two main types of inverter in use: string inverters and microinverters. String inverters transform the electricity from a group (or string) of solar panels. This means you only need one per residential array, typically, but the entire array is affected by the lowest performing panel. If one of your panels is shaded, it will reduce the output of the rest of the array. String inverters are typically cheaper to install, but come with shorter warranties.

Microinverters operate on the panel level, which means if one is shaded, the rest can keep producing at full capacity. Because they are installed on the roof with the panel, they’re typically a little harder to service, but produce a bit more energy. Microinverters cost a bit more to install, but often come with 25-year warranties.

String inverters can also be installed with power optimizers, which perform a similar role to microinverter. The energy is still translated to alternating current at the central string inverter, but the power optimizer lets panels work independently of each other.

Solar backup battery

Backup batteries are becoming a more popular addition to solar arrays. Time of use rates from utilities (where electricity is typically cheaper when solar panels are producing and more expensive when they’re not) make batteries a more financially feasible choice for many. Solar panels won’t generate electricity during a blackout unless they have a battery that allows them to go off the grid temporarily, a process called islanding.

Backup batteries don’t always make financial sense, so make sure you understand whether or not it does for you before diving in. If you’re hoping to have power during a blackout, the financial calculation may be less important to you.

Solar panel FAQs

Correction, Jan. 31, 2023: An earlier version of this article misstated the Better Business Bureau’s grading process. Any company can receive a grade from the Bureau, regardless of whether it has paid to go through the accreditation process.

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