Every pergola decision starts the same way: wood or metal? It is the fork in the road that decides what your garden looks like, what your weekends involve, and what the structure costs you over the next decade rather than just at checkout. At Cape & Co we sell aluminium pergolas, so you know where we stand. But the honest answer is that both materials earn their place in different gardens, and this guide sets out the real differences so you can pick the right one for yours.
In This Guide:
- The quick verdict: the whole comparison in one table
- Cost: upfront price vs ten-year cost
- Maintenance: what each material asks of you
- Weather and lifespan: how each ages in a UK garden
- Looks: garden style, colour and character
- The roof question: why this decides it for most buyers
- The honest bit: when wood is the right choice
- FAQs: heat, painting, climbers and lifespan
The quick verdict
Aluminium suits buyers who want an all-weather, low-maintenance outdoor room with an adjustable roof. Wood suits buyers who want natural character, a lower entry price, or a frame for climbing plants, and who are happy to maintain it. Here is the full picture:
| Aluminium pergola | Wooden pergola | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical UK price | £1,200 to £6,000+ (louvred from ~£2,000) | £300 to £1,500 for kits; £2,000 to £6,000+ for oak or bespoke builds |
| Maintenance | Wash down once or twice a year | Staining or treating every 1 to 2 years, plus rot and pest checks |
| Lifespan | Decades; does not rot, warp or rust | 10 to 20 years softwood, longer for oak, dependent on upkeep |
| Roof options | Adjustable louvred roof standard on quality models | Open slats, or a fixed polycarbonate/glass sheet added on top |
| Rain protection | Built in: close the louvres | Only with an added fixed roof |
| Character | Clean, architectural, modern | Natural, warm, traditional |
| Climbing plants | Possible with added trellis | Ideal host as standard |
| DIY build | Bolt-together kit, no cutting | Kits or scratch builds; more skill, more saw |
Cost: the checkout price and the ten-year price
Wood wins the entry price, and it is not close. A softwood kit from a shed retailer can be standing in your garden for under £500, while aluminium starts around £1,200 for basic fixed-roof imports and roughly £2,000 for a proper louvred system. Our own Meridian range runs from £2,100 for the 3m x 3m to £4,200 for the 6m x 3m.
The ten-year picture is different. Softwood needs staining or treating every year or two at £30 to £80 a time in materials, more if someone else does the brushwork, and a neglected frame can need replacing inside a decade. Aluminium asks for soapy water. By year ten, a £500 softwood kit that has been maintained properly has often cost as much as a mid-range aluminium frame, and a kit that has not been maintained has usually been skipped. Quality oak is the exception: it costs aluminium money upfront and lasts, but it still silvers and moves with the seasons. For the wider question of whether any of this spend makes sense, see are pergolas worth it? and how much value a pergola adds to a home.
Maintenance: a wipe vs a weekend
This is the difference owners feel most. An aluminium pergola with a powder-coated finish needs washing down once or twice a year and its gutter channels clearing of leaves. That is the list. There is nothing to sand, nothing to seal, no annual decision about whether this is finally the summer you re-stain it.
Wood is a relationship. UK damp is relentless with timber: left untreated, softwood greys, splits and eventually rots at the ground line and the joints. Budget a weekend every spring or two for cleaning and re-coating, and inspect anywhere water sits. Plenty of people genuinely do not mind this, woodwork is half the hobby for some gardeners, but go in with your eyes open: the cheap pergola is the one that asks for your time forever.
The Meridian 3m x 3m Aluminium Louvred Pergola in Graphite Grey
Weather and lifespan in a UK garden
Aluminium does not rot, does not warp, and unlike steel it does not rust, which is why it has become the default material for permanent outdoor structures. A quality frame, the Meridian uses 6063-T5 aluminium with a triple-layer powder-coated finish, shrugs off the wet-dry-wet cycle that slowly takes timber apart. Fade resistance comes from the coating rather than the metal, which is why coating quality is worth asking about on any pergola you compare.
Timber’s weakness is not one bad winter but the accumulation: moisture in the grain, movement at the joints, and the gradual loosening of fixings as the wood swells and shrinks. Pressure-treated softwood holds out for a decade or two with care. Oak does far better and will outlast most ownerships, but at oak prices the cost argument against aluminium disappears. Coastal gardens tilt the table further towards aluminium: salt air is brutal on coatings and timber alike, but a wash-down regime is easier than a re-staining one. The same logic applies across outdoor furniture, which we cover in our rattan vs aluminium vs wood furniture guide.
Looks: character vs architecture
This one is taste, so we will keep it short. Wood brings warmth, grain and a softness that suits cottage gardens, period homes and planting-led plots; it is the natural choice if the pergola should disappear into the garden. Aluminium brings clean lines and a considered, architectural look that suits modern builds, porcelain patios and outdoor kitchens; it is the choice if the pergola should anchor the space. The current trend is firmly with dark, matte frames, Graphite Grey and anthracite tones dominate the modern pergola searches, and they pair particularly well with light stone and greenery. For visual direction either way, our modern pergola ideas piece shows both materials in real settings.
The roof question: where the comparison usually ends
Here is the part that quietly decides most purchases. A wooden pergola is, structurally, an open frame. You can roof it with fixed polycarbonate or glass, which keeps rain off but cannot be opened on a hot day, or leave it open, which looks lovely and does nothing in a shower. What wood cannot realistically give you is an adjustable roof.
Aluminium can. A louvred roof, rotating slats that open for sun, tilt for shade and close into a rain-shedding surface with integrated drainage, is standard on quality aluminium pergolas and is the reason they get used in February as well as July. If that functionality is new to you, our complete louvred pergola guide explains the mechanism, and our pergola vs gazebo comparison covers where fixed-roof structures fit. So the practical question becomes: do you want a garden feature, or do you want an outdoor room? If it is the room, the roof requirement points to aluminium before any other factor does.
Cape & Co. tip
If rain protection is the reason you are buying, be wary of solving it with a fabric canopy on a wooden frame. The fabric needs cleaning and re-tensioning, handles heavy rain poorly, and usually needs replacing every few seasons, which erodes wood’s price advantage fast.
When wood is the right choice
An honest comparison needs this section. Choose wood if any of these describe you: your budget is firmly under £1,000 and a kit plus your own labour is the only way a pergola happens this year; the structure’s main job is hosting wisteria, roses or a grape vine, where timber’s grip and looks are genuinely better; you are matching a period property or a planning context where metal would jar; or you simply enjoy woodworking and the maintenance is a feature, not a bug. A well-kept oak pergola wrapped in a mature climber is one of the best things a garden can hold, and no aluminium frame replicates it.
Choose aluminium if the priorities are year-round usability, rain protection without a permanent dark roof, minimal upkeep, or a modern aesthetic. And if you are still a step earlier in the decision, working out structure type rather than material, start with our pergola buying guide and the planning permission rules; both materials follow the same height and boundary logic.
The Meridian 3m x 3m Louvred Pergola with 3 Side Blinds
The aluminium option at Cape & Co
If the comparison lands you on aluminium, the Meridian is our answer: a 6063-T5 aluminium frame in Graphite Grey, double-skinned adjustable louvres with integrated drainage, optional Textilene side blinds, and a two year warranty on the structure including the louvre mechanism. Delivery is free on UK mainland orders over £100, typically in 7 to 14 days, with professional installation available as an add-on (£500 on the 3m x 3m and 4m x 3m, £800 on the 6m x 3m). It pairs with the rest of the garden too: dining sets, sofa sets and the wider garden furniture range are sized to live under it.
FAQs
Which is cheaper, a wooden or aluminium pergola?
Wood is cheaper upfront: softwood kits start around £300 to £500 against roughly £1,200 for basic aluminium. Over ten years the gap narrows or reverses once staining, treatment and earlier replacement are counted. Oak costs aluminium money from day one.
Do aluminium pergolas get hot in the sun?
The frame warms in direct sun like any metal, but quality pergolas use hollow, double-skinned louvres that insulate the underside, and the adjustable roof lets you vent warm air by tilting the blades, so the space below typically stays cooler than under a fixed solid roof.
Which lasts longer, wood or aluminium?
Aluminium. It does not rot, warp or rust, and a powder-coated frame lasts decades with washing alone. Pressure-treated softwood typically manages 10 to 20 years with regular maintenance; oak lasts longer but needs the same vigilance at joints and ground contact.
Can you grow climbing plants on an aluminium pergola?
Yes, with added trellis panels or wires for the plant to grip, since powder-coated posts are too smooth on their own. Wood remains the better natural host, which is one of the few jobs where it beats aluminium outright.
Can you paint an aluminium pergola?
You should not need to: the powder-coated finish is the paint, applied more durably than a brush can manage. Repainting timber, by contrast, is a recurring requirement, typically every one to two years for stains and treatments.
Are wooden pergolas waterproof?
Not as standard. A wooden pergola is an open frame unless you add a fixed polycarbonate or glass roof. Aluminium louvred pergolas build rain protection in: close the louvres and water drains through integrated guttering.
