Best value
Face screws
Cheapest per square foot, fastest to drive, and any board can be lifted with a driver.
Deck screws vs hidden fasteners
Longest life
Face screws, rated
Nothing to fail but the screw, and a loose one is retightened rather than replaced.
Lowest maintenance
Hidden clips
No screw heads to back out, refill with water or bleed rust down the board.
Side by side
Our pick — Face screws
| Criterion | Face screws | Hidden clips | Plugs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screw heads visible | Barely | ||
| Needs grooved board edge | Usually | ||
| Works with any board profile | |||
| Can lift one board mid-deck | Only from an edge, or cut | Drill out the plugs | |
| Butt joint still needs a face screw | n/a | Usually yes | n/a |
| Locked to one manufacturer | Board-matched | ||
| Retightenable later | After removing the plug | ||
| Corrosion rating critical |
Face screws
Straight through the board into the joist. The default, the cheapest, and the only option that stays trivially serviceable forever.
Cost / sq ftlowest
Install speedfastest
Lift one boardtrivial
Visibleyes
Fails bybacking out
Hidden clips
Seated in a groove in the board edge and fixed to the joist. Clean surface, slower install, and the board's groove ties you to the system.
Cost / sq fthigher
Install speedslower
Lift one boardawkward
Visibleno
Fails byclip movement
Plugs
Face screws countersunk and capped with a matching plug. The screw's holding power with most of the clean look.
Cost / sq ftmid
Install speedslowest
Lift one boarddrill the plug
Visiblefaintly
Fails byplug lifting
The decision is made earlier than people think
Most hidden fastener systems seat in a groove machined into the edge of the board. That means the fastener question is really a board question, settled when you pick the decking — an ungrooved board rules most clip systems out, and a grooved one commits you to a compatible clip.
It also commits you to a manufacturer. Clips and grooves are not interchangeable across brands. In five years, matching a board and its clip means finding both still in production.
Serviceability is the underrated axis
With face screws, lifting a board mid-deck is two minutes with a driver — to replace a damaged board, run a cable, chase a leak, or look at a joist you are worried about. Put it back with the same screws.
With hidden clips, boards interlock in sequence. Removing one in the middle means either working back from an edge or cutting the board out and repairing the run. Most people never need to; the ones who do remember it clearly.
Plugs sit between: drill the plug out, back the screw off, lift the board, and re-plug on reassembly. Slower than screws, far quicker than clips.
How each one fails
Face screws back out as the board moves, especially in treated pine that is still drying. That is a season's worth of nuisance and then it settles. The genuine risk is the wrong screw: an under-rated fastener against treated lumber corrodes, bleeds a black or rust streak down the board, and eventually softens the wood around the hole. Get the rating right and this is a non-issue.
Hidden clips fail quietly. A clip that has not been set to the right tension, or a board that has swollen against its neighbour, produces a squeak or a lifted edge — and the fix is not accessible from above. Follow the maker's gap and torque instructions exactly; there is no adjusting later.
Plugs lift, particularly on a deck in strong sun with a lot of movement. Re-gluing a plug is easy and it is the least serious failure on the page.
Where the money actually goes
The per-box price is the smaller half. The larger half is time: clips are handled individually and set per board per joist, which on a large deck is a meaningful number of extra hours. Plugs add a countersink, a plug and a trim operation to every fastener.
Price it per square foot with labour in, over your actual board count from the board calculator. On a small deck the difference is a rounding error and you should take whichever look you prefer. On a large one it is a real line.
Prices move weekly and by region. Enter the unit price your yard quoted you — the defaults are round placeholders, not a market average.
Before you buy
- Check the board first: hidden clips generally need a grooved edge, so the fastener decision is made when you choose the board, not after.
- Read the clip maker's detail for BUTT JOINTS and for the first and last board — most systems still require face screws there.
- Whatever you use, it must be rated for contact with treated lumber. Hot-dip galvanised or stainless; plain zinc corrodes and streaks.
- Ask yourself whether you will ever need to lift a board mid-deck — for a repair, a cable, or an inspection. If yes, that argues for screws.
- Price it per square foot including the labour difference, not per box. Clips are slower to install and that is most of the real cost.
Sources
Nothing here is asserted as a current figure. This page compares properties and trade-offs, and says how to get your own number where a price would have gone.
Next on the pile
How to stagger deck boards
Butt joints are where hidden systems need help.
Deck board calculator
Board and fastener count for your layout.
Composite decking vs wood
The board choice that decides the fastener choice.
How long does a deck last
Every fastener hole is a path for water.