Best value
Pressure-treated pine
Cheapest to buy, easiest to work, and every board is replaceable for the price of a board.
Decking materials compared
Longest life
Ipe
Extremely dense and naturally durable. It outlives the frame it sits on if the frame is not detailed as well.
Lowest maintenance
Capped composite
Washing, and that is the list. No sanding, no stripping, no recoating cycle.
Side by side
Our pick — Cedar
| Criterion | Treated pine | Cedar | Composite | Ipe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rots if detailed badly | Heartwood resists | Very resistant | ||
| Splinters as it weathers | Less | |||
| Can be sanded and refinished | ||||
| Needs a finish to look good | Optional — silvers evenly | Only for colour | ||
| Pre-drilling required | Per system | |||
| Hard on saw blades | Moderate | |||
| Hot underfoot in full sun | Less | Less | More | Moderate |
| Own joist-spacing rule | ||||
| Single board replaceable to match | If still made | |||
| Weight to handle | Heavy when wet | Light | Heavy | Very heavy |
Treated pine
The default. Cheapest, universally available, easy to cut and fix — and the one that most rewards a finish it will probably not get.
Costlowest
Workabilityeasy
Movementhigh
Upkeeprecurring
Barefootsplinters later
Cedar
The best-behaved wood. Stable, light, pleasant to work and to walk on. Grade decides everything — sapwood is not durable.
Costmid
Workabilityeasy
Movementlow
Upkeeprecurring
Barefootgood
Composite
Not wood and does not behave like it. No rot, no splinters, no finish — and no sanding out a scratch either.
Costhigh
Workabilityown rules
Movementthermal
Upkeepwashing
Barefoothot in sun
Ipe
Very dense tropical hardwood. Superb durability and a serious install — pre-drilling everything, and tools that wear out doing it.
Costhighest
Workabilityhard
Movementlow
Upkeepoil for colour
Barefootvery good
Four materials, three different questions
These are not four points on one scale. Treated pine and cedar are wood and behave like wood — they move, they weather, they can be sanded and refinished, and they want a finish on a cycle. Composite is a manufactured board that trades repairability for the maintenance cycle. Ipe is wood that behaves almost like a mineral: superb outdoors, punishing to install.
So the choice is not "which is best" but which trade you want to live with: cost now, effort later, or effort during the build.
What the table cannot tell you
Price. Deliberately absent. Decking prices move by season and vary sharply by region, and the gaps between these four move with them. A number typed here would be wrong somewhere and stale everywhere. Get four quotes on the same board count from your own yard — the board calculator gives you the count to quote.
Service life. Also absent, and for a better reason: it is not a property of the material. The same cedar deck lasts decades detailed well in a dry climate and fails in years detailed badly under trees. Detailing and drainage beat material — that is the whole argument of how long does a deck last.
Prices move weekly and by region. Enter the unit price your yard quoted you — the defaults are round placeholders, not a market average.
The install differences that surprise people
Composite has its own rulebook. Maximum joist spacing, expansion gaps at butt joints and ends, approved fasteners — all specified by the manufacturer and all conditions of the warranty. It also expands and contracts with temperature rather than moisture, so the gapping rules are unlike wood's.
Ipe is a different trade. It is dense enough that almost every fastener needs pre-drilling and countersinking, blades dull quickly, and the boards are heavy. A deck that takes a weekend in pine can take several days in ipe, and that is the real cost people underestimate.
Treated pine arrives wet. It shrinks and can twist as it dries, so gap it accordingly and expect to reset a fastener or two in the first year.
A quick way to decide
Budget is the constraint → treated pine, and spend the difference on detailing the frame properly.
You want wood and will look after it → cedar. It is the nicest wood deck to build, to walk on and to maintain.
You will not look after it → composite. Be honest about this; it is the most useful piece of self-knowledge in the whole decision.
You want the deck to be the thing → ipe, with the install time and the oiling ritual understood up front.
Before you buy
- Get physical samples and leave them outside for a week. Colour, texture and surface temperature are decided by touch, not by a screen.
- For any wood, ask about GRADE, not just species — cedar sapwood and low-grade pine are different products from what the comparison assumes.
- For composite, read the installation instruction for joist spacing, expansion gaps and fastener type BEFORE framing.
- For ipe, budget for pre-drilling every fastener, extra blades, and a longer install. The labour difference is real.
- Price all four over YOUR deck at YOUR yard. The gaps between them vary hugely by region and season.
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
Composite decking vs wood
The head-to-head most people actually face.
Deck cost calculator
Price any of the four over the same frame.
How long does a deck last
Why the frame's clock beats the surface's.
Decking board width
The other board decision, once material is settled.
Deck stain guide
What the three wood options need and when.