For a home of 1,500 to 2,500 square feet that already has usable ductwork, OniFix's current range for a ducted heat pump is $11,000 to $20,000. A cold-climate model, built to keep heating through a New England January, adds $2,500 to $6,000, and if the house needs new ductwork, that adds another $3,500 to $8,000. Ductless mini splits are priced by the zone: $4,500 to $8,500 for the first and $2,500 to $4,500 for each one after that, so a three-zone system typically runs $9,500 to $17,500. All of these figures are before rebates.
For ducted systems, home size moves the base figure: about 15 percent lower under 1,500 square feet, 20 percent higher from 2,500 to 3,500 square feet, and 40 percent higher above that. A cold-climate ducted heat pump for a 3,000 square foot house with good ducts, for example, typically comes to $15,700 to $30,000. These are OniFix's typical ranges today, not a quote. The exact price is confirmed after a visit, and you have it before any work starts. Here is what decides where a particular house lands.
Capacity, and why it should come from a heat load calculation
Heat pumps are sized in tons, where one ton is 12,000 BTUs per hour. In Massachusetts the heating load, not the cooling load, usually sets the size, and that load depends on the house: its square footage, insulation, windows, air leakage and how cold the design day gets where you live. A heat load calculation (ACCA's Manual J is the standard method) answers that question. Copying the size of the old furnace or air conditioner doesn't, because older equipment was often oversized.
Size cuts both ways on price. An oversized system costs more up front and runs in short, inefficient cycles; an undersized one costs less but leans on backup heat in the coldest weather. It pays to understand the size on each quote before comparing totals.
Cold-climate equipment
Not every heat pump is built for a Massachusetts winter. To carry the ENERGY STAR Cold Climate label, a heat pump has to keep at least 70 percent of its rated heating capacity at 5°F and deliver at least 1.75 units of heat for every unit of electricity it uses at that temperature. These models generally rely on variable-speed compressors that ramp up as the temperature drops, and that capability is what the cold-climate add pays for.
For most homeowners here, it isn't really optional. Every 2026 Mass Save heat pump rebate requires ENERGY STAR Cold Climate equipment from the Mass Save qualified products list, so if you're counting on a rebate, budget for it from the start. For how these systems hold up in a real cold snap, see our article on whether heat pumps work in a Massachusetts winter.
Ducted, ductless, or some of each
A ducted heat pump uses an indoor air handler connected to your ductwork. It can replace a furnace outright, or in a dual-fuel setup the heat pump's coil sits on the existing furnace, which takes over on the coldest days. It's the natural fit when the house already has central air or a furnace with decent ducts. Our heat pump installation page lays out the ducted, ductless and dual-fuel options side by side.
Ductless mini splits put a slim indoor unit in each zone, connected to an outdoor unit by refrigerant lines, and they suit houses heated by radiators or baseboard. That describes a lot of the housing west and north of Boston: in Everett, Newton and Watertown, more than four in ten homes were built before 1940, and many homes of that age heat with radiators rather than ducts. Plenty of houses end up with a mix, such as a ducted system for the main floors and a mini split for a finished attic or an addition. The mini split installation page explains how zones are planned room by room.
The condition of the existing ducts
Ducts that worked fine with a furnace aren't automatically right for a heat pump. A heat pump delivers air that is warm rather than hot, so it has to move more of it, and ductwork that is undersized, leaky or running through an unheated attic can leave rooms short. The fix may be modest (sealing joints, adding a return, enlarging a few runs) or it may mean replacing a section. Either way, a contractor should look at the ducts before quoting, since they're one of the bigger unknowns in a ducted estimate.
Electrical work
The outdoor unit needs its own 240-volt circuit and a disconnect switch near the unit. Many panels can take that. Older 60- and 100-amp services sometimes can't, especially alongside an electric range, dryer or EV charger, and then the job may include a panel replacement or a service upgrade coordinated with the utility. That is one of the items most likely to push a project past a typical range. In Massachusetts this work has to be done by a licensed electrician under a permit, and the town's wiring inspector checks it.
Line sets, condensate and where the outdoor unit goes
Each indoor unit connects to the outdoor unit through a pair of insulated copper refrigerant lines, plus a control cable and a drain. Short, direct runs keep costs down. Long runs, and lines routed inside finished walls or through attics rather than along the outside of the house, add labor and material, and longer runs can need extra refrigerant. Condensate needs a path as well: ductless indoor units usually drain by gravity to the outside, and where that isn't possible, a small condensate pump goes in.
The outdoor unit has to sit above the snow, out from under a dripping roof edge, and where the water it sheds during defrost won't freeze on a walkway. That usually means a wall bracket or a raised ground stand rather than a pad on the grass. These are small line items, but they separate a heat pump that runs well for years from one that's buried in a February snowbank.
Whole-home, or with the old system as backup
Some homeowners retire their old heating entirely. Others keep the furnace or boiler for the coldest days, with an integrated control that decides when each system runs. Keeping the backup can allow a smaller heat pump and avoids removal costs now; going all-electric means taking the old equipment out, and an oil tank removal is a separate job. The choice also decides which Mass Save rebate applies, and that is often the largest single number in the whole project.
Weatherization comes first
Mass Save's whole-home rebate requires the house to be sufficiently weatherized before the heat pump goes in. Air sealing and insulation are worth doing first anyway. They shrink the heating load, and because the heat pump should be sized after that work is done, they can bring down the equipment price along with the bills. If you're planning both projects, do the weatherization first and the load calculation second.
What 2026 rebates can take off the price
Mass Save's 2026 air source heat pump rebates come in three tiers. Whole-home pays $2,650 per ton, up to $8,500, when the heat pump becomes the sole source of heating and cooling and the oil, propane, gas or electric resistance heat is displaced. Partial-home pays $1,125 per ton, up to $8,500, when another heating system stays and an integrated control from Mass Save's qualified list is installed for the zones where it remains. Basic pays $250 per ton, up to $2,500, for installs that don't displace existing heat, such as replacing an older heat pump or conditioning a space that had no heat before.
A hypothetical example: say a whole-home system comes to 3 tons. The rebate would be 3 x $2,650 = $7,950, which is under the $8,500 cap, and that comes off the installed price on your quote. Mass Save figures tons from the system's AHRI-rated cooling capacity divided by 12,000, so a nominal 3-ton system can come out slightly under 3.0 on paper, and the rebate with it.
The conditions matter as much as the amounts. Besides the cold-climate equipment covered above, the installer has to be in the Mass Save Heat Pump Installer Network, so ask any contractor whether they're in it before you count on the money. For 2026 amounts, the installation has to happen between January 1 and December 31, 2026, and the rebate form is due by February 28, 2027. Since October 1, 2026, applications also need a photo of each outdoor unit's nameplate showing its serial number.
Timing deserves some thought this year. On January 1, 2027, the whole-home rebate drops to $2,350 per ton, capped at $7,500, and partial-home drops to $1,000 per ton, also capped at $7,500. The same hypothetical 3-ton whole-home system installed in January would earn $7,050 instead of $7,950.
A few other pieces complete the picture. Income-eligible households can get enhanced rebates of up to $16,000, and some qualify for a system at no cost through Mass Save's Turnkey Services. Mass Save's HEAT Loan offers 0% financing up to $25,000 for qualifying heat pump projects. There is no federal tax credit in 2026; the Section 25C credit, worth up to $2,000 for a heat pump, ended with 2025. And in Concord, Hudson and Wellesley, electricity comes from a municipal light plant (Concord Municipal Light Plant, Hudson Light and Power, Wellesley Municipal Light Plant), so Mass Save's electric heat pump rebates don't apply there; those utilities run their own programs. Homes there that heat with natural gas from a Mass Save gas company can still apply through their gas account. Our guide to Mass Save heat pump rebates covers the details and the paperwork.
Running costs compared with oil, propane and electric baseboard
Whether a heat pump lowers your heating bill depends on several variables, and a savings figure offered without asking about them is a guess. The main ones are what you pay per kilowatt-hour compared with per gallon of oil or propane, how efficient your current system is, how well the heat pump is sized and installed, how tight the house is, and whether a backup system carries the coldest hours.
Electric baseboard is the clearest comparison. Baseboard turns one unit of electricity into one unit of heat. A heat pump moves heat rather than making it, so it delivers more than one unit of heat per unit of electricity: even at 5°F, an ENERGY STAR Cold Climate model has to manage at least 1.75, and it does considerably better in milder weather. Against baseboard, a heat pump is almost always cheaper to run.
Oil and propane are harder to call, because their prices move and so do electric rates. The fair comparison is cost per unit of heat delivered: the fuel price adjusted for your boiler or furnace's efficiency, against the electric rate divided by the heat pump's seasonal efficiency. In many homes that math favors the heat pump, though not in every one, which is one reason some people keep the old system for the coldest stretches. Ask any contractor you're considering to run the comparison with your own bills.
To see where your own house lands, get a typical range from the instant price tool. It asks about ducts, the kind of heat pump and the size of your home, and takes about a minute; the exact price comes after a visit, before any work starts.
Sources: Mass Save, air source heat pump rebates; Mass Save, HEAT Loan; IRS, Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit; ENERGY STAR, central air conditioner and heat pump specification; Mass.gov, electricians consumer fact sheet.