Finnish Sauna vs Infrared Sauna: Honest Comparison (2026)

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The Finnish sauna vs infrared debate generates more misleading marketing copy than almost any other topic in the sauna world. Infrared brands claim identical health benefits at lower temperatures. Traditional sauna purists dismiss infrared as “not a real sauna.” Neither position is honest.

This article compares the two on physics, research, cost, and installation. It tells you exactly when each one makes sense.

What Is the Fundamental Difference Between Finnish and Infrared Saunas?

A Finnish sauna heats the air to 80-100°C using a stone-topped heater, while an infrared sauna uses radiant panels to heat your body directly at 45-65°C without significantly heating the room. That single distinction drives every other difference in this comparison.

In a Finnish sauna, an electric or wood-burning heater brings a mass of stones (typically 20-80 kg) to 300-400 degrees Celsius. Those stones radiate heat into the room, and the heater’s convection currents circulate hot air throughout the cabin. Room temperature reaches 80-100 degrees Celsius. Your body heats primarily through convection (hot air) and radiation (from the stones and hot walls).

In an infrared sauna, carbon or ceramic panels emit electromagnetic radiation in the far-infrared spectrum, typically at wavelengths between 7 and 15 microns. This radiation penetrates the skin’s surface by 2-4 millimetres, generating heat directly in tissue. The room temperature stays at 45-65 degrees Celsius because the panels aren’t designed to heat the air. They heat objects (your body) that the radiation strikes.

Both will make you sweat. The mechanism for getting there is different, and that difference matters more than most people realize.

How Do Finnish and Infrared Saunas Heat Your Body?

Finnish saunas use convection and radiation from a mass of heated stones, while infrared saunas use far-infrared electromagnetic panels that penetrate the skin 2-4 mm to generate heat directly in tissue.

Traditional Finnish Sauna

The heater, electric (6-9 kW for home use) or wood-burning, heats a bed of sauna stones. The stones serve as a thermal mass, storing and radiating heat evenly. Convection currents move hot air upward and across the ceiling, then down the walls and back to the heater, creating a circulation loop.

Temperature stratification is a defining feature: the air near the ceiling can be 20-30 degrees Celsius hotter than at floor level. This is why benches are tiered. You choose your heat intensity by choosing your bench height.

Heat-up time ranges from 30 to 60 minutes depending on heater power, room volume, and insulation quality. The thermal mass of the stones means the sauna holds temperature well once heated, even if the heater cycles off briefly.

Infrared Panels

Infrared saunas use either carbon fibre panels or ceramic heating elements mounted behind the wall surfaces. Carbon panels produce a broader, more even distribution of infrared radiation. Ceramic elements produce more concentrated, higher-intensity infrared at specific points.

Most residential infrared saunas draw 1.5-2 kW, roughly a quarter of what a traditional sauna heater requires. Heat-up time is 10-20 minutes because the panels don’t need to heat the room’s air mass or a bed of stones.

There is minimal temperature stratification in an infrared sauna. The heat you feel comes from direct radiation hitting your body, not from ambient air temperature. This means your position relative to the panels matters significantly. Areas of your body facing panels get more heat exposure than areas facing away.

Can You Get Loyly (Steam) in an Infrared Sauna?

No. Infrared saunas have no hot stones and their electrical panels must not be exposed to water, so the loyly experience is exclusive to traditional Finnish saunas. This is the dividing line that no specification sheet captures.

Loyly, the Finnish word for the steam produced when water is thrown on hot sauna stones, is the defining experience of a traditional sauna. The burst of steam briefly raises humidity from the baseline 10-20% to a localized 40-60%, dramatically increasing the heat transfer rate to your skin. That wave of intense, moist heat is what makes the Finnish sauna experience distinct from simply sitting in a hot room.

Infrared saunas can’t produce loyly. There are no stones. There is no surface hot enough to flash-evaporate water. The experience is dry radiant warmth at moderate air temperatures.

If loyly matters to you (and for many sauna users it is the entire point) this comparison ends here. But if your priority is sweating, relaxation, and potential health benefits regardless of the delivery mechanism, keep reading.

Is a Finnish Sauna or Infrared Sauna Better for Health?

For health benefits backed by research, the Finnish sauna is superior. Nearly all peer-reviewed studies (including the landmark 20-year Finnish cardiovascular cohort) used traditional saunas at 80-100°C. Infrared saunas offer convenience but lack equivalent research support.

This is where the conversation gets dishonest in most comparisons, and where we need to be direct.

What the Finnish Studies Actually Studied

The landmark cardiovascular research, particularly the University of Eastern Finland cohort studies led by Dr. Jari Laukkanen, followed over 2,300 middle-aged Finnish men over 20+ years. These studies found that frequent sauna use (4-7 sessions per week) was associated with reduced risk of sudden cardiac death, fatal cardiovascular disease, fatal coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality.

These studies used traditional Finnish saunas operating at 80-100 degrees Celsius with a relative humidity of 10-20%.

The neurological research from the same cohort found associations between frequent sauna use and reduced risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

These studies didn’t use infrared saunas. The participants were using traditional Finnish saunas at temperatures and conditions that infrared saunas don’t replicate.

Can We Extrapolate to Infrared?

The honest answer: we don’t know with certainty.

The proposed mechanisms for sauna cardiovascular benefits include increased heart rate (comparable to moderate exercise), improved endothelial function, reduced blood pressure, and heat shock protein activation. Some of these responses do occur in infrared saunas. Core temperature rises, heart rate increases, and sweating occurs.

However, the magnitude of the physiological response differs. A traditional sauna at 85-100 degrees Celsius produces a core body temperature increase of approximately 0.5-1.0 degrees Celsius over a 20-minute session. Infrared saunas at 45-65 degrees Celsius produce a smaller core temperature increase, though the direct tissue heating may partially compensate.

Small-scale infrared studies (typically 10-50 participants over weeks, not thousands over decades) suggest benefits for chronic pain, blood pressure, and congestive heart failure (the Waon therapy studies from Japan). These are promising but not comparable in scope or rigor to the Finnish cohort data.

The bottom line on health claims: if a manufacturer or website tells you infrared saunas provide the same cardiovascular and neurological benefits shown in the Finnish studies, they are making a claim the research doesn’t support. Infrared may offer its own benefits, and early research is encouraging, but the large-scale evidence base belongs to traditional saunas.

For a deeper look at the cardiovascular research, see our cardiovascular health analysis.

How Do Installation Requirements Compare for Finnish vs Infrared Saunas?

Infrared saunas are significantly easier to install. Most plug into a standard 120V outlet and come as prefabricated cabins, while Finnish electric saunas require a dedicated 240V/30-50A circuit, professional electrician, and proper insulation and ventilation.

Electrical Requirements

This is the single biggest practical advantage of infrared. Most residential infrared saunas plug into a standard 120V outlet. A traditional electric sauna heater requires a dedicated 240V circuit with 30-50 amp service, which means hiring an electrician and potentially pulling a permit. Cost for the electrical work alone: $300-800 depending on your panel’s capacity and the run distance.

Space and Construction

Traditional saunas require proper insulation (R-13 minimum in walls, R-19+ in ceiling), a vapour barrier on the warm side of the insulation, and kiln-dried softwood interior panelling (typically cedar, spruce, or aspen). The room needs adequate ventilation with intake low near the heater, exhaust high on the opposite wall.

Infrared saunas need minimal insulation because they aren’t trying to maintain 80-100 degree air temperatures. Many come as prefabricated cabins that assemble in 30-60 minutes with basic tools. No special ventilation is required beyond what a normal room provides.

Footprint

A two-person infrared cabin: typically 120 x 105 cm (4 x 3.5 feet). A two-person traditional sauna: typically 150 x 150 cm (5 x 5 feet) minimum, with 180 x 180 cm (6 x 6 feet) preferred for comfortable bench layout with proper heater clearances.

Which Costs More to Run, a Finnish Sauna or Infrared Sauna?

Infrared saunas cost 4-5x less per session ($0.15-0.23 vs $0.68-1.35) because they draw less power and require no preheating time.

Infrared wins on operating cost by a factor of 4-5x. This adds up over years of ownership, though neither is expensive in absolute terms.

How Do Finnish and Infrared Saunas Compare Overall?

When Should You Choose an Infrared Sauna?

Infrared is the right choice when:

• You live in a small apartment with no space for a traditional build and no access to a 240V circuit.
• Your electrical panel can’t support a 240V/40A circuit without an expensive service upgrade.
• You are heat-sensitive or have medical conditions that make 80-100 degree environments inadvisable (consult your physician either way).
• You want a supplementary heat therapy tool in addition to gym, stretching, or recovery routines, and want minimal setup.
• Budget is the primary constraint. A decent infrared cabin costs less upfront and less to run.
• You want fast availability. 10-15 minutes to operating temperature versus 30-60 minutes means you are more likely to use it on a busy weeknight.

When Should You Choose a Traditional Finnish Sauna?

Traditional is the right choice when:

• Loyly matters to you. If pouring water on stones and feeling that wave of steam is part of your sauna practice, there is no infrared substitute.
• You want the experience backed by large-scale research. The cardiovascular and neurological data comes from traditional saunas. If health optimization is your primary motivation, match the studied conditions.
• You prefer higher temperatures. 80-100 degrees Celsius produces a more intense physiological response than 45-65 degrees.
• You are building an outdoor sauna. Traditional construction (barrel or cabin) is the standard for outdoor installations and handles weather exposure with proper building practices.
• You value the ritual. Heating the sauna, managing the stones, throwing loyly, cooling off between rounds. The Finnish bathing ritual is a practice, not just a temperature exposure.
• Multiple users. Traditional saunas scale better for groups. A family-sized traditional sauna heats the room for everyone equally, while infrared panels have limited coverage angles.

Are Hybrid Saunas Worth It?

Generally no. Most hybrids compromise both experiences with an undersized traditional heater and poorly positioned infrared panels. You are better off committing to one well-designed unit.

Some manufacturers sell “hybrid” or “dual” saunas that include both a traditional heater (usually small, electric) and infrared panels. In theory, you get both options.

In practice, most hybrids compromise both experiences. The traditional heater is often undersized (4-5 kW) to stay within the electrical budget alongside the infrared panels. The infrared panels may be poorly positioned because the room was designed around a traditional layout. The result is a mediocre traditional sauna and a mediocre infrared sauna in one box.

If you want both experiences, you are generally better served by committing to one well-designed unit than buying a hybrid that does neither well.

How Does Heat Transfer Differ Between Finnish and Infrared Saunas?

The physics of how heat reaches your body differs fundamentally between these two approaches, and understanding that difference clarifies most of the practical distinctions in this comparison. For the full technical breakdown of conduction, convection, and radiation in sauna environments, see our heat transfer analysis.

Which Sauna Type Should You Buy?

Neither type is objectively “better.” They are different tools that heat your body through different mechanisms.

If you want the authentic Finnish experience, the health research backing, loyly, high temperatures, and the full bathing ritual, build or buy a traditional sauna. Budget $3,000-8,000 for a home installation including electrical work.

If you want a convenient, low-cost, easy-to-install heat therapy tool that fits in a spare corner and plugs into a standard outlet, an infrared sauna does that well. Budget $1,500-4,000.

What you shouldn’t do is buy an infrared sauna expecting identical results to what the Finnish cardiovascular studies measured, or dismiss infrared entirely because it is “not a real sauna.” Both positions ignore the evidence in favour of tribal loyalty. Use the data, match the tool to your situation, and stop arguing on Reddit.