Daikin vs Samsung
Two brands we fit side by side, and a comparison where the cheaper one wins more often than people expect.
- REFCOM certified, REF1025662
- Daikin registered installer
The short answer
On the published figures Samsung wins on price and on quiet, and Daikin wins on reach and on looks. The Samsung Cebu S2 is the cheapest way onto the wall at £1,995, £200 under the cheapest Daikin, and it stays cheaper at every size both ranges make. The Samsung WindFree is the quietest indoor unit we fit at 16dB(A), where every Daikin publishes 19. Daikin answers with size and finish: the Perfera and Comfora both reach 7.1kW where Samsung stops at 6.5, and the Stylish is 189mm deep in a choice of three colours where every Samsung we fit is white. Pick Samsung for a bedroom or a budget, Daikin for a large open plan room or a wall you look at.
The four ranges side by side
Manufacturer published figures for the exact models we fit. Sizes are the ladder each range actually offers, which is where several of these decisions get made for you.
| Cebu S2 | WindFree S2 | Comfora | Stylish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Samsung | Samsung | Daikin | Daikin |
| Sizes | 2.5 to 6.5kW | 2.5 and 3.5kW | 2.5 to 7.1kW | 2.0 to 5.0kW |
| Quietest published | 19dB(A) | 16dB(A) | 19dB(A) | 19dB(A) |
| At 5.0kW | 25dB(A) | not made | 27dB(A) | 24dB(A) |
| Indoor unit | 299 x 820 x 215mm | 299 x 889 x 215mm | 286 x 770 x 225mm | 295 x 798 x 189mm |
| Finishes | White | White | White | White, black or silver |
| Fitted from | £1,995 | £2,295 | £2,195 | £2,500 |
Manufacturer published technical data. Fitted prices are our starting prices for a standard installation and include VAT.
The quietest unit we fit is a Samsung, and it only does bedrooms
The WindFree publishes 16dB(A) on its indoor unit at the low setting. Every Daikin we fit publishes 19. Three decibels is a real difference at that end of the scale, where you are listening for the unit rather than hearing it. The catch is the ladder: Samsung lists the WindFree we fit at 2.5 and 3.5kW only. It is a bedroom and study unit and it cannot do a living room at all. So the quietest machine on the site is also the one with the narrowest use, and if silence in a bedroom is the whole brief it wins outright, while a lounge rules it out before price is even discussed.
Where the price actually lands
At 2.5kW the Cebu is £1,995 against £2,195 for the cheapest Daikin, so £200 separates them. Against the Stylish at that size the gap is £505.
It does not close further up. At 3.5kW the Cebu is £200 under the Comfora, and at 5.0kW it is £200 under it. Samsung is the cheaper brand at every size both ranges make, not just at the entry point, which is worth knowing because the entry price is where most comparisons stop.
The WindFree is the exception and it is not a budget unit. At 2.5kW it is £2,295, £100 more than the Comfora. You are paying for the 16dB(A) and the airflow, not for the badge.
At 5.0kW the cheaper unit is also the quieter one
This is the finding that inverts the usual assumption. At 5.0kW the Cebu publishes 25dB(A) and the Comfora 27, and the Cebu is the cheaper of the two. So in a living room, the entry level Samsung is both quieter and less money than the entry level Daikin. Only the Stylish beats it on sound at that size, at 24dB(A), and it costs considerably more. If a quote tells you the Daikin is the quiet option at living room size, ask which Daikin, because for the one most people are actually offered it is not true.
Choose Samsung when
It is a bedroom and quiet is the brief
The WindFree at 16dB(A) is the quietest thing we fit. Nothing from Daikin matches it, and in a room you sleep in that is the argument that matters.
The budget is doing real work
The Cebu is the cheapest route onto the wall at £1,995 and stays cheapest at every matching size. It is an inverter heat pump with Wi-Fi in the box, not a stripped out unit.
It is a 5.0kW living room and you are not paying for finish
Cheaper than the Comfora and two decibels quieter at that size. Unless you specifically want the Stylish's case, this is the sensible answer for a lounge.
Choose Daikin when
The room needs more than 6.5kW
Not a judgement call. Samsung's ladder stops at 6.5kW. A knocked through ground floor needing 7.1kW has to be a Comfora or a Perfera, and no Samsung we fit covers it.
The unit is on a wall you look at
The Stylish is 189mm deep against 215mm for both Samsungs, and it is the only range here that comes in anything but white. In a room you have decorated, that is the whole argument and it is a fair one.
The wall is short of width
At 770mm the small Comfora is the narrowest indoor unit in this comparison, 50mm under the Cebu and 119mm under the WindFree. In a box room or under a sloping ceiling, width is usually what decides it.
What this comparison leaves out, and why
There is no efficiency column. Daikin publishes SEER and SCOP per model and we quote those figures on the Daikin comparison pages, but the two manufacturers do not publish seasonal efficiency in a form that compares like for like across these exact models. A column that was half filled, or filled with numbers carried over from a neighbouring model, would be guessing with a spec table's authority.
So the comparison sticks to size, sound, dimensions, finish and price, which are published for all four. If running cost is the thing deciding this for you, size the room first and ask us for the figures on the two units that actually fit it.
The ranges this applies to
Every price is fully installed and includes the unit, the installation, the electrical work and VAT.
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Still deciding between them?
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