Vokera vs Alpha Boilers – Which is The Best Brand?

When choosing an affordable yet reliable combi boiler, two brands that frequently come up are Vokera and Alpha. Both brands are popular alternatives to premium boilers like Worcester Bosch or Vaillant, offering budget-friendly solutions without sacrificing essential quality and efficiency.

In this article, we’ll examine Vokera and Alpha in greater detail, comparing two popular combi boilers models from each brand. Whether you’re a landlord seeking a reliable replacement boiler or a homeowner looking to upgrade without overspending, our detailed comparison covers everything you need to know.

We’ll assess each boiler based on crucial factors such as price, reliability, energy efficiency, and aftercare services. Want to make your own side-by-side comparisons? Try our user-friendly Boiler Comparison Tool, which allows you to evaluate up to three additional models simultaneously, helping you select the ideal boiler tailored to your needs and budget.

Read on to discover which brand—Vokera or Alpha—wins in today’s combi boiler showdown!

Vokera Background

Vokera Limited was established over 35 years ago under its parent company Riello. Vokera offers a portfolio of domestic & commercial gas boilers, water heaters, solar thermal collectors and air source heat pumps.

Vokera has offices across the U.K and Ireland which enable them to deliver a tailored service for the UK & Ireland market. Every boiler manufactured by Vokera is tested before it leaves the factory so it offers peace of mind and reliability to homeowners and landlords.

You can read about Vokera’s background in their own words here.

Alpha Background

Alpha belongs to the parent company Immergas, which operates in 30 countries worldwide. Immergas is the market leader in Italy where it originates, producing an impressive 7 million boilers per year. One of the largest heating appliance manufacturers in Europe.

Established over 50 years ago, Alpha has a long history, with core values of innovation, efficiency and customer service at the forefront of their offering.

Alpha offers regular, system and conventional boilers in a range of different kW sizes to suit any size of a domestic or commercial premise.

Combi Boiler Comparison: Vokera vs. Alpha

Choosing the right combi boiler involves considering efficiency, reliability, price, and suitability for your home’s heating demands. Both Vokera and Alpha offer competitively priced, efficient combi boilers designed for small to medium-sized properties, making them excellent choices for homeowners and landlords alike.

Vokera’s Evolve combi boiler range is known for its extensive kW options, including 24kW, 28kW, 32kW, 36kW, and 42kW models. This broad selection allows homeowners to precisely match boiler capacity to their home’s heating and hot water needs, ensuring maximum efficiency and minimal energy waste.

Alpha, on the other hand, offers fewer kW variants, focusing mainly on 28kW and 33kW models. While slightly more limited in choice, Alpha boilers are still highly regarded for their solid build quality, reliability, and overall performance.

A standout option for landlords and budget-conscious buyers is the Vokera Excel 29kW combi boiler. Despite its affordable price tag, it delivers an impressive efficiency rating of 92%, comparable with premium boiler brands, making it an exceptional value for money.

Suppose you’re uncertain about the best kW output for your property or simply want a side-by-side comparison of specific boiler models. In that case, our easy-to-use Boiler Comparison Tool can help. You can compare multiple boiler brands and models directly, ensuring you choose the most suitable boiler for your specific heating requirements.

Considering all factors, including range, price, and efficiency, Vokera emerges as our recommended choice in this comparison. However, both brands represent excellent value, helping you achieve cost savings on heating bills while maintaining reliable home heating performance.

Reliability

The E-Tec Plus range from Alpha offers a stainless steel heat exchanger matching up with Vokera’s next-generation plate heat exchanger for further protection for your new combi boilers.

If you get an issue with the heat exchanger in your boiler it’s a serious issue and often leads to the replacement of the boiler, so both of these models are future-proofed in the heat exchanger stakes.

Vokera has a 4.4 rating on Trustpilot compared to Alpha’s score of 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot, so from the customer point of view, Alpha boilers come out just ahead of Vokera.

However, with a little more investigation into the content of the Alpha reviews, we can see that a lot of the reviews are either from engineers fitting the Alpha boiler or from customers thanking engineers for coming out so quickly to fix issues with the boiler. This can be interpreted in two ways – firstly, that Alpha boilers require a bit of ongoing maintenance and are susceptible to breaking down and secondly, that when they do break down they get engineers out pretty quickly and they seem to resolve the issue.

The Vokera Trustpilot reviews seem to be mainly from their customers, which gives you a truer reflection of how the boiler is likely to perform. Here are some reviews from Vokera’s customers:

“Excellent instant hot water boiler which can be set to a preferred temperature and is quick and efficient. We have it installed in our 3 sink, 1 bath house and gives excellent flow rate to all areas of the house.”

“So far so good. No problems running like a dream.”

We can see from these reviews that Vokera’s customers are more than satisfies with their Vokera boiler.

In terms of reliability from a heating engineer perspective, it’s the usual story, we can’t agree. Some of our engineers swear by Alpha and just as many curse them and vice versa with Vokera.

Both brands are budget boilers and to a certain extent you get what you pay for, you won’t get the same level of reliability or longevity as you would from a Worcester or Vaillant boiler but a Vokera or Alpha will be a few hundred pounds cheaper. If they are properly maintained and serviced annually they have every chance of lasting 10-15 years.

We’re going to award this round as a tie, there’s not much to choose between the two brands in terms of reliability.

Aftercare and Warranty

Warranty and aftercare services are crucial when selecting a combi boiler. Both the Vokera Evolve and Alpha E-Tec Plus boiler ranges come with an impressive 10-year manufacturer’s warranty, providing excellent peace of mind and security for your investment. In contrast, the Vokera Excel range includes a 5-year warranty, while the Alpha E-Tec standard range offers a 7-year warranty.

It’s important to note that these warranties require regular annual servicing to remain valid. Failing to service your boiler annually may void the warranty, potentially leaving you responsible for repair costs. Additionally, warranty length can vary depending on your chosen installer; accredited engineers often provide extended warranty periods beyond standard offerings.

Both Vokera and Alpha consistently receive praise for their customer service and aftercare, with positive reviews on Trustpilot highlighting their swift response to issues and effective resolutions. Although neither brand carries the prestige of premium manufacturers like Worcester Bosch, they clearly understand the importance of customer satisfaction, investing significantly in reliable aftercare support.

Overall, aftercare and warranty support between these two brands are closely matched, making it difficult to choose a clear winner. However, considering all factors, including range, price, and efficiency, Vokera remains our top recommendation. Both brands deliver exceptional value, reliable heating performance, and dedicated customer care.

Summary

You can see from how close the two boiler manufacturers were in each of the key factors of price, reliability, energy efficiency and aftercare that there isn’t much to choose between the two brands.

The difference in price is negligible with both offering a very cheap budget boiler, usually £300-£400 cheaper than the ‘top’ brands such as Worcester Bosch, Viessmann and Vaillant. With that said, as mentioned, the Vokera Excel range is a great boiler for landlords looking for a new or replacement combi boiler thanks to its very competitive price.

There’s very little to choose between the brands on reliability and aftercare but the Vokera does offer better energy efficiency which will lead to saving over time on your heating bills.

Between Vokera and Alpha, we would recommend the Vokera but we would also recommend spending a little bit more if it’s in your budget to get a Worcester or Vaillant. £200-£300 is a lot more to spend but with a monthly boiler finance plan, the monthly cost won’t be significantly higher on an elite brand boiler. If you want to compare the difference between these two boilers against a top brand boiler such as a Worcester Bosch, then you should try our Boiler Comparison Tool. You will be able to compare efficiency, reliability, warranties and features, which should help you make your decision on the best boiler for your home.

Whichever of the two brands you go for you’ll be getting a reliable boiler from two companies with a focus on customer service at a price that won’t make your bank manager cry.

*Boiler prices from Wolseley at the time of publication (installation not included). Please note that prices may vary depending on your supplier.