Daikin Perfera vs Comfora: which should you buy?

On the Daikin Comfora vs Perfera question, the answer for most homes is the Perfera, particularly if you'll be heating with it. On the popular 2.5 and 3.5 kW sizes it's A+++ for both cooling and heating, it adds Flash Streamer air purification and a motion sensor, and one UK installer fits it for just £171 to £209 more than the equivalent Comfora.

The Comfora still earns its place, though. On the big 6.0 and 7.1 kW sizes the two are close to level on efficiency, so the cheaper Comfora is the better buy there. And if all you want is summer cooling in a bedroom, the Perfera's extra efficiency is worth about £10 a year, which won't pay back the difference any time soon.

Perfera vs Comfora at a glance

These are the rows that actually decide it. The full spec sheets for the Perfera FTXM-A and the Comfora FTXP-N are on their product pages.

Fitted prices are from one UK installer (AAC Air Conditioning) for a standard 3 to 5 m pipe run, correct as of October 2026.

Efficiency and running costs

This is where the two have drifted apart. SEER and SCOP are seasonal efficiency scores for cooling and heating: the higher the number, the more cooling or heat you get for each unit of electricity. In March 2024 Daikin launched the current Perfera generation (the FTXM-A, sold as "Perfera All Seasons"), and it jumped well ahead of the Comfora on the smaller sizes. You'll still see older Perfera figures of SEER 8.65 and SCOP 5.10 quoted online; those belong to the previous FTXM-R generation (the 3.5 kW FTXM35R with an RXM35R9 outdoor).

In pounds, this is what the gap looks like for a 3.5 kW unit on our standard running-cost method. Cooling is the unit's size x 350 hours (the EU energy label's standard cooling season) ÷ SEER, and heating is 3,000 kWh of heat a year (a moderately used room through a UK winter, the same at 2.5 and 3.5 kW) ÷ SCOP. The rate is the Ofgem price cap of 26.32p/kWh for 1 October to 31 December 2026, with no VAT on domestic electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027.

How we work out running costs: every unit is costed on the same basis, size x 350 hours of cooling ÷ SEER plus 3,000 kWh of heat ÷ SCOP, at the Ofgem cap rate. It's a fair like-for-like comparison, not a forecast of your bill. Correct as of October 2026.

So the Perfera saves about £28 a year if you use it for heating as well as cooling. Against a £209 price gap at 3.5 kW, that pays back in roughly seven to eight years, or a bit over £280 saved across ten. On the 2.5 kW size it's £176.08 a year against £203.45, with cooling at 92 kWh (£24.21) against 122 kWh (£32.11).

Use it only for summer cooling, though, and you're saving around £10 a year at 3.5 kW and £7.90 at 2.5 kW. That's a nice bonus, but it's never going to cover the premium on its own.

On the 6.0 and 7.1 kW sizes the gap all but closes. Those two Perfera sizes still use Daikin's older RXM-R outdoor unit, and the 7.1 kW is SEER 6.2 and SCOP 4.1 against the Comfora's 6.20 and 4.01, which is near enough identical. At 6.0 kW it's 6.90 and 4.30 against 6.82 and 4.10, a little better but not by enough to justify the price gap on a big room.

Your real savings will scale with how many hours you run it. See are air conditioners expensive to run for more on the maths.

Noise

Call this one a draw. Both go down to 19 dB(A) on their quietest setting on the 2.0 and 2.5 kW sizes. At 3.5 kW the Perfera reaches 19 dB(A) and the Comfora 20 dB(A), a difference you'd struggle to hear.

Flat out, the Comfora is actually a touch quieter: 40 against 41 dB(A) at 2.5 kW, and 43 against 45 dB(A) at 3.5 kW. Outside, the outdoor units are level at 46 dB(A) on the 2.5 kW size. Either is quiet enough for a bedroom, and our bedroom air conditioning guide covers what those numbers feel like at night.

What the extra money buys

Both units share plenty: 3D airflow (the louvres swing side to side as well as up and down), a silver allergen filter, a titanium apatite deodorising filter, R32 refrigerant, and built-in Wi-Fi on the 2.0 to 3.5 kW sizes, controlled through Daikin's Onecta app with Alexa and Google Assistant.

The Perfera adds three things on top. Flash Streamer is Daikin's air-purifying technology, aimed at allergens and odours. The 2-area motion sensor steers air away from wherever people are sitting and drops into an energy-saving mode when the room empties. And there's heat boost, which gets a cold room up to temperature faster.

One thing to watch: some installer websites say the Comfora has Flash Streamer and Coanda airflow. Daikin UK's own Comfora page lists neither, so if Flash Streamer matters to you, it's the Perfera you want.

The Perfera also heats in colder weather, working down to -21°C outside on the 2.5 to 4.2 kW sizes against -15°C for the Comfora. The 5.0 kW Perfera is rated to -15°C, the same as the Comfora. Our guide to heating with air conditioning goes into this in more detail.

Size and looks

You'd be hard pushed to tell them apart on the wall. Both are plain white, and the Comfora's indoor unit is a bit smaller (770 mm wide and 225 mm deep, against 804 mm and 252 mm).

The real size difference is outside. The Perfera's outdoor unit on the 2.0 to 3.5 kW sizes is 923 mm wide and weighs 36 kg; the Comfora's is 740 mm and 24 kg. On a small balcony, a narrow side return, or a bracket high on a wall, that can matter.

The Perfera also comes in a 4.2 kW size, which the Comfora doesn't, and it can run as part of a multi-split with up to five indoor units.

Price

AAC Air Conditioning lists both models across most sizes on the same standard install, which makes for a clean like-for-like comparison:

Longer pipe runs push both up by similar amounts. Another installer, Glow Green, lists the 7.1 kW models at about £3,906 (Perfera) and £3,781 (Comfora), a £125 gap at much higher prices overall. Costco sells installed Perfera packages at £2,099.99 (2.5 kW) and £2,299.99 (3.5 kW) but doesn't appear to offer an installed Comfora. Costco's installed packages were showing as out of stock online in mid-October.

As a rough guide, budget about £1,700 to £1,900 for a 2.5 to 3.5 kW Comfora supplied and fitted, and £1,900 to £2,300 for a Perfera. Expect the gap on your own quotes to be somewhere around £150 to £300. Our air conditioning cost guide explains what pushes a quote up.

Prices correct as of October 2026. Installer prices change often, so treat these as a guide and compare quotes.

Where does the Sensira fit?

The Sensira is the rung below the Comfora on Daikin's ladder, and it's the one you'll often see as a Costco or B&Q installed package.

Prices correct as of October 2026.

The Comfora is the better unit of the two lower rungs, and it isn't always dearer. At the October 2026 cap rate, a 3.5 kW Comfora costs about £5 a year less to run for cooling than a Sensira (£44.74 against £49.48 on our standard method) and about £18 less per 3,000 kWh of heat (£170.29 against £187.92). AAC fits a 3.5 kW Comfora for £1,825, which is below Costco's full price for a 3.5 kW Sensira package, so price the Comfora before settling on a Sensira. If you're weighing the top and bottom rungs, see our Daikin Perfera vs Sensira comparison or the Sensira product page.

Which should you buy?

For a bedroom, home office, or living room up to 3.5 kW that you'll heat in winter, go Perfera. You're paying roughly £170 to £210 more for A+++ in both modes, a lower heating limit, Flash Streamer, and a motion sensor, and the running-cost saving claws most of that back over the unit's life. If your two quotes are within about £250 of each other, it's an easy call.

The Comfora wins in three places. On a big room needing 6.0 or 7.1 kW, efficiency is basically level and the Comfora is cheaper. For cooling only, the efficiency gap is too small to matter. And where your quotes come in £300 or more apart, the Comfora's A++ efficiency and decent filters are plenty for most rooms.

A word on reviews: neither model has meaningful owner reviews in UK sources, which is normal for fitted splits. Installers tend to describe the Comfora as the value pick and the Perfera as the all-rounder, but much of that commentary predates the current Perfera and undersells the efficiency gap on the smaller sizes. Both lean on Daikin's general reputation for reliability, and you can read more on the Daikin brand page and the Perfera range page.