Is polished concrete cheaper than epoxy?

On a sound slab, usually yes at the entry level and roughly level once you want gloss. A grind and seal runs $3 to $8 per square foot across Armour Guard and AK Level and Polish, against $3 to $9 for a residential epoxy. Push to a high-gloss full-aggregate polish and it becomes $6 to $15, which is at or above most epoxy quotes. The moment the answer flips decisively is when the slab is not good enough to be the finished floor.

What happens if my concrete is not good enough to polish?

The price stops being a finish and starts being a floor. Armour Guard prices polished concrete over a new pour at $10 to $15 per square foot for a basic finish and $15 to $25 or more for a decorative one, and AK Level and Polish gives $10 to $25 or more across all finishes. That is two to three times the cost of polishing an existing slab, and it is why slab condition is the first question this calculator asks rather than a modifier at the end.

Why does a bad slab not rule out epoxy the same way?

Because epoxy is a coating and polished concrete is not. Polishing removes material to reveal the floor you already have, so cracks, spalling and an uneven pour are all still there afterwards, only shinier. A coating goes over a slab that has been ground flat and patched, so the same defects become a preparation line item at $1 to $3 per square foot rather than a reason to start again. That is the single biggest practical difference between the two.

Polished concrete, on the durability argument that matters most: there is nothing on top to come off. Armour Guard puts polished concrete at 20 years or more, and it has no recoating cycle because the finish is the slab itself. A coating is a layer bonded to concrete, and every failure mode of a coating starts at that bond. The counter-argument is that polished concrete does nothing to stop moisture or chemicals reaching the slab, which is exactly what a coating is for.

What about a basement floor specifically?

Below grade, budget for a moisture barrier either way. Armour Guard prices one under polished concrete at $2 to $4 per square foot and SurfacePro prices a moisture vapour barrier under epoxy at $2.00 to $4.50. Tick that box in the calculator and it is added to both sides, because a below-grade slab pushes water vapour upward regardless of what you put on it, and neither finish survives being laid over that untreated.

How do real Toronto projects come out?

Armour Guard publishes two of its own with the totals attached. A 2,200 square foot Riverdale century home needing crack repair, levelling and a medium polish with staining came to $28,600, which is $13 per square foot. A 3,800 square foot Liberty Village retail space needing tile removal, a new pour, a high-gloss polish and an inlaid logo came to $72,200, or $19 per square foot. Both are above the headline bands, which is what preparation and complexity do to a real job.

Polished Concrete or an Epoxy Coating? Price Both on Your Floor

Last updated: August 26, 2026By EpoxyFloorIndex Research Team

Both finishes start with the same machine grinding the same slab, which is why their prices overlap so much and why the comparison is usually written as a draw. It is not a draw once you look at the concrete. Polishing reveals the floor you already have; a coating covers it. Answer the slab question first and the price follows from it.

Polish the slab, or coat it?

Floor area (sq ft)

Where is it?

A homeA commercial space

Is the existing slab good enough to be the finished floor?

Yes, it is soundFlat, no major cracking, no spalling, nothing structuralNo, or I do not knowBadly cracked, uneven, spalling, or a slab you have never seen bare

Finish level, if polished

Grind and seal, or a cream finish $3 to $8/sq ftA light cut that keeps the smooth top layer. The entry level, and not technically a polish.Medium polish, salt and pepper $4 to $10/sq ftCuts past the cream to expose fine sand and small aggregate.High gloss, full aggregate exposure $6 to $15/sq ftThe deepest grind, exposing large stone for a terrazzo look. Most labour, most gloss.

It is below grade and will need a moisture barrier

800 sq ft, a home

The two overlap here, so price is not deciding it

Polished concrete

$3,200 to $8,000

$4 to $10/sq ft

Armour Guard; AK Level and Polish

Epoxy coating

$2,400 to $7,200

$3 to $9/sq ft

Monarch Epoxy Coatings; GLI Epoxy Flooring (Ontario guide); Canadian Concrete Surfaces

Before 13% HST. Polished concrete has no coating to peel and no recoating cycle, and Armour Guard puts its life at 20 years or more, which is the argument for it that price alone does not capture.

Why slab condition is a go or no-go, not a surcharge

A polished floor is made by cutting into the concrete that is already there. Every crack, every patch, every spot where the pour went thin and every trowel mark stays in the finished floor, because there is no layer on top to put over them. Some of that reads as character in a loft and as a defect in a showroom, and which one it is depends on the room rather than on the concrete.

What is not a matter of taste is a slab that is structurally poor or badly out of level. That cannot be polished into a good floor, it has to be replaced, and the published price for polished concrete over a new pour is $10 to $15 per square foot for a basic finish and $15 to $25 or more with decoration. On an 800 square foot room that is the difference between roughly $3,200 and roughly $12,000.

Epoxy carries no equivalent cliff. The same defects become grinding, patching and crack injection at $1 to $3 per square foot on top, because a coating is designed to be a layer. That does not make a coating better; it makes the two finishes sensitive to completely different things, and it is why a general comparison of them is much less useful than a comparison of them on your floor.

Two published Toronto projects, with the totals attached

Headline bands describe simple jobs. These are two real polished concrete projects Armour Guard publishes with the cost and the scope together, and both land above the band, which is what preparation does.

$28,600$13 per sq ft

Riverdale century home, 2,200 sq ft: crack repair, levelling, medium polish with staining

Armour Guard

$72,200$19 per sq ft

Liberty Village retail, 3,800 sq ft: tile removal, new pour, high-gloss polish, inlaid logo

Armour Guard

A note on one source we dropped

An older pricing file on EpoxyFloorIndex attributes per-square-foot polished concrete figures to Toronto Concrete Repairs. Re-reading that page in August 2026, it no longer publishes any per-square-foot figure at all; it now says it prices after assessing the slab, in writing. So none of its numbers appear on this page. A figure that a source has stopped stating is a figure this site should stop repeating, regardless of whether it was true when it was recorded.

Frequently asked questions

Is polished concrete cheaper than epoxy?: On a sound slab, usually yes at the entry level and roughly level once you want gloss. A grind and seal runs $3 to $8 per square foot across Armour Guard and AK Level and Polish, against $3 to $9 for a residential epoxy. Push to a high-gloss full-aggregate polish and it becomes $6 to $15, which is at or above most epoxy quotes. The moment the answer flips decisively is when the slab is not good enough to be the finished floor.
What happens if my concrete is not good enough to polish?: The price stops being a finish and starts being a floor. Armour Guard prices polished concrete over a new pour at $10 to $15 per square foot for a basic finish and $15 to $25 or more for a decorative one, and AK Level and Polish gives $10 to $25 or more across all finishes. That is two to three times the cost of polishing an existing slab, and it is why slab condition is the first question this calculator asks rather than a modifier at the end.
Why does a bad slab not rule out epoxy the same way?: Because epoxy is a coating and polished concrete is not. Polishing removes material to reveal the floor you already have, so cracks, spalling and an uneven pour are all still there afterwards, only shinier. A coating goes over a slab that has been ground flat and patched, so the same defects become a preparation line item at $1 to $3 per square foot rather than a reason to start again. That is the single biggest practical difference between the two.
Which lasts longer?: Polished concrete, on the durability argument that matters most: there is nothing on top to come off. Armour Guard puts polished concrete at 20 years or more, and it has no recoating cycle because the finish is the slab itself. A coating is a layer bonded to concrete, and every failure mode of a coating starts at that bond. The counter-argument is that polished concrete does nothing to stop moisture or chemicals reaching the slab, which is exactly what a coating is for.
What about a basement floor specifically?: Below grade, budget for a moisture barrier either way. Armour Guard prices one under polished concrete at $2 to $4 per square foot and SurfacePro prices a moisture vapour barrier under epoxy at $2.00 to $4.50. Tick that box in the calculator and it is added to both sides, because a below-grade slab pushes water vapour upward regardless of what you put on it, and neither finish survives being laid over that untreated.
How do real Toronto projects come out?: Armour Guard publishes two of its own with the totals attached. A 2,200 square foot Riverdale century home needing crack repair, levelling and a medium polish with staining came to $28,600, which is $13 per square foot. A 3,800 square foot Liberty Village retail space needing tile removal, a new pour, a high-gloss polish and an inlaid logo came to $72,200, or $19 per square foot. Both are above the headline bands, which is what preparation and complexity do to a real job.

Sources

Every figure read from the linked page in August 2026. No midpoint appears anywhere on this page, because none of these firms published one.