Every year we poll SolarQuotes installers about their favorite solar panel. For the 2026 edition of the Installer’s Choice Awards we asked them:
“If you were putting solar panels on your own roof today, what brand would you choose? Not a customer’s home. Not a show home. Not a hypothetical stranger you’ll never see again. Your own roof, your own money, and a system you’ll live with for decades.”
Which solar panel is best for Australian homes?
For the second time in a row, Aiko prevailed with 28% of the installers’ votes, leaving the rest of the field well behind.
Jinko and SunPower took the remaining podium spots, with REC and Trina Solar rounding out the top five.
The result is based on the votes of 125 SolarQuotes-verified installers who took part in this year’s survey.
And before anyone asks: The results are not influenced by advertising, sponsorship or manufacturer incentives.
SolarQuotes does not accept payments, kickbacks, favors or other inducements from manufacturers in exchange for favorable survey results or reporting.
First place: Aiko Solar
Aiko is the most popular solar panel brand among SolarQuotes installers.
Aiko’s victory is a remarkable result for a company that only officially launched in Australia in 2024.
The company’s attractiveness seems to be due to the price, the construction and, above all, the design of the rear contact cell.
The company specializes in back-contact solar cells, where the electrical contacts are located on the back of each cell rather than the front.
In theory, this design reduces shading loss, improves efficiency and provides a cleaner looking panel. For this reason, Aiko’s modules are consistently among the most efficient solar modules for private households available today.
The company recently launched a 500-watt panel that still fits in the standard sub-two meter panel size and achieves around 25% efficiency – pushing the boundaries of what silicon solar technology can achieve.
Installers also seem to like the fact that Aiko delivers all the performance without the price tag you would normally expect.
The company also has an Australian support office in Melbourne, which many installers value when recommending products to their customers.
Not everyone is convinced by every claim the company makes. Aiko’s partial shading claims have sparked debate in the industry, and the company’s parent company recently paid more than $200 million to settle a patent dispute with SunPower and Maxeon related to back-contact solar cell technology.
Whatever the plumbers think about these issues, they obviously didn’t stop them from voting for Aiko.
Second place: Jinko Solar
2026 SolarQuotes Installer Choice Awards – Best Solar Panel 2nd Place – Jinko
Jinko Solar took second place with 14% of the vote.
If Aiko is the new kid on the block, Jinko is the established heavyweight.
Jinko has been the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer for five consecutive years and remains one of the best-known names in the industry.
The Tiger Neo series was particularly successful. According to the company, more than 200 gigawatts of Tiger Neo modules have been shipped worldwide, making it arguably the most popular solar module of all time.
Jinko’s panels utilize TOPCon technology, which is generally less expensive to manufacture than back-contact designs while still providing excellent performance.
This combination of performance, reliability and affordable pricing continues to be popular with installers.
Third place: SunPower
2026 SolarQuotes Installer Choice Awards – Best Solar Panel, 3rd Place – SunPower
Rounding out the podium is SunPower with 11% of installers’ votes.
This result might raise some eyebrows.
The SunPower company in the US (a major retailer that installed SunPower panels) filed for bankruptcy in 2024, leading many to believe that it was gone for good. Since then, the SunPower and Maxeon brands have been acquired by TCL, a Chinese company worth tens of billions of dollars.
TCL will continue to produce high-quality SunPower-branded panels. They told me that these are only sold in Australia through installers they trust to do a good job, while the cheaper TCL brand panels are also sold in Australia but through the wholesalers to all installers.
What hasn’t changed is the reputation of the technology itself.
SunPower panels have long been recognized as the best-built solar panels on the market, with exceptionally low reported failure rates and a warranty of up to 40 years for some models.
This year’s results suggest that installers continue to have great confidence in the brand’s future.
We’re excited to see how SunPower fares in the coming years under its new owner, who recently issued a legal threat against SolarQuotes, in part because they didn’t like their TCL Solar range being described as “cost effective” on our reviews page. Hopefully SunPower modules continue to be less vulnerable than the company that now owns them.
An industry under pressure
One of the more surprising themes to emerge from this year’s awards is that while solar panels continue to improve, the companies that make them face some serious challenges.
Solar panel prices have fallen dramatically in recent years, leading to fierce competition between manufacturers.
This is mostly good news for consumers. Solar panels have become both better and cheaper.
For manufacturers, it’s a completely different story. Even some of the biggest names in solar operate on razor-thin margins and, in some cases, losses.
How this will ultimately play out remains to be seen.
The best solar panels available
Congratulations to Aiko on winning the top spot in the SolarQuotes Installer’s Choice Awards 2026 for solar panels.
The results also highlight the strength of today’s solar module market. Whether installers prefer the back-contact technology of Aiko, the proven value of Jinko, or the build quality of SunPower, there are numerous quality options available.
If you’re comparing solar panels for your home, check out SolarQuotes’ solar panel comparison table where you can compare efficiency, warranties, performance and more from many of the brands featured in this year’s awards.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we announce the winners of the other categories: Best Inverter, Best Solar Battery, Best Home Electric Vehicle Charger and Best Hot Water Heat Pump.
Or if you’re ready to tackle the purchase of a solar system, get up to three quotes from our verified network of installers.
Comments are closed.