Is cremation cheaper than burial?
Yes, at every provider on this page, and the cleanest evidence is a single list. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes a direct cremation at $1,650 and an immediate burial at $4,000 on the same General Price List with the same effective date, so the gap between them is the disposition rather than two different homes in two different years. That comparison is worth more than a national average, because almost every published comparison quietly mixes homes, regions and dates. What burial adds is not one charge but several, and the largest of them is the casket, which Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia lists from $1,800 to $33,000 before anything else is counted.
$1,650
direct cremation, from the same list and the same date as the burial below
$4,000
immediate burial, from the same list and the same date as the cremation above
$4,690.00
traditional funeral with burial, sold as a package at a second home
Cost breakdown
Each table below comes from one source, named underneath it, with the date that source last revised the figures. Everything is a United States figure in USD.
Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia: both dispositions from one price list
| Item | Price | Which disposition needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Direct cremation | $1,650 | Cremation, as a single priced item |
| Immediate burial | $4,000 | Burial, as a single priced item |
| Basic services fee | $1,900 | Both, and it cannot be declined |
| Removal, within 25 miles | $450 | Both |
| Embalming | $900 | Neither, unless you choose a viewing |
| Dressing and casketing | $250 | Burial, or a cremation with a viewing |
| Caskets | From $1,800 to $33,000 | Burial |
| Rental casket | From $890 | A viewing before cremation, instead of buying one |
| Outer burial container | From $1,595 | Burial, where the cemetery requires one |
| Hearse, day of service | $425 | Burial, to carry the casket to the cemetery |
| Limousine, day of service | $425 | Either, and optional at both |
| Lead car | $150 | Burial, for the procession |
| Private escorts, two minimum | From $375 | Burial, for the procession |
| Funeral held at the funeral home | $380 | Either |
| Memorial service, no body, weekday | $325 | Commonly cremation |
Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama: what a burial service costs as a package
| Package | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Offering A, traditional funeral service | $4,690.00 | Viewing for one day, funeral ceremony, embalming, coach, flower van, burial within 35 miles |
| Offering B, traditional service, no visitation | $4,340.00 | The same without the viewing day |
| Offering D, graveside service with visitation | $4,195.00 | Viewing, then a service at the graveside rather than in a chapel |
| Offering C, traditional service, no visitation and no embalming | $3,540.00 | The cheapest burial package on this list |
| Basic services of funeral director and staff | $1,795.00 | Inside every package |
| Arranging fee | $1,595.00 | Inside every package |
| Total basic charges | $2,990.00 | The home totals the two above itself |
| State administrative fee | $10 | Listed separately, for each final disposition, under an Alabama rule |
| Embalming, bought separately | $1,150.00 | Not required by law, which the list states |
Tulip Cremation Northern California: what a cremation-only provider charges
| Item | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Direct cremation, published range | $1,290.00 to $3,015.00 | The whole service |
| Direct cremation with a container you provide | $1,290.00 | The cheapest published route |
| Basic services of funeral director, staff and overhead | $650.00 | Already inside the cremation price rather than added to it |
| Cremation fee | $350.00 | Also already inside the price |
| Alternative container | $5.00 | Instead of a casket |
| Urns | $5.00 to $400.00 | Against caskets from $1,800 at Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia |
| Sheltering in refrigeration, first five days | $300.00 | Instead of embalming |
| Shipping within the United States | $100.00 | If the family is elsewhere |
A bar for each row of the table above, 12 of them, drawn to the same scale so the spread is visible at a glance. The figure beside each bar is the one the table prints.
What changes the price
- The casket, which has no equivalent on the cremation side
- This is the single largest difference and it is not a small one. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes caskets from $1,800 to $33,000, and a cremation at the same home needs none of them. Tulip Cremation Northern California prices an alternative container at $5.00 and urns from $5.00 to $400.00 in its place.
- The outer burial container, which the cemetery requires rather than the law
- It appears on the burial side only, and the reason is the grave rather than the statute. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes vaults from $1,595. The Federal Trade Commission states that outer burial containers are not required by state law anywhere in the United States, though many cemeteries require them to stop the grave caving in.
- The vehicles, which only a burial procession needs
- A cremation has nothing to carry to a cemetery. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia charges $425 for a hearse on the day of service, $150 for a lead car and from $375 for private escorts with a two-escort minimum.
- Embalming, which neither disposition requires on its own
- It arrives with the viewing rather than with the burial. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia prices it at $900 and Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama at $1,150.00, and Dryden prices the same traditional service at $3,540.00 without visitation or embalming against $4,690.00 with both.
- The basic services fee, which does not change with the disposition
- Both sides carry it and it is the same figure either way at a given home, which is why it cannot explain the gap. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia charges $1,900 whichever you choose. Tulip Cremation Northern California charges $650.00 and includes it in the cremation price rather than adding it.
- Whether you are comparing one home or two
- Most published comparisons of these two numbers take them from different places. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes $1,650 and $4,000 on one list on one date, so nothing but the disposition differs. Set its $1,650 against the $4,690.00 package at Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama and you are also comparing two homes in two states, on lists with different effective dates.
How to pay less
- Ask for both figures from the same home before you decide
- It is the only comparison with nothing else moving in it, and any home that publishes a list has both numbers on it. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia shows $1,650 and $4,000 on one page.
- Rent a casket if the viewing is the reason you wanted one
- A viewing before a cremation does not need a casket bought outright. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes a rental casket from $890 against caskets from $1,800.
- Ask the cemetery, not the funeral home, whether a vault is required
- It is a cemetery rule rather than a legal one, so the answer comes from the cemetery. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes vaults from $1,595, and the Federal Trade Commission states no state law requires them anywhere in the United States.
- Count the vehicles you actually need
- The procession is priced per car and each one is optional beyond the hearse. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia charges $425 for a limousine, $150 for a lead car and from $375 for escorts, none of which a graveside service with family driving themselves requires.
- Separate the memorial from the disposition
- A service can happen after a cremation and cost less than one built around a casket. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia prices a memorial service without the body at $325 on a weekday, against $380 for a funeral at the funeral home with the body present.
Questions
Is cremation always cheaper than burial?
At every provider on this page it is, and the cleanest case is one list: Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes $1,650 for a direct cremation and $4,000 for an immediate burial with the same effective date. What is not safe is assuming the same gap everywhere, because a home a mile away may publish nothing at all.
What exactly does burial add?
A casket, usually an outer burial container, and the vehicles to get there. At Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia that is caskets from $1,800 to $33,000, vaults from $1,595, a hearse at $425, a lead car at $150 and escorts from $375. Cremation needs none of them.
Can I have a viewing and still cremate?
Yes, and it is priced separately from the disposition. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes a rental casket from $890 and dressing and casketing at $250, which is the usual route. Tulip Cremation Northern California is the other kind of provider entirely and states on its list that it offers no viewing at all.
Do I have to buy a vault for a burial?
Not by law. The Federal Trade Commission states that outer burial containers are not required by state law anywhere in the United States, but many cemeteries require one to stop the grave caving in, so the requirement comes from the cemetery. Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia publishes them from $1,595.
Why do published comparisons of these two numbers disagree so much?
Usually because the two figures came from different places. A cremation price from one home and a burial price from another, in another state and often another year, is two facts rather than a comparison. Every pairing on this page names the home and the date it applies to.
Are these the prices I will pay?
Only at these three providers. They are published lists rather than a national average, which is the point of quoting them. Use the checklist on this site to write down what your own funeral home quotes for both, and compare those two instead.
Where these figures come from
Every figure here is a price published by the provider named beside it, in US dollars, in the United States. The central comparison is deliberately taken from one list: Plummer Funeral Home, Decatur, Georgia, effective 1 April 2026, which publishes both dispositions so that neither the home nor the date differs between them. The other two lists are Tulip Cremation Northern California, effective 29 July 2026, and Dryden Funeral Home, Heflin, Alabama, in effect as of 1 October 2026. The Plummer and Tulip lists were read on 23 September 2026 and the Dryden list on 9 October 2026. These are three providers in three states and not a national average, and the law does not require any funeral home to publish a price list at all, so a home near you may have none. No ratio or difference between these numbers is stated anywhere on this page: both figures are shown together and the arithmetic is left to the reader, because a number this page worked out is a number this page invented.