The Infrared vs. Traditional Sauna Debate: What the Market Data Actually Shows
By Arlene Scott
Senior Wellness Correspondent & Hospitality Consultant
- Published
- Reading time
- 10 min
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The global sauna market passed $900 million in 2024 and is projected to grow roughly 6% a year. Here is what the data actually shows about the two dominant categories.
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The question that generates the most heated debate in the sauna industry (infrared or traditional?) is usually framed as a binary competition. This analysis reads the market data and clinical evidence another way: as two categories diverging rather than competing, each serving its own customer base.
Market size and growth
The global sauna market was valued at approximately $905 million in 2024 by Grand View Research, which in November 2025 projected a CAGR of 6.3% through 2033. Grand View’s 2026 to 2033 edition puts traditional saunas at 42.79% of 2025 revenue, the largest single product share, and projects infrared to grow 7.5% a year, faster than the overall market’s 6.4%. The balance is split among infrared, electric, steam and other products, including outdoor saunas.
Both segments are growing, but at different rates, with Grand View projecting faster growth for infrared than for the market as a whole.
One data point worth flagging: on the Harvia Q4 2025 earnings call on 12 February 2026, CEO Matias Järnefelt named the US infrared sauna business as one of Harvia’s prime acquisition candidates. That is a meaningful strategic signal from the largest publicly traded sauna company in the world about where the puck is moving.
“One of the prime candidates, of course, for us is infrared sauna business in the United States.” Matias Järnefelt, CEO, Harvia Plc, Q4 2025 earnings call, 12 February 2026
Järnefelt added that Harvia is also looking at “other significant sized markets with clear potential” in Asia and Europe, and at “categories such as cold wellness” and “digital wellness capabilities,” a reminder that the wellness stack infrared brands are competing on (thermal therapy, recovery, at-home convenience) is increasingly bundled, not siloed.
Clinical evidence
The clinical research base is deeper for traditional saunas, largely due to decades of Finnish epidemiological studies, including the landmark Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease study.
Neither category has a monopoly on health benefits. The mechanisms differ: traditional saunas create benefits primarily through extreme heat exposure and the cardiovascular stress response that follows, while infrared saunas heat the body directly with radiant energy at lower ambient temperatures.
On this reading, the two categories are more likely to keep differentiating than to converge, each deepening its hold on a distinct customer base.
