Heads up: some links on this page earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we recommend or the order. How we are funded.
The short answer
Buy cast iron for searing, roasting, oven work and anything that needs real heat, and buy one cheap coated pan for eggs and delicate fish. Cast iron's surface is polymerized oil you build and rebuild, so it lasts indefinitely and Lodge publishes 550F for it. A nonstick coating releases perfectly from day one and has a lifespan no manufacturer will state. They are not competitors so much as a division of labor, and most kitchens should own both.
Two completely different kinds of surface
A seasoned cast iron pan's cooking surface is polymerized oil - fat heated past its smoke point until it cross-links into a hard film bonded to the metal. Lodge publishes that it seasons its pans with vegetable oil, and the surface improves with use and is rebuilt when damaged.
A nonstick pan's surface is a manufactured polymer applied at the factory. It works better than seasoning on day one, degrades over time, and cannot be reapplied at home or anywhere else. That is the asymmetry underneath every line of this comparison.
Line by line
Cast iron
Nonstick
Release when new
Poor - it takes weeks of cooking
Excellent from the first use
Release at year five
Better than year one, with regular use
Not published by any maker
Repairable
Completely - strip and re-season
No
Oven maximum
550F published by Lodge; the iron itself is unbothered
400F to 450F across the coated pans here
Broiler
In practice yes
No
Searing
Excellent - the best in a domestic kitchen
Poor; the coating cannot take the heat
Eggs and delicate fish
Possible on a mature pan, fiddly on a new one
Effortless
Metal utensils
Yes
Only where published - Calphalon Premier does
Dishwasher
Never
Usually published safe; it shortens release life
Acidic food
Avoid long contact
Fine
Weight
Heavy - a 12 in skillet is a real lift
Light
Induction
Yes, strongly ferrous
Standard aluminum and hard-anodized lines are not
Price
Low
Low to moderate, repeated
Every published figure is the maker's own. The blank in the second row is the industry's silence, not an omission on our part.
The specification nobody publishes
Not one nonstick manufacturer in our ledger publishes how long the coating keeps releasing - not T-fal, not Calphalon, not OXO, not GreenPan on the ceramic side. That absence is examined in how long nonstick lasts, and it has two consequences worth stating plainly.
First, the cost per year of a coated pan is unknowable by design. Second, every nonstick warranty excludes coating wear - Calphalon publishes the exclusion in plain words - so the lifetime warranty on a coated pan covers everything except the part that fails. The wording is unpicked in cookware warranties explained.
Cast iron has the opposite property. Its surface degrades and is rebuilt, indefinitely, by a process the manufacturer publishes. A fifty year old cast iron pan is an ordinary object; a fifty year old nonstick pan does not exist.
This is not an argument that nonstick is bad. It is an argument that nonstick is a consumable and should be bought like one - cheaply, singly, with replacement planned.
Heat is the widest gap
Coated pans publish oven ceilings of 400F (T-fal Professional), 430F (OXO Good Grips Pro) and 450F (Calphalon Premier), and none are broiler safe. Those numbers come from the coating, not the aluminum under it.
Cast iron has no coating to protect. Lodge publishes 550F as a cooking guideline for its seasoned range, and the iron itself is unbothered well beyond that - it was cast at temperatures no domestic oven approaches. That is why searing, oven finishing and broiling belong to cast iron and not to a coated pan, as set out in best pans for searing steak.
Eggs, which is the case for the other side
A well-seasoned cast iron skillet cooks eggs cleanly. It takes a mature surface, a properly heated pan and some butter, and it is a genuine skill rather than a default. A coated pan does it on the first morning with no technique at all.
That is a real advantage and there is no virtue in pretending otherwise. If your cooking is occasional, or if mornings are not the time for technique, the coated pan is the better purchase - best nonstick pans for eggs covers what to buy. Delicate fish is the other job where a coating genuinely wins, covered in best pans for fish.
Weight, and who it rules out
A 12-inch cast iron skillet is heavy, and a 12-inch coated pan is not. For anyone with wrist or grip limitations that is not a preference, it is a constraint, and it is a legitimate reason to build a kitchen around lighter materials.
The middle answer is carbon steel: bare, seasonable, tolerant of high heat, and considerably lighter than cast iron for the same diameter. The comparison is in cast iron versus carbon steel, and carbon steel's own version of this page is carbon steel versus nonstick.
The surface on the left of this comparison is one you build over weeks. That is the whole cost, and it is also the whole benefit.
What each asks of you
Cast iron
Dry it on the burner after washing - thirty seconds, every time.
Keep long acidic cooking out of it, which strips seasoning.
Never put it in a dishwasher, which is the one absolute rule.
You want both, which is the right answer: cast iron for heat, one coated pan for mornings - roughly the cost of one mid-range coated pan.
Cast iron is too heavy: carbon steel does most of the same jobs at about half the weight.
Both sides of this comparison
Two pans with a repairable surface and a published temperature range, and two with excellent release and no published lifespan. Owning one from each column is a completely reasonable kitchen.
No photo
Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet, 10.25 in (L8SK3)
Searing, cornbread, and anyone who wants one pan that cannot be worn out
We do not make or sell cast iron cookware or nonstick cookware. Both link to the same retailer, both pay us the same commission rate, and we earn exactly the same whichever one you buy — or nothing at all if you buy neither, which is sometimes the right answer. Most of the comparison pages that rank for this question are published by companies that sell one of the two. How we are funded.
What to buy, if you are buying
These are the products this page's reasoning actually points at. Same rules as everywhere else on the site: published specs, a stated trade-off, and a live price only where one exists.
Top pick · The cast iron to buySpecs read September 3, 2026
No photo
Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet, 10.25 in (L8SK3)
Pre-seasoned, published to 550F, made in Tennessee and cheap enough that it is the default first pan for most kitchens.
Best for: Searing, cornbread, and anyone who wants one pan that cannot be worn out
Published specifications for the Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet, 10.25 in (L8SK3)
Diameter
10.25 in
Weight
5.66 lb
Oven maximum
550F
Induction
Yes - bare iron is ferrous
Seasoning
Pre-seasoned with soy-based vegetable oil, no synthetic chemicals
Warranty
Lifetime
Made in
USA
Care
Hand wash. Lodge's own instructions permit warm soapy water
Good
Effectively unbreakable and fully restorable - a rusted one can be stripped and re-seasoned
Holds heat better than anything else at the price, which is what a sear needs
Lodge publishes its seasoning method openly, so the maintenance is not a mystery
Not good
Heavy
Heats unevenly on a small burner: cast iron conducts at roughly 50 W/m-K, so it is slow to spread and slow to react
Bare iron is reactive; long tomato braises will taste of it
The trade-off. It weighs 5.66 lb empty. You will feel that every time you move it full, and it is the single most common reason a cast iron skillet ends up in a cupboard.
Skip this if. You have wrist or shoulder trouble, or you cook mostly acidic braises. Carbon steel does most of the same jobs at roughly half the weight.
Published specifications for the Tramontina Professional Restaurant Fry Pan, 10 in
Body
Heavy-gauge aluminum
Coating
PTFE nonstick
Induction
No - aluminum body is not ferrous
Coating lifespan
Not published, by this or any nonstick maker
Good
Cheap enough that replacing it every couple of years is a real plan rather than a failure
Heavy gauge for a nonstick pan, so it does not warp on the first hot burner
Silicone handle sleeve that actually stays cool
Not good
Not induction compatible
PTFE, which some buyers will rule out on principle
No published coating lifespan, so the value case is unverifiable by design
The trade-off. It is PTFE. That is fine at normal cooking temperatures, and it is not a pan to preheat empty on high.
Skip this if. You want to avoid PTFE entirely. Buy ceramic instead and accept the shorter release life rather than pretending either one lasts forever.
Published specifications for the OXO Good Grips Pro Hard-Anodized Nonstick Fry Pan, 10 in
Body
Hard-anodized aluminum
Coating
Three-layer PTFE nonstick, published PFOA-free
Oven maximum
430F published for the line
Induction
No on the standard hard-anodized line
Dishwasher
Dishwasher safe
Edge
Rolled, for pouring without dripping down the side
Coating lifespan
Not published
Good
The rolled pour edge is a small thing you notice every single time you use it
The hard-anodized body resists the denting that ruins cheap aluminum pans
Handle stays cool and does not rotate the way riveted plastic ones eventually do
Not good
Not induction compatible
Oven ceiling capped by the handle, not the pan
Still a coating, still a consumable, still no published lifespan
The trade-off. The handle that makes it comfortable is a stainless-and-silicone assembly, and that is what caps the oven rating below the body's own limit.
Skip this if. You need induction. The standard hard-anodized body is not ferrous.
For searing, oven work and longevity, yes. For eggs and delicate fish on a weekday morning, no. Cast iron's surface is polymerized oil you rebuild indefinitely; a nonstick coating releases better from new and has a lifespan no manufacturer publishes.
›Can you cook eggs in cast iron?
Yes, on a well-seasoned pan that has been properly preheated, with some butter. It takes weeks of regular cooking to build that surface, and a new pan will not do it. A coated pan does it on the first morning with no technique.
›Which lasts longer, cast iron or nonstick?
Cast iron, by an enormous margin. Its surface is rebuilt rather than worn out, and only a crack or a severe warp ends the pan. No nonstick maker publishes a coating lifespan, and every nonstick warranty excludes coating wear.
›Is cast iron safer than nonstick?
Cast iron has no synthetic coating at all - the surface is cooking oil heated until it hardens. Nonstick coatings are addressed by the FDA and EPA positions covered on our nonstick safety page. Neither presents a problem at normal cooking temperatures.
›Should I own both cast iron and nonstick?
For most kitchens that is the right answer. Cast iron handles searing, roasting and anything above 450F; one cheap coated pan handles eggs and delicate fish. Buy the coated one on price and plan to replace it.
Sources
Every figure on this page came from one of these. Follow them and check our arithmetic — that is the point.
