Opener class, posts, safety gear and cost for an automatic driveway gate.
Estimates are planning aids, not a professional quote. Double-check quantities and product coverage — and any local code or permit requirements — before you buy.
| Gates & Latches | $1,675–$2,267 |
| Electrical | $1,190–$1,610 |
| Posts & Panels | $255–$345 |
| Concrete & Footings | $44–$60 |
| Total | $3,165–$4,281 |
Excludes tools, delivery, tax and permit fees. Labor not included — this is a DIY materials estimate.
These are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the calculator recommends — the shopping list comes from your dimensions, not from what pays.
About this calculator
An automatic driveway gate is priced by the pound, not the foot. The swing or slide operator you need is picked from how much your gate leaf actually weighs and how long it is — buy a light-duty kit for a heavy wrought-iron leaf and the motor burns out within a season. Enter your opening width, leaf height and infill material and this calculator works out the leaf weight, the correct operator duty class, the gate posts and footings, and the safety devices code requires.
Pick single-swing, dual-swing or slide, then tell it how the driveway gets used — a shared driveway or small community cycles the gate far more than one household, and that duty cycle can force a heavier operator than the leaf's own weight would suggest. It also prices posts sized for automatic-gate loading rather than a fence post, plus either a trenched power run or a solar-and-battery kit sized to the operator you land on.
Step by step
A step-by-step walkthrough to go with your plan above. Follow the product instructions and any local code or permit requirements as you work.
Measure the opening width and decide on leaf height, infill material and gate type, then run the calculator to see which operator duty class your leaf lands in before you buy anything.
Dig and set posts sized for automatic-gate loading — deeper and in a wider concrete footing than a standard fence post — and let the concrete cure fully before hanging any weight on them.
For a swing gate, hang each leaf on heavy-duty hinges and check it swings freely without binding. For a slide gate, level the V-track its full length and set the roller carriages before hanging the leaf.
Trench and run conduit and direct-burial cable from the power source, or mount and wire a solar panel and battery kit sized to the operator you're installing.
Bolt the operator to its post or pad per the leaf weight it's rated for, connect it to the leaf, and wire in the control board.
Mount the photo-eye pair across the opening and the reversing edge sensor on each leaf's leading edge — these are required, not optional, on any automatic gate.
Run the gate through its open and close cycle to set the travel limits and the force/obstruction sensitivity, checking that it reverses cleanly off light contact.
Pair the remotes, keypad or intercom, then test the full cycle repeatedly — including the safety reverse — before leaving the gate in daily use.
Equip the job
Hand-picked categories that match the shopping list above. Links open a current selection so you can compare brands and prices.
These are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the calculator recommends — the shopping list comes from your dimensions, not from what pays.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn from other retailer links here. This doesn’t change your price and helps keep these planners free.
Keep planning
Fencing & Privacy
Answers
Opener size comes from your gate leaf's weight and length, not from the driveway width alone. This calculator estimates leaf weight from the leaf's area and its infill material — wrought iron runs far heavier per square foot than wood or vinyl — then matches that weight and length against the manufacturer duty classes: light, medium, heavy or commercial. If your driveway sees more traffic than a single household, such as a shared drive or small community, tell it that too, since cycle count can push you into a heavier-duty operator even on a light gate.
Single-swing works for openings up to about 16–18 ft before the leaf gets too long and heavy for a residential operator. Dual-swing splits that same opening into two lighter leaves, each with its own operator, and needs less clearance behind the gate to open. Slide gates avoid the swing arc entirely, which matters on a sloped driveway or tight turnaround, but they need a clear run along one side of the driveway at least as long as the gate itself for the leaf to travel into.
UL 325, the standard most gate operators are certified to, requires two independent forms of entrapment protection: a primary photo-eye sensor pair that stops the gate if something breaks the beam, and a secondary non-contact reversing edge or sensor on the leading edge of each leaf. Both are included in this estimate. Skipping either isn't just a code violation — it's the difference between a gate that stops on a car, pet or child and one that keeps closing.
Yes, and it's common where trenching to the gate would mean crossing a driveway or a long run from the house. A small solar panel keeps a battery topped off that powers the operator, since gate operators only draw real power for the few seconds they're moving. Heavier-duty operators draw more per cycle and need a larger panel and battery than a light residential kit, which this calculator accounts for. Very high-cycle commercial gates are still usually better served by a grid connection.
Deeper than a standard fence post. A gate post carries the full swinging or sliding weight of the leaf plus the leverage of the operator pushing on it, so this calculator sets embedment at roughly a third of the leaf height with a 36 in floor, adding another 6 in in loose or sandy soil. It sets in a 12 in diameter concrete footing, wider than a typical line-post footing for exactly the same reason — more load concentrated on one point.
The fence calculator's gate is a pedestrian gate kit — hinges, a latch and a bracket — sized for someone to push open by hand. This calculator is for a motorized vehicle gate: it sizes an operator from leaf weight and duty cycle, adds the posts built to carry that load, the UL 325 safety sensors an automatic gate legally needs, and the access hardware — keypad, intercom or remote — that a manual gate never has.