Grass Seed vs. Sod

Grass seed vs. sod is often a decision about time and money. Sod offers a thick, green lawn instantly, but it’s expensive. Grass seed is way more affordable, but it takes months to fully cover the lawn and grow traffic-tolerant grass that can handle playing and walking around.

Either way, this decision affects your home’s curb appeal and sets the tone for the entire outdoor season, so it’s not to be taken lightly. Read our guide to ensure you consider every detail and have the best plan for installing a thriving, beautiful lawn.

Grass seed vs. sod at first glance

Grass seed and sod are the two main options available to homeowners for planting a new lawn from scratch and renovating or repairing an existing one. Both finish by covering the soil in beautiful grass but take different roads to get there.

What is grass seed?

The grass seed you find for sale at the local garden center or online belongs to turfgrass plants that are grown especially for seeds — they are allowed and encouraged to grow to their full height, flower, and make seed heads.

What does grass seed look like? Generally, grass seed has a dart shape and a light tan color. Its size varies with the species and ranges from ¼ to ¾ inch. You’ll find grass seed sold in bags with a single variety, a blend of different varieties of the same species, or a mix of more turfgrass species. 

Here are a few popular options:

• Pennington Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue Penkoted Grass Seed 3lb
• Scotts Turf Builder 20 lbs. Grass Seed Contractor’s Mix for Sunny and Shady Areas 
• Pennington Smart Seed Bermuda Grass Seed

What is sod?

Sod is mature grass grown in sod farms. It’s planted from quality seed, watered, fertilized, and babied by turf experts to grow the most wonderful thick, deep green carpet for residential lawns and sports fields. 

When ready for harvest, a machine cuts into the soil and lifts long grass strips from the ground with roots and a layer of topsoil. The net of intertwined grassroots keeps the soil together and makes the sod patches easy to roll and handle. 

You can buy sod as square plugs and patches to plant in smaller areas and repair bare spots or in rolls for larger projects. 

Both grass seed and sod can turn into lush, thick lawns with proper care. But one of these two grass planting options fits your needs, timeline and lawn care budget better. Here’s a list to help you get a fast overview of grass seed vs. sod:

Planting grass seed vs. installing a sod lawn

Whether you seed or sod your lawn, this project requires careful soil preparation, such as:

• Testing the soil for soil pH and nutrient levels.
• Using soil amendments to balance pH and improve drainage and organic matter content.
• Spread starter fertilizer to correct nutrient deficiencies.

Seeding grass is easy, even for first-timers. You dethatch the lawn, core aerate the soil, and mow any existing grass to ensure good seed-to-soil contact. 

A broadcast or a drop spreader controls the seeding rate. Once you fill it with the proper amount of seed, you can walk steadily across the lawn back and forth — it’s the same as spreading granular fertilizer. A few seeds more to the left or right will go unnoticed, and seeding grass is often done DIY with excellent results. 

Laying sod is a bit different. Sod might look similar to a green carpet you can roll on the ground, but it can be quite difficult to install without experience. The soil needs to be perfectly clean and leveled; otherwise, you’ll see bumps on the lawn and empty spaces between the sod patches. 

Also, sod strips must be laid down without overlapping each other, but well-fitted edge-to-edge to avoid gaps and visible seams. It’s a skill that comes with experience and there’s no machine to do it for you. With sod, professional installations are often preferred to the DIY approach to ensure the best results. 

Grass seed vs. sod – a cost comparison

Many times, how you plant new grass is a decision based on budget, so here’s the breakdown of lawn installation costs for spreading seed vs laying sod.

Professional installation costs (including materials):

• Grass seed planting costs $0.09 to $0.19 per square foot. 
• Sod installation costs range from $0.86 and $1.75 per square foot.

The cost of materials for homeowners planning a DIY project:

• Grass seed costs range between $0.01 to $0.05 per square foot, depending on the grass seed species. 
• Sod costs $0.31 to $0.82 per square foot, depending on the turf type. 

Why is sod so expensive? Simply put, grass seed is the raw material, while sod is a finished product – it’s like buying wood vs. buying furniture. 

Advantages and disadvantages of grass seed and sod

Besides costs and planting particularities, each lawn installation option has advantages and disadvantages.

Grass seed advantages

• Hardy to your lawn’s conditions: While sod grows in the best conditions possible with an army of turf experts babying it year-round, seeded grass is trained on your lawn’s imperfect soil, unique sun exposure, and local climate. It has a better chance of thriving on your lawn for a long time.
• More suitable for shady lawns: Shade-tolerant grass species handle the shade easier if grown from the start in an environment with low-sun exposure. 
• Better for small repairs on an existing lawn. Grass seed is more suited than sod for overseeding thinned grass and repairing small bare spots. If less than 40% of your lawn is damaged, seeding the lawn is usually the way to go.
• A wider variety of grass species available: With grass seed, you’re not limited to the species sod farmers choose to grow. This benefit is especially important if you’re a keen landscaper and love playing with the details or if your lawn requires a specific grass type.
• It makes extensive lawn installations affordable: You can plant a 4,000-square-foot lawn for less than $200.
• Unique personal satisfaction: Many homeowners love to grow grass from seed because they enjoy babying seedlings and seeing the lawn developing from scratch under their care.
• Longer storage time: You can buy grass seeds weeks before the planned seeding time. They’ll wait for you in the garage until the land is prepared and you have time to sow them.

Grass seed disadvantages

• A tighter lawn seeding schedule: Cool-season grasses need a soil temperature of 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit to germinate, while warm-season grasses require 65 to 75 degrees. You have a narrow window to sow grass with good results: late summer to early fall or early spring for cool-season species and late spring to early summer for warm-season turf.
• Longer times to establish grass plants: It takes two weeks or more to see thin grass seedlings sprouting over the lawn and six to eight until the new grass can handle traffic. Most seeded lawns need a growing season to achieve mature, resilient grass. 
• Heavy rain can wash seeds away. Storms and heavy runoff can wash grass seeds off the lawn, leaving bare patches behind.
• Thinner turf. Not all grass seeds get good seed-to-soil contact or proper access to water, and some won’t germinate. It typically takes more than a growing season, with overseeding, to reach sod density.
• Higher weed pressure. While the grass seeds are still germinating or barely seedlings, weeds can easily take over the lawn. You must use proper weed treatments before seeding and hand-pull the nasty invasive plants while your grass grows.
• Requires lots of water during the germination period. Grass seed needs 3 to 4 gallons of water per week for about two weeks to ensure all seeds sprout. This makes lawn seeding more exposed to failure during dry spells.

Sod advantages

• You get a finished lawn on the spot: Sod offers an instant lawn. Your yard is covered in green, tall, thick grass right after the sod installation and can be walked on in two to three weeks. 
• Thick, healthy grass from the first moment. Sod comes in dense strips of grass so you won’t have bare or thinned areas in your lawn.
• There’s no risk of grass being washed away (unless exceptionally heavy rain on a muddy, sloped lawn).
• The fastest way to repair large damaged areas in existing lawns. If more than 50% of the turf is damaged, a sod lawn might be the best option to enjoy a beautiful yard this growing season.
• Wider planting season. As Suleiman Bughrara from the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University explains: “Sod can be installed almost anytime the ground isn’t frozen from mid-April through the end of October.”
• Water saving. You’ll still need to water the sod intensively until established, but this stage only takes two to three weeks compared to six to eight months for a lawn planted from seed.
• Fewer weeds. Good quality sod comes with few to no weeds. Its dense foliage smothers any weeds that might try to grow in your lawn after installation.

Sod disadvantages

• Fewer turf types. Sod farmers grow only a limited number of grass varieties, blends, and mixes. You might not find the perfect fit for your lawn.
• Less suitable for shady lawns. Have you ever seen a sod farm? It’s acres and acres of green fields, all in full sun, with no tree in sight. When you first install sun-grown sod in a shaded area, it will look great and will keep looking great for a few months. But it will gradually thin out because it’s not receiving the amount of light it’s used to. 
• Less resilient than grass grown on the spot. Even with a sunny lawn, sod is planted in a foreign place, different from the farm it has been grown. It’s a different soil and microorganisms, sun exposure, wind, watering, fertilization, etc. Mature grass can only adapt so much to new growing conditions.
• Different color. When you’re patching the lawn with sod, pay extra attention to the color. Even with the same grass variety, you’ll probably get a darker, more intense green because of the growing conditions.
• Cost-limiting for large projects. Sod is six times more expensive than grass seed. Its price can weigh heavily on your budget if you plan to install an entire lawn.
• Shorter planting window. “Sod quality declines rapidly after 48 hours from cutting.  Ideally, sod is installed the same day it’s cut on the farm, but not later than the next day,” says Daniel J. Leonard, Calhoun County Extension Director for the University of Florida.
• Risk of pests and diseases. Sod comes with some thatch and soil that can harbor pests and diseases if not grown and treated correctly at the farm.

Grass seed vs. sod in dog-friendly lawns

Sod is the best option for homeowners with pets because it drastically reduces the time they would have to keep the pets away from the lawn. 

This being said, freshly installed sod is sensitive to dog urine, even when ready for play and running around. Try to take the dog out in the morning to pee somewhere else, at least for a few weeks, until the grass sets deeper roots to protect the sod from dog pee damage.

The more environmentally-friendly option

All turfgrass, seeded and sodded, helps the environment by capturing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, moderating soil temperature, collecting and filtrating rainfall, and supporting soil microorganisms. But, between the two options, sod can be more helpful than seeding grass, and here’s why:

• Sod stops soil erosion fast. Its already-developed roots can dig faster into the soil, offering instant results. Sod is a very effective method often used to stop soil erosion, anchor dirt on sloped areas, and reduce runoff.
• Sod doesn’t disturb the soil as much. With good soil underneath your yard, you can generally prepare for sod installation by removing the old grass and a layer of topsoil using a sod cutter. This disturbs the soil less and protects microorganisms and their underground habitat. Core aeration and tilling the soil are more aggressive methods, less often used with sodding but common for seeding new grass. 
• Sod covers the soil right away. Grass seeding leaves the soil bare or barely covered for at least two weeks. Bare soil is directly exposed to sunlight, heat, UV radiations, wind, and rainfall. It dries out, loses nutrients, and most microorganisms in the topsoil die.

FAQ on grass seed vs. sod

Is sod worth the investment?

While more expensive than seeding grass, sod is worth the investment when you need a thick, beautiful lawn up and running in a few weeks. However, keep in mind that the excellent results sod promises depend on buying good quality sod and a proper installation.

What are the most common grass species grown from sod in the U.S.?

The most common grass species grown from sod in the U.S. are Bermudagrass, centipedegrass, fine fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, St. Augustine grass, tall fescue, and Zoysiagrass.

Why can’t you walk on new sod?

Walking on newly installed sod before it has the chance to root properly compacts the soil and damages roots leading to root failure and putting the plants at risk.

Leave lawn installation to the pros!

Not every homeowner is a passionate DIY-er, and that’s perfectly okay. If you dream of a green, lush, thick lawn but are less inclined to spend hours or days figuring out how to install it, don’t sweat it! Find a local lawn care company with Lawn Love and get that beautiful lawn ready for the outdoor season without lifting a finger!

Main Photo Credit (created using Canva Pro):
Grass seed (left): Adobe Stock
Sod (right): Adobe Stock

Sinziana Spiridon

Sinziana Spiridon is an outdoorsy blog writer with a green thumb and a passion for organic gardening. When not writing about weeds, pests, soil, and growing plants, she's tending to her veggie garden and the lovely turf strip in her front yard.

Posts by Sinziana Spiridon