How to Choose a Funeral Home and Compare Prices
Choosing a funeral home often happens quickly, sometimes in a day. Comparing by the headline price alone can mislead you, because two quotes may include different services, merchandise, transportation, or outside costs. The goal is to understand what each price includes so you compare the same arrangement.
Before you compare the numbers, make sure you are comparing the same arrangement. Get each funeral home’s General Price List, line up the same categories side by side, set aside what you’ll pay to the cemetery or others, and ask each provider for the complete total in writing. Then weigh the practical things that matter to your family, like location, timing and traditions.
Decide which arrangement you are comparing
Decide the arrangement before you ask for prices:
- Direct cremation
- Cremation with a memorial service, or a viewing and funeral followed by cremation
- Immediate or direct burial
- Traditional funeral and burial
Don’t compare a direct cremation quote from one provider with a traditional funeral and burial quote from another.
Ask each funeral home for its General Price List
The General Price List (GPL) shows a funeral home’s individual prices for the goods and services it offers. It can show whether one provider’s quote includes something another lists separately.
Under the FTC Funeral Rule, a funeral home must give you a GPL to keep when you start discussing arrangements in person. It must also give you accurate price information over the phone if you call and ask. See how to read a General Price List and your right to an itemized price list.
Make the funeral price comparison line by line
Write each provider’s price next to the same line. Leave a line blank if a quote doesn’t include it, then ask about it.
| What the price covers | Funeral home A | Funeral home B |
|---|---|---|
| Basic professional services | ||
| Transportation, and mileage beyond it | ||
| Preparation or embalming, if chosen | ||
| Viewing or visitation | ||
| Funeral or memorial service, facility and staff time | ||
| Casket or cremation container | ||
| Cremation or burial services | ||
| Other merchandise or services | ||
| Funeral home total |
If one quote includes something the other does not, the two totals aren’t directly comparable yet.
Separate funeral home costs from outside costs
Its goods and services
Costs paid elsewhere
What you will pay in total
Depending on the arrangement, outside costs may include cemetery property, opening and closing, a burial vault, a marker, crematory charges billed separately, death certificates, flowers, an obituary, or an officiant. Keep them out of the funeral home comparison, then add them back for the total. See additional costs families may miss.
Compare packages carefully
A package price is only useful for comparison if you know what is in it. Ask what exactly is included, what you would pay if you removed something you don’t want, whether cemetery or outside costs are included, and what is charged separately. See funeral packages vs. itemized pricing.
Look at the total, not the starting price
Advertised and “starting at” prices may not reflect the arrangement your family wants. At the end of the arrangement discussion, the funeral home must give you an itemized statement of what you chose and the total. Compare it with what you were quoted.
Provider A
| Starting price | $2,000 |
| Transportation, listed separately | $500 |
| Container, listed separately | $300 |
| Total for what we want | $2,800 |
Provider B
| Starting price | $2,500 |
| Transportation | Included |
| Container | Included |
| Total for what we want | $2,500 |
The lower starting price does not tell you which arrangement costs less for what your family wants.
A simple way to ask for comparable prices
Use this by phone or email with each funeral home:
“We’re comparing funeral arrangements and want to make sure we’re comparing the same services. Could you give us the price for [the arrangement], explain what is included, identify anything charged separately, and tell us which costs we would pay to another provider? Could you also send us your current General Price List?”
“Can you show me the complete price for the exact arrangement we’re choosing, including anything we’ll pay separately?”
This moves the conversation from a headline price to a complete, itemized picture.
How to choose a funeral home beyond price
Price isn’t the only difference between funeral homes. Questions worth asking:
- Location
- Is it near where the service or burial will be, and near family?
- Scheduling
- Can it meet the dates you need? Are weekend services available, and at what cost?
- Communication
- Who will be your contact, and how quickly do they answer?
- Faith and culture
- Has it served families with your traditions? Can it meet timing or preparation needs? See faith and cultural considerations.
- Cemetery and crematory
- Does it work with the cemetery you’ve chosen? Does it run its own crematory or use another?
- The services you want
- Does it offer them, and where: its own chapel, your church, or the graveside?
Which of these matters most is your decision. See questions to ask a funeral home.
Check the license
Utah’s Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) licenses funeral service directors and establishments. You can look up a funeral home’s or funeral director’s license with Utah’s Licensee Lookup and Verification tool.
Before you choose
- We are comparing the same type of arrangement.
- We have each provider’s current General Price List.
- We know what each quote includes, and what is charged separately.
- We know which costs will be paid to another provider, including the cemetery or crematory.
- We compared merchandise separately.
- We asked what happens if we remove or change a service.
- We weighed location, timing, communication and traditions.
- We checked the funeral home’s license.
- We have the complete total in writing.
Ready to see how these choices apply to your situation?
Your Wayfinder Plan can help organize the options you’re considering and give you a clearer picture of what to ask and compare.
Build My Wayfinder Plan- Receiving the General Price List in person and price information by phone: FTC, Complying with the Funeral Rule; FTC Funeral Rule (consumer guidance). Itemized statement: same sources.
- Licensing: Utah Funeral Services Licensing Act, Utah Code Title 58, Chapter 9; license lookup: Utah Licensee Lookup and Verification.
The example on this page is fictional and does not reflect any provider’s prices. Wayfinder doesn’t rank funeral homes. This page provides general information for planning and is not legal or financial advice.