Glass vs Metal Pool Fencing - Which Is Right for Your Pool?
# Glass vs Metal Pool Fencing - Which Is Right for Your Pool?
Every pool needs a compliant barrier - that part isn't optional. What's up to you is what that barrier is made of. In Australia, it comes down to two families: glass and metal. Both can be fully compliant to AS 1926.1, both can be DIY-installed, and both are in the Barrier Hub range. The right choice depends on your budget, your view, your maintenance appetite, and the look you're after.
Here's the honest breakdown from people who've been in the trade for twenty years.
The short version
Glass is the premium choice - an almost-invisible barrier that keeps your view of the pool and the yard wide open.
Metal (aluminium) spans a much wider range than people expect. At the budget end it's the cheapest compliant fence you can buy; at the top end, perforated aluminium costs as much as glass. So "metal vs glass" isn't simply "cheap vs expensive" - it depends entirely on which metal style you choose.
Neither family is "better." They're answers to different priorities. Let's go through what we actually stock in each, and what each really costs.
Glass pool fencing
All our glass pool fencing uses 12mm toughened safety glass - Grade A, marked to AS/NZS 2208, the thickness that's standard for pool fencing across Australia. There are two ways to mount it, and the choice is mostly about the look you want at the base.
Spigot-mounted (the classic frameless look)
Spigots are the small stainless or aluminium fittings that grip the bottom of each glass panel and anchor it into the ground - either core-drilled into concrete or bolted to the surface on a base plate. There are no posts between panels, so the glass reads as one continuous, uninterrupted run. This is the look most people picture when they think "frameless glass pool fence."
We carry several spigot families so you can match cost, finish, and install style to your job:
Finishes matter for the long run: polished stainless is the durable, coastal-safe default. If you're near the coast, steer clear of satin (brushed) finishes - they're an internal-use finish and will tea-stain in salt air.
Channel-mounted (fully concealed base)
Instead of individual spigots, channel mounting seats the bottom edge of the glass into a continuous aluminium channel that runs along the base. The fixings disappear entirely, giving the cleanest possible bottom line. It's the same 12mm glass - just a different, even more minimal way of holding it.
Gates and hardware
Whichever mount you choose, the gate has to self-close and self-latch from any position and swing away from the pool - that's an AS 1926.1 requirement, not a preference. Our soft-close gate hinges are worth the small upgrade: noisy, slamming gates are the single most common complaint after install, and soft-close fixes it.
Metal pool fencing
Our metal range is all powder-coated aluminium - rust-resistant, low-maintenance, and built for Australian conditions. What surprises people is the spread: it runs from the cheapest compliant fence on the market up to a perforated option that costs as much as glass. Here are the four styles, from most affordable up.
Flat Top Tubular - the budget option
Tubular is the classic aluminium pool fence: vertical tube pickets in horizontal top and bottom rails. It's the most common compliant pool fence in Australia and the most affordable barrier we sell - comfortably the cheapest way to get a compliant fence around your pool. Compliant at 1200mm with picket spacing kept under 100mm, available in standard and custom powder-coat colours. If your priority is a compliant fence at the lowest cost, this is it.
BARR - architectural aluminium
BARR steps up from tubular with slimline posts and flat batten-style infill, no visible hardware on the panel face. It reads as "aluminium, but architectural" - a clean, modern look that sits well above tubular in both presence and price, but still below perforated and glass. Good when you want a sharper, more contemporary aesthetic and some sense of substance without going to glass.
Blade - the design-forward option
Blade uses narrow aluminium blades in a post frame, creating a louvred effect - partial privacy, air movement, and a strong contemporary look. It's the design-statement choice in aluminium, sitting in the same mid-range price territory as BARR. Pick between BARR and Blade on looks, not budget - they're priced on par with each other.
Premium Perf - the premium metal option
Premium Perf panels are marine-grade aluminium sheets with thousands of small punched holes - privacy from standing height, genuine see-through transparency from other angles, and a striking modern finish. It's worth being clear about where this sits: Premium Perf is not a budget product. It's the most expensive metal option we sell, priced in the same territory as glass and well above tubular, BARR, or Blade. People choose it for the look and the glass-like openness without the glass-cleaning, not to save money.
Cost: the honest hierarchy
This is usually what it comes down to. The figures below are a rough guide to materials for the Australian market - the panels, posts, and hardware - cheapest to dearest:
The headline: tubular is in a budget class of its own, BARR and Blade share the middle, and Premium Perf lines up alongside glass at the top. So if budget is the driver, the cheaper alternative to glass is tubular, BARR, or Blade - not perforated.
On top of materials, professional installation typically adds $100-$200 per metre in labour. That's the part you avoid entirely by installing it yourself - and on a full pool fence, it's the single biggest number on the quote. Our calculator shows you the real materials cost for any of these styles - every panel, spigot or post, hinge, latch, gate, and fixing, priced individually - so you can see exactly what the fence itself costs, separate from anyone's labour charge.
Installation: how hard is each, really?
Most installer pages online tell you that you can't do this yourself. That's largely because they sell installation. The honest version:
Glass is genuinely DIY-installable if you've done basic concrete or fencing work and you own a level. The 12mm panels are manageable solo and easier with a second person. Precision matters most at the spigots - they have to be set straight and at the right depth (core-fill spigots need concrete at least 100mm deep), and the base needs to be level along the run. Get that right and the rest follows. The Lifestyle spigot's dual-friction design makes first-time alignment more forgiving.
Aluminium - tubular, BARR, Blade, and Premium Perf - is the easier install of the two families: lighter to handle, faster to put up, and more forgiving of small errors. Tubular in particular is about as straightforward as a compliant pool fence gets.
Where you genuinely should bring in a professional: commercial work, multi-residential, or anything needing site-specific engineering. For a standard residential pool, that's not you - and if you hit a question mid-install, that's what Joe is for.
So which should you choose?
Build yours
Our calculator builds a complete, compliant list of materials for any of these - glass or metal - sized to your measurements and priced at the real cost, with compliance to AS 1926.1 built in so you can't configure a fence that fails the height, gap, or gate rules.
Still weighing glass against metal for your yard? Ask Joe, our AI assistant. Joe knows every product in the range and can talk you through the trade-offs - view, budget, maintenance, install difficulty - before you order.
