Skip to content 
The best week of the year to buy an above ground pool is the week nobody wants one, and that week is now. Retailers are sitting on frame pools, pumps and covers that will not sell again until May, so the markdowns over Labor Day Weekend are the deepest they get until next spring. The catch is obvious: you are buying something you will box up and stare at all winter. If you can live with that, you pay a fraction. If you cannot, the one thing on this page you genuinely need in September is a cover. Everything below shows live pricing.
Quick sale picks
The Intex pools carrying the largest markdowns today. Sizes go out of stock in a strange order at this time of year, because what is left is whatever nobody bought in June rather than whatever is most popular.
When Intex pools actually go on sale
Pools are the clearest seasonal category on the site. Prices track the weather almost exactly, and the gap between the best and worst week of the year is larger here than in almost anything else we cover.
| When | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Late August through September | The annual low, and this is where we are. The season is over, the stock is not, and retailers would rather sell a frame pool at cost than warehouse it for eight months. |
| October into November | Still good on whatever survived, though the choice narrows quickly and popular sizes disappear first. Covers and winterizing kit are at their most competitive here. |
| Black Friday | Mixed. Pools are not a gift, so they get less attention than the rest of the site, but leftover stock sometimes reappears at clearance prices. |
| March and April | New stock arrives at full price. Occasional early-season promotions, mostly on last year’s models, and worth watching if you missed the autumn window. |
| May through July | The worst time to buy, and when almost everyone does. Demand peaks, sizes sell out, and a heatwave can push prices above list on the models still in stock. |
| Any time, for pumps and cartridges | Consumables track the pool season loosely and discount less dramatically. Buying filter cartridges in bulk is usually a better saving than waiting for a sale on them. |
What actually counts as a good price
Four different purchases sit on this page, and only one of them is urgent in September. Work out which one you are making before comparing numbers.
Small frame pool, 10 to 12 ft
Metal frame, around 30 inches deep, sets up in an afternoon on level ground. The size most households actually use, and the one that clears hardest at the end of the season.
Large frame pool, 15 ft and up
Deep enough to swim in properly and heavy enough that the ground underneath needs to be genuinely level. Check the filled weight against your garden before ordering.
Winter cover
The one thing on this page worth buying this week regardless. It decides whether the pool you already own is usable next May or full of algae and leaf sludge.
Inflatable hot tub
The counter-seasonal buy. Discounted alongside the pools right now and used through the months when the pool is packed away, which makes the timing unusually sensible.
Above ground frame pools on sale
The larger metal-frame pools, including the sizes people usually mean by an above ground pool. Two things decide whether this goes well. The ground has to be genuinely level, because a few inches of slope across a 15 foot pool puts thousands of pounds of water against one wall, and you need somewhere to put the water at the end of the season. Neither is difficult, but both are easier to sort out in September than in a rush next June.
Pool covers on sale
The purchase that actually matters this month, and the best-discounted corner of the category right now. A winter cover keeps leaves, debris and sunlight out, which is what stops the water turning green and the liner degrading over the off-season. Solar covers are a different product doing a different job, holding heat in during the season rather than protecting the pool out of it, and they are worth buying now for the same reason as everything else here. Measure the pool rather than trusting the box, and buy the size up if you are between two.
Pool pumps and filters on sale
The pump that comes bundled with a cheap pool is usually sized to the pool and no more, which is why upgrading it is the most common first purchase people make. If the water clouds within a day of cleaning, the pump is undersized rather than broken. Filter cartridges are the running cost worth thinking about honestly: they are cheap individually, add up over a season, and are worth buying by the multipack rather than one at a time.
Inflatable hot tubs on sale
The sensible counter-seasonal buy, and the reason to look at this page even if you have no interest in a pool. Inflatable spas are discounted now on the same end-of-summer logic as everything else, and unlike a pool you use one from October onward. Two caveats worth knowing before ordering: heating one costs real money in electricity through winter, and they take several hours to come up to temperature from cold, so they suit people who leave them running rather than people who fill one for a weekend.
Where else to check today
Worth looking beyond the marketplaces here, because the pool specialists carry the parts, liners and cover sizes that the general retailers do not stock, and end-of-season clearance is where their pricing gets interesting. These are the ones worth opening in another tab.
WalmartBest for the clearance racks
In The SwimBest for the proper pool kit
Leslie’s Pool SuppliesBest for covers and chemistry
WayfairBest for the mid-range sizes
DICK’S Sporting GoodsBest for pools and accessories together
How to buy an above ground pool
Level the ground before you order, not after. This is the step people skip and the one that ruins pools. Water weighs about eight pounds a gallon, so a 15 foot pool holds several tons, and a slope of even a few inches pushes all of it against one wall. Sort the ground out first and the pool lasts years; skip it and the liner fails in a season.
Work out where the water goes at the end. Thousands of gallons have to drain somewhere that is not your foundations or your neighbor’s garden, and this is worth thinking about in September rather than discovering in October. A drain hose and a bit of slope usually solves it, but not always.
Buy the cover at the same time as the pool. It is the cheapest part of the purchase and the one that determines whether you are buying a pool once or every couple of years. Measure the pool rather than trusting the listing, and size up if you are between two.
Assume you will replace the bundled pump. The filter pump included with most frame pools is sized exactly to the pool and no further, which is fine until the water clouds. Budget for an upgrade rather than treating the bundled one as permanent, and buy cartridges by the multipack.
Check the depth as well as the width. The difference between a 30 inch and a 48 inch pool is the difference between standing in water and swimming, and the listings lead with the width because it sounds bigger. If adults will use it, depth matters more.
Buying now means storing it now. That is the whole trade. A pool bought this week sits boxed in a garage until spring, which is genuinely the price you pay for a genuinely lower price. If storage is the problem, buy the cover and the accessories now and the pool in March.
Pool questions, answered
The bottom line
This is the right week to buy a pool and the wrong week to swim in one, which is the whole point. If you are buying the pool, level the ground before it arrives and buy the cover in the same order. If you already own one, the cover is the purchase that matters this month and it is well discounted right now. And if the storage problem rules out a pool altogether, the inflatable hot tubs are on the same end-of-season markdown and you would be using one within a couple of weeks.
