Rekey vs Replace — Which Saves More?

In most cases, rekeying costs less than a full replacement. A rekey reuses your existing hardware and only swaps the internal pins, while replacement adds the price of new deadbolts, new knob hardware, labor to install them, and disposal of the old parts.

For a typical 5-door home, rekeying every cylinder is significantly less involved than replacing every lock with mid-grade hardware.

Replacement only makes more sense than rekeying when your existing locks are already failing — a worn cylinder fights you every time you turn the key. In that case, new hardware pays for itself in convenience and security.