The best pergolas with a roof

The only pergola on this site that publishes a wind figure, a per-square-foot snow figure and an anchoring specification covering both a deck and a slab. For a structure whose whole job is being a roof, that is the complete answer.

72 mph wind and 15 lb/ft² of snow, with the louvers closed. The snow figure is the rare one: it is the only per-square-foot number any louvered pergola here prints, which means it is the only one you can hold against your local ground snow load without doing arithmetic on a whole-roof total.

Adjustable aluminum louvers, so the roof has two states. Closed, it sheds rain and carries the published snow load. Open, it vents heat instead of trapping it under a solid panel. That is the functional advantage over every fixed roof in this list, and it costs nothing in rain protection.

M6 expansion bolts into a wooden deck or a concrete floor, immediately after assembly — and five years on the hardtop roof and frame against the category standard of one. Sizes run 10 x 10 ft up to 12 x 20 ft. How to anchor a pergola covers what each surface actually needs.

The same roof idea on the heaviest published frame in the class, with the highest wind figure here — and a qualifier attached to it that decides whether the number applies to you.

72 mph fully secured with expansion screws on a hardened floor. That condition is the whole sentence. A hardened floor means concrete or equivalent; PURPLE LEAF does not extend the rating to a timber deck, and neither will we. If your pergola is going on a deck, the Domi is the pick that names one.

Powder-coated aluminum with a 1.5 mm wall and 4.33 in. x 4.33 in. crossbeams — the thickest published section of any louvered pergola we track. On a roofed structure the crossbeam is the member carrying the closed-louver load across the span, so section matters more here than on an open trellis.

Adjustable louvers with integrated drainage, which is the detail that separates a louvered roof that works from one that drips. Water runs inside the louver and out through the beam rather than finding the joint. One year of warranty, which is a straight loss against the Domi's five.

The only genuinely fixed, solid roof here — and the only one that lets light through. If what you want is a permanent hardtop you never have to operate, this is the category.

Solid polycarbonate with drainage holes on an aluminum frame, with a published roof weight capacity of 10 lb/ft² (50 kg/m²). A roof capacity is not a certified snow rating and we will not read it as one, but it is a published number in a class where most listings have none — and it is the figure to check against your local ground snow load before committing.

Sizes 12 x 10 ft, 14.5 x 10 ft and 16.5 x 10 ft, which is generous depth for a dining set plus circulation. Light comes through, so the space underneath does not go cave-dark the way it does under steel or closed louvers.

No wind figure is published, and that is the gap. A solid panel is the largest uninterrupted pressure surface of any roof in this list, which makes the absence of a wind number more significant here than on a louvered roof that can be opened to let a gust through. Anchor it properly and treat an exposed site as a reason to choose differently.

The least expensive route to an adjustable roof, and the pergola here with the least published about how it behaves in weather. Both of those facts are the pick.

Adjustable aluminum louvers with integrated drainage, on an aluminum frame, at 10 x 13 ft. Functionally it is the same roof concept as the two above: close it for rain, open it for air. The drainage provision is there, which is the part a cheap louvered roof most often omits.

No wind rating and no snow figure are published at all. On a roofed pergola those are the two numbers that matter most, so this ranks fourth on a site that judges structures on what the manufacturer will commit to in writing.

One year of warranty, and a 10 x 13 ft footprint that is usefully deep for the money. We would buy this for a sheltered courtyard and not for an exposed garden — and we would open the louvers before a storm rather than leaving a closed panel to take the pressure.