Solar Panel System GuidePeople shopping for solar hardware often put Enphase and Tesla in the same sentence, but their flagship products do different things. Enphase's IQ8 is a microinverter that turns DC into AC at the panel. Tesla's Powerwall 3 is a battery that stores energy for backup, with a built-in inverter for solar. This page reads their datasheets side by side and does not declare a winner.
How to read this comparison, and why the jobs differ
Before comparing numbers, it helps to see that these two products are not direct substitutes. A microinverter's job is power conversion: it takes the DC a panel produces and turns it into AC, one panel at a time. A home battery's job is energy storage: it holds kilowatt-hours and releases them during an outage or at peak times. Enphase does sell batteries and Tesla's Powerwall includes an inverter, so the ecosystems overlap, but the IQ8 and the Powerwall 3 sit at different points in the system. The figures below are quoted from each manufacturer's datasheet. Confirm against the current datasheet, since specs change by model year.
Enphase IQ8 microinverters (from the Enphase datasheet)
Enphase describes the IQ8 as a microgrid-forming, software-defined microinverter that converts DC power to AC power, with one unit per panel. Across the IQ8 family, peak output power runs from 245 VA on the IQ8 to 384 VA on the IQ8H-240, with peak efficiency of 97.4 to 97.6 percent and CEC weighted efficiency of 97 to 97.5 percent.
A defining feature is outage behavior. Enphase states the IQ8 series can produce power even when the grid is down, when installed with the IQ System Controller. Enphase also lists an industry-leading limited warranty of up to 25 years, backed by more than one million cumulative hours of power-on testing.
Tesla Powerwall 3 (from the Tesla datasheet)
Tesla describes the Powerwall 3 as a fully integrated solar and battery system. It lists 13.5 kWh of nominal battery energy and up to 11.5 kW AC of continuous power per unit, and it supports up to 20 kW DC of solar directly, using its six built-in MPPTs.
Tesla lists a solar-to-home-or-grid efficiency of 97.5 percent, and a load start capability of 185 LRA, meaning a single unit can support the power needs of most homes. The Powerwall 3 carries a 10-year warranty, and up to 4 units are supported with up to 3 Expansion units for a maximum total of 7 units.
Where they differ on paper
The clearest difference is what each device is for. The Enphase IQ8 is rated in VA of AC output per panel because it is a converter, turning DC into AC. The Tesla Powerwall 3 is rated in kWh of stored energy and kW of delivered power because it is a battery. Comparing a 384 VA microinverter to a 13.5 kWh battery is comparing conversion to storage.
Both can keep a home powered during an outage, but by different means. The IQ8 keeps producing solar power when the grid is down if it has the required system controller, while the Powerwall 3 discharges stored energy to back up loads. On conversion efficiency the two land close, with Enphase listing up to 97.6 percent peak and Tesla listing 97.5 percent solar-to-home.
The ecosystems overlap rather than mirror each other. Enphase pairs its microinverters with its own IQ Battery, and Tesla's Powerwall 3 folds solar inversion into the battery unit. A full system can use one, the other, or elements of both. These are the documented facts, and no product is declared better here.