There is no wrong answer here. There is only how you will actually use it, and most people know the answer as soon as it is put to them plainly.
Wood burning
Cheaper, simpler, and it is what most people picture. No gas line, no permit for the line, and you can burn what you have.
The trade is effort. You need wood, you need to build the fire, it smokes, and there are ashes to clean out. Nothing wrong with any of that, and for a lot of families the fire is the whole point of the evening.
Gas
More expensive up front, because a licensed gas line has to be run to it. Gas fire pits typically run three to five times what a wood burning one costs.
What you buy is instant. It lights on a switch, it does not smoke, and there is nothing to clean up afterward. Which leads to the thing that actually decides this:
The honest test
Will you use it on a Tuesday?
A wood pit gets used when you plan for it. Weekends, gatherings, when someone remembers to buy wood. A gas pit gets used on a random weeknight because it costs nothing to turn it on for twenty minutes.
If the honest answer is that you will only fire it up for weekend company, save the money and burn wood. If you want the yard to get used on an ordinary evening in October, gas gets used more. We have watched it play out both ways.
What it costs
A fire pit built as an add-on while we are already installing the patio runs around $1,800. Gas is the multiple above that, driven mostly by the length of the gas line run and what it has to cross.
Building it with the patio is significantly cheaper than adding it later, because the base and the trenching are already open. If you think you will ever want it, tell us now, even if you build it in phases.
Either way, build it in
A metal ring on the grass is not what we do. A masonry pit set into the patio with seat walls around it means nobody is dragging chairs out, and it looks like it was always meant to be there.
See our fire pit page or call (724) 605-4822.