The one-minute decision
- Any chance of water — kitchen, bath, basement, entry, dogs, kids: vinyl. It is waterproof through and through; laminate's wood core is not.
- Dry main floor, want the most realistic wood look and feel per dollar: laminate earns its keep — deeper embossing, harder wear surface, often quieter underfoot with the right underlay.
- Rental / flip / budget: vinyl again — install speed and zero water anxiety win.
Where each one wins
- Water: vinyl, by knockout. A flooded laminate floor is a replaced laminate floor.
- Scratch resistance: laminate's aluminum-oxide wear layer is genuinely harder — big dogs and dragged chairs favour it.
- Feel: laminate feels more like wood (it is mostly wood); thin vinyl can feel like what it is. Thicker rigid-core vinyl (6 mm+) closes most of that gap.
- Subfloor forgiveness: rigid-core vinyl bridges small imperfections better; laminate telegraphs humps and hollows sooner.
- Repair: both replace plank-by-plank if you kept a box — buy one extra box, always.
What the numbers look like here
In our racks, quality waterproof vinyl runs roughly $2–4 per sq ft and laminate about $2–3 per sq ft — the real budget difference is usually underlay and trim, not the boxes. Compare in person: vinyl on the rack → · laminate on the rack →
The trap to avoid
Don't buy either on thickness alone. A thin plank with a dense core and a proper wear layer outlives a thick soft one. That's exactly the kind of thing worth a photo text or a two-minute call before you commit.