The short version
Cedar costs more and is the better wood: naturally rot- and insect-resistant, dimensionally stabler, better looking longer. Pressure-treated pine costs less and is the better deal for disciplined owners: structurally sound and chemically protected against rot, but wetter, movier lumber that leans harder on stain for its looks and longevity. Neither choice is wrong. The wrong choice is picking pine for the price and then skipping the staining that made pine sensible.
How each wood handles Texas
North Texas is a wood-torture climate: brutal UV, 100-degree dry spells, sudden soaking storms, and clay soil that moves the whole structure seasonally. Cedar's natural oils resist moisture uptake, so it cups and twists less through the wet-dry whiplash, and its tannins resist decay where pickets meet damp ground shade. Treated pine's pressure treatment protects well against rot and termites — that part of the folklore is true — but treatment doesn't stop physical movement: pine pickets commonly check (surface-crack), cup, and open gaps as they dry from their shipped moisture content.
Practically: a two-year-old unstained cedar fence usually still looks like a fence someone chose. A two-year-old unstained pine fence usually looks like a fence someone bought.
Cost, up front and over time
Per picket, cedar carries a real premium over treated pine — enough to matter across a 250-foot backyard. (For why we don't publish dollar figures, see the cost guide.) But total cost of ownership narrows the gap: pine's looks and lifespan depend on a steady stain-and-seal schedule, while cedar is more forgiving of a missed year. Owners who know they won't maintain should weight that honestly — an unmaintained cedar fence beats an unmaintained pine fence by a wide margin.
Staining: both want it, one needs it
Stain is UV sunscreen and a raincoat for either species. On cedar, semi-transparent stains are gorgeous — the grain shows, the color deepens. On pine, stain is closer to mandatory equipment, and it can't go on immediately: treated lumber ships wet and must dry before stain will penetrate. That lag is a classic failure point — the fence goes up in spring, nobody comes back in summer, and by the time anyone thinks of stain the pine has grayed and gapped. If you choose pine, put the first stain date on the calendar the day you sign the fence contract.
Where each one wins
Choose cedar when the fence is part of how the property looks — backyards you live in, lines visible from the street, board-on-board builds worth showing off — or when low maintenance is the real priority. Choose treated pine when footage is large and budget is firm, when the run is utilitarian (side yards, back lines facing a greenbelt), or when you genuinely will stain on schedule and pocket the savings.
A hybrid is often the smart play: cedar where you see it, pine where you don't. We quote it that way on request — just ask when you start your quote.
One more Texas note: the posts
Whatever the pickets are, posts live a harder life — buried in expansive clay, wicking ground moisture. This is why post material (treated pine rated for ground contact, or steel) and proper concrete setting matter more than picket species, and why our installation process obsesses about what happens below grade. A cedar fence on failing posts is just expensive firewood standing up.