Raspberry Pi 5 current price in 2026, the four-tier table
Direct answer first, kit cost second, then an honest take on when the Pi is the right buy and when a used Mac is. All prices are MSRP from the official Raspberry Pi store as of May 2026 and reflect unchanged pricing since the 16GB tier launched in January 2025.
Raspberry Pi 5 board prices, MSRP from raspberrypi.com
| Memory | USD MSRP | Launched |
|---|---|---|
| 2 GB | $50 | 2024 |
| 4 GB | $60 | Oct 2023 |
| 8 GB | $80 | Oct 2023 |
| 16 GB | $120 | Jan 2025 |
Authoritative source: raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5. The Foundation routes you to the closest approved reseller; all resellers commit to MSRP.
The board sticker is half the story
The Pi 5 needs a 27W USB-C power supply because the official 5V at 5A profile is required to unlock full USB power and high-current peripherals. The chip also runs hot enough under sustained load that the Active Cooler is not optional for desktop use. Add storage and a case and the real out-the-door cost on a 4GB build is closer to a hundred dollars than sixty.
| Item | USD | Skip if |
|---|---|---|
| Pi 5, 4GB | $60 | Never |
| 27W USB-C PSU (official) | $12 | You already own a 5V/5A USB-C PSU |
| Active Cooler | $5 | Headless, low duty cycle only |
| microSD 64GB | $10 | Booting from NVMe instead, see below |
| Official case | $10 | You will 3D print or rack-mount |
| Minimum usable build | ~$97 | Before tax/ship |
| Optional: NVMe HAT + 250GB SSD | +$70 | Desktop use, frequent writes |
16GB build with NVMe lands at roughly $215 once you add the SSD, HAT, and standoffs. That is a number worth holding next to a used base-model Mac.
Where the Pi is the right buy
The Pi 5 is the right machine when the workload is bounded and mostly I/O. A Pi-hole DNS sinkhole, a Home Assistant box, a self-hosted git mirror, a low-traffic web server, a media file server, a 3D printer brain, a kiosk display, an arcade emulator, anything that runs Docker containers under a few hundred MB of RAM. For all of these the Pi at $97 to $155 fully kitted is in a class by itself and a Mac is overkill.
It is also the right buy when you specifically want the GPIO, DSI, CSI, and PCIe headers. No Mac has any of those. If your project involves a sensor, a camera ribbon, a small display, or an embedded design, the Pi is the answer and the price chart above is the answer to your price question.
Where a used Mac quietly wins, the AI agent case
A surprising fraction of "I want a Pi 5 16GB" searches end up being for one specific use case: running a local LLM or AI agent on cheap hardware. If that is the actual goal, the Pi math stops working. The Pi 5 SoC has no integrated GPU acceleration for the matrix multiplication that local LLMs spend most of their wall-clock time on, and 16GB of LPDDR4X shared with the CPU is not the same animal as 16GB of unified memory on Apple Silicon.
Local 7B model on a 16GB Pi 5 vs a used 16GB M1 MacBook Air
Pi 5, 16GB build, fully kitted with NVMe and Active Cooler. CPU-only inference. 7B-class model in 4-bit quant. Prefill around 6 to 12 tokens per second. Token generation around 3 to 5 tokens per second. Cost: ~$215 for the build, no display, no keyboard, no battery.
- No GPU matmul acceleration
- Conversational latency in tens of seconds, not seconds
- Headless or BYO peripherals
- Linux only
The Pi is twice as cheap on the bench. The Mac is roughly an order of magnitude faster on the workload. Dollars per useful token, the Mac wins by a wide margin for this specific job. If your goal is "I want an AI agent that drives my computer at conversational latency", a used M1 Air is the right hardware and Fazm is the macOS-native software that runs on it. The Pi keeps every other one of its strengths; this is just not one of them.
Buying notes for May 2026
- MSRP is enforced at approved resellers. Amazon listings often run $5 to $20 over MSRP and bundle aftermarket cases as if they were official; skip them.
- The 27W official PSU is the only PSU that unlocks the high current USB profile out of the box. Third-party 27W bricks work but require a config.txt flag.
- The 16GB tier is the only SKU that has been on real-world backorder anywhere in 2026; the 4GB and 8GB tiers ship same day from US and EU resellers.
- The Pi 500 desktop kit at $90 (8GB) or $120 (16GB) includes keyboard, PSU, and HDMI cable. For a desktop-shaped target it is the cheapest complete Pi build by a wide margin.
- Eben Upton has publicly stated the Foundation has no Pi 6 plans for 2026 and Pi 5 supply is committed through at least 2036. There is no waiting penalty.
Trying to run a local AI agent on cheap hardware
If the real reason you priced the 16GB Pi was to run a local agent, book 15 minutes and I will save you the $215 build.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Raspberry Pi 5 price in 2026?
As of May 2026 the official Raspberry Pi store lists the Pi 5 at $50 for the 2GB model, $60 for the 4GB model, $80 for the 8GB model, and $120 for the 16GB model. These are the same MSRPs that have held since the 16GB launched in January 2025; the 2GB tier was the only price addition in 2024. Approved resellers occasionally show $5 to $10 markups but the Foundation enforces the MSRP closely.
Has the Raspberry Pi 5 price changed since launch?
The original 4GB and 8GB tiers launched at $60 and $80 in October 2023 and have not moved. The 2GB tier was introduced mid-2024 at $50 to fill the gap left by the discontinued Pi 4 entry. The 16GB SKU launched in January 2025 at $120 and has stayed at $120 through 2026. The Foundation's stated policy is that increases are a last resort and they have absorbed component-cost swings on the BOM rather than raise prices.
What does a usable Raspberry Pi 5 build actually cost in 2026?
Add a 27W USB-C power supply, the Active Cooler, a microSD card or NVMe HAT plus SSD, and a case. Power supply is $12, Active Cooler is $5, microSD 64GB is around $10, official case is $10. That puts a no-frills 4GB build at about $97 out the door before tax and shipping. If you swap the SD card for a $30 NVMe HAT and a $40 250GB SSD the build lands closer to $155. The board sticker price is half the story.
Which Pi 5 memory tier should I actually buy?
For a headless server, ad-blocker, or single-purpose appliance, 4GB at $60 is the right answer and you will not notice the missing memory. For desktop use, multitasking, or anything that compiles, jump to 8GB at $80; the $20 buys real comfort. The 16GB tier at $120 is for one specific buyer, somebody running local LLMs on the Pi, and the harder truth is that even 16GB of LPDDR4X with no GPU is not a great place to run them.
Is the Raspberry Pi 5 a good machine for running a local AI agent?
It is a fine machine for tinkering. It is not the right machine if your goal is a local AI agent that drives a real computer (browser, documents, calendar, code) at conversational latency. The Pi 5's CPU is roughly an order of magnitude slower than current Apple Silicon at LLM prefill and has no integrated GPU acceleration for matmul. A used M1 MacBook Air with 16GB unified memory often costs less than a fully kitted out 16GB Pi 5 build and runs a 7B local model around 8 to 10 times faster. If the goal is the agent, not the SBC hobby, the Mac wins on dollars per token.
Where do I actually buy a Pi 5 at MSRP?
raspberrypi.com routes to the approved reseller closest to your shipping address; in the US that is usually PiShop or CanaKit, in the UK it is The Pi Hut, in the EU it is Welectron or Reichelt. The Foundation publishes the full reseller list at raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5 and resellers commit to MSRP. Amazon listings exist but routinely add $5 to $20 over MSRP and ship counterfeit cases bundled with real boards. Skip them.
What about the Compute Module 5 and the Pi 500, are those better value?
Compute Module 5 starts at $45 for the 2GB lite (no eMMC) and $95 for the 16GB+64GB version. It is the same SoC in a different form factor for embedded designs; you need a carrier board, which is its own cost. Pi 500 is the keyboard-form-factor desktop kit at $90 for the 8GB version and $120 for the 16GB version, including keyboard, PSU, and cable. If you want a desktop-shaped thing for someone learning Linux, the Pi 500 is genuinely the best deal in the lineup.
Should I wait for a Pi 6?
Eben Upton has publicly said the Foundation has no plans for a Pi 6 in 2026 and the Pi 5 will be supported through at least 2036. The cadence between major versions has historically been three to four years (Pi 4 in 2019, Pi 5 in 2023). Reasonable expectation is a Pi 6 announcement in late 2027 or 2028. If you need a board now, buy the Pi 5; waiting saves nothing.
Closer-fit reading on local AI hardware decisions.
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