Humanoid Robot Price per Kilogram and per Joint: What a Humanoid Really Costs (2026)
A humanoid’s sticker price tells you little until you divide it by something. Two denominators are available for nearly every robot in our index: weight (a proxy for the metal, motors and batteries you are buying) and degrees of freedom (DoF, the number of actuated joints, a proxy for what the robot can physically do). This guide runs both ratios on the humanoids that have a public price and a for-sale or pre-order status as of October 2026.
Two caveats up front. We use the entry price in the index, which is often a base configuration; many robots list a range that is several times wider (the Unitree G1 runs from $13,500 to $73,900 depending on edition). And DoF counts are not standardised: whether a count includes the hands changes the result a lot. Treat the ratios as a way to sort the market, not as a spec sheet.
Price per kilogram
| Robot | Entry price | Weight | $ per kg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unitree R1 | $4,150 | 25 kg | ~$166 |
| Astribot T1 | $18,000 | 66 kg | ~$273 |
| Booster K1 | $5,999 | 19.5 kg | ~$308 |
| EngineAI T800 | $25,000 | 75 kg | ~$333 |
| Unitree G1 | $13,500 | 35 kg | ~$386 |
| Unitree H2 | $29,900 | 70 kg | ~$427 |
| AgiBot X1 | $19,499 | 33 kg | ~$591 |
| Rainbow Robotics RB-Y1 | $80,000 | 131 kg | ~$611 |
| AgiBot A2 Lite | $44,560 | 63 kg | ~$707 |
| Galbot G1 | $87,000 | 85 kg | ~$1,024 |
| AgiBot A3 Ultra | $88,999 | 60 kg | ~$1,483 |
| PNDbotics Adam | $100,000 | 62 kg | ~$1,613 |
The pattern is a clean two-tier market. Unitree, Astribot, Booster and EngineAI price in the $150–$450 per kilogram band, roughly what a well-made consumer e-bike or a small electric motorcycle costs by weight. Robots priced above $1,000 per kilogram are selling something other than hardware: a software stack, a service contract, a research platform or simply a low-volume build. The Rainbow RB-Y1 is the useful outlier in the other direction. It is the heaviest robot here at 131 kg, so its $611 per kilogram looks moderate, but that mass is a wheeled mobile base carrying two arms, not a walking body.
Price per degree of freedom
| Robot | Entry price | DoF | $ per DoF |
|---|---|---|---|
| UBTech UWORLD U1 | $16,500 | 88 | ~$188 |
| Unitree R1 | $4,150 | 26 | ~$160 |
| Booster K1 | $5,999 | 22 | ~$273 |
| Fourier GR-3 | $27,500 | 55 | ~$500 |
| AgiBot X1 | $19,499 | 34 | ~$574 |
| Unitree G1 | $13,500 | 23 | ~$587 |
| Unitree H2 | $29,900 | 31 | ~$965 |
| Galbot G1 | $87,000 | 47 | ~$1,851 |
| TianGong Walker | $41,000 | 20 | ~$2,050 |
| Rainbow Robotics RB-Y1 | $80,000 | 24 | ~$3,333 |
Read this table with the caveat in mind. The UWORLD U1’s 88 DoF is the highest count in the index and drives its low ratio; a count that large almost certainly reflects articulated hands, and a robot with dexterous hands is a different product from a 23-DoF biped. The same logic applies in reverse to the G1, whose base edition has simple hands: its $587 per DoF rises or falls with the edition you configure.
What the ratios tell a buyer
- The cheapest ratios belong to the smallest robots. The R1 (121 cm) and K1 (95 cm) are the lowest per kilogram and per joint among walking humanoids. Small robots need smaller motors and cheaper batteries, and they carry no meaningful payload. They are excellent for education and software work and poor substitutes for a full-size machine.
- Full-size Chinese humanoids cluster at $400–$1,000 per kilogram. The G1, H2, T800 and X1 sit here. That is the band to treat as “market price” for a 70 kg walking robot.
- Above $1,000 per kilogram, ask what is bundled. Quoted prices from Galbot, AgiBot’s A3 Ultra and PNDbotics usually include service, software or low-volume manufacturing. See quote-only humanoids and what they cost for how those quotes behave.
- Western makers are absent from the table on purpose. Figure, Agility, Apptronik and Tesla are enterprise-only or not for sale, with no public price. A ratio computed from an analyst estimate would be a guess dressed up as data.
Why this is not the same as total cost
A low price per kilogram does not make a robot cheap to own. Battery life on the entry humanoids is measured in a couple of hours, spare packs cost extra, and SDK or developer access is sometimes a separate edition. For the running-cost side, see humanoid robot running costs, and for the full price list sorted by tier, how much does a humanoid robot cost.
Method
Entry prices are the lowest public price in the index (price_usd_min) for models with for-sale or pre-order status; weight and DoF come from manufacturer specifications where published, and a model is dropped from a table if either number is unverified. Ratios are rounded and recomputed whenever a price changes. Prices of robots that sell only via quote are excluded.
FAQ
Which humanoid has the lowest price per kilogram?
The Unitree R1, at about $166 per kilogram on its $4,150 China entry price. The Astribot T1 and the Booster K1 follow, at about $273 and $308.
Is a lower price per degree of freedom better?
Only for comparing robots with the same kind of hands. A high DoF count that includes dexterous fingers is not directly comparable with a count that ends at the wrist.
Why are Tesla Optimus and Figure missing?
They have no public price and are not on general sale, so any ratio would rest on an estimate rather than an offer.
Sources
Primary sources referenced in this article. Prices in the tables come from the live index and carry their own as-of dates.
- Unitree Robotics: Unitree R1 — official store page (shop.unitree.com)
- Unitree Robotics: Unitree G1 — official store page (shop.unitree.com)
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