How to read a robot price: only 79 of 144 indexed models are actually for sale
No fresh pricing event cleared our bar in the last 48 hours, so today is a reminder of how to read the numbers you see in robot headlines. The short version: a price is only as meaningful as the availability tag attached to it.
Our index currently tracks 144 models. By availability:
- For sale — 79. A public checkout or published price you can act on, such as the Unitree G1.
- Preorder — 16. A deposit buys a place in the queue, not a robot. 1X NEO is the best-known example; delivery dates are the manufacturer’s target.
- Enterprise-only — 38. Sold by quote to businesses. Figure 03 sits here: any number you read is an estimate, not an offer.
- Not for sale — 11. Prototypes and internal programs, including Tesla Optimus. Target prices for future volume production are intentions, not prices.
That means roughly 55% of the catalog can be bought today at a published price. The other 45% is a mix of queues, quotes and demos.
Three rules we apply
- Targets are not offers. “Under $30,000 at scale” describes a hoped-for cost curve. We list such robots as not-for-sale and explain why in the price note.
- Placeholders are not prices. Store pages sometimes show a round figure with ordering disabled. That is a contact-sales marker, not a quote. If you can’t add it to a cart, treat the number with suspicion.
- Check the spec behind the price. A humanoid’s headline price often excludes hands, extra batteries or the compute module. Compare configurations, not just model names — see our comparison pages and the cost guide.
What this means for buyers
If you need a robot this quarter, start from the 79 for-sale models and work outward. If you’re planning for 2027, preorders and enterprise quotes are worth tracking, but budget with a margin: those are the entries where the price is most likely to move between announcement and delivery.
Want a landed cost for a specific model? Ask us about factory sourcing.