Raspberry Pi 5 16GB now costs $385, more than triple its launch price

The most capable Raspberry Pi 5 has become more expensive again, and the version with the most memory now sells for more than three times its launch price. The company behind the board added another increase on top of the ones it had already made, and the buyer still gets a bare circuit board, with no case, power supply or storage in the box.

The people who feel it first are the ones who bought the top model for heavy work: local AI models, home servers or a full Linux desktop, plus the schools and makers who standardised on it. The manufacturer’s own advice is blunt. Check that you are not paying for memory you do not need, because the cheaper versions use the same processor and most classroom and hobby projects never come close to filling the largest one.

The 16GB board now costs $385 after an $80 increase, against $120 when it went on sale. The company blames one component: it says it has found no alternative supply for 16GB DRAM chips, and that other component shortages make the problem worse. Memory prices have climbed steeply as chipmakers prioritise the AI data-centre market, an AI-driven RAM shortage that PCWorld and other outlets have tracked through each of the board’s increases.

Not every 16GB product went up by the same amount. The Compute Module 5, the version that companies build into industrial and commercial devices, rises by $40 in its 16GB variants. The Raspberry Pi 500+, a desktop computer built into a mechanical keyboard that also carries 16GB of RAM, keeps its current price.

The promise attached to the increase deserves a careful read. The company calls the situation “difficult but ultimately temporary” and says it will roll prices back when memory costs fall. It has said the same thing before, and the 16GB board has only moved in one direction. There is no date and no price threshold for a reversal, and the firm does not control the memory contracts that would decide one.

There is a second risk for buyers. The manufacturer warns that some sellers are using the shortage to charge inflated prices or to sell products that “aren’t what they seem”, and it points customers to its network of Approved Resellers, which have to respect the official maximum prices. That network covers more than a hundred sellers on every continent except Antarctica, and several ship worldwide.

The new price was announced in US dollars. Prices in euros, pounds, yen, rupees and other currencies are set through those resellers, so the final figure in each market depends on local taxes and exchange rates, and no regional price list came with the announcement.

The increase took effect on November 2, the day it was announced. The 16GB model first went on sale on January 9, 2025, and a $100 increase in April 2026 had already taken it to $305. On October 1 the company also raised the 2GB Raspberry Pi 5 to $77.50 and the 2GB Raspberry Pi 4 to $67.50, while keeping the 1GB versions of both unchanged.

The first Raspberry Pi sold for $35 in 2012. Its most powerful descendant now costs eleven times as much, and the company’s best advice to its customers is to buy less of it.

Tags: DRAM, memory shortage, Compute Module 5, Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi 5, Raspberry Pi 500+