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Raspberry Pi adds $12.50 to its 2GB Pi 4 and Pi 5 as memory prices climb
Raspberry Pi raised the 2GB Pi 5 to $77.50 and the 2GB Pi 4 to $67.50, increases of 19% and 23% it blames on rising memory prices. Labs and small fleets built on the 2GB tier now pay $12.50 more per board, and the memory shortage behind the rise shows no sign of easing.
The Engineer · Build desk
What happened
- The 2GB Pi 4 and Pi 5 had escaped the April increases that hit other models, so this second round of the year is the first to reach them.
- According to Tom's Hardware, CEO Eben Upton recently confirmed that holding the old prices on lower-capacity models is no longer feasible.
- The Pi 5 2GB launched two years ago at $50, so its new price sits 55% above the original MSRP.
- Larger boards have climbed further against original MSRPs, by up to 83% for the Pi 5 16GB, 63% for the Pi 5 8GB and 53% for the Pi 4 8GB.
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Why it matters
- cost A 100-board lab or fleet on the 2GB tier costs $1,250 more at list price, so per-unit budgets built on $65 or $55 boards are now out of date.
- decision The 1GB tier is the only one still frozen at MSRP, so whether a workload fits in 1GB now decides whether a team's per-unit cost moved at all.
- constraint Memory can only be bought with the board: Tom's Hardware reports that recent firmware locks each Pi to its factory capacity, so a cheaper low-memory board cannot be upgraded later.
The two increases are the same dollar amount [1]. The Pi 5 2GB moved from $65 [4] and the Pi 4 2GB from $55 [8], so $12.50 shows up as 19% on the newer board and 23% on the older one [5][9]. On an invoice they are identical [1]. I think a flat increase across two board generations points to a per-unit component cost being passed straight through, and memory is the cost Raspberry Pi named [1][13]. The change was posted to the Raspberry Pi blog, according to Phoronix [15].
Memory prices have moved these boards in both directions. The Pi 4 2GB launched at $45 and was cut to $35 when memory got cheaper [8]. At $67.50 it is now 93% above that low and 50% above launch [9]. I would not budget for a return to the low. Tom's Hardware describes the LPDDR4 and LPDDR5 shortage as not improving, with demand steady and supply too low [3].
The new price also changes the shape of the Pi 5 range. Phoronix lists the 4GB at $110, the 8GB at $180 and the 16GB at $305 [14]. Per gigabyte, that puts the 2GB board at $38.75, against $27.50 for the 4GB, $22.50 for the 8GB and $19.06 for the 16GB [2]. Of those four sizes, the board people buy to save money now has the most expensive memory per gigabyte [2]. Stepping up from 2GB to 4GB costs $32.50 a board [3]. Staying on the older Pi 4 2GB saves $10 against the Pi 5 2GB [5].
What to watch
- Whether the 1GB models keep their frozen MSRP through the next pricing round, given Upton's statement on lower-capacity models.
- Signs that LPDDR4 and LPDDR5 supply is easing, the condition under which Pi prices have fallen before.
- Whether Raspberry Pi relaxes the firmware capacity lock or offers a barebones board.