Cheapest UAVs with a published price
19 of the 113 UAVs in the WeaponSpecs database publish a unit cost figure. Ranked on the published number alone, lowest first, with no weighting and no composite score. The 94 UAVs with no published figure are not ranked, absent data is never treated as a low value.
| # | System | Unit cost | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lancet-3 † | $35,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 2 | RQ-11 Raven | $35,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 3 | Shahed-136 † | $50,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 4 | Switchblade 300 | $52,914 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 5 | FP-1 | $55,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-30 |
| 6 | Switchblade 600 | $90,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 7 | Wing Loong I † | $1,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 8 | MQ-1 Predator | $4,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 9 | CH-4 (Caihong-4) † | $4,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 10 | Bayraktar TB2 | $5,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 11 | ANKA-S | $15,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 12 | Wing Loong II † | $15,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 13 | MQ-1C Gray Eagle | $17,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 14 | MQ-9B SkyGuardian | $25,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
| 15 | X-BAT | $27,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-08-03 |
| 16 | Bayraktar Akinci | $30,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-05 |
| 17 | MQ-9A Reaper | $32,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 18 | RQ-4 Global Hawk | $140,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-01 |
| 19 | MQ-4C Triton | $300,000,000 | reference ↗ checked 2026-07-02 |
Compiled from public manufacturer, defense-ministry and reference sources. Published defense figures are approximations and are often stated under different conditions, so treat this ordering as directional rather than a tested result. A board is only generated where at least 5 systems in the class publish the figure. How we compile specs →
Other UAVs rankings
Unit cost in other classes