whirrwork
Insights

Why nobody tells you what a robot costs (and how to find out anyway)

Only about 12% of robot providers in Whirrwork's directory publish a price. The real reasons robot pricing is opaque, what economics says about price transparency, and how to decode a quote using published price receipts.

By The Whirrwork team6 min read
  • robot prices
  • pricing transparency
  • quotes
  • benchmarks
  • price receipts
  • economics
  • buying

The short version

  • Of the 651 providers we track, only 78 (about 12%) publish a price we can cite. Of 308 robot jobs in our directory, 72 have at least one sourced price benchmark.
  • Some opacity is honest: robots depend on your site, your configuration and the date. Some of it isn't: it's simply easier to sell when the buyer can't compare.
  • The same job can nearly triple in price depending on the date. In one proposal to a California city, a 200-drone show was $39,000 on 3 July and $110,000 on 4 July.
  • Economics says transparency usually helps buyers: when comparison sites spread, US term life insurance prices fell 8–15%. But it also has a known downside, which shapes how we publish prices.
  • Our view: you can't get an exact price without a quote, but you should never walk into a quote without a range.

The numbers

What we trackCountPrice receipt
Providers651Whirrwork provider dataset, Oct 2026
Providers publishing a citable price78 (12%)Same
Robot jobs listed308Whirrwork job dataset, Oct 2026
Jobs with at least one sourced price benchmark72 (23%)Same; see price index
Sourced benchmarks across those jobs140Same

That's after a lot of digging. Most robot pricing still lives inside quotes, PDFs and sales calls.

Six reasons robot prices are hidden

1. Your site really does change the price

Robots are fussy about their environment. A MiR600 mobile robot, for example, is specified to cross gaps up to 29 mm and steps up to 10 mm, and its floor must be free of water, oil and dirt (MiR600 specifications). If your floor doesn't meet the spec, someone has to fix it, and that cost has to go somewhere. Honest suppliers can't price a site they haven't seen.

2. The robot is the small part

Boston Consulting Group estimated that the robot's hardware and software made up only about a quarter of the total cost of a typical robotic system, with peripherals, integration and programming making up the rest (BCG, 2015). A price for "the robot" can be truthful and still badly misleading. More in hidden costs of robots.

3. Configuration and contract length

The same security robot shows up as "as low as $545/month" in a brochure (Knightscope brochure) and as roughly $70,000–$80,000 a year in reported annual rentals (The Bot Scout). Both can be true for different models, coverage and terms. Contract length matters too: Formic publishes a palletizer at $5,975/month cancel-anytime versus from $3,975/month on an annual agreement (Formic).

4. The date

Robot services have peak seasons, just like hotels. In a 2026 proposal to the City of Mountain House, California, Sky Elements priced shows on 1 and 3 July at $185–$195 per drone (a 200-drone show for $39,000), all-in with design, music, staff, FAA permitting and travel. On 4 July, the same 200-drone show was $110,000 ($550 per drone), and each additional drone was $850 (City of Mountain House proposal). Same proposal, one day apart. If your date is flexible, say so in your request.

5. Prices are moving fast

A published price can go stale quickly. The American Spray Drone Coalition's survey found the average US custom drone spraying rate fell from $21 to $13 per acre between 2024 and 2025 (ASDC). In China, rental rates for a Unitree G1 humanoid at events reportedly fell from RMB 10,000–15,000 a day in early 2025 to around RMB 5,000 by November 2025 (ChinaVenture). Some suppliers don't publish because they don't want to be held to last quarter's number.

6. It's easier to sell when buyers can't compare

This is the uncomfortable one, and it's our view rather than something we can measure directly. If a buyer doesn't know the typical range, the first number they hear becomes the anchor. Not every supplier who hides prices is doing this. But the buyer can't tell which ones are.

What economics says about publishing prices

Transparency usually helps buyers. Economists Jeffrey Brown and Austan Goolsbee found that as internet comparison sites spread in the 1990s, US term life insurance prices fell by 8–15% (Brown & Goolsbee, NBER).

But it can backfire. In 1993, Denmark's competition authority began publishing individual firms' actual transaction prices for ready-mixed concrete. Within a year, average prices for the published grades rose by 15–20%. The researchers' explanation: in a concentrated market, the published prices made it easier for firms to coordinate (Albæk, Møllgaard & Overgaard, 1997).

That's why Whirrwork publishes ranges with sources (public list prices, published rate cards, government bid documents, extension-service estimates), not confidential individual deals. We think that gives buyers the anchor they need without handing suppliers a coordination tool. That's a judgment call, and we'll revisit it if the evidence says otherwise.

Price receipts: what some robot jobs cost

These are examples from our data. Each comes from the linked source; check the job page for the full set.

JobPublished priceSource
Drone light show$80–$200 per drone, all-in (industry range in an operator's pricing guide)Creative Skies
Drone light show$185–$195 per drone (1 or 3 July); $550 per drone for 200 drones, $850 per extra drone (4 July)Mountain House proposal
Crop spraying drone$13 per acre (US average, 2025)ASDC
Crop spraying drone$150–$200 per hour per drone flownUniversity of Kentucky
Roof inspection drone$150–$400 visual; $400–$600 thermalHomeGuide
Floor scrubbing robot$2,250–$2,900 per month (lease, as quoted)MLive
Warehouse picking robots$2,000 per robot per month (reported)CIVL
Humanoid rentalFrom $299/day self-service; $1,875/day full serviceZMP Robots

How to decode a quote

  1. Get a range first. Check the job's price page before you ask. Know whether you're in $500 territory or $50,000 territory.
  2. Normalise the unit. Per drone, per acre, per hour, per robot per month. Divide the quote so you can compare it to published numbers.
  3. List what's included. Travel, setup, permits, insurance, operator, software, consumables, minimum term.
  4. Ask what would make it cheaper. A flexible date, a longer term, a simpler site, fewer features.
  5. Get at least three quotes. Price spreads in this market are wide. One form on Whirrwork can reach several suppliers.
  6. Ask about the trend. "Has this price gone up or down in the last year?" is a fair question in a market moving this fast.

Bot or Not?

The quote looks fair when…Dig deeper when…
It lands inside a published range, or explains why notIt's 3x the published range with no explanation
It's itemisedIt's one number with no breakdown
The supplier tells you what drives the price"That's just our price"
Peak-date premiums are disclosedThe price changes when you mention the date

What to ask

  1. What's the price per unit (drone, acre, hour, robot-month), and what's included?
  2. What would change the price: date, site, term, volume?
  3. Is there a minimum order or minimum term?
  4. How long is this quote valid?
  5. Can you show me a recent invoice range for similar jobs, without naming the client?

If you're a supplier and you publish prices, tell us via for suppliers. We'll cite you with a link.

Sources

All accessed October 2026.

More Insights