Raspberry Pi made two announcements this morning. First, there’s a new budget option available, a 1GB Pi 5 at $45. Second, several models are getting pricier due to rising memory costs.
This lower-RAM version still packs the same processor and connectivity features as its bigger siblings. You get the quad-core 2.4GHz SoC, Wi-Fi/BT, and the PCIe connection that makes the Pi 5 interesting, so HATs and accessories remain compatible. At $45, it sits below where the 2GB Raspberry Pi 5 model started.
I’m hoping to get the 1GB version tested and added to sbc.compare as soon as I can get my hands on one. It’ll be interesting to see how it performs in real-world scenarios with the reduced memory.
Memory costs have been climbing, and that’s hitting the product lineup. The changes affect mid-to-high memory configurations:
Raspberry Pi 4:
Raspberry Pi 5:
The 16GB Compute Module 5 is also jumping by $20. Budget options like the Pi Zero and older Pi 3+ models aren’t affected, which is something.
The story is pretty straightforward, and unfortunately something we’ve seen, and will continue see in the coming months. LPDDR4 memory has gotten expensive. The manufacturers have limited supply due to pivoting to pump out more in-demand (profitable?) types of RAM, and AI-related systems are gobbling up supply, pushing costs up across the board. These adjustments match what happened with 4 and 8GB Compute Modules back in October.
Raspberry Pi says this is temporary and they’ll bring prices back down when the market settles. Whether that happens in months or years is anyone’s guess at this point. It’s a bubble, right?!
The 1GB model fills a gap for lightweight projects like the Pi Hole (though I’d argue if it’s just for that, an older, cheaper model would be fine but I digress), but the price jumps will hit anyone looking to grab a Pi 5 for a Christmas present/project, and even more so those buying multiple boards. If you’ve been planning a Pi 5 purchase, waiting probably won’t save you money.
At least the entry-level options are holding steady for now, so as I say, if you have a lighter project that can make use of one of those and you don’t need/want to future proof against a potential change of heart in the future, they may be a great option.
Oh! And to add, all price updates have been reflected on sbc.compare, so if you compare Raspberry Pi SKUs, the performance per $ values have already been updated, so happy comparing!
Sources
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/1gb-raspberry-pi-5-now-available-at-45-and-memory-driven-price-rises/
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/5-10-price-increases-for-some-4gb-and-8gb-products/
Bret has worked with Raspberry Pi computers for almost 10 years now and in that time he's benchmarked and tested over 30 Single Board computers. In his day job, he's a systems administrator for a large cloud computing provider.
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