16GB Raspberry Pi 5 climbs to $385 after another $80 RAM-driven price increase

Another increase for the 16GB Raspberry Pi 5

The 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 now costs $385, a jump of $80 that makes it the latest Raspberry Pi product to get more expensive because of the ongoing memory shortage. According to The Verge, this configuration originally launched at $120, which means it now sells for more than three times its introductory price.

The increase extends beyond the standard board. As The Verge reports, the 16GB versions of the Compute Module 5, the variant built for embedding into commercial and industrial products, went up by $40 and now cost between $375 and $415.

No alternative DRAM supply

Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton attributed the hikes to a lack of "alternative supply" for 16GB DRAM, layered on top of shortages affecting other components. In a statement quoted by The Verge, Upton said: "Though these increases are unavoidable, we know they are unwelcome news for our customers. We encourage you to make sure you're not paying for more memory than you need."

His suggested workaround is simple: buyers who do not specifically need 16GB should look at models with less memory, or at older Raspberry Pi boards that still meet their requirements.

Price pressure across the lineup

The top-of-the-range boards are not the only ones affected. The Verge notes that the 2GB Raspberry Pi 5 received its own price increase last month, so customers at both ends of the lineup have watched costs climb in quick succession.

Closing in on mini PC money

At $385, the 16GB Pi 5 is approaching the price of a desktop mini PC, as The Verge points out. That comparison cuts at the heart of the Pi's usual pitch: buyers who simply want a compact general-purpose computer can now consider small x86 machines in a similar price bracket, while the Pi continues to differentiate itself through its small footprint, exposed I/O and software ecosystem.

Why it matters

Raspberry Pi built its reputation on affordable hardware, and a $385 board strains that identity. For hobbyists and educators, the 16GB model had become the natural choice for memory-hungry workloads, and the new price pushes many of those buyers toward smaller-memory variants.

The Compute Module increase may matter even more. Those modules go into commercial products where component costs multiply across production runs, and embedded designs cannot be re-specced quickly in response to a price change.

The hikes also show how the memory shortage is rippling beyond PCs and servers into hobbyist and embedded hardware, a segment that once seemed insulated from such swings.

A rollback is promised, without a timeline

Upton reiterated that the company sees the situation as temporary, describing the memory landscape as "difficult but ultimately temporary" and saying Raspberry Pi looks "forward to rolling back our price increases when memory costs fall once again."

No timeline was offered for those reversals. In the meantime, buyers face a choice: pay the higher prices, trim their memory requirements, or wait and see whether the memory market cools.