Quick summary: Raspberry Pi has increased the official list price of the 16GB Raspberry Pi 5PriceAliExpress price by US$80 to US$385. Every 16GB Compute Module 5 variant rises by US$40, while Raspberry Pi says the 16GB Raspberry Pi 500+ price is unchanged.
The company announced the increases on 2 November 2026 and said they took effect that day. Raspberry Pi attributed the decision to a lack of alternative 16GB DRAM supply, together with continuing component shortages. It described the changes as selective rather than a price increase across the whole range.
| Product | Announced change | New position |
|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 5AliExpress price, 16GB | Up US$80 | US$385 list price |
| Compute Module 5, 16GB variants | Up US$40 | Depends on wireless and eMMC option |
| Raspberry Pi 500+, 16GB | No change | Existing price retained |
This is a price change, not a new Pi 5 revision
The announcement does not describe a new board revision or altered specification. The affected 16GB Raspberry Pi 5PriceAliExpress price remains the familiar board with a 2.4GHz quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 BCM2712, VideoCore VII graphics and LPDDR4X-4267 memory. Likewise, Compute Module 5 remains a 55 × 40mm system-on-module offered with different radio, eMMC and RAM combinations.
Only the highest-memory configurations were named. Raspberry Pi did not announce changes for lower-capacity Pi 5Price boards, and explicitly held the price of Raspberry Pi 500+, despite that all-in-one computer also carrying 16GB of RAM.
What the increase means for makers and home servers
At US$385 before local taxes and accessories, the 16GB Pi 5 now needs a more specific justification than simply buying the largest configuration. Memory-heavy containers, development workloads and in-memory data services may still benefit, but many small home-server jobs can run on an 8GB board. Builders should size memory from the workload rather than treating 16GB as a default.
The CM5 increase matters differently: product designers choose from many combinations of storage, wireless connectivity and memory, so a US$40 rise has to be applied to the exact 16GB part in a bill of materials. It does not change the module’s production commitment, which Raspberry Pi currently states runs until at least January 2036.
For comparison, the change arrives as more premium Pi-based systems compete with compact x86 and dedicated AI hardware. Our recent coverage includes the US$1,295 BrainChip AKD1500 Raspberry Pi 5 kit and the ESP32-P4 SCINTIX module for Pi CM4 and CM5 carriers. Arduino also recently moved the VENTUNO Q to US$399, citing higher component costs.
Availability and a temporary price-page mismatch
Raspberry Pi says affected products remain available through approved resellers, but stock bought at earlier prices may produce short-lived differences between shops. Regional prices, VAT and availability will vary.
There was also an official-site mismatch when we checked on 4 November: the newer 2 November announcement said US$385, while the Raspberry Pi 5 product page still displayed US$305 for the 16GB board. The dated announcement is the clearest statement of the new list price; buyers should confirm the checkout price with an approved reseller. Raspberry Pi says it hopes to reverse increases when memory costs fall, but gave no timetable.
