Raspberry Pi is increasing the price of its 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 to $385 today, an $80 rise that the company attributes to difficulties sourcing memory and shortages of other components. Buyers of 16GB Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 variants also face an increase, with those products going up by $40. Raspberry Pi 500+, which also has 16GB of RAM, keeps its current price despite the increases affecting the other 16GB products.
The changes target selected products rather than the whole Raspberry Pi range, continuing the company's approach of applying increases selectively. For the revised prices of individual Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 configurations, the company directs customers to the product brief linked from that product's page. The Raspberry Pi 500+ whose price is being held combines a desktop computer with a mechanical keyboard.
Raspberry Pi says memory costs have climbed sharply over the last two years, and that it lacks alternative sources for 16GB DRAM. It says continuing shortages of other components have added to that pressure. The company says it is qualifying substitute parts to widen its sourcing options and limit how much of the additional cost reaches customers.
The latest increases follow an October announcement addressing prices for 2GB Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5 products. In that earlier update, Raspberry Pi said it had protected the 1GB and 2GB versions from April's increases while raising prices for versions with more memory, but could no longer sustain the protection for the 2GB products.
For customers trying to contain spending, Raspberry Pi recommends considering models with less memory, older boards or application changes that reduce memory requirements. It points individual users toward memory guidance from Raspberry Pi Official Magazine and advice available through its forums, where company engineers sometimes answer questions. Business customers can contact the company to discuss reducing their applications' memory needs.
Raspberry Pi also warns that some sellers are exploiting memory shortages through inflated prices or products that differ from their apparent description. It says customers can buy its products at official prices through Raspberry Pi Approved Resellers, with vetted suppliers listed on its reseller page. The company describes the memory supply difficulties as temporary and says it hopes to reverse the increases once memory prices come down.
