RAM Prices Compared: DDR4 and DDR5 Price per GB

How much does RAM cost right now?

New RAM on amazon.com starts at $5.54 per GB right now. The most expensive type per GB in the index is DDR5 laptop RAM at $16.52, the cheapest is DDR4 laptop RAM at $6.05 per GB.

The index is the median of the 10 cheapest new listings of a RAM type. It shows what you can realistically pay today if you shop for a good price. ratioDB calls all its indexes TB index, and for RAM it calculates per GB.

Index by RAM type, new listings, as of Oct 28, 2026

Sort the full list at the top of this page by price per GB, price, capacity, warranty or price change with one tap.

Are RAM prices going up?

Yes, over the last 30 days the index for all RAM types changed by ▲ 3.0 %. The biggest change was DDR5 laptop RAM at ▲ 5.1 %. The 90-day low of the index is $5.78 per GB. The chart at the top of the page works as a RAM price tracker and shows the price history day by day.

Percentage changes only compare listings that had a price on both days. New listings with a launch price or listings that disappear do not skew the trend. Set the period of the trend column to 1, 7, 14, 30 or 90 days under "Filters and view".

Why is RAM so expensive?

RAM is so expensive because the major memory makers have shifted production toward AI data centers. That leaves less RAM for retail, and prices rise. This situation is often called the RAM shortage.

According to German tech site PC Games Hardware, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, the 3 major makers of DRAM (the memory chip inside every RAM module), have shifted more of their capacity toward AI data centers. In Germany, RAM prices in mid-August 2026 were about 345 % above their pre-crisis level, and a 32 GB DDR5-6000 CL30 kit cost about 4 times as much as before. The shortage also affects SSDs and hard drives, see the overview of all storage prices.

When will RAM prices go down?

According to PC Games Hardware, none of the major forecasts expects RAM prices to fall before 2027. Analysts at Bernstein and Gartner name 2028 as the earliest year for a real decline (as of August 2026).

Whether RAM prices are going down right now, you can see in the index: over the last 30 days it changed by ▲ 3.0 %. The trend column shows the change for every single listing.

DDR4 or DDR5: what does each cost?

DDR5 costs much more per GB than DDR4 right now: $15.62 versus $6.51 per GB for desktop RAM and $16.52 versus $6.05 per GB for laptop RAM in the index.

Your motherboard or laptop decides which generation you need. DDR4 and DDR5 do not fit the same slot, and switching to DDR5 requires a compatible motherboard. If you upgrade a DDR4 system, you buy DDR4 and benefit from the lower price per GB.

How much does 32 GB of RAM cost right now?

The cheapest new 32 GB DDR5 desktop kit costs $459.99 right now, a 32 GB DDR4 desktop kit $193.99 (as of Oct 28, 2026).

Cheapest new 32 GB kit by type:

• DDR5 desktop: $459.99
• DDR5 laptop: $479.99
• DDR4 desktop: $193.99
• DDR4 laptop: $179.97

Use "Capacity" under "Filters and view" to narrow the list to exactly the size you need.

What should you look for when buying RAM?

Besides price per GB, the key factors are the right generation (DDR4 or DDR5), the form factor (desktop or laptop), capacity as a kit and speed.

• Generation: DDR4 and DDR5 are not compatible. Your motherboard or laptop manual lists the generation that fits.
• Form factor: UDIMM (unbuffered DIMM, long module) goes into desktop PCs, SODIMM (small outline DIMM, short module) into laptops and mini PCs.
• Kit: 2 identical modules run in dual channel mode (2 memory channels at once) and are faster than 1 single module of the same total capacity. ratioDB uses the total capacity for kits, so a 2 × 16 GB kit counts as 32 GB.
• Speed: Listed as transfer rate in MT/s (million transfers per second, for example DDR5-6000) and latency CL (CAS latency, delay in clock cycles). A higher rate and lower CL are faster but usually cost more.

Where do the prices come from and how current are they?

Prices come from amazon.com and are retrieved automatically. Every row shows its price timestamp with date and time. The last update ran on Oct 28, 2026 at 3:17 AM UTC.

Shipping and sales tax are not included. Amazon prices can change at any time, and the price in your cart is what counts. Found an error? Report it directly in the details of a listing with "Report an error". All rules are on the page Methodology: how the TB index works.