The most expensive knives in CS2 are knives with the rare gems of the Doppler and Gamma Doppler finishes. The priciest on the market right now is the Butterfly Knife | Doppler Black Pearl, at about $15,500 for a Factory New copy. Next come the Butterfly Knife | Doppler Ruby (about $10,500) and a group of knives at roughly $6,400 to $7,500: the M9 Bayonet and Karambit in Ruby and the Butterfly Knife and Karambit in Emerald. The Karambit | Case Hardened with a Blue Gem pattern is a separate story, since it trades outside the regular market. CS:GO inventories carried over to CS2 unchanged, so these are the same items that topped the knife market in the old game, and the old classics still hold their place: the Butterfly Knife and M9 Bayonet in Crimson Web.
Below we break down what drives a knife's price, then rank the most expensive knives by live LIS-SKINS prices, with the finish, case, available wears and price for each.
What Drives Knife Prices in Counter-Strike 2
A knife's price in CS2 comes down to several factors:
Rarity. A knife or gloves drop from a case with a 0.26% chance, about once in 385 openings. A specific model with a specific finish, let alone a gem, is far rarer.
Finish and phase. Doppler and Gamma Doppler come in phases and gems: Black Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald cost several times more than regular phases. A Karambit | Doppler Phase 2 costs about $1,800, while a Ruby goes for about $7,350.
Model. The Butterfly Knife, Karambit and M9 Bayonet consistently cost more than other models with the same finish.
Wear. The gap between wears is huge: a Battle-Scarred Butterfly Knife | Crimson Web costs about $520, while Factory New is about $4,900.
StatTrak. The counter version usually costs more, and on rare gems the gap is especially wide: the only listed StatTrak Karambit | Doppler Black Pearl is priced at about $17,000.
Demand. Expensive knives are sometimes treated as long-term holdings, but prices move both ways. Since October 2025 knives can also be obtained through a trade-up of five Covert skins, which may add to supply.
For comparison, the cheapest knives in CS2 now start at about $35; see our list of the cheapest knives. A full catalog of models with prices is in all CS2 knives.
Most Expensive Knives in CS2 and CS:GO: Top Items
The ranking uses prices of regular (non-StatTrak) copies in the best available wear. We start with the knife that stands apart.
Karambit | Case Hardened: Blue Gem
The Karambit is a curved-blade knife held in a reverse grip, with the index finger through the ring on the handle. It was one of the first knives in the game and is still among the most sought-after models, together with the Butterfly Knife and M9 Bayonet.
The Karambit | Case Hardened comes in all five wears and usually costs from about $660 in Battle-Scarred to about $1,550 in Factory New. The placement of blue on the blade, however, is set by the pattern index, and copies with an almost fully blue play side (Blue Gem) change hands in private deals for tens or hundreds of times the regular price. We covered the most famous one in our article on the most expensive knife.
Butterfly Knife | Doppler Black Pearl
The most expensive knife on the market today. Black Pearl is the rarest Doppler gem: a dark metallic blade with purple and blue shimmer. The Butterfly Knife | Doppler Black Pearl drops from the Spectrum Case and Spectrum 2 Case, comes only in Factory New and Minimal Wear and costs about $15,500. The same gem ranks high on other models too: about $8,350 on a Karambit and about $7,000 on an M9 Bayonet.
Butterfly Knife | Doppler Ruby
The Butterfly Knife | Doppler Ruby has a deep red blade with a translucent wave pattern. It comes from the same Spectrum cases, in Factory New and Minimal Wear, at about $10,500 and about $10,000 respectively. The Butterfly Knife is also valued for its animations: the hidden blade flips open in a striking motion on inspect.
M9 Bayonet | Doppler Ruby
The large blade of the M9 Bayonet shows off the ruby finish particularly well. The M9 Bayonet | Doppler Ruby drops from the Chroma cases and costs about $7,450 in Factory New.
Butterfly Knife | Gamma Doppler Emerald
Emerald is the signature Gamma Doppler gem: the blade shifts through shades of green with a pattern that resembles a gemstone. The Butterfly Knife | Gamma Doppler Emerald comes from the Operation Riptide Case and Dreams & Nightmares Case, in Factory New (about $7,400) and Minimal Wear (about $7,350).
Karambit | Doppler Ruby
The curved blade glows bright red, and the finger ring is painted to match. The Karambit | Doppler drops from the Chroma cases, and Ruby is one of its rarest variants. Factory New costs about $7,350.
Karambit | Gamma Doppler Emerald
The blade shimmers in every shade of green, with a bright green finger ring. The Karambit | Gamma Doppler Emerald from the Gamma cases costs about $7,300 in Factory New, nearly the same as the Ruby Karambit.
Butterfly Knife | Doppler Sapphire
The blade carries metallic paint with a translucent wave pattern in shades of blue that resembles sapphire. The Butterfly Knife | Doppler Sapphire costs about $6,450 in Factory New and about $6,700 in Minimal Wear; very few Minimal Wear copies are listed, which keeps that price higher.
M9 Bayonet | Gamma Doppler Emerald
A metallic surface with a gradient of greens on a large blade, which is why collectors like this variant. The M9 Bayonet | Gamma Doppler Emerald from the Gamma cases costs about $6,400.
Butterfly Knife | Crimson Web
One of the oldest Butterfly Knife finishes: the model arrived in 2014 with the Operation Breakout Weapon Case. A red blade with a black web and a black handle. It is the clearest example of how wear works: Battle-Scarred costs about $520, while a rare Factory New copy is about $4,900, because clean copies with a well-placed web are scarce.
Karambit | Doppler Sapphire
A blade in rich shades of blue with a wave pattern, and a finger ring in the same color. The Karambit | Doppler Sapphire costs about $4,850 in Factory New and about $4,750 in Minimal Wear.
M9 Bayonet | Crimson Web
After the Butterfly Knife, this is the most expensive non-gem knife in the ranking. A red blade with a black web on the large M9 Bayonet, it is one of the oldest finishes in the game: it drops from the earliest cases, including the CS:GO Weapon Case and Operation Bravo Case, and also exists as StatTrak.
Wear drives almost the entire price. The finish's float starts at 0.06, so Factory New only exists in the narrow 0.06 to 0.07 window, and very few such copies are on the market. A Factory New M9 Bayonet | Crimson Web costs about $4,500, Minimal Wear about $750 and Battle-Scarred about $410. On Factory New copies the web placement matters too: the more symmetrical and visible the web on the play side, the higher the price.
Butterfly Knife | Lore
A gold blade with metallic sheen and an intricate ornament, plus a green handle with inlays. The Butterfly Knife | Lore from the Operation Riptide Case and Dreams & Nightmares Case comes in all five wears, from about $480 in Battle-Scarred to about $1,900 in Factory New.
Talon Knife | Doppler Sapphire
A deep blue blade and an ivory handle with brass rivets. The Talon Knife | Doppler Sapphire drops from the Prisma Case and Prisma 2 Case. It costs about $1,750 in Factory New and about $2,100 in Minimal Wear, where supply is thinner.
Butterfly Knife | Marble Fade
A metallic blade with a marble texture in blue, yellow, red and purple. The finish only comes in Factory New (about $1,350) and Minimal Wear (about $1,450). Pattern matters a lot here: the most valuable variants are Max Red Tip, with the most red at the tip, and Fire & Ice. Our Marble Fade pattern guide shows how these patterns are graded, using the Karambit as the example.
Skeleton Knife | Crimson Web
A bright red blade with a black web, a tape-wrapped handle and a large finger ring. The Skeleton Knife | Crimson Web drops from the Shattered Web Case and Fracture Case. As with the Butterfly Knife, wear drives the price: from about $220 in Battle-Scarred to about $1,300 in Factory New.
M9 Bayonet | Autotronic
A blade in a red and black technical-style finish. The M9 Bayonet | Autotronic drops from the Gamma Case and Gamma 2 Case and comes in all five wears and as StatTrak. Its price spread across wears is much narrower than Crimson Web's: from about $530 in Battle-Scarred to about $1,250 in Factory New.
Karambit | Lore
The same gold blade with a Celtic ornament as the M9 Bayonet below, on the curved Karambit with its finger ring. The Lore series takes its style from the AWP | Dragon Lore. The Karambit | Lore from the Gamma Case and Gamma 2 Case comes in all five wears and as StatTrak, from about $460 in Battle-Scarred to about $1,150 in Factory New.
M9 Bayonet | Lore
A gold blade with a translucent Celtic-style weave and a dark green textured handle. It drops from the Gamma Case and Gamma 2 Case and also exists as StatTrak. Prices run from about $340 in Battle-Scarred to about $1,100 in Factory New.
Two more popular high-end knives sit right at this line. The Butterfly Knife | Tiger Tooth only comes in Factory New (about $1,100) and Minimal Wear (about $1,150). The Karambit | Marble Fade costs about $1,050 in Factory New, but as with the Butterfly Knife in this finish, the pattern can push individual copies much higher.
Price Comparison
Every knife from the ranking in one table, by price in the best available wear (the Karambit | Case Hardened is listed without the Blue Gem premium):
| Knife | Factory New price |
|---|---|
| Butterfly Knife | Doppler Black Pearl | about $15,500 |
| Butterfly Knife | Doppler Ruby | about $10,500 |
| M9 Bayonet | Doppler Ruby | about $7,450 |
| Butterfly Knife | Gamma Doppler Emerald | about $7,400 |
| Karambit | Doppler Ruby | about $7,350 |
| Karambit | Gamma Doppler Emerald | about $7,300 |
| Butterfly Knife | Doppler Sapphire | about $6,450 |
| M9 Bayonet | Gamma Doppler Emerald | about $6,400 |
| Butterfly Knife | Crimson Web | about $4,900 |
| Karambit | Doppler Sapphire | about $4,850 |
| M9 Bayonet | Crimson Web | about $4,500 |
| Butterfly Knife | Lore | about $1,900 |
| Talon Knife | Doppler Sapphire | about $1,750 |
| Karambit | Case Hardened | about $1,550 |
| Butterfly Knife | Marble Fade | about $1,350 |
| Skeleton Knife | Crimson Web | about $1,300 |
| M9 Bayonet | Autotronic | about $1,250 |
| Karambit | Lore | about $1,150 |
| M9 Bayonet | Lore | about $1,100 |
The top of the ranking is almost entirely Doppler and Gamma Doppler gems. For how these finishes differ from Fade, see our Fade vs Doppler comparison, and for weapon skins, our list of the most expensive skins in CS2.
FAQ
What is the most expensive knife in CS2 and CS:GO?
On the open market it is the Butterfly Knife | Doppler Black Pearl, at about $15,500 in Factory New. In private deals, rare Karambit | Case Hardened Blue Gem patterns sell for more. Items from the old game moved to CS2 with players' inventories in September 2023, so the list is the same for both.
Why are gem knives so expensive?
Black Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald are rare variants of the Doppler and Gamma Doppler finishes that drop far less often than regular phases. On top of that, knives themselves drop from a case with only a 0.26% chance.
How much does the cheapest knife in CS2 cost?
The most affordable knives start at about $35, more than 400 times less than the top of this ranking.
Can you get an expensive knife through crafting?
Yes, since 2025 a trade-up of exactly five Covert skins (all regular or all StatTrak) returns a random knife or gloves from those skins' collections, but no specific knife or gem is guaranteed. See our guide to crafting knives and gloves.
