Blue Robotics is unusual in the ROV world twice over. First, it publishes prices — not "request a quote," but an add-to-cart web store covering both complete vehicles and every screw, thruster and connector that goes into them. Second, it publishes its competitors' prices too, in its own cost guide. That combination makes it the one brand in this category where you can actually reconstruct what an underwater robot costs.
All prices below were read from bluerobotics.com on August 1, 2026, in USD.
The two vehicles
| Vehicle | Configuration | Price |
|---|---|---|
| BlueROV2 | Acrylic enclosure, 100 m depth rating | **$4,900.00** |
| BlueROV2 | Aluminium enclosure, 300 m depth rating | **$5,300.00** |
| BlueROV2 Heavy Kit | Retrofit to 8 thrusters | **$900.00** |
| BlueBoat | Uncrewed surface vessel | **From $4,400.00** |
| BlueBoat BaseStation | Shore radio/control | **$580.00** |
Blue Robotics documents the BlueROV2 as shipping with six T200 thrusters in a vectored layout, "expandable to eight thrusters with the Heavy Configuration Retrofit Kit," and rates the acrylic enclosures to 100 m (330 ft) against 300 m (985 ft) for aluminium.
The configurator is where the money is
The BlueROV2 product page is a composite build. Here is the full option matrix as priced today:
| Component | Options and prices |
|---|---|
| Tether (Fathom, ROV-ready) | Slim 50 m **$250** · Standard 25 m **$260** · Slim 100 m **$440** · Standard 50 m **$440** · Slim 200 m **$820** · Standard 100 m **$830** · Standard 150 m **$1,220** · Standard 200 m **$1,590** · Standard 300 m **$2,330** |
| Lights (Lumen pre-connected) | 2 lights **$385** · 4 lights **$770** |
| Tether spool (Fathom) | Standard 150 m **$820** · Large 300 m **$920** |
| Controller | Xbox Wireless **$70** |
| Sonar | Ping echosounder **$430** · Cerulean Omniscan 450 FS **$2,550** · Ping360 scanning **$2,750** |
| External camera | exploreHD USB **$325** · MarineSitu C3 stereo **$3,950** |
Three realistic builds, priced from that matrix:
- Shallow survey rig — acrylic base + 100 m standard tether + 2 lights + 150 m spool + controller = $7,005
- 300 m Heavy rig — aluminium base + Heavy Kit + 300 m standard tether + 300 m spool + 4 lights + controller = $10,290
- Same, with scanning sonar — add a Ping360 = $13,040
Depth ratings are cheap. Depth *reach* is not
This is the finding buyers should take away. Moving the BlueROV2 from a 100 m acrylic hull to a 300 m aluminium hull costs $400, an 8.2% uplift on the base vehicle. But a hull rated to 300 m is useless without tether to get there — and going from the 50 m standard tether ($440) to the 300 m standard tether ($2,330) costs $1,890, plus another $100 for the larger spool. Reaching the depth costs roughly five times what the depth rating costs.
Put differently: tether and spool on the 300 m build come to $3,250, which is 61% of the vehicle they are attached to. Anyone budgeting an ROV from the headline vehicle price is budgeting the wrong line item.
What the "from" price leaves out
Blue Robotics' own cost guide states the BlueROV2 "averages around $6,500" — 33% above the $4,900 starting price, and the company is describing its own product. Our shallow build lands at $7,005 and the depth-capable Heavy build at $10,290, or 2.1× the from-price. Treat $4,900 as the price of a vehicle, not of a working system.
The component catalogue also lets you check the vehicle's own value. A T200 thruster lists at $230, or $240 as the pre-penetrated BlueROV2 spare. Six of them at spare-part pricing is $1,440 — 29% of the $4,900 base vehicle. The $900 Heavy Kit adds two thrusters; at $240 each that is $480 of thruster, leaving $420 for the frame, buoyancy and hardware.
Sensors and accessories worth knowing
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Newton Subsea Gripper | $720.00 |
| Newton sediment sampler attachment | $290.00 |
| Lumen subsea light (single) | $175.00 |
| Ping sonar altimeter/echosounder | $430.00 |
| Ping360 scanning imaging sonar | $2,750.00 |
| Water Linked DVL | From $8,710.00 |
| Sonoptix ECHO multibeam | From $8,950.00 |
| Cerulean Surveyor multibeam echosounder | $5,132.00 |
| Fathom-X tether interface (FXTI) | $245.00 |
| High-power tether reel for OTPS | $3,475.00 – $3,575.00 |
| BlueROV2 payload skid | $320.00 |
| BlueROV2 spares kit | $385.00 |
The DVL is the step that quietly doubles a budget: at $8,710 it costs more than the vehicle, and it is the component most survey work actually requires.
Where Blue Robotics sits against the market
Blue Robotics publishes its own comparison of observation-class ROV prices — worth reading, with the caveat that these are one manufacturer's figures for its rivals, not quotes we verified independently: Chasing M2 Pro $3,459 and QYSEA FIFISH Pro V6 $2,999 at the consumer end; Deep Trekker Photon around $12,000 and Pivot $17,000 in the middle; VideoRay Defender from about $126,000 and Saab Seaeye Falcon from about $138,000 at the top.
That places a rigged BlueROV2 between the sealed consumer drones and the commercial inspection class. What you trade for the price gap is integration work: this is a kit that expects you to choose a tether length, mount your own sonar and maintain your own vehicle.
Who should buy which
- Teaching, research, shallow inspection under 100 m — acrylic base, slim tether, two lights. Around $6,000–$7,000 all in.
- Commercial inspection to 300 m — aluminium base plus the Heavy Kit; budget $10,000–$13,000 once tether, spool and a sonar are in.
- Survey work needing position hold — add the DVL and expect the total to pass $19,000. At that point, compare against turnkey commercial ROVs before committing.
- You want to unbox and dive today — a sealed consumer ROV will suit you better; the BlueROV2 rewards people who want to modify it.
Browse comparable vehicles on our underwater robot category page, and see how the wider category prices out in our underwater drone price guide.
*Prices read from bluerobotics.com on August 1, 2026 and shown in USD. Configurator options are priced individually; totals above are our own arithmetic from that matrix, before shipping, duties and tax.*
