How much does it cost to just have a knife in CS2? We took the cheapest listing of every one of the 20 knife types on 13 October 2026, using the lowest price from Skinport, Pricempire and market.csgo.com. Since the October 2025 trade-up update pushed entry knife prices down, nine knife types now start under $50.
All 20 knife types, cheapest first
| Knife | Cheapest listing | Wear | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navaja Knife | Scorched | Field-Tested | $34.87 |
| Shadow Daggers | Black Laminate | Well-Worn | $34.91 |
| Kukri Knife | Boreal Forest | Battle-Scarred | $36.82 |
| Survival Knife | Forest DDPAT | Field-Tested | $37.93 |
| Paracord Knife | Forest DDPAT | Field-Tested | $38.05 |
| Gut Knife | Scorched | Field-Tested | $42.33 |
| Bowie Knife | Rust Coat | Battle-Scarred | $43.08 |
| Huntsman Knife | Rust Coat | Battle-Scarred | $46.25 |
| Ursus Knife | Safari Mesh | Field-Tested | $48.24 |
| Falchion Knife | Safari Mesh | Field-Tested | $50.33 |
| Classic Knife | Forest DDPAT | Battle-Scarred | $57.37 |
| Nomad Knife | Safari Mesh | Battle-Scarred | $69.48 |
| Flip Knife | Boreal Forest | Well-Worn | $103.83 |
| Skeleton Knife | Boreal Forest | Battle-Scarred | $105.76 |
| Bayonet | Safari Mesh | Battle-Scarred | $108.99 |
| Stiletto Knife | Boreal Forest | Battle-Scarred | $114.86 |
| Talon Knife | Boreal Forest | Battle-Scarred | $179.72 |
| M9 Bayonet | Safari Mesh | Well-Worn | $266.55 |
| Karambit | Boreal Forest | Field-Tested | $364.67 |
| Butterfly Knife | Safari Mesh | Field-Tested | $389.57 |
We left out a few listings that were priced far below the same skin in worse wear, since those are usually stale or mistaken prices. Prices move every day, so check before you buy.
What the list shows
The camo finishes are the floor. Safari Mesh, Boreal Forest, Forest DDPAT, Scorched and Rust Coat make up almost the whole list. They are the least wanted finishes on every knife, so they set the entry price.
The knife model matters more than the finish. The cheapest Butterfly costs more than eleven times the cheapest Navaja in the same kind of camo. Karambit, Butterfly, M9 Bayonet and Talon carry the biggest model premium.
Wear barely matters at the bottom. For most cheap knives, Field-Tested, Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred sit within a few dollars of each other. A Navaja | Scorched is $34.87 in Field-Tested and $43.09 in Battle-Scarred, so worse wear is not always cheaper.
Some finishes skip wears. Rust Coat has a float range of 0.40 to 1.00, so on the Bowie and Huntsman it only exists in Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred.
Where each cheap knife comes from
If you would rather unbox, these are the cases that drop the finish in our list. Our knife list has every other finish:
| Cheapest finish of | Cases |
|---|---|
| Navaja, Stiletto, Talon, Ursus | Danger Zone, Horizon |
| Shadow Daggers | Dreams & Nightmares, Operation Riptide |
| Bowie, Huntsman | Spectrum, Spectrum 2 |
| Falchion | Falchion Case |
| Kukri | Kilowatt Case, Gallery Case |
| Survival, Paracord, Nomad, Skeleton | Fracture, Shattered Web |
| Classic Knife | CS20 Case |
| Gut, Flip, Bayonet, M9 Bayonet, Karambit | 11 older cases, from the CS:GO Weapon Case to the Revolver Case |
| Butterfly | Operation Breakout only |
But the math is clear. A knife is a 0.26% drop, about one in 385 openings. Even in the cheapest current cases that is roughly $1,000 in cases and keys on average for one knife of any kind, while nine types start under $50. Our case expected value ranking shows how little of a case’s value the knife slot actually adds.
Other ways to a cheap knife
- Buy the camo version of the model you like. It is the same knife with a different finish.
- The knife trade-up: five Covert skins from one case can become a knife from that case’s pool. It is still a gamble, as our knife trade-up guide explains, and five Coverts usually cost about what an entry knife does.
- Skip StatTrak if price is the goal. The StatTrak version of a cheap camo costs noticeably more: the cheapest StatTrak Kukri | Boreal Forest was $46.45 (Field-Tested), against $36.82 for the cheapest normal one. Our StatTrak guide explains the premium.
Gloves are a separate market. For the cheapest pair of each glove type, see our glove case guide.
