Desktop quantum computer price in 2026: what a personal machine actually costs
An NMR quantum computer costs ¥1,408,000 (about $8,900) at the bottom of SpinQ's range, but that 2-qubit Gemini Mini is sold out. The one you can order today is the 2-qubit Gemini Lab at ¥6,930,000, about $44,000. These are Switch Science's tax-inclusive list prices in Japan, read on 29 October 2026 and converted at the ECB reference rate that day (158.06 yen to the dollar). SpinQ itself quotes on request.
- Lowest list price: Gemini Mini, ¥1,408,000 (~$8,900), sold out.
- Orderable now: Gemini Lab, ¥6,930,000 (~$44,000), special order, usually 2-3 months.
- Discontinued: Gemini ¥7,150,000 (~$45,000) and 3-qubit Triangulum ¥8,910,000 (~$56,000).
- Cheaper route to real qubits: IBM's Open Plan is free for up to 10 minutes a month; a 10,000-shot Rigetti job on AWS Braket costs $4.55.
A "desktop", "personal" or "NMR" quantum computer is a specific, small category: nuclear-magnetic-resonance machines with 2-3 qubits, built for education rather than computation. This page lists what they cost, which can be ordered today, what you actually get, and why nothing at research scale fits on a desk. For running a real workload on a 100-plus-qubit machine, the practical route is cloud rental, priced separately in the full quantum computer price list and the cost calculator.
1.NMR and desktop quantum computers you can buy
SpinQ, a Shenzhen company, is the maker whose desktop NMR machines carry public list prices. SpinQ itself quotes on request. The prices come from its Japanese retailer, Switch Science, in yen including Japanese consumption tax; the dollar figures convert them at the ECB reference rate of 29 October 2026 (158.06 yen to the dollar), so they move with the exchange rate.
Table 1: NMR (desktop) quantum computers, list prices checked 29 October 2026
| System | Qubits | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpinQ Gemini Mini Portable NMR unit that runs at room temperature: 14 kg, coherence time over 20 ms, touchscreen with 18 built-in demo algorithms. Aimed at classrooms and self-teaching. Listed at ¥1,408,000 including Japanese consumption tax; sold out when checked on 29 October 2026. | 2 qubits | ¥1,408,000 (~$8,900) not orderable | verified primary |
| SpinQ Gemini Lab NMR "quantum computing experiment platform" for hands-on lab work: 0.65 tesla permanent magnet, T2 coherence over 300 ms, 18.5 kg, SpinQit SDK support. Listed at ¥6,930,000 including tax as a special order (usually 2-3 months), bank transfer only. The one SpinQ NMR machine Switch Science would take an order for on 29 October 2026. | 2 qubits | ¥6,930,000 (~$44,000) orderable | verified primary |
| SpinQ Gemini Bench-top NMR machine: 44 kg, coherence time over 20 ms, over 200 single-qubit gate operations. Last listed at ¥7,150,000 including tax; the listing is marked discontinued. | 2 qubits | ¥7,150,000 (~$45,000) not orderable | verified primary |
| SpinQ Triangulum The largest of SpinQ's desktop line, a 3-qubit NMR system for university teaching labs: 40 kg, coherence time over 40 ms. Last listed at ¥8,910,000 including tax; the listing is marked discontinued. | 3 qubits | ¥8,910,000 (~$56,000) not orderable | verified primary |
Yen list prices and stock states read at switch-science.com on 29 October 2026; dollar figures are conversions, not US prices. Specifications are the retailer's. NMR machines are limited to a few qubits by the physics of the technology, not by budget.
2.Convert the prices, and compare with renting
The dollar price of a SpinQ machine depends on the day's exchange rate, and the honest comparison is with what the same money buys on real cloud hardware. Change the rate or the size of a cloud job below.
Prices are Switch Science's yen list prices including Japanese consumption tax. The default rate is the ECB reference cross rate of 29 October 2026. One cloud job here is one circuit on Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q through AWS Braket: $0.30 per task plus $0.000425 per shot, so 10,000 shots cost $4.55.
NMR machine price in dollars, and the same money spent on cloud jobs
Our arithmetic over the listed inputs: dollars = yen price / your rate; cloud jobs = dollars / (task fee + shots x per-shot rate), rounded down. A conversion, not a US price: SpinQ quotes buyers outside Japan on request.
3.Which one fits: the decision table
Table 2: NMR machine or cloud, by what you need
| Option | Price | Suits | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpinQ Gemini Mini | ¥1,408,000 (~$8,900) | Classroom demonstrations, self-study | Sold out at Switch Science on 29 October 2026 |
| SpinQ Gemini Lab | ¥6,930,000 (~$44,000) | Hands-on lab courses that run their own pulse experiments | Special order, usually 2-3 months; bank transfer |
| SpinQ Gemini or Triangulum | Last listed ¥7,150,000 and ¥8,910,000 | Teaching labs that wanted the bench-top or 3-qubit model | Both listings marked discontinued |
| Cloud access to real hardware | Free (IBM Open Plan, up to 10 min a month); $4.55 per 10,000-shot Rigetti job on AWS Braket | Anyone who needs more than 2-3 qubits | Queue times; no box in the room |
4.What you actually get for the money
A SpinQ NMR unit is a real quantum device: it manipulates 2-3 nuclear-spin qubits and lets you build and run gate sequences, observe superposition and entanglement, and check textbook algorithms on hardware rather than a simulator. What it is not is a general-purpose computer or a research instrument. It will not factor large numbers, run a 100-qubit variational circuit, or replace cloud access to superconducting and trapped-ion machines. The value is pedagogical: a self-contained box with no cloud queue, aimed at classrooms and lab courses.
5.Why nothing at research scale fits on a desk
The jump from a 3-qubit NMR unit to a research-grade machine is a jump in infrastructure, not just price. Superconducting qubits (IBM, Rigetti, Google) must sit inside a dilution refrigerator held near absolute zero; trapped-ion machines (IonQ, Quantinuum) need ultra-high-vacuum chambers and laser control systems. None of that fits on a bench. A complete Rigetti 9-qubit Novera system works out at about $2.85 million each including its dilution refrigerator and control systems (two systems ordered for about $5.7 million in September 2025); the bare Novera QPU module, launched in December 2023 at a starting price of $900,000, will not run until the buyer adds that cryogenics. See the superconducting quantum computer price page for the full range of chips and systems.
6.The cheaper alternative: rent, don't buy
For all but pure hands-on teaching, cloud access is both cheaper and vastly more capable than a desktop machine. IBM's Open Plan gives up to 10 minutes of QPU runtime per month for free; a 10,000-shot circuit on AWS Braket's Rigetti Cepheus costs about $4.55; IBM Pay-As-You-Go is $96 per QPU-minute if you outgrow the free tier. See what it costs to rent a quantum computer, the full price list, or estimate a specific job with the calculator.
7.How we priced this
Sources: Switch Science's product pages for the Gemini Mini, Gemini Lab, Gemini and Triangulum, read on 29 October 2026, for price, stock state and specifications; the ECB euro reference rates of 29 October 2026 (175.92 yen and 1.1130 dollars to the euro) for the conversion; AWS Braket pricing and IBM Quantum pricingfor the cloud comparison. Method: yen price divided by the cross rate, rounded to the nearest thousand dollars (hundred for the Gemini Mini). We report the retailer's list price, not a price anyone paid, and SpinQ's own quotes outside Japan may differ.
8.Frequently asked questions
How much does an NMR quantum computer cost?
The NMR quantum computers with public list prices that we could find are SpinQ's, sold in Japan by its retailer Switch Science in yen including consumption tax. The portable 2-qubit Gemini Mini is listed at ¥1,408,000 (about $8,900) but was sold out when checked on 29 October 2026. The NMR machine you can order today is the 2-qubit Gemini Lab at ¥6,930,000 (about $44,000), a special order that usually takes 2-3 months. The bench-top Gemini (¥7,150,000) and 3-qubit Triangulum (¥8,910,000) listings are marked discontinued. Dollar figures convert at the ECB reference rate of 29 October 2026, 158.06 yen to the dollar; SpinQ quotes buyers elsewhere on request.
How much does a desktop quantum computer cost?
A desktop quantum computer means a room-temperature NMR teaching machine, not a research-scale processor. SpinQ's line is the reference point: the portable Gemini Mini (2 qubits) is listed in Japan at ¥1,408,000, about $8,900, though it was sold out on 29 October 2026; the orderable Gemini Lab is ¥6,930,000, about $44,000; and the bench-top Gemini and 3-qubit Triangulum were last listed at ¥7,150,000 and ¥8,910,000, about $45,000 and $56,000. Those are Switch Science's tax-inclusive yen list prices converted at 158.06 yen to the dollar (ECB, 29 October 2026).
What is the price of a quantum PC?
There is no consumer quantum PC in the sense of a machine that replaces your laptop. The closest thing you can put on a desk is a SpinQ NMR unit: the portable Gemini Mini is listed in Japan at ¥1,408,000 (about $8,900, sold out when checked on 29 October 2026), and the Gemini Lab, which can be ordered, at ¥6,930,000 (about $44,000). Both are 2-qubit teaching devices, not general-purpose computers: you use them to learn how quantum circuits behave, not to run everyday software. For real computational scale you rent cloud access to a 100-plus-qubit machine instead of buying a box.
What is the cheapest quantum computer you can buy?
The lowest list price is the SpinQ Gemini Mini at ¥1,408,000 (about $8,900), a portable 2-qubit NMR machine for teaching, but Switch Science listed it as sold out on 29 October 2026. The cheapest SpinQ machine that could be ordered that day was the 2-qubit Gemini Lab at ¥6,930,000 (about $44,000). Anything with more qubits jumps to six or seven figures: IQM sells its 5-qubit superconducting Spark for under EUR 1 million, and a complete Rigetti 9-qubit Novera system works out at about $2.85 million each (two systems ordered for about $5.7 million in September 2025).
Is a desktop quantum computer a real quantum computer?
Yes, but with important limits. SpinQ's desktop machines use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to manipulate 2-3 qubits, so they genuinely run quantum gates and let you observe superposition and entanglement. What they cannot do is scale: NMR desktop units top out at a few qubits and cannot reach the depth or qubit count of the superconducting and trapped-ion machines used for research, which is precisely why those live in labs and are reached over the cloud.
Should I buy an NMR quantum computer or use the cloud?
For learning the mechanics of quantum circuits hands-on, a SpinQ unit is a self-contained, always-available option with no cloud queue. For anything beyond a few qubits, cloud access is far cheaper and far more capable: IBM's Open Plan gives up to 10 minutes of QPU runtime per month free, and a 10,000-shot circuit on AWS Braket's Rigetti Cepheus costs about $4.55. On our arithmetic the Gemini Lab's ¥6,930,000 (about $44,000) would pay for roughly 9,600 such cloud jobs. Use the converter on this page with your own exchange rate and shot count.
See also: full quantum computer price list · superconducting quantum computer price · cost to build a quantum computer · cost calculator · IBM Quantum pricing · methodology. Independent reference, no affiliate revenue. Corrections: oliver@digitalsignet.com.