Rigetti pricing in 2026: the cheapest gate-model device, two ways to bill it
Rigetti's Cepheus-1-108Q is the cheapest per-shot gate-model quantum computer on the cloud, and it is sold through both AWS Braket and Azure Quantum on structurally different meters. AWS Braket charges a flat $0.30 task fee plus $0.000425 per shot, so the bill scales with shots alone and stays small. Azure Quantum charges Rigetti purely by execution time ($0.02 per 10-millisecond increment, roughly $120 per minute) with no per-shot or per-gate charge, so the bill scales with how long the circuit occupies the QPU. This page states Rigetti's verified rates on each platform, explains why the same job can cost very differently on each, and covers the Novera on-premise purchase price for teams weighing buy versus rent. Rates verified against the AWS Braket and Azure Quantum pricing pages on 2026-07-22.
1.The hardware: Cepheus-1-108Q
Rigetti builds superconducting quantum computers using a modular, chiplet-based architecture. Its 2026 flagship, Cepheus-1-108Q, reached general availability on 7 April 2026 and is built from twelve interconnected 9-qubit chiplets, tripling the qubit count of the earlier 36-qubit Cepheus. It runs at about 99.1% median two-qubit gate fidelity, 99.9% median single-qubit fidelity and a roughly 60-nanosecond gate speed, with Rigetti targeting about 99.5% two-qubit fidelity later in 2026. Its superconducting fidelity is lower than trapped-ion machines (IonQ Forte at ~99.6%, Quantinuum H2 at ~99.8%), which is the trade-off for its far lower per-shot price.
Table 1 — Rigetti two-qubit gate fidelity (reported)
| Hardware | 2Q fidelity | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q (production, Apr 2026) | 99.1% | 2026 |
2.Rigetti on AWS Braket: flat per-shot
On AWS Braket, Rigetti bills the same way every Braket device does: a flat $0.30 per-task fee plus a per-shot rate that does not depend on gate count. At $0.000425 per shot, Cepheus is the cheapest gate-model device on Braket, roughly 180x cheaper per shot than IonQ Forte ($0.08/shot). The bill is driven by shots alone, so a 10,000-shot circuit costs about $4.55 regardless of how deep the circuit is. Dedicated (reserved) capacity is billed hourly instead.
Table 2 — Rigetti on AWS Braket, 2026
| Offering | Qubits | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Braket — Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q | 108 | $0.000425 per shot | verified primary |
The row carries the $0.30/task fee on top of the per-shot rate. Cepheus reserved (dedicated) capacity is $4,100/hour. Verified against aws.amazon.com/braket/pricing, 2026-07-22.
3.Rigetti on Azure Quantum: per unit of time
Azure Quantum bills Rigetti on a completely different axis: execution time. There is no per-task, per-shot or per-gate charge; you pay $0.02 per 10-millisecond increment of the time your job occupies the QPU. That works out to about $2 per second, or roughly $120 per minute. The Quantum Virtual Machine (QVM) simulator is free under all plans. Because the meter is time, not shots, the Azure bill for Rigetti does not depend on how many shots you run, only on how long the circuit takes to execute.
Table 3 — Rigetti on Azure Quantum, 2026 (pay-as-you-go)
| Device | Qubits | Billing unit | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Quantum — Rigetti Cepheus | 108 | $0.02 per 10-ms increment of job execution time | ~$120 / min $2 / sec |
Plus Azure infrastructure (storage) costs. No per-shot or per-gate charge; the QVM simulator is free. Verified against learn.microsoft.com/azure/quantum/pricing (doc updated 2026-04-23), checked 2026-07-22.
4.Which platform is cheaper for Rigetti?
For almost every batch workload, Braket wins, and often by a lot, because the two clouds meter different things. Braket bills per shot ($0.000425); Azure bills per unit of QPU time ($0.02 per 10 ms). That means:
- Shot-heavy batch jobs are trivially cheap on Braket: 10,000 shots is about $4.55 no matter how long each shot takes. On Azure the same job's cost depends purely on total execution time.
- Long-running circuits get expensive fast on Azure ($120/minute), while Braket's per-shot fee is indifferent to how long a shot takes.
- Very short jobs are the only case where Azure's time meter can compete: a sub-second run costs under $2 on Azure, though Braket's $0.30 task fee plus a handful of shots is comparably cheap.
Table 4 — Worked example: one Cepheus circuit on each platform
| Platform · basis | Assumed job | Cost (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Braket · per shot | 10,000 shots · $0.30 + 10,000 × $0.000425 | $4.55 |
| Azure Quantum · per time | 10-second QPU run · 1,000 × 10-ms increments × $0.02 | $20.00 |
| Azure Quantum · per time | 60-second QPU run · 6,000 × 10-ms increments × $0.02 | $120.00 |
Illustrative models, not published totals: the Braket figure is the flat per-shot fee applied to 10,000 shots; each Azure figure is the $0.02-per-10-ms rate applied to the stated execution time. Because Braket meters shots and Azure meters seconds, the two columns cannot be equated without your circuit's actual runtime. For typical shot-batch workloads on Rigetti, Braket is the cheaper platform by a wide margin.
5.Buying Rigetti hardware: the Novera QPU
Rigetti is one of the few vendors that will sell you a quantum computer outright. Its on-premise product is the Novera, a 9-qubit superconducting system (built on the same chiplet technology as Cepheus, with a separate companion chip used for calibration). In September 2025 Rigetti announced purchase orders for two complete Novera systems totalling about $5.7 million, roughly $2.85 million each, with delivery in the first half of 2026. The bare Novera QPU module launched in 2023 at about $900,000, but that figure is no longer published and the module still needs its own dilution refrigerator and control electronics to operate. For nearly every team, renting Cepheus on the cloud, where a 10,000-shot circuit costs a few dollars, is far cheaper than buying and running hardware.
Turnkey price is the buyer-confirmed figure from Rigetti's September 2025 purchase-order announcement (investors.rigetti.com); the ~$900,000 module price is the 2023 launch figure (industry-reported, no longer published). Hardware costs only, excluding cryogenics, facilities and staff. See the full quantum computer price list for other purchasable systems.
6.Frequently asked questions
How much does Rigetti quantum computing cost in 2026?
It depends on which cloud you run it through, because the two platforms meter Rigetti on different axes. On AWS Braket, the Cepheus-1-108Q is a flat $0.30 task fee plus $0.000425 per shot, so a 10,000-shot circuit costs about $4.55. On Azure Quantum, the same device is billed purely by execution time at $0.02 per 10-millisecond increment (about $2 per second, or $120 per minute) with no per-shot or per-gate charge. Rigetti is the cheapest gate-model device on Braket by a wide margin; on Azure the bill depends entirely on how long your job occupies the QPU.
Is Rigetti cheaper on AWS Braket or Azure Quantum?
For almost every batch workload, AWS Braket is far cheaper for Rigetti. Braket charges $0.000425 per shot, so even a 10,000-shot circuit is only about $4.55. Azure charges by wall-clock QPU time ($0.02 per 10 ms, i.e. $120/minute) regardless of shot count, so a job that occupies the processor for even 30 seconds costs about $60. Azure's time model only competes for very short runs. To compare them you need your circuit's execution time on Rigetti hardware, because Braket bills shots and Azure bills seconds.
How much does a Rigetti Novera quantum computer cost to buy?
Rigetti sells the Novera as an on-premise 9-qubit system. In September 2025 it announced purchase orders for two full Novera systems totalling about $5.7 million, roughly $2.85 million each, with delivery in the first half of 2026. The bare Novera QPU module launched in 2023 at about $900,000, but that price is no longer published and the module needs its own dilution refrigerator and control electronics before it will run. Most users rent Cepheus access on the cloud instead, where a 10,000-shot circuit costs a few dollars.
What is Rigetti's Cepheus-1-108Q?
Cepheus-1-108Q is Rigetti's flagship 108-qubit superconducting quantum computer, generally available since 7 April 2026. It is built from twelve interconnected 9-qubit chiplets (Rigetti's modular, chiplet-based architecture) and runs at about 99.1% median two-qubit gate fidelity, 99.9% median single-qubit fidelity and a roughly 60-nanosecond gate speed. Rigetti is targeting about 99.5% median two-qubit fidelity later in 2026. It is accessible through Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services, AWS Braket, Azure Quantum and qBraid.
Why is Rigetti so much cheaper than IonQ on AWS Braket?
On Braket, Rigetti Cepheus is $0.000425 per shot versus $0.08 per shot for IonQ Forte, roughly 180x cheaper per shot. The trade-off is fidelity: Rigetti's superconducting qubits run at about 99.1% two-qubit gate fidelity against IonQ's trapped-ion ~99.6%, so deep circuits may need more shots on Rigetti to return usable results, which narrows the real-world gap. For shot-heavy, shallower circuits where fidelity is adequate, Rigetti is dramatically cheaper.
See also: AWS Braket pricing · Azure Quantum pricing · IonQ pricing · cost calculator · quantum computer price list · providers index. Independent reference, no affiliate revenue. Corrections: oliver@digitalsignet.com.