Superconducting quantum computer price: chips, systems and cloud access in 2026
Superconducting qubits are the technology inside IBM's Heron and Nighthawk processors, Rigetti's Cepheus and Novera, IQM's machines and Google's Willow. Very few superconducting prices are published. This page lists every one we could trace to the vendor itself, separates the chip from the complete system (the chip alone needs a dilution refrigerator and control electronics before it computes), and sets the cloud rates beside them, with a calculator for your own job. For every technology, see the quantum computer price list.
1.Published purchase prices
Table 1: Superconducting quantum hardware with a published price
| Product | What you get | Published price | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| QuantWare Soprano-D Bare superconducting QPU chip | Chip only: you supply the dilution refrigerator, wiring and control electronics | from EUR 60,000 launch starting price, 29 Feb 2024 | vendor source |
| QuantWare Contralto-D Bare superconducting QPU chip | Chip only, larger model range | from EUR 300,000 launch starting price, 29 Feb 2024 | vendor source |
| Rigetti Novera QPU 9-qubit bare module | Hardware below the fridge's mixing-chamber plate: chip, carrier, shielding, signalling | from $900,000 launch starting price, Dec 2023 | vendor source |
| IQM Spark 5-qubit complete system | Complete on-premise system, one year of free maintenance, training | under EUR 1 million IQM launch release, 30 Aug 2023 | vendor source |
| Rigetti Novera system 9-qubit complete system | Processor, dilution refrigerator and Rigetti control systems | about $5.7M for two two purchase orders, 30 Sep 2025; about $2.85M each (our division) | vendor source |
| IBM Quantum On-Prem Plan Dedicated IBM system on your site | Dedicated on-premise system serviced and maintained by IBM | quote only IBM: "Price requires quote" | quote only |
Sources: QuantWare release, 29 February 2024 (its site shows no current prices); Rigetti's December 2023 Novera launch release, republished in full (rigetti.com/novera shows no price today); IQM release, 30 August 2023; Rigetti release, 30 September 2025; ibm.com/quantum/pricing. All read 22 October 2026. Launch prices are the vendor's figure at launch, not a current quote, and euro prices are left in euros.
The gap between the two kinds of row is the point. A chip is the part that holds the qubits, but it only works a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, inside a dilution refrigerator, wired to room-temperature control electronics. QuantWare's and Rigetti's chip prices exclude all of that. IQM Spark and the Novera system orders include it, which is why they cost several times more. What the rest of the build involves is on the cost to build a quantum computer page, and chip prices across every technology are on the quantum CPU price page.
2.Price your own job on superconducting hardware
Enter your shot count, the number of circuits and, for the time-billed providers, the minutes of processor time you expect. The figures update as you type.
Shots and circuits price AWS Braket, which bills $0.30 per task plus a per-shot rate. Runtime prices IBM Quantum and Azure Quantum's Rigetti, which bill the seconds your jobs run on the processor, not shots.
Per-shot billing (AWS Braket), cheapest first
Per-minute billing (IBM, Azure Rigetti), cheapest first
Our arithmetic over published rates: Braket = circuits x ($0.30 + shots x per-shot rate); IBM and Azure = minutes x per-minute rate. IBM Flex and Premium rates need an annual minimum (400 and 5,200 minutes). IBM's Open Plan covers up to 10 minutes a month free.
3.Which route fits
Table 2: Seven ways to get superconducting qubits, and what each costs
| Route | Published price | Suits | You still need |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free cloud tier | $0 (IBM Open Plan, up to 10 min/month) | Learning, testing a circuit on real hardware | Queue time; 10-minute cap |
| Pay per shot | $0.30 per task + $0.000425 to $0.0016 per shot (Braket) | Occasional experiments, benchmarking several machines | Nothing: no commitment |
| Pay per minute | $96/min PAYG; $72 or $48/min with an annual minimum | Regular work on IBM's Heron and Nighthawk processors | Flex 400 min/yr or Premium 5,200 min/yr to get the lower rates |
| Reserve a machine by the hour | $3,000 to $4,100/hour (IQM, Rigetti on Braket Direct) | Workshops, calibration-sensitive runs, deadlines | You pay for the booked window, used or not |
| Buy a bare chip | from EUR 60,000 (QuantWare, 2024) or $900,000 (Novera, 2023) | Labs that already run a dilution refrigerator and control stack | Fridge, wiring, control electronics, staff |
| Buy a complete system | under EUR 1M (IQM Spark, 5 qubits); about $2.85M each (Novera, 9 qubits) | Universities and companies building in-house expertise | Lab space, power, operators |
| Dedicated IBM system on site | Quote only (IBM On-Prem Plan) | National labs, large research partnerships | A negotiated contract |
Cloud rates from IBM and AWS Braket pricing pages, read 22 October 2026; purchase prices as Table 1.
4.Cloud rates on superconducting machines
Three public clouds rent superconducting processors, each billing a different way:
- AWS Braket bills $0.30 per task plus a per-shot rate: $0.000425 on Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q, $0.00145 on IQM Garnet and $0.0016 on IQM Emerald. A 10,000-shot circuit therefore costs $4.55, $14.80 or $16.30 (our arithmetic). Reserving a whole machine on Braket Direct costs $3,000 an hour (IQM Garnet), $4,000 (IQM Emerald) or $4,100 (Rigetti Cepheus). See AWS Braket pricing.
- IBM Quantum bills processor runtime on its Heron and Nighthawk machines: free for up to 10 minutes a month on the Open Plan, then $96 a minute Pay-As-You-Go, $72 on Flex (400-minute annual minimum) and $48 on Premium (5,200-minute annual minimum). See IBM Quantum pricing.
- Azure Quantum bills Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q at $0.02 per 10-millisecond increment of execution time, with no per-shot or per-job charge. See Azure Quantum pricing.
Google's Willow is superconducting too, but Google neither sells it nor rents it commercially (Google Willow pricing). For every way to rent a quantum computer, including trapped-ion and neutral-atom machines, see rent a quantum computer.
5.How we priced this
We list a price only when the vendor itself published it: a pricing page, a launch release or a purchase-order announcement. Each was read on 22 October 2026 and recorded with its source. Launch prices carry their launch date because vendors rarely restate them. The $2.85 million per Novera system is $5.7 million divided by the two systems Rigetti announced, and the 10,000-shot costs are Braket's task fee plus 10,000 times the per-shot rate. We state no price for a dilution refrigerator, control electronics or a cost per qubit, because no supplier publishes one. Figures we could not trace to a vendor are left out rather than estimated. Full rules: methodology.
6.Frequently asked questions
Answers checked 22 October 2026.
How much does a superconducting quantum computer cost?
Published prices start with the bare processor: QuantWare launched its Soprano-D chip from EUR 60,000 and Contralto-D from EUR 300,000 (February 2024), and Rigetti launched its 9-qubit Novera QPU from $900,000 (December 2023). A complete system costs more: IQM sells its 5-qubit IQM Spark for under EUR 1 million (August 2023 launch), and Rigetti announced purchase orders for two complete 9-qubit Novera systems totalling about $5.7 million (September 2025), about $2.85 million each. IBM's dedicated on-premise systems are quote only. Prices read from each vendor's own release or pricing page on 22 October 2026.
What is the cheapest superconducting quantum computer you can buy?
The lowest published price for a complete superconducting system is IQM Spark, a 5-qubit machine IQM sells for under EUR 1 million including a year of free maintenance. A bare chip is cheaper (QuantWare Soprano-D launched from EUR 60,000), but a chip on its own does nothing without a dilution refrigerator and control electronics, which are not included.
How much does it cost to use a superconducting quantum computer in the cloud?
On AWS Braket every task costs $0.30 plus a per-shot rate: $0.000425 on Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q, $0.00145 on IQM Garnet and $0.0016 on IQM Emerald, so a 10,000-shot circuit costs $4.55, $14.80 or $16.30 (our arithmetic). IBM Quantum bills runtime on its Heron and Nighthawk processors at $96 a minute Pay-As-You-Go, $72 on Flex and $48 on Premium, and its Open Plan is free for up to 10 minutes a month. Azure Quantum bills Rigetti at $0.02 per 10 milliseconds of execution time.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy a superconducting quantum computer?
Renting, unless you need the machine on site. At IBM's $96 a minute, the price of one complete Novera system in Rigetti's 2025 orders (about $2.85 million) buys roughly 29,700 minutes of runtime, and a 10,000-shot circuit on Rigetti via Braket costs $4.55. Buying makes sense for organisations that want to build hardware expertise, benchmark their own components, or run experiments a cloud queue cannot support.
Can I buy an IBM or Google superconducting quantum computer?
IBM sells dedicated on-premise systems through its On-Prem Plan, but publishes no price: the pricing page says "Price requires quote". Google does not sell its Willow processor and offers no commercial cloud access; access is by research collaboration. IBM's processors can be rented by the minute on IBM Quantum.
See also: quantum computer price list · quantum CPU price · Rigetti pricing · IBM Quantum System Two price · cost calculator. Corrections: oliver@digitalsignet.com.