Best Butterfly Knife Skins in CS2 (2026)

These are our picks for the best Butterfly Knife skins in CS2 at four budgets: under $750, $750 to $1,500, $1,500 to $3,000 and above $3,000. Each pick is the finish we think looks best at that price, in the wear we would buy, with SkinsMonkey prices from 29 October 2026. If you want to see all Butterfly Knife skins first, the WIKI lists every finish with its price.

The Butterfly is one of the most popular knives in CS2 because of how it moves: two handles rotate around the blade, and the knife flips open every time you draw or inspect it. That makes the blade more visible than on most knives, so a finish with a clear colour matters more here. This list is about looks. For prices alone, see our lists of the most expensive and the cheapest Butterfly Knife skins.

How We Picked These Butterfly Knife Skins

We picked the finishes that look best within each budget, with prices from SkinsMonkey on 29 October 2026. A finish goes into the budget of the wear we would buy, not of its cheapest copy, so Lore appears in two places: Battle-Scarred in the first budget and Field-Tested in the second. The tables show the wear we would buy and what it cost on 29 October 2026, next to current prices from the WIKI.

The Butterfly comes from three sets of cases. The 12 original finishes are from the Operation Breakout Weapon Case of July 2014. The six Chroma finishes, including Doppler and Marble Fade, are from the Spectrum Case and the Spectrum 2 Case of 2017. The six Gamma finishes, including Gamma Doppler and Lore, are from the Operation Riptide Case of 2021 and the Dreams & Nightmares Case of 2022. Our video below shows every knife in CS2 with its animations, so you can compare the Butterfly flip with the rest.

ALL CS2 KNIVES + KNIFE ANIMATIONS (including rare inspect)SkinsMonkey on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Under $750: Ultraviolet, Night and the Best Cheap Butterflies

The cheapest Butterflies start at $568.61, and most finishes under $750 are camo. A few of them have a clear colour on the blade, and those are the ones we would buy at this price.

Four more picks in this budget:

• Butterfly Knife | Night, Battle-Scarred $653.51. A dark blue-grey blade with almost no pattern. It hides wear so well that Battle-Scarred still looks clean, and it goes with any loadout.
• Butterfly Knife | Bright Water, Field-Tested $689.69. Blue and white water lines from the Gamma cases. All wears cost within about $130 of each other.
• Butterfly Knife | Lore, Battle-Scarred $684.49. Gold with engraved lines and the Butterfly finish with the most copies on SkinsMonkey. Field-Tested is in the next budget.
• Butterfly Knife | Urban Masked, Field-Tested $598.47. Light grey camo, the best of the cheapest finishes, and cheaper in Field-Tested than in Battle-Scarred.

$750 to $1,500: Lore, Damascus Steel and Tiger Tooth

This budget has the widest choice. You can buy the best-known original finishes in Field-Tested, the Gamma finishes in clean wears and two Chroma finishes in Factory New.

Five more picks in this budget:

• Butterfly Knife | Damascus Steel, Factory New $1,109.54. Grey steel with wave lines. Every wear costs between $921.45 and $1,109.54, so Factory New is worth the small extra.
• Butterfly Knife | Tiger Tooth, Factory New $1,470.31. Gold and orange stripes that look the same on every copy. It only comes in Factory New and Minimal Wear.
• Butterfly Knife | Crimson Web, Field-Tested $923.84. Red with a black spider web, the classic Butterfly. Field-Tested keeps the red bright for a fraction of Factory New.
• Butterfly Knife | Case Hardened, Field-Tested $989.57. Gold and blue metal patches. This is the price of an ordinary pattern; mostly blue copies cost far more.
• Butterfly Knife | Autotronic, Field-Tested $1,078.70. Red and black mechanical lines from the Gamma cases.

$1,500 to $3,000: Marble Fade, Fade and the Doppler Phases

Past $1,500 the Butterfly gets its gradient finishes. Marble Fade, Fade and every normal Doppler and Gamma Doppler phase only come in Factory New and Minimal Wear, and the two cost almost the same, so buy Factory New.

Doppler is a metallic marble finish, and each phase has its own colour set and its own WIKI page. Four more picks in this budget:

• Butterfly Knife | Fade, Factory New $2,870.65. A gradient from yellow to pink and purple at the tip. Copies with more pink and purple cost more.
• Butterfly Knife | Slaughter, Field-Tested $1,529.72. Red and pink marbling. It only goes down to Field-Tested.
• Butterfly Knife | Gamma Doppler Phase 2, Factory New $2,897.81. The most expensive normal Gamma Doppler phase, in green and blue.
• Butterfly Knife | Doppler Phase 3, Factory New $2,812.43. The cheapest normal Doppler phase on the Butterfly, with green and blue tones.

Above $3,000: Ruby, Emerald and the Other Gems

Above $3,000 you are buying the rare Doppler gems and the most expensive normal Doppler phases. Several of these had no copy listed on 29 October 2026, so the prices here are reference prices from the item pages.

Four more picks in this budget:

• Butterfly Knife | Gamma Doppler Emerald, Factory New $9,776.11. Solid bright green, the gem of the Gamma Doppler.
• Butterfly Knife | Doppler Sapphire, Factory New $8,759.38. Solid deep blue, cheaper than Ruby on the Butterfly.
• Butterfly Knife | Doppler Phase 2, Factory New $5,774.95. Pink and purple, the most expensive normal Doppler phase.
• Butterfly Knife | Doppler Black Pearl, Factory New $17,123.79. Dark purple on black, the most expensive Butterfly in CS2.

The Flip: Why the Butterfly Shows Its Finish More Than Other Knives

The Butterfly Knife is a balisong. The blade sits between two handles, and the handles rotate around it to open and close the knife. In CS2 it flips open every time you draw it and when you inspect it, so the whole blade spends more time on screen than on a fixed knife.

That changes which finishes look best. Finishes with one strong colour on the whole blade, such as Ruby, Emerald, Ultraviolet and Crimson Web, look the same from every angle of the flip. Finishes with a pattern that moves, such as Marble Fade and the Doppler phases, look different on every inspect. Camo finishes are the cheapest way into the flip, but on screen they look flat next to the others.

What Wear to Buy on a Butterfly Knife

On camo finishes, buy Field-Tested. On Safari Mesh, Urban Masked and Boreal Forest, Field-Tested cost less than Battle-Scarred on 29 October 2026, and it looks much cleaner.

On Marble Fade, Fade, Tiger Tooth and every Doppler phase, buy Factory New. These finishes only come in Factory New and Minimal Wear, and the two cost almost the same: Marble Fade cost $1,818.77 in Factory New and $1,766.48 in Minimal Wear.

On Crimson Web and Ultraviolet, buy Field-Tested unless you collect. These finishes have a very narrow Factory New range, and Factory New Crimson Web cost $6,882.22 against $923.84 in Field-Tested.

Instant trades, 4.4M tradersTrade skins⇄Instant trades, 4.4M tradersTrade skins⇄Instant trades, 4.4M tradersTrade skins⇄Instant trades, 4.4M tradersTrade skins⇄Instant trades, 4.4M tradersTrade skins⇄Instant trades, 4.4M tradersTrade skins⇄Instant trades, 4.4M tradersTrade skins⇄Instant trades, 4.4M tradersTrade skins⇄

How to Get a Butterfly Knife: Cases or a Trade

Five cases drop the Butterfly: the Operation Breakout Weapon Case, the Spectrum Case, the Spectrum 2 Case, the Operation Riptide Case and the Dreams & Nightmares Case. Knives are the rare special item, which Valve puts at 0.26% per case, and the finish is random. Since 22 October 2025, five Covert skins can also be traded up into a knife from the collection of one of the skins you put in. Our guide to the cases with the Butterfly Knife lists what each case holds.

If you want one specific Butterfly in one specific wear, trading is the direct way. On SkinsMonkey you log in through Steam, add skins from your inventory, pick the knife and the bot sends the trade offer. Check what your skins are worth first with our CS2 Inventory Value Checker. For the other knife types, see the best CS2 knives, and for the karambit-style alternative, the best Talon Knife skins.

Our pick from each budget

AC

Bottom line

Buy the Butterfly for the flip, then pick a finish that keeps its colour: Marble Fade if you can reach $1,850

Under $750, Ultraviolet in Field-Tested at $744.13 is the Butterfly that looks like more than its price. From $750, Lore in Field-Tested at $825.98 gives you gold and engraving instead of camo.

Marble Fade in Factory New at $1,818.77 is the one we would buy first, because its swirls change with every flip. Above $3,000, Doppler Ruby is red on the whole blade, which no other finish matches on a Butterfly.

Trade CS2 skinsInstant bot trades on SkinsMonkey

FAQ

Was this article helpful?One tap. It tells us what to update first.

What was missing?Prices are outdatedDidn't answer my questionToo longSomething else

Thanks, noted. Alex reads these before every update.