The Most Expensive Butterfly Knife Skins in CS2 (2026)

This list orders the most expensive Butterfly Knife skins in CS2 by their Factory New price on SkinsMonkey, checked on 29 October 2026. Out of all Butterfly Knife skins, the most expensive is Butterfly Knife | Doppler Black Pearl at $17,123.79, and the tenth on the list costs $2,879.45. Each Doppler phase has its own price, so we list the phases separately.

Eight of the top ten are Doppler or Gamma Doppler finishes, which only exist in Factory New and Minimal Wear. The other two are Crimson Web and Ultraviolet. The rest of this post explains why the Doppler gems cost several times more than the normal phases, why a Factory New Crimson Web costs nine times a Battle-Scarred one, and where the pattern of a Fade or a Case Hardened changes the price more than the wear does.

How We Ranked the Most Expensive Butterfly Knife Skins

The ranking uses the highest price of each finish on SkinsMonkey, which is the Factory New price. Doppler and Gamma Doppler phases have their own item pages and their own prices, so each phase is a separate entry. All prices were checked on 29 October 2026 and change with the market. Several of the most expensive Butterflies had no copy listed that day, and for those we give the reference price from the item page and say so.

The Butterfly Knife has 25 finishes: Vanilla, the 12 original finishes from the Operation Breakout Weapon Case of July 2014, six Chroma finishes from the Spectrum Case and the Spectrum 2 Case of 2017, and six Gamma finishes from the Operation Riptide Case of 2021 and the Dreams & Nightmares Case of 2022. Every Butterfly is Covert, the knife cannot take stickers, and the WIKI does not yet show reliable StatTrak prices for knives, so this list covers normal copies only.

Our video below shows every knife in CS2 with its animations, so you can compare the Butterfly flip with the other knives before you choose a finish.

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Over $14,000: Black Pearl and Ruby

Two Doppler gems from the Spectrum cases are in a price class of their own. Doppler gems are rare patterns of the normal Doppler finish, and they are much rarer than the four phases. On the Butterfly, a Black Pearl costs about three times the most expensive normal phase.

• Butterfly Knife | Doppler Ruby, $14,255.31 in Factory New and $13,735.71 in Minimal Wear, from the Spectrum Case and the Spectrum 2 Case. A solid red Doppler and the best-known Doppler gem. The difference between the two wears is under $600, because a Doppler in Minimal Wear looks almost the same as in Factory New. SkinsMonkey listed no copy on 29 October 2026, so these are reference prices from the item page.

$8,000 to $10,000: Emerald and Sapphire

The next two places also belong to Doppler gems, one from each Doppler family. Gamma Doppler is the green version of the Doppler finish, and Emerald is its gem: the whole blade is green. Sapphire is the blue gem of the normal Doppler.

• Butterfly Knife | Doppler Sapphire, $8,759.38 in Factory New and $8,682.55 in Minimal Wear, from the Spectrum Case and the Spectrum 2 Case. A solid deep blue Doppler. It costs less than Ruby on the Butterfly, and like Ruby it had no copy listed on 29 October 2026, so these are reference prices.

Crimson Web: The Most Expensive Butterfly Outside the Dopplers

Fifth on the list is the first finish that is not a Doppler. The Butterfly Knife | Crimson Web costs $6,882.22 in Factory New and $752.39 in Battle-Scarred, and this gap tells you a lot about how wear works on knives. Crimson Web has a float range from 0.06 to 0.80, and Factory New ends at 0.07, so every Factory New copy sits inside a window of 0.01. Very few copies are that clean.

• Butterfly Knife | Ultraviolet, $2,879.45 in Factory New and $667.29 in Battle-Scarred, from the Spectrum Case and the Spectrum 2 Case. A deep purple finish that turns almost black in shadow. Like Crimson Web it has a narrow Factory New window, and Factory New costs almost three times Minimal Wear.
• Butterfly Knife | Lore, $2,539.53 in Factory New and $684.49 in Battle-Scarred, from the Operation Riptide Case and the Dreams & Nightmares Case. Gold with engraved lines. It had 34 copies listed on 29 October 2026, the most of any Butterfly finish.
• Butterfly Knife | Night, $2,396.19 in Factory New and $653.51 in Battle-Scarred, from the Operation Breakout Weapon Case. A dark blue-grey finish with very little pattern. Factory New costs almost four times Battle-Scarred.

Doppler Phases: $2,200 to $5,800

Below the gems, every normal Doppler and Gamma Doppler phase costs between $2,293.80 and $5,774.95 in Factory New. A phase is a colour version of the same finish: the game assigns it from the pattern, and each phase has its own item page. Phase 2, with the most pink and purple, is the most expensive normal phase on the Butterfly by a clear margin.

The Gamma Doppler phases are closer together. All four cost within about $600 of each other, and Phase 2 is again the most expensive. On both Doppler families, Factory New and Minimal Wear cost almost the same, because the finish only has a float range from 0.00 to 0.08 and the wear is very hard to see.

Fade, Marble Fade and Case Hardened: Where the Pattern Sets the Price

Three finishes on the Butterfly are priced by pattern more than by wear. The prices on the item pages are for ordinary copies. Copies with the most wanted patterns sell for much more, and each one is priced on its own, so at the time of writing we cannot give a reliable number for them.

• Butterfly Knife | Fade, $2,870.65 in Factory New. A gradient from yellow at the handle to pink and purple at the tip. The more of the blade the pink and purple cover, the higher the fade percentage, and copies with a high percentage cost more than the price here. It is just outside the top ten.
• Butterfly Knife | Marble Fade, $1,818.77 in Factory New. Red, yellow and blue swirls. Copies with only red and blue on the blade are the most wanted pattern.
• Butterfly Knife | Case Hardened, $1,986.84 in Factory New and $906.84 in Well-Worn. A metal finish with gold and blue patches. Copies where the blade is mostly blue are known as blue gems and sell far above the normal price, even in worn condition.

Which of the Expensive Butterflies Look Best in Game

The Butterfly shows its blade more than most knives, because the handles flip open on every draw and inspect. A finish with a strong colour along the whole blade looks good from every angle of the flip. This is our order for the expensive finishes, from the one you notice most to the one you notice least.

Does Wear Matter on Expensive Butterfly Knives

It depends on the finish. On Doppler, Gamma Doppler, Fade, Marble Fade and Tiger Tooth it matters very little, because those finishes only come in Factory New and Minimal Wear and the two cost almost the same. On finishes with a full float range it matters a lot: Factory New Crimson Web costs $6,882.22 and Minimal Wear $1,364.24. If you want one of these finishes for how it looks, Minimal Wear or Field-Tested gives you the same look for a fraction of the Factory New price. Our list of the best Butterfly Knife skins names the wear we would buy for each finish, and the cheapest Butterfly Knife skins start under $600.

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How to Get an Expensive Butterfly Knife

Knives drop as the rare special item in cases, and Valve’s published odds put that slot at 0.26% per case. The Butterfly drops from five cases: the Operation Breakout Weapon Case, the Spectrum Case, the Spectrum 2 Case, the Operation Riptide Case and the Dreams & Nightmares Case. In the Breakout case it is the only knife. A specific gem is much less likely than any Butterfly. Since 22 October 2025 you can also trade up five Covert skins into a knife from the collection of one of the skins you put in, but you cannot choose the finish or the phase. Our guide to the cases with the Butterfly Knife lists what each case holds.

The Steam Community Market is not practical at this price. Valve limits how much a Steam Wallet can hold, the limit is far below most prices on this list, and money in the wallet cannot be taken out. Trading is the practical way to get a specific Butterfly. On SkinsMonkey you log in through Steam, add skins from your inventory, pick the knife and the bot sends the trade offer. You can check the float and the pattern of each copy before you trade. If you want to know what your inventory is worth first, our CS2 Inventory Value Checker shows it in about a minute. For the most expensive items of every knife type, see our list of the most expensive CS2 knives.

The top Butterfly from each price group

AC

Bottom line

Black Pearl is the most expensive, Phase 2 is the Doppler most players want

The most expensive Butterfly Knife in CS2 is the Doppler Black Pearl, at $17,123.79 in Factory New on SkinsMonkey on 29 October 2026. Ruby, Gamma Doppler Emerald and Sapphire follow, and eight of the ten most expensive Butterflies are Doppler or Gamma Doppler phases.

Outside the gems, Doppler Phase 2 at $5,774.95 is the most expensive normal phase, and Crimson Web is the most expensive finish that is not a Doppler, but only in Factory New. In Minimal Wear the same Crimson Web costs $1,364.24.

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