It’s been a couple weeks since the reveal and our hands-on experience with the new Valve hardware trio of the Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Steam Frame. And while we interviewed Valve’s engineers about the creation of all three, which are due to launch sometime in early 2026, the biggest question that they still don’t have a definitive answer for is price. We won't know for certain until we get closer to release, but it's arguably the most concerning aspect for us, and anyone interested in these devices. Hardware lives or dies based on its price, so in the meantime we're trying to give our best educated guess as to how much the Steam Frame will cost.

The Cost of Other VR Headsets

In our Steam Frame interview with Valve team members, they didn’t give any indication of what they’re thinking in terms of price. According to UploadVR, however, their conversations mentioned that it will be cheaper than the full Valve Index VR kit (headset, controllers, and base stations), which launched at $999 and remains that much. That still doesn’t give us much to work with, but with the state of VR today compared to where it was in 2019, I would suspect the Frame to be more affordable than that even with its internal hardware and more advanced tech.

When simply looking at a spec sheet, the Steam Frame roughly stacks up to the Meta Quest 3, with comparable internal specs and the ability to run software locally on the headsets themselves. They trade blows here and there spec-wise, with the Frame using a 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 CPU with 16 GB of RAM while the Quest 3 has a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 CPU with 8GB of RAM. And for reference, a 512GB model for the Meta Quest 3 goes for $499 at regular price. If we're trying to triangulate some sort of educated guess, that lands us anywhere between $500 to $1000; and yes, I know that's a wide range that could still make or break the Steam Frame in terms of appeal and success.

There is going to be a 256GB model and 1TB model of the Steam Frame, and it's fair to assume that the gap in storage space will necessitate a roughly $100 difference between the two. When I'm thinking about what the Steam Frame does better than other VR headsets, I consider the 6GHz wireless PC tethering tech as one of its key advantages – this lets you play VR games running off of your PC without the messy cables attached to your head or getting tangled up in your room. It gives no perceptible latency, which is something no other VR headset does.

The internal hardware – an ARM processor that can run Steam games natively – isn’t as powerful as a proper gaming PC, but the fact that it has ARM compatibility at all is state of the art stuff. And whether or not you're running the built-in hardware, you can seamlessly play non-VR games in a simulated theater in the headset's virtual space, which also looks crisp from my experience. There's a lot of versatility that comes with the Steam Frame, along with the fact that its controllers do all the things you need in VR while also being built with parity with traditional controllers. That’s all to say that the Steam Frame packs premium features and new tech that may demand a higher price within that particular range mentioned above.

How Valve Prices Its Hardware

As of now, the Steam Deck goes for $399 for the 256GB LCD model, $549 for the 512GB OLED model, and $649 for the 1TB OLED model. It’s sort of an apples to oranges comparison with other console handhelds given the openness of SteamOS/Proton and the closed nature of consoles, but they are reference points for where we should expect like-minded devices to land in terms of price. With the Nintendo Switch 2 at $449 and the aging specs of the Steam Deck, you could say that Valve’s hardware comparatively demands a slightly higher price tag (depending which model you’re looking at, too). Pitting it against other PC gaming handhelds, it falls relatively in line as a lower-end device compared to the Asus ROG Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X, and the Lenovo Legion Go 2, all of which are much more powerful, but also much more expensive.

So, this tells me we can expect the Steam Frame to cost more than its console counterparts. The PlayStation VR2 is a very different device as it requires a PS5 console and is tethered to a closed ecosystem, so it’s not a perfect comparison, but for reference the PSVR2 goes for $399 at regular price (currently $299 on sale). The Steam Frame will certainly hit market at a much higher price than that.

With all these comparisons and the history of Valve’s hardware, where does that leave us for speculation? If you ask me, I would guess $599 for the 256GB model and $699 for the 1TB model of the Steam Frame. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see both of those predicted prices to be $100 higher at launch given the premium nature of the Steam Frame and how Valve is operating in a space carved out by enthusiasts who are looking for a more sophisticated device.

If you're interested in Valve's upcoming console-like PC, check out our analysis on how much the Steam Machine is going to cost. And for our comprehensive coverage of all of Valve’s new hardware, check out our hands-on preview with the Steam Frame and Steam Machine, or our analysis on Steam’s meteoric rise as a gaming ecosystem.