Cheapest ductless mini split per BTU

This site ranks DIY / pre-charged ductless mini split systems by one comparable number: dollars per BTU/h of rated cooling capacity. 40 of 43 catalogued systems have a verified live price right now. Every system listed here is a heat pump that both cools and heats, and every one is new, not refurbished or open-box.

Looking for the figure in plain dollars rather than per BTU? What a mini split costs today, by capacity.

A cheaper $/BTU is not automatically a better buy, so the BEST mark is awarded separately inside each class, and the badge names the class it won: single-zone, two-zone and three-zone systems are ranked against themselves, never against each other. A three-zone system carries three indoor heads for the same nameplate BTU, so comparing it to a single-zone unit on $/BTU alone would be a rigged comparison.

This table mixes every capacity, so it shows no × multiplier. A multiplier is only meaningful against systems of the same size, and each row here would be measured against a different one. The capacity pages carry it, with the cheapest system of that size as the baseline.

What $/BTU does not capture

Efficiency

SEER2 decides what the unit costs to run, and two systems at the same $/BTU can differ by a third on the power bill. The efficiency column shows the figure the listing states, in the standard the listing states it in.

SEER and SEER2 are not the same scale

SEER2 is measured at higher external static pressure and reads roughly 4–5% lower for identical hardware. We never silently convert one into the other, and a listing that states no rating shows not stated rather than a guess.

Heating

Cooling-only and heat-pump systems both appear; the Type column separates them.

Line set

A system quoted without one needs a line set bought separately, which moves the real total. The column shows the feet included.

Source

Prices come from the Amazon Creators API once a day. The site is re-rendered from scratch on every run, so what you see was true at September 7, 2026, 20:37 UTC.

Verification

A listing whose title no longer matches the catalogued system, or that moves implausibly, is flagged and dropped from every ranking, count and crown until a later run confirms it. Listings do rot: on the reference site that this one forks, a single run confirmed 25 of 56 products.

Estimates

Any price that is not a freshly accepted API price is marked as an estimate and cannot appear in a ranking or win a crown, even though it still shows on the product’s own row.

Typical price

A median, never an average, and only quoted with at least two live systems. One gouged listing moves an average far enough to contradict the table under it.

Lowest seen

Appears only where we have actually recorded that price ourselves. There is no back-filled history here.