About this site

One number, computed the same way for every system, rebuilt every day from live prices: dollars per BTU/h of rated cooling capacity.

Ductless mini splits are sold on nameplate capacity and bought on price, and almost nobody publishes the two together in a form you can compare. The comparison guides that rank them either quote price bands rather than prices, or quote a price once and leave it there. This site divides one by the other, every day, and shows its working.

Prices

come from the Amazon Creators API, fetched once a day. The whole site is re-rendered from scratch on each run, so the timestamp in the footer of every price page is the real retrieval moment, not a decoration.

Specifications

are read off the Amazon listing for each system and recorded with their provenance. Where a listing does not state a figure — efficiency, most often — the site shows not stated rather than filling in a plausible number.

Price history

is measured by this site, day by day. None of it is back-filled, reconstructed or estimated.

Unverified prices

Every listing is checked against the catalogued system before its price is accepted. Listings rot constantly: they get taken over, re-pointed at a different capacity, or replaced by an accessory. A listing that fails the check is dropped from every ranking, count and cheapest claim until a later run confirms it.

Estimates dressed as prices

Anything that is not a freshly accepted live price is flagged, and flagged rows cannot enter a ranking or win a cheapest crown.

Ratings and reviews

The API does not return review data, so there are no star ratings here. Inventing them would be a policy violation and a lie.

A public price feed

Redistributing Amazon price data to third parties breaches the API terms, so there is no /api/ endpoint and there will not be one.

Averages

Typical prices are medians, and are only quoted when at least two systems have a live price. One gouged listing moves an average far enough to contradict the table beneath it.

For a professionally installed mini split, the equipment is a fraction of the real cost: installation adds roughly $1,000–$3,500 depending on the job, and it varies per house. A price per BTU built on the equipment alone would understate the true cost by an amount nobody can predict for you, which would make the site’s one number misleading in exactly the way it exists to avoid. Pre-charged DIY systems need no licensed technician, so for them the equipment price is the price. That is the whole reason this comparison can be made honestly.

We are not an HVAC contractor, we do not sell, install or service equipment, and nothing here is installation advice or a load calculation. We are not affiliated with any manufacturer listed. Local code decides what you may install yourself; check it before you order.

Cheapest Mini Split is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Product links carry an affiliate tag; the price you pay is unaffected. Commission plays no part in the ranking, which is computed from price and rated capacity alone and cannot be influenced.

Being honest about prices costs clicks, and we know it. On the site this one forks, hiding estimated prices and showing the real, higher ones cut click-throughs by roughly two thirds. Those clicks were worthless: someone who clicks a $55 figure, sees $310 on Amazon and leaves has bought nothing. Amazon pays for purchases, not for clicks.

If a system is listed with the wrong capacity, efficiency or install class, tell us and it gets fixed or removed. See contact.