One of the reasons that it has endured for so long among PC gaming fans is its massively active marketplace, where players can buy, sell, and trade items and weapon skins for money.
When it comes to the CS:GO market, some of the most expensive skins you’ll find are ones for knives, with countless unique animations and designs to choose from.
The animations particularly keep players hungry for more, because it adds a bit of flavor to each new knife.
With that being said, the high price points can keep lots of players from experiencing the special thrill of having a unique weapon in the game.
However, that isn’t to say players can’t get good-looking, exciting knives from the CS:GO marketplace for a reasonable price – not every knife has to break the bank.
In the detailed article below, we’ve gathered together the best cheap knives to buy in CS:GO, dividing them up into different price ranges and including some information on what makes each in-game knife unique. Read on!
What Are The Best Cheap Knives To Buy In CS: GO?
When it comes to knives in CS:GO, it can be difficult to know where to start.
Since the game was released, its developer and publisher Valve have released 20 different types of knife, including the basic one.
However, not only do you have that variety, but the countless variety that’s added by all the customization you can have from the knife finishes that can be applied to the different types.
On top of that, each knife has their unique equip and inspect animations, which are exciting to look at in moments of downtime during a match – or as a celebration after taking out a member of the enemy team.
In addition to this, a knife’s “wear” also affects its price.
This is a reflection of the condition and appearance of the knife in game, with old and worn knives looking battered and new, barely-worn knives looking pristine.
Not only do all of these factors affect how much a CS:GO knife can cost, but they’ve affected how we’ve determined the “best” for our list.
When it comes to judging the knives, we’ve made our decisions based on all of these aspects – which means you might not agree with some choices.
Regardless, all of these CS:GO knives have something exciting to offer players, as well as being relatively inexpensive when compared to other knives on the marketplace.
An extra word of note: when it comes to the prices, we can only ever give an estimate.
The prices on the CS:GO marketplace change a lot, regularly going up and down between days.
As a result, our prices are based on the general cost at the time.
The Best CS:GO Knives – $75 And Cheaper
$70 is going to seem like a lot of money for in-game items to some people, but those who have experience of the CS:GO marketplace will know that this is the cheaper end of things.
As a result, you should expect knives with a lot of wear, as well as finishes that rank nearer to the low tier.
With that being said, these are the best you can hope for at this price, and there are still some interesting designs, types, and finishes.
Navaja Knife – Ultraviolet (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $65
First one on our list is this Navaja Knife, with an ultraviolet color scheme that really makes it stand out.
It’s a flip knife, and the blade is tapered. The handle is mostly purple, but there’s a bit of black to make it look even better.
Navaja Knife – Regular
Typical Steam Cost: Around $65
This relatively cheap option is the same as the previous one, only it’s the base knife with no special finish or color scheme.
There’s a simplicity to it, with the sleek marble-enamel handle in brown.
Shadow Daggers – Bright Water (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $70
The field-tested tier of wear ranks pretty much in the middle of wear-levels in CS:GO – far from new, but better than “Battle-Scarred” or “Well-Worn”.
The Shadow Daggers type of knife includes two knives, with one in each hand, which is particularly special because they’re the only two-handed melee weapons in CS:GO.
The Best CS:GO Knives – $120 And Cheaper
Adding about $45 to the price-tag will allow players to get some slightly better knives in CS:GO, while still not touching the most expensive range in the game.
You’ll have noticed that we were limited for types with the previous price range, but this allows a few additional ones.
Bowie Knife – Boreal Forest (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $85
The Bowie knife can be a classic in the game, and the Boreal Forest finish gives it a great camouflage look.
The handle is a dark green, while the blade is covered in a forest camouflage pattern of various different shades of green.
Gut Knife – Regular
Typical Steam Cost: Around $90
This knife gets its name from the gut hook on the spine of its blade, giving it a very unique appearance.
This is the regular, vanilla version of the knife – without any special finish or color scheme.
Paracord Knife – Boreal Forest (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $95
The Paracord knife type has a fixed-blade that’s very straight and simple, which really adds to its appearance.
On top of that, there are a few slits in the blade to add extra texture to its look.
In the Boreal Forest skin, it paints the handle dark green and gives the blade itself a camo design – making it look like something a real soldier would use on the field.
Falchion Knife – Regular
Typical Steam Cost: Around $120
This is a fascinating design for a knife, because it’s modeled on a sword of the same name.
The handle has a great shape to it, while the blade itself is curved.
You’ll sometimes be lucky enough to find a vanilla version of the Falchion at $100 or cheaper, but it’s been rising to about $120 now – and could grow.
The Best CS:GO Knives – $160 And Cheaper
The next price range will set you back around $40, though this can always change for some of the knives as the CS:GO marketplace is constantly shifting.
With that being said, that means you could also end up finding them cheaper!
With this category, you’ll notice there are some fascinating new types of in-game knives, as well as some fantastic finishes.
Ursus Knife – Blue Steel (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $130
The Ursus knife is a straightforward knife in CS:GO, with a full tang and a faceted blade.
The blade is designed in a way that its shape almost slips into the handle, making it all look like one seamless part.
The Blue Steel skin (not to be confused with Zoolander!) gives the blade a soft blue patchy appearance, which nicely contrasts with the brown/green of the handle.
Navaja Knife – Marble Fade (Factory New)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $140
If you want to get a Navaja Knife in CS:GO that’s the best tier of wear (Factory New) and has a brilliantly hypnotic and colorful design, then it’s not going to cost you as much as you might have though.
The Marble Fade skin for the knife gives its blade a rainbow-like appearance, with a candy coating of three colors (blue, yellow, and red) added to undercoats of silver and black.
Bowie Knife – Case Hardened (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $155
We looked at a Bowie knife in the previous category, but this one comes with a better looking, higher tier skin.
The color is case-hardened here, which gives the blade this shimmering blue streak, as well as hints of yellow.
It’s a trippy looking in-game weapon. The price has been known to spike at times, but it should often lower again soon.
Flip Knife – Ultraviolet (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $150
Typically a little bit cheaper, this Flip knife has a cool purple handle.
As for the blade itself, it’s got a back-swept design with an acute point, and it’s mostly colored black to give it an ominous appearance in the game.
Huntsman Knife – Regular
Typical Steam Cost: Around $160
This is the vanilla version of a classic CS:GO type of knife, the Huntsman.
The whole weapon has a bulky feel to it, with its jagged handle and its thick and angular blade.
It has a Tanto point to help it be extra effective, and the middle of the blade has a strip of black to add visual depth to it.
Shadow Daggers – Lore (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $140
We covered the Shadow Dagger type of knife earlier, noting how they’re the only two-handed melee weapon in CS:GO.
These ones are especially great, though, thanks to their Lore skin.
It has a gold handle, which extends to a fancy-looking strip of gold in the middle of each blade.
And around it? There’s a beautiful Viking-type pattern of swirls. It makes these feel like an ancient weapon.
The Best CS:GO Knives – $240 And Cheaper
Once you get to the next price range, you’re going to see a few new types of knife become available to you.
These are very comfortably getting towards the high-end tier of knife types, while still being a relatively cheap price.
With that being said, you can’t always expect the greatest wear conditions or finishes with a lower price tag.
Huntsman Knife – Tiger Tooth (Factory New)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $200
We’ve already looked at a Huntsman knife before, but this has a Factory New exterior level of wear.
This is the newest type of wear you can get, meaning that this knife looks virtually pristine.
On top of that, the Tiger Tooth skin design gives the blade an expensive-looking golden appearance, with subtle stripes to make it look like a tiger.
Talon Knife – Night Stripe (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $235
The Talon knife has a curved shape to its blade, with saw-tooth ridges.
The Night Stripe skin is admittedly not the most exciting, giving the handle and blade a very subtle blend of dark blue with black stripes, but it does look very covert and camouflage-esque.
On top of that, it has an exciting inspect animation.
Bayonet – Blue Steel (Well-Worn)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $240
The Well-Worn wear condition level is one worse than the FIeld-Tested, but this Bayonet knife has a cool design to make up for it.
You’ll probably have heard of this knife, because they were fixed to guns during the two World Wars.
The Blue Steel skin gives the blade a soft blue glow. The price is known to rise quickly, so watch out.
The Best CS:GO Knives – $340 And Cheaper
In the next price range, you’ll find even better types of knife available to you, as well as better wear conditions and more interesting finish designs.
M9 Bayonet – Damascus Steel (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $300
This is another Bayonet knife that was originally intended to be fixed to a rifle, but is now being used in the game as a melee weapon on its own.
The knife is made from a billet that was itself made with two different types of carbon steel.
It’s a chunky design, with a big blade and a firm handle.
The Damascus Steel gives the blade a unique appearance, with a special level of shininess.
The price can be known to rise quite a bit, however, so watch out.
Skeleton Knife – Stained (Well-Worn)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $300
The Skeleton knife in CS:GO has a cool name and a cool to match, with a large hole at the base of the blade for the player’s finger to go through.
This allows them to hold the knife more safely and stably, giving them better accuracy in the game.
As for the handle, you’ll see that it’s been taped in order to improve the player’s grip.
The visually-appealing stained skin, meanwhile, gives the blade a patchy look to it, like old rain has dried.
Karambit – Boreal Forest (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $340
The price of this has been rising, so if you’re interested then watch out and see if you can get it at its cheaper times.
The Karambit isn’t just a great name, it’s also one of the most stylish looking knives in CS:GO.
It has a curved blade that’s supposed to look like a tiger’s claw, and it’s often held in a reverse grip.
With the Boreal Forest skin, the handle is green and black, while the blade has a camouflage pattern on it.
The Best CS:GO Knives – $600 And Cheaper
Though $600 certainly isn’t cheapest, the price range around this will be the cheapest best knives you can get in CS:GO.
At this price range, you’ll be able to get some great types of knives, as well as good wear conditions, interesting skins, and exciting equip and inspect animations.
Talon Knife – Slaughter (Minimal Wear)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $540
We looked at a Talon knife earlier in the list, but this one comes in a better wear condition and with a more stylish skin.
The knife is just one down from the best wear condition, “Factory New”, so you are sure that it will look almost new, only with small signs of use.
On top of that, the Slaughter finish that’s been applied to the knife really makes it vibrant – it’s sure to stand out on the battlefield.
The handle is a soft gray/white, while the blend is a bright mixture of red and pink, with a subtle pattern on it.
It gives the whole knife a deadly red glow, which should intimidate the enemy team!
The price has been going up and down, and it’s been known to go as low as around the $450 mark.
If you can get it for those cheaper prices, even better.
Butterfly Knife – Stained (Field-Tested)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $500
Although we list $500, the price has been rising lately.
With that being said, it’s also likely to go down again, so keep an eye on the marketplace if you’re interested,
The Butterfly knife is one of the rarest and most expensive knives in CS:GO, so it’s quite fortunate to find one that’s around this price.
It would always be nice to get one with better wear condition, and ones that are Stained and Minimal Wear have been known to go for around $500, but the market is an unpredictable place at times.
With that being said, you still get the Butterfly knife’s famous flip design, where the freely pivoting blade opens like a fan from the blade.
The Stained skin gives the blade some murky stains, which make the knife look quite rugged.
M9 Bayonet – Doppler (Minimal Wear)
Typical Steam Cost: Around $600
Minimal Wear is actually the lowest wear condition that you can get an M9 Bayonet with the Doppler skin in, but it still isn’t cheap.
The price has been known to be around $600 at times, but this has often risen and had spikes.
As a result, you’d better study the CS:GO marketplace if you’re interested in getting one, and hope that you find them on the cheaper side.
The Doppler skin gives the blade of the M9 Bayonet a blend of blue and black, with blue at the tip and base of the blade.
It’s a hypnotic design and looks almost magical, or like some galaxies deep within space.
We’re not the only ones to think it either, because the Steam listing warns players not to get lost in its color during matches!
Final Thoughts
The CS:GO market is full of knife types and designs.
Though prices can change a lot, our guide to the best cheap knives in CS:GO should help you get some thrilling new melee weapons in the game.
My name is Ashley Newby and I want to put integrity back into esports and get the hype surrounding them paramount once more. During my teenage years, I happened to stumble across a Street Fighter tournament online and I was hooked.
From that day, I have kept up with and watched many tournaments including Valorant, Super Smash Bros, and League of Legends. I even got to compete in my first one earlier this year!
