How Much Are Bunnies? Rabbit Price, Setup and Monthly Cost in 2026

A bunny costs $20 to $120 to adopt or buy from a pet store and $50 to $300 or more from a breeder. The first year costs far more: $730 to $3,340 in PetBudget's blend of three 2026 cost guides. Rabbit price is the smallest line, because setup, hay, greens, an exotic vet and a spay add up. This guide breaks down how much bunnies cost and what a rabbit costs to own each month and over its life.

Photo: White Rabbit on Green Grass / Pexels

How much are bunnies to buy or adopt

The bunny price depends far more on where you get the rabbit than on the breed. Three 2026 guides agree on the pattern: rescue is cheapest, pet stores sit in the middle and breeders charge the most.

Source	Creatures (July 2026)	CostInsightHub (May 2026)
Rescue or shelter	$20 to $100	$25 to $85
Pet store (PetSmart, Petco)	Not listed	$35 to $120
Breeder	Roughly $30 to a few hundred	$50 to $300+

The House Rabbit Society (HRS) lists a $50 adoption fee for a single rabbit and $75 for a bonded pair. That fee includes spay or neuter, a vaccination, a microchip and a vet exam. The Bunny Lady's guide puts pet-store rabbits near $35 to $50 and breeder rabbits above $100, with rare breeds reaching into the thousands.

Rabbit price is therefore the one cost you can nearly erase by adopting. A $50 rescue rabbit that is already spayed and vaccinated skips a spay bill of $125 to $600.

Rabbit price by breed

Rabbit price by breed ranges from about $50 to $300 from a breeder. CostInsightHub's breed table lists breeder prices for seven common breeds. Smaller, fancier breeds cost the most:

The Holland Lop tops the list at $100 to $300, and the Dutch is cheapest at $50 to $150. Adoption prices for the same breeds run $25 to $85, per the same table. Breed matters less than the sticker suggests, so pick a rabbit for temperament and size. A Flemish Giant eats more hay and needs a larger pen than a Netherland Dwarf.

How much does a pet bunny cost to set up

Setup is the second-biggest first-year cost after the spay. Creatures estimates $150 to $400 for an enclosure or exercise pen, a litter box, a hay feeder, bowls, a hideout, flooring and chew toys. CostInsightHub gives $150 to $380, and The Bunny Lady itemizes $305.

Setup item	CostInsightHub	The Bunny Lady
Hutch, cage or enclosure	$70 to $200	$45
Exercise pen or play area	$50 to $120	$40 (fencing cubes)
Bowls, litter box, supplies	$30 to $60	$20 bowls, $15 litter box
Total	$150 to $380	$305

Buy a pen that is big enough for the adult rabbit from the start.

How much does a rabbit cost per month

How much does a rabbit cost per month depends on how many fresh greens you buy. The three guides give a wide spread:

Guide	Monthly total	What it counts
Creatures	$40 to $80	Hay, greens, pellets, litter
CostInsightHub	$43 to $100	Hay and pellets $15 to $30, vegetables $10 to $20, bedding and litter $8 to $20, toys $5 to $15, routine vet $5 to $15
The Bunny Lady	About $145	Hay $30, pellets $10, greens $50, toys $15, litter $20, treats $20

The Bunny Lady's total is higher because it budgets $50 for leafy greens and $20 for treats, which many owners spend less on. A planning range of $40 to $100 covers most households. CostInsightHub's category midpoints show how a $70 month builds up: about $22.50 for hay and pellets, $15 for vegetables, $14 for bedding and litter, $10 for toys and $10 for routine vet savings. That is $71.50, which is why the middle scenario below uses $70. Hay is the staple. Buy it in bulk to cut the hay line, and treat greens as a variable cost you can trim.

Rabbit vet costs: exam, spay and vaccines

Rabbits need an exotic-savvy vet, and that is where the cost per visit climbs. The three guides price the main items like this:

Vet item	Creatures	CostInsightHub	The Bunny Lady
Annual wellness exam	$50 to $150	$45 to $85	$75 to $200
Spay or neuter	$200 to $500	$125 to $400	$300 to $600
Vaccines	Varies by state	Not listed	$100 first two shots, $50 a year
Emergency (for example GI stasis)	Not priced	$300 to $1,000+	$300 to $2,500

Creatures notes that the RHDV2 vaccine is available only where it is offered, so access varies by state. The Bunny Lady reports about $100 for the initial two shots and $50 for the yearly booster.

Emergencies are the real risk. The Bunny Lady was billed $300 to $500 for a typical emergency trip and about $2,500 for major surgery. She suggests a pet emergency fund of $1,000 to $2,000. Use the emergency fund calculator to set the target for your household.

First-year cost of a rabbit: three scenarios

PetBudget blended the three guides into low, middle and high first-year scenarios. Each line uses a value inside the ranges above. The low case assumes a rescue rabbit that is already spayed and vaccinated, as in the HRS adoption. The high case assumes a breeder rabbit and premium care.

Line	Low	Middle	High
Purchase or adoption	$50	$100	$300
Spay or neuter	Included	$300	$600
Setup	$150	$300	$400
12 months of care	$480 ($40 a month)	$840 ($70 a month)	$1,740 ($145 a month)
Wellness exam	$50	$100	$200
Vaccines	Included	$100	$100
First-year total	$730	$1,740	$3,340

Creatures arrives at a similar range of $900 to $2,100 for the first year, and CostInsightHub states $600 to $1,800. Our middle case of $1,740 sits inside both. Treat the totals as planning figures, not quotes. The gap between the low and high cases is $2,610. Monthly care drives $1,260 of it, from $480 to $1,740 over the year. The spay and the purchase price drive most of the rest. That means the habits you control, such as what greens you buy and where you adopt, matter more than the rabbit itself.

Rabbit cost per year and over a lifetime

After the first year, the cost falls because the purchase, spay and setup are done. The yearly cost is the monthly care plus an exam and, in the middle and high cases, a $50 booster. That gives about $530 a year in the low case, $990 in the middle and $1,990 in the high.

Creatures says rabbits commonly live 8 to 12 years and sometimes 14 or more, crediting the House Rabbit Society. Over 10 years, the blend comes to about $5,500 in the low case, $10,650 in the middle and $21,250 in the high. Creatures describes a realistic lifetime cost as "low thousands of dollars," which fits only the low case. The arithmetic on the middle case points higher.

Plan on the middle case if you want to be safe. A rabbit is a decade-long commitment, not a starter pet.

Rabbit vs cat vs dog: yearly cost compared

A rabbit costs more per year than a typical cat and less than the cheapest dogs. PetBudget models a domestic shorthair cat at $822 a year after year one. The middle rabbit case is about $990. Our cheapest dog breeds ranking starts at $1,463 a year for the Russian Toy and $1,599 for the Chihuahua.

The rabbit's extra cost over a cat comes from the exotic vet and the annual vaccine. Rabbits need an exotic-savvy vet, so the nearest qualified clinic may be farther away. For other low-cost options, see the cheapest pets to own guide and how much a cat costs.

Costs people forget when budgeting for a rabbit

Three costs are easy to miss. The first is care when you travel. The Bunny Lady puts the minimum for rabbit sitting or boarding at about $50 per day, so a week away costs $350 or more. Compare that with dog sitting rates before you assume a rabbit is the cheaper travel pet.

The second is a second rabbit. HRS adopts out bonded pairs for $75. A second rabbit roughly doubles the food, litter and vet lines.

The third is home protection. The Bunny Lady's setup list includes wire covers at $15 and plastic floor mats at $35, so budget for them.

Questions to ask before you adopt a rabbit

A rabbit's cost depends on the vet you can reach. Ask these questions before you bring one home:

1. Does this clinic treat rabbits, and who covers emergencies after hours?
2. What do an annual exam, a spay or neuter and the RHDV2 vaccine cost here?
3. Is the vaccine available in my state, and how often is the booster due?
4. Does the adoption fee already include spay or neuter and a microchip?
5. What is the hay and pellet brand the rabbit eats now, and what does it cost monthly?

Write the answers next to the scenarios above and rebuild the totals with your local prices.

How many households own a rabbit

Rabbits are a niche pet. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) estimates that roughly one million U.S. households (0.7%) own a rabbit, per 2024 data published in May 2025. The AVMA's 2022 sourcebook had counted 1.2% of households, or 1.5 million.

With so few rabbit households, rabbit-savvy care is harder to find than dog or cat care. Call vets in your area before you adopt and ask for an exam and spay price in writing.

How to lower the cost of a pet rabbit

These steps cut the bill without cutting care:

1. Adopt a spayed rabbit. The HRS fee of $50 includes spay or neuter, a vaccination and a microchip.
2. Buy hay in bulk. Hay is the staple, and bulk bags cut the biggest recurring line.
3. Get two or three vet quotes. Spay prices span $125 to $600 across the guides.
4. Build the emergency fund first. A $1,000 to $2,000 reserve covers a typical GI stasis visit.
5. Skip the cheap cage. Buy the right-sized pen once.

For a dog or cat comparison, enter a breed into the calculator to see first-year, yearly and lifetime totals side by side with the rabbit figures above.