"How much does it cost?" is usually the first question we get once someone's decided a claw machine campaign is worth doing. Fair question, and one that's harder to answer with a single number than you'd think, because the price depends on a handful of choices you make while building the campaign rather than a flat hire rate.
Here's what actually moves the price, and roughly what you're paying for at each stage.
The main cost drivers
There are only two, and you set both of them yourself in the campaign builder.
Campaign length. Campaigns are priced on a straightforward day rate, counting your start and end dates inclusively. A one-day promotion at a trade stand costs less than a two-week campaign running across your website and social channels, in direct proportion to the days you book.
Audience size. You choose how many players your campaign allows, and that's priced in blocks rather than one player at a time. This is usually the part people underestimate: on a typical campaign it makes up a similar share of the total to the dates you've booked, so it's worth deciding early roughly how many people you expect to reach.
What doesn't change the price
Just as useful to know, because these are the things people assume will cost extra:
Your branding. The page your players see can be themed to your brand colours, with your own logo uploaded to it. That's included as standard and doesn't change your total.
Reward type. A discount code and a simple thank-you message cost exactly the same. Worth noting separately that a discount code has a knock-on cost when it's redeemed, so factor your discount margin into your own sums, but it doesn't change what the campaign itself costs. Physical items aren't part of the standard offering, campaigns run on digital rewards, which keeps setup quick and avoids the logistics that come with anything you'd need to post out.
Plays per session. Campaigns run with three plays per session by default, which is enough to feel like a proper go without dragging the interaction out. You can adjust this while building your campaign and it won't change your total.
Why this tends to work out cheaper than physical hire
Traditional arcade claw machine hire usually starts with a flat fee before you've even worked out how many people will play it. That fee covers delivery, collection, and someone available to load the machine and troubleshoot on-site. None of that applies here. There's no lorry, no deposit, and no one needed on-site to keep it stocked, so the price reflects the campaign itself rather than the logistics of moving a 200kg cabinet around.
Renting a claw machine online, rather than having one delivered to you, is still a new idea. We're one of the first platforms to offer it. Every other claw machine rental company we've come across is still shipping a physical cabinet out to your venue, which is partly why our pricing looks nothing like a traditional hire quote. There's no standard rate card to copy from, because the costs being passed on are genuinely different ones.
We cover the wider comparison, including delivery, space, and stock management, in our piece on why online claw machines are worth trying over traditional hire.
Getting a price for your campaign
The quickest way to see what your specific campaign would cost is to build it. The campaign builder shows you the price update live as you set your dates, audience size, and reward type, so there's no back-and-forth waiting for a quote. Head to rent a claw machine to see it for yourself.
If you'd rather try the experience before committing, you can play one of our machines for free, no payment details needed.
