PSA: Yes, your Rabbit R1 still requires a subscription

Rabbit founder Jesse Lyu made quite a point that his company’s first AI companion, the R1, costs just $199. Better yet, you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription to use the R1, so the price you see is the price you pay. Only that second part is not entirely true. If you want to use the Rabbit R1 outside the comfort of your home Wi-Fi network, you will indeed have to pay a subscription fee… just not to Rabbit itself. So let’s talk about the real cost of the Rabbit R1.

The easiest way to understand the Rabbit R1 in real life is to look at it as a connected tablet or smartwatch. Sure, you can use your home Wi-Fi and any number of networks on the go, but that’s not always the case. If you’re out hiking and want to use the R1’s eye to identify a plant, you’ll need something with a little more range than even the most powerful router. That’s where the real cost of the R1 comes in: it’s not very useful without a data plan.

Granted, you can probably get by with your carrier’s bare-bones data-only option, but it still comes at an additional cost. And even then, your carrier’s data plan may provide more than R1 needs. Rabbit’s debut AI companion runs on MediaTek’s Helio G35 chipset – a mid-range LTE-only chip from several years ago, so whatever 5G speeds your carrier promises will be outside the capabilities of the Tamagotchi-inspired device.

For better or worse, the Rabbit R1 also doesn’t support eSIM profiles. While this makes it easy to swap data-ready SIM cards in and out, it also means you’ll probably have to wait a little longer before you can get started. Unless you order your SIM card in advance or go to a local brick-and-mortar store, you might be looking at a Wi-Fi-only R1 for a few days until your nano SIM card ships.

At this rate, you might be a little put off by the extra hurdles of setting up your Rabbit R1, but fear not. There are more data plans to choose from than you can shake a stick at; it’s just a matter of finding the right one. If your default provider offers (or charges) more than you need or want for an unlimited plan, you can also check out some of the best MVNO operators instead. These carriers, like Mint Mobile and US Mobile, are typically cheaper than the big players while offering essentially the same network support. As always, we have a few favorite MVNOs we go to, so check them out.

In addition to the monthly data hit, you’ll also pay for specific apps and services as part of your total Rabbit R1 cost. While yes, you’re probably already paying for your Spotify Premium membership, and no, it won’t cost more to add the R1 to your account, other services are a little trickier. The R1 can generate images via Midjourney and send them to you through the Rabbit Hole, but only if you pay for the service. That alone means at least $10 extra per month, and possibly even closer to $30 if you switch from Midjourney’s Basic plan to the Standard plan.

If we sit down and do the math, the actual cost of Rabbit’s R1 of $199 looks something like this:

• Rabbit R1 – $199
• Monthly data plan – $15-$40 per month (varies by carrier)
• Spotify Premium – $11 per month (Individual plan)
• Mid-trip – $10-$120 per month

And do not forget; Rabbit plans to add more app integrations in the coming months (many of which you can see in this launch event roadmap), which means more paid services will make their way into your final bill – when they actually launch.

So while it’s true that you’ll only pay Rabbit $199 at the end of the day, that’s far from your actual final price. Heaven is still the spending limit; your money just goes elsewhere.