The Most Expensive Yachts in the World, Ranked by Price

You’ve seen Dilbar, even if you’ve never boarded it. The 511-foot Lürssen turns up in harbor photos, then again in the news whenever a seized oligarch boat makes a headline. In 2022, when US authorities sanctioned its Russian owner, they put the boat’s value at up to $750 million.

Three things pull the price tag away from what you’d expect. Dilbar is the sixth-longest yacht afloat, not the first, yet it carries the highest documented value of any private vessel. A heavily built 400-footer can cost more than a longer, lighter hull. And the market’s most-quoted number, a $4.8 billion “gold yacht,” cannot be tied to a single documented fact, so it is not on this list.

Length is only half the story. This ranking follows the money instead of the ruler. For the pure size contest, our guide to the largest yachts in the world keeps that record straight, with Dilbar ranking sixth behind five longer boats. Every figure below is labeled by what it actually is: a build cost, a completed sale or a valuation.

The most expensive yachts in the world, ranked by price

How we ranked them, and why “price” needs a footnote

Most yacht-price lists blend three different kinds of number into one, and that is where the errors creep in. A build cost is a report, usually from a yard or a broker. A valuation is a judgment, usually by a court or a sanctions authority. A sale is a transaction with a price that two parties actually agreed to. Those are not the same thing, and this list keeps them apart on every line.

Length would also be the wrong sort order. A yacht’s gross tonnage measures the enclosed space a yard has to build, fit out and push through the water, and that is what the money pays for. Dilbar encloses 15,917 gross tons across 156 meters; Azzam encloses 13,136 across 180. Dilbar is shorter but heavier, and it is the heavier hull that costs more.

The top of this list sits in a narrow band, $600 million to $750 million, and honest reporting cannot separate those leaders to the dollar. Where a number couldn’t be tied to a builder, a buyer or a sale, we left the yacht off the ranking rather than give it a rank it did not earn.

1. Dilbar

Dilbar doesn’t win on length. It wins on mass. Lürssen delivered the 511-foot (156-meter) hull in 2016 with 15,917 gross tons, the largest interior volume ever put into a yacht. That one figure explains why a boat shorter than Azzam and Eclipse outruns both on price: enclosed volume is what a yacht costs to build.

US authorities put the value at up to $750 million when they sanctioned the reported owner, Alisher Usmanov, and impounded the boat in Hamburg in 2022. The figure comes from the US Treasury’s sanctions announcement, not a shipyard price sheet. Usmanov has said the yacht is held through family trusts. Inside, there are two helipads, a 25-meter pool reported as the largest fitted to a yacht, and interiors by Winch Design.

Figure	~$750 million (sanctions valuation)
Builder	Lürssen
Delivered	2016
Length	511 feet (156 m)
Gross tonnage	15,917 GT
Owner	Alisher Usmanov (reported; held via family trusts)
Source	US Treasury, Forbes, SuperYacht Times

2. Eclipse

Eclipse held the title of world’s largest yacht until Azzam launched three years later. Blohm+Voss delivered the 533-foot (162.5-meter) yacht in 2010 for Roman Abramovich (reported), and its build cost is usually reported at around $700 million. The rounder $1.5 billion figure that floats around the internet has no sourcing behind it, so we leave it out.

The boat carries two helipads, a submarine and what is reported to be a missile-detection system. After Abramovich was sanctioned in 2022, Eclipse moved between non-aligned ports, keeping itself out of reach of Western authorities.

Figure	~$700 million (reported build cost)
Builder	Blohm+Voss
Delivered	2010
Length	533 feet (162.5 m)
Gross tonnage	~13,500 GT
Owner	Roman Abramovich (reported)
Source	Boat International, SuperYacht Times

3. Azzam

Azzam is the longest yacht in the world, at 590 feet (180 meters), and a study in how quickly length stops predicting price. Lürssen spent four years building it for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, delivering the boat in 2013 at a reported cost of around $600 million. The sheikh died in 2022; the yacht belongs to the Abu Dhabi ruling family.

The hull reaches 30-plus knots, a serious speed for a boat this size. Christophe Leoni’s interiors lean into an Empire style. Like Dilbar, it shows length and mass pulling apart: the longer, lighter hull costs less than the shorter, heavier one.

Figure	~$600 million (reported build cost)
Builder	Lürssen
Delivered	2013
Length	590 feet (180 m)
Gross tonnage	13,136 GT
Owner	Abu Dhabi ruling family (reported)
Source	Boat International, SuperYacht Times

4. Blue

Blue spends its money where you can’t see it. Lürssen delivered the 527-foot (160-meter) yacht in 2022 for Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan at a reported build cost of around $600 million. Gross tonnage was never published, so its price rests on what Lürssen and Boat International have said.

The visible spec is characteristically Lürssen: diesel-electric hybrid propulsion, plus a wastewater treatment plant that cleans the boat’s output to drinking-water quality before it goes overboard.

Figure	~$600 million (reported build cost)
Builder	Lürssen
Delivered	2022
Length	527 feet (160 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (reported)
Source	Boat International, Lürssen

5. Solaris

Solaris was spotted on sea trials before it was supposed to be known. Lloyd Werft delivered the 458-foot (140-meter) yacht in 2021 for Roman Abramovich (reported), stacking eight decks upward for height rather than length. The result is a $600 million build that carries a large beach club, a helipad and a crane rig for tenders and submersibles.

Solaris is reported at $600 million, and Eclipse, Abramovich’s other yacht on this list, is reported higher still, near $700 million. After the 2022 sanctions, Solaris moved to Turkish waters alongside Eclipse.

Figure	~$600 million (reported build cost)
Builder	Lloyd Werft
Delivered	2021
Length	458 feet (140 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Roman Abramovich (reported)
Source	Boat International, SuperYacht Times

6. Sailing Yacht A

Sailing Yacht A carries the only price on this list a court wrote down, not a reporter. Italian police valued the Nobiskrug yacht at $577 million when they seized it in Trieste in 2022 from Andrey Melnichenko. That is a firm figure from the Guardia di Finanza.

Philippe Starck designed the 469-foot (142.8-meter) boat, delivered in 2017. Three carbon-fiber masts top 90 meters, and an underwater observation pod sits in the keel. The ship has stayed in Italian custody since, running up maintenance bills the state has covered.

Figure	$577 million (court valuation)
Builder	Nobiskrug
Delivered	2017
Length	469 feet (142.8 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Andrey Melnichenko (seized 2022)
Source	Guardia di Finanza, Reuters

7. Scheherazade

Nobody has ever confirmed who owns Scheherazade. Italian authorities valued the 459-foot (140-meter) Lürssen at around $510 million when they took it in 2022. Reports have tied it to Vladimir Putin, but the link has never been confirmed.

Lürssen built the boat under the codename Project Lightning, and has said it told no one anything about the owner’s identity. What is public is the spec: two helipads, two pools and a spa.

Figure	~$510 million (frozen-asset valuation)
Builder	Lürssen
Delivered	2020
Length	459 feet (140 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Undisclosed (reported links to Vladimir Putin, never confirmed)
Source	Italian government, The New York Times

8. Koru

Koru is the shortest yacht on this list and the largest sailing yacht in the world. Oceanco delivered the 417-foot (127-meter) three-master in 2023 for Jeff Bezos, the one owner here whose name is fully documented rather than reported. The reported build cost is around $500 million.

The three masts left no room for a helipad, so a separate support vessel, Abeona, carries one. Bezos and Lauren Sánchez married aboard Koru in 2025.

Figure	~$500 million (reported build cost)
Builder	Oceanco
Delivered	2023
Length	417 feet (127 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Jeff Bezos (documented)
Source	Boat International, YachtWorld

9. Nord

Lürssen delivered the 465-foot (142-meter) yacht in 2021 for Alexei Mordashov (reported), with a bow its designer Dan Lenard described as “a warship wearing a tuxedo.”

After Mordashov was sanctioned in 2022, the boat sailed to Vladivostok, staying out of Western jurisdiction. Get the hull home fast enough, and there is nothing to seize.

Figure	~$500 million (reported build cost)
Builder	Lürssen
Delivered	2021
Length	465 feet (142 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Alexei Mordashov (reported)
Source	Boat International, SuperYacht Times

10. Serene

Serene is one of two yachts on this list with a public sale price, not a valuation. Fincantieri delivered the 439-foot (134-meter) yacht in 2011 for $330 million to Yuri Shefler, then sold it to Mohammed bin Salman in 2015 for $458 million. Paradise Papers reporting later put the sale nearer €420 million.

Seven decks hold an underwater viewing room and a snow room that makes real snow. Bill Gates chartered it for $5 million a week in 2014, the year before the Saudi sale.

Figure	$458 million (completed sale, 2015)
Builder	Fincantieri
Delivered	2011
Length	439 feet (134 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Mohammed bin Salman (reported)
Source	Paradise Papers, Reuters

11. Flying Fox

Flying Fox sits at the ceiling of the open charter market. Lürssen delivered the 446-foot (136-meter) yacht in 2019 at a reported build cost of around $400 million, and it charters for roughly $4 million a week, about as high as the open market goes.

The owner remains undisclosed. The boat has long been rumored to trace to Jeff Bezos, but that has never been confirmed. Inside there is a two-story spa, a 12-meter pool and a cryotherapy chamber, and the deck can land the largest civilian helicopters made.

Figure	~$400 million (reported build cost); ~$4 million/week to charter
Builder	Lürssen
Delivered	2019
Length	446 feet (136 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Undisclosed (reported)
Source	Boat International, Robb Report

12. Motor Yacht A

Motor Yacht A looks like it belongs in a different list entirely. Blohm+Voss delivered the 391-foot (119-meter) Philippe Starck design in 2008 to Andrey Melnichenko, with a windowless bow and a near-vertical prow no yacht had tried before. The reported build cost is around $300 million.

This was Melnichenko’s first yacht, before Sailing Yacht A. The two boats are the same idea twice: the same owner, two radical Starck designs, both costing far more than their length would suggest.

Figure	~$300 million (reported build cost)
Builder	Blohm+Voss
Delivered	2008
Length	391 feet (119 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Andrey Melnichenko (reported)
Source	Boat International, SuperYacht Times

13. Launchpad

Launchpad is the newest and shortest boat on this list, and it arrived by accident of sanctions. A Russian buyer originally commissioned the 387-foot (118-meter) Feadship hull, but the sale was blocked and it left the yard unfinished, coming to market half-finished. Feadship, working from an Espen Øino design, delivered the boat in 2024. It is widely reported to belong to Mark Zuckerberg through a holding company, though Zuckerberg has never confirmed it.

The reported build cost is around $300 million. Running it is estimated at roughly $30 million a year.

Figure	~$300 million (reported build cost)
Builder	Feadship
Delivered	2024
Length	387 feet (118 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Mark Zuckerberg (reported; held via holding company)
Source	Boat International, YachtWorld

14. Amadea

Amadea ends this list on a fact rather than an estimate. US authorities seized the 348-foot (106-meter) Lürssen in Fiji in 2022 and appraised it at around $300 million. The Justice Department auctioned it in 2025, and the winning bid, $187 million, was confirmed in 2026 when the buyer surfaced as Abbas Sajwani of the Dubai property family.

Ownership before the seizure was disputed too. The US alleged the boat traced to Suleiman Kerimov; a different oligarch claimed it instead. A valuation is an opinion. A sale is a fact, and the fact came in well under the opinion.

Figure	$187 million (completed auction sale, 2025)
Builder	Lürssen
Delivered	2017
Length	348 feet (106 m)
Gross tonnage	Not published
Owner	Abbas Sajwani (2025 auction); previously disputed
Source	US Department of Justice, CNBC

Who owns the most expensive yachts

Ownership at this level is often a structure, not a person. The most expensive yachts in the world are held through trusts, holding companies and nominees, which is why so many entries above read “reported” rather than “confirmed.”

Two ownerships here are beyond doubt. Jeff Bezos owns Koru, and Mohammed bin Salman’s purchase of Serene is a documented transaction. For the rest, the trail runs through trusts, holding companies and the occasional public statement: Alisher Usmanov has said Dilbar is held through family trusts, Eclipse and Solaris are reported to tie to Roman Abramovich, Nord to Alexei Mordashov, and Azzam and Blue to the Abu Dhabi ruling family.

Others are reported and never confirmed. Mark Zuckerberg has never acknowledged Launchpad. Flying Fox is long rumored to trace to Bezos and is registered to no one you can point to. Scheherazade sits a level further out: nobody has ever put a name to it at all, despite years of reporting linking it to Vladimir Putin.

Four yachts on this list have been seized or frozen: Dilbar, Sailing Yacht A, Scheherazade and Amadea. Dilbar sits impounded in Hamburg, Sailing Yacht A in Trieste, and Scheherazade remains frozen with its owner still unnamed, all three unresolved. Amadea is the exception: the US auctioned it in 2025, and that $187 million sale is the one case actually settled. Nord and Solaris avoided the same fate by getting home to Russian and Turkish waters before anyone could act.

Why a yacht costs what it costs

Price follows volume, not length. Gross tonnage measures the enclosed space a yard has to build, fit out and push through the water, and that enclosed space is what the money actually pays for. Dilbar, at 156 meters, still outprices the 180-meter Azzam, because 15,917 gross tons buys more than 13,136.

Custom work costs more than production work. A yacht built off an existing line spreads its engineering across many hulls; a full-custom build like Motor Yacht A or Sailing Yacht A pays for its naval architecture, interior design and one-off systems exactly once, and the owner covers all of it. Two Starck-designed Melnichenko boats, neither the largest afloat, ended up costing $300 million and $577 million for exactly that reason.

Materials and refits do the rest. Winch Design interiors, hand-finished stone, glass curved to the largest panels ever made: none of it comes off a shelf. Owners routinely spend tens of millions bringing an older hull up to current standard, on top of whatever the build itself cost.

Then the costs keep coming after delivery. Brokers now put running costs at 12 to 15 percent of build price a year for a large private yacht, up from an old rule of thumb of about 10 percent. On a $500 million boat, that is $50 to $75 million a year in crew, fuel, dockage and insurance. Launchpad alone is estimated at $30 million a year.

The most expensive yachts you can actually buy or charter

Most of this list is not for sale and never was. The market where money actually changes hands sits a rung below the trophy hulls.

If you want to charter, Flying Fox is the ceiling at roughly $4 million a week for the largest superyacht on the open charter market. Serene chartered for $5 million a week when Bill Gates took it in 2014.

If you want to buy, the brokerage market is where to look. Boat International keeps a running list of the 50 most expensive yachts for sale, and Burgess, Edmiston and Fraser broker the largest hulls; asking prices for a used 80-to-100-meter yacht run from the low tens of millions into the hundreds. An asking price isn’t a sale price, though, and the two can sit far apart. Amadea is the proof: a government auction produced a documented sale, $187 million, for a boat appraised at nearly double that. If you want to know what one of these is really worth, wait for one to actually sell.

A yacht is one way to spend nine figures on a single thing. If you would rather it fly, our ranking of the most expensive private jets covers the same money in the air. If you would rather it stay put, we have ranked the most expensive houses and the biggest houses in the world too.

About that $4.8 billion gold yacht

Somewhere online you have probably seen the History Supreme, described as a $4.8 billion yacht covered in gold. It is a good story, not a price.

No shipyard has claimed to build it. No broker has listed it. No buyer has been named beyond rumor, and the photographs that circulate with the story were lifted from an Italian builder’s website.

That is why it stays off this ranking. Every figure above is attached to a real document: a sanctions valuation, a court order, a completed sale or a reported build cost from a yard or broker. History Supreme has none of those, and a decade of repetition hasn’t produced one.