The most expensive yachts in the world in 2026: top 10, up to $735m

Longer than a football pitch, fitted with helipads, pocket submarines and crews of eighty, superyachts are the most expensive private objects ever built. Yet their prices circulate without ever being confirmed. Here is the 2026 ranking of the most expensive yachts in the world, with, for every figure, who put it forward and when.

Why no price is ever official

A superyacht is not bought from a catalogue. Each hull is a one-off commission, negotiated under a non-disclosure agreement, paid in instalments over three to five years and often held in a trust or an offshore company. German and Dutch shipyards never disclose the price of their yachts. Reliable figures therefore come from three sources: the authorities that have frozen or seized vessels since 2022 (the US Treasury and Department of Justice, the Italian financial police), the rare documented resales, and estimates from industry brokers. The ranking below follows that hierarchy.

$600 million and above

Dilbar, the giant valued by Washington

Delivered by Lürssen in 2016, Dilbar is 156 metres long and measures 15,917 GT, making it one of the largest yachts in the world by volume. With exterior design by Espen Øino and interiors by Andrew Winch, it houses a 180 m³ indoor pool billed as the largest ever installed on a yacht, two helipads and a crew of more than eighty. In March 2022, the US Treasury valued it at between $600 million and $735 million, with running costs of around $60 million a year. Detained in Hamburg since 2022 and linked by the authorities to Alisher Usmanov, who denies owning it, it won a ruling from an administrative court in Frankfurt in June 2026 that European sanctions no longer applied to it. The judgment is not final and the vessel remains on the US lists.

Scheherazade, the Marina di Carrara mystery

At 140 metres, delivered by Lürssen in 2020 with lines by Espen Øino and interiors by François Zuretti, Scheherazade was frozen by the Italian Ministry of Economy on 6 May 2022 in Marina di Carrara. Rome never named its owner, referring only to links with “prominent elements” of the Russian government. The value cited since the seizure is around $700 million, an estimate never confirmed by the shipyard. In late August 2026, it made a short outing in the Gulf of La Spezia before returning to its berth, still frozen.

Azzam, the longest in the world

At 180 metres, Azzam remains the longest private yacht in service. Delivered by Lürssen on 9 September 2013, designed by Nauta Yachts with interiors by Christophe Leoni, it measures 13,136 GT and reaches 32 knots thanks to its gas turbines. Commissioned by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, who died in 2022, it has never been sold: its value, around $600 million, is a broker estimate that neither Lürssen nor Abu Dhabi has confirmed.

The $500 million club

Eclipse, Roman Abramovich’s fortress

Delivered by the Blohm+Voss yard in Hamburg in December 2010, Eclipse (162.5 m, around 13,000 GT) was the longest yacht in the world until Azzam arrived in 2013. Its build cost, reported at its launch in 2009, was €340 million; a 2011 estimate put it at $590 million. Two helipads, a mini-submarine and a missile detection system described by the British press complete the legend, while the famous anti-paparazzi laser shield has never been confirmed. Flying the Bermuda flag, it has mostly cruised Turkish waters since 2022, between Bodrum and Marmaris.

Sailing Yacht A, the most expensive sailing yacht in the world

With three carbon masts, the tallest rising to 100 metres, this Philippe Starck sailing yacht, 142.8 metres on the hull (144 m overall), looks like a spaceship. Delivered by Nobiskrug in Kiel in February 2017, it was frozen in Trieste on 12 March 2022 by the Guardia di Finanza, which valued it at €530 million. Andrey Melnichenko, to whom it is attributed, had his appeal dismissed by the General Court of the European Union in February 2025. The vessel is still anchored in the Gulf of Trieste, and its upkeep is paid for by the Italian state.

Serene, a prince’s lightning purchase

Built by Fincantieri and delivered in 2011, this 134-metre yacht is one of the few whose resale left a paper trail. Its first owner, Yuri Shefler, sold it to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman within a few hours, for a sum of between €450 million, according to Dutch court documents, and nearly €500 million, according to the American press.

Koru, Jeff Bezos’s three-master

Delivered by Dutch shipyard Oceanco in 2023, Koru is a 127-metre, 3,300 GT sailing yacht, accompanied by a 75-metre support vessel, Abeona, which carries the helipad and tenders. The industry puts its value at around $500 million, as Oceanco has never disclosed a price. Rumours of a sale circulated in spring 2026 without being confirmed; on 29 September 2026, it arrived in Auckland.

Between 300 and 400 million: the inner circle

A+, Sheikh Mansour’s former Topaz

Launched by Lürssen in Bremen in May 2012, this 147-metre yacht belongs to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the UAE and owner of Manchester City. Renamed A+ in 2019, it is estimated at around €400 million, a broker valuation never confirmed by the shipyard.

Flying Fox, the largest yacht for charter

Delivered by Lürssen in 2019, Flying Fox (136 m) is the largest yacht available for charter. The industry estimates its value at around $400 million, but its real public figure is its rate: €3 million a week, excluding expenses, as listed by its broker Bluewater. Sanctioned by Washington in 2022 because of its former manager, it was removed from the US list in October 2024.

Amadea, the only one sold at auction

This 106-metre Lürssen delivered in 2017 was seized in Fiji at the request of the United States in 2022, then brought to San Diego. The US Department of Justice valued it at up to $300 million; an independent appraisal brought that down to $230 million. The US Marshals sold it through sealed bids on 10 September 2025: each bidder had to prove a net worth of $500 million and place $10 million in escrow. The price and the buyer, an Emirati group according to several sources, have not been officially disclosed.

Left out of the ranking for lack of a serious estimate, Al Said (155 m, Lürssen, 2008), the yacht of the Sultanate of Oman, is among the largest in the world at 15,850 GT.

All the prices at a glance

The amounts below are estimates or values set by authorities, never sale prices published by the shipyards.

History Supreme, the gold yacht that never was

Type “most expensive yacht in the world” and one name keeps coming up: History Supreme, a 30-metre boat covered in a hundred tonnes of gold and platinum, with a meteorite wall and a statue carved from a Tyrannosaurus bone, sold for £3 billion, or $4.5 billion ($4.8 billion in some versions). The story was launched in 2011 by British designer Stuart Hughes, who never named a buyer or a shipyard. This yacht never existed. Italian builder Baia Yachts stated that the images in circulation came from its own website, and no shipyard, contract or port call has ever been documented. At $4.5 billion, it would be worth six times as much as Dilbar, for a hull five times shorter.

2025-2026 deliveries: the new wave

Northern Europe’s shipyards are working at full capacity. Between March and June 2026, Lürssen handed over six yachts totalling 655 metres in 105 days, a record for the Bremen yard: Deep Blue (134.2 m), the largest of the six, Boardwalk (117 m), Nausicaä (114.2 m, designed by Marc Newson and fitted with fuel cells), the explorer O3 (109 m), Nixie (102.4 m, delivered in late June) and Odisea (78.2 m). At Feadship, Breakthrough (118.8 m), delivered in 2025, is the first superyacht powered by liquid hydrogen fuel cells, with the hydrogen stored at minus 253 °C. Oceanco delivered a 111-metre yacht (project Y722) in late 2025, followed by its twin Y726, launched on 14 June 2025. None of these shipyards has published a price.

The next length record is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026: REV Ocean, a 194.9-metre, 19,235 GT exploration and research vessel ordered from Norwegian group Vard by billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke, will dethrone Azzam if it is delivered on schedule.

What a yacht really costs each year

The purchase price is only the beginning. Brokers apply a rule of thumb of 10% of the vessel’s value per year for crew, fuel, insurance, berthing and maintenance. The US Treasury thus put Dilbar’s running costs at around $60 million a year. Frozen since 2022, several of these giants cost money without sailing: in Italy, the upkeep of Sailing Yacht A has weighed on public finances for more than four years. For those who simply want a taste of this life, chartering remains the way in: from a few hundred thousand euros a week for a 60-metre yacht to €3 million for Flying Fox.

Updated on 11 October 2026.