When is it cheaper to rent a Drone by the week than by the day?

From day 5. 5 days at the $120 day rate would be $600, but the weekly rate caps it at $500.

When is it cheaper to rent a Drone on the 28-day rate?

From day 22. At that point the week-and-day composition reaches the $1,600 28-day rate, and the price stops climbing for the rest of the cycle.

Break-even duration

Equipment rents on three rates — a day rate, a week rate and a 28-day rate — and the cheapest one changes as the job runs long. This finds the two days where it changes, on a real listing’s real published rates.

Drone

See the listing →

J. Howard · Drones / UAV

Day: $120
Week: $500
28 days: $1,600

Daily stops winning on

day 5

5 days at the day rate would be $600. On the week rate it is $500.

Weekly stops winning on

day 22

22 days at the day rate would be $2,640. On the 28-day rate it is $1,600.

The working

Whole weeks bill at the week rate; the leftover days bill at the day rate but never add up to more than one extra week; and a whole 28-day cycle never costs more than the 28-day rate. That is the rule, applied one day at a time.

Rental price by duration for Drone, days 1 to 35
Days	At the day rate	On the ladder	Difference	Rate in play
1	$120	$120	—	day
2	$240	$240	—	day
3	$360	$360	—	day
4	$480	$480	—	day
5	$600	$500	you save $100	week
6	$720	$500	you save $220	week
7	$840	$500	you save $340	week
8	$960	$620	you save $340	week
9	$1,080	$740	you save $340	week
10	$1,200	$860	you save $340	week
11	$1,320	$980	you save $340	week
12	$1,440	$1,000	you save $440	week
13	$1,560	$1,000	you save $560	week
14	$1,680	$1,000	you save $680	week
15	$1,800	$1,120	you save $680	week
16	$1,920	$1,240	you save $680	week
17	$2,040	$1,360	you save $680	week
18	$2,160	$1,480	you save $680	week
19	$2,280	$1,500	you save $780	week
20	$2,400	$1,500	you save $900	week
21	$2,520	$1,500	you save $1,020	week
22	$2,640	$1,600	you save $1,040	28-day
23	$2,760	$1,600	you save $1,160	28-day
24	$2,880	$1,600	you save $1,280	28-day
25	$3,000	$1,600	you save $1,400	28-day
26	$3,120	$1,600	you save $1,520	28-day
27	$3,240	$1,600	you save $1,640	28-day
28	$3,360	$1,600	you save $1,760	28-day
29	$3,480	$1,720	you save $1,760	day
30	$3,600	$1,840	you save $1,760	day
31	$3,720	$1,960	you save $1,760	day
32	$3,840	$2,080	you save $1,760	day
33	$3,960	$2,100	you save $1,860	week
34	$4,080	$2,100	you save $1,980	week
35	$4,200	$2,100	you save $2,100	week

Rental rates only. Protection and the marketplace service fee are added on top — see the checkout figure below.

What checkout will quote you

Rental · 22 days: $1,600
Rental protection (RPP): $240
Service fee: $160
Estimated total: $2,000

Pick a listing

The numbers come from one operator’s published rates, so the tool needs to know whose.

Where these numbers come from

The rates are the operator’s own, read live from their listing. The arithmetic is the same best-price billing engine that produces 2Quip invoices — not a second copy written for this page — run on the industry-standard terms: a 28-day cycle, whole weeks at the week rate, leftover days at the day rate capped at one more week.

An operator can agree different terms on an individual rental, and a long rental bills per 28-day cycle rather than in one lump. So treat this as what the rate card says, and the operator’s quote as what you are agreeing to.