cookieclickerStarting prices and base production
CPS means cookies per second. Every building contributes to automatic production, whether or not you are clicking. The following values describe the first building of each type, before upgrades. All six building types remain useful as you compare their current marginal cost.
| Building | Starting cost | Base CPS | Simple payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor | 15 cookies | 0.1 | 150 seconds |
| Grandma | 100 cookies | 1 | 100 seconds |
| Farm | 1,100 cookies | 8 | 137.5 seconds |
| Mine | 12,000 cookies | 47 | 255.3 seconds |
| Factory | 130,000 cookies | 260 | 500 seconds |
| Bank | 1,400,000 cookies | 1400 | 1,000 seconds |
Simple payback is price divided by added CPS. It assumes constant production and counts only the new building's output. It does not predict your total progress or include clicks, golden rewards and future upgrades. A more expensive building is not automatically the best purchase.
Why the same building gets more expensive
For a building with starting price P, the next price is ceil(P × 1.15ⁿ), where n is the number you already own. Each individual price rounds up. The first three Cursors therefore cost 15, 18 and 20 cookies. Each adds the same 0.1 base CPS, so their simple paybacks increase as you buy more.
When you choose 10 or 100 in the store, the game adds the individual prices together. It does not multiply the first displayed price by the batch size. The extra CPS shown beside the row is for the entire selected batch. Each building type has a limit of 1,000 owned; a batch exceeding that limit cannot be purchased.
Compare a building with a production upgrade
Secret recipe costs 500 cookies and doubles output from every owned building. Freshly baked costs 10,000 and doubles production again. With both, a Cursor makes 0.4 CPS and a Grandma makes 4 CPS. These upgrades also apply to buildings bought later.
For an upgrade comparison, use its additional output. With ten Grandmas and no production upgrades, the bakery has 10 CPS. Secret recipe adds 10 more for 500 cookies, giving a simple payback of 50 seconds. Compare that with the current price and extra CPS of your next building in the live store.
If Secret recipe is already owned, Freshly baked doubles the current production again. The gain is the current building CPS, rather than the original base CPS. Clicking upgrades affect manual cookies only, so do not include their price in a building CPS calculation.
A practical purchase routine
- Check the current price and additional CPS for two affordable building options.
- Divide each price by its gain to compare simple payback.
- Compare any affordable production upgrade using the same method.
- Consider whether you want faster idle growth or prefer to spend on stronger manual clicks.
There is no single purchase order that is best for every play style. If you are new, follow the first-bakery walkthrough. If you mainly play in short visits, check how offline earnings use your saved buildings.