Humanoids · Guide

1X NEO Buyer's Guide: What $20,000 or $499 a Month Gets You

By The RobotDoorstep team · Sources checked Oct 29, 2026

Our verdict: don't pay $20,000 for a 1X NEO yet. If you want one, the $200 refundable deposit holds your place. When your turn comes, take the $499-a-month subscription over the purchase, because it keeps your right to hand the robot back.

NEO is the most concrete home humanoid offer in the US. But as of October 29, 2026 we found no FCC ID, no confirmed customer delivery and no independent test of how much it does without a remote human.

We have not tested a NEO. Everything below comes from spec sheets, FCC filings, company statements and owner/press reports, and we label company claims as claims.

What is the 1X NEO?

NEO is a humanoid robot for household chores, made by 1X Technologies. The company was founded in 2014 as Halodi Robotics in Norway and renamed itself 1X in 2023. Its NEO factory is in Hayward, California.

The published specs from 1X's order page:

Spec	1X figure
Height / weight	5 ft 6 in / 66 lb
Lift / carry	154 lb / 55 lb
Hands	22 degrees of freedom each
Walking speed	1.4 m/s
Battery / runtime	842 Wh / 4 hours
Noise	22 dB
Compute	Nvidia Jetson Thor
Sensors	Two 8.85 MP stereo fisheye cameras, 4 beamforming microphones
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5G
Water resistance	IP68 hands, IP44 body

The same page also lists the limits. Cooking is restricted at first, NEO is meant for indoor use on firm ground, and only the hands are waterproof. 1X also tells owners to "remain attentive during operation," especially around children and vulnerable people.

How much does the 1X NEO cost?

You can pay one of two ways, per 1x.tech/order (seen October 29, 2026):

Early Access, $20,000. You own the robot, with a 3-year warranty, Premium Support and Priority Delivery. 1X says owners need no extra subscription.
Standard, $499 a month. This includes a "Starter Productivity Package" and Standard Delivery. At the end of the term you can extend or return NEO.

Both plans take a $200 deposit, which 1X calls fully refundable until your robot is ready for delivery.

The pages we read don't give a minimum subscription term or a cancellation fee. They also don't say what the Starter Productivity Package contains. Get all three in writing before you pay a first month.

For running costs, 1X claims NEO will use "under $1 a day" in electricity. But the FAQ describes a ".75 kWh battery pack," while the spec table lists 842 Wh. The gap is small, but the numbers don't match.

Our math: 24 months of subscription vs. buying

Months	Subscription paid ($499/mo)	Purchase price
12	$5,988	$20,000
24	$11,976	$20,000
36	$17,964	$20,000
40	$19,960	$20,000
41	$20,459	$20,000

The break-even point is $20,000 ÷ $499 = 40.1 months. If you'd keep NEO for less than about three years and four months, subscribing costs less.

At 24 months, the subscriber has paid $8,024 less than the buyer. For buying to win at that point, a two-year-old NEO would have to resell for more than $8,024, or 40% of its price. No used NEO market exists yet, so nobody can say whether one would.

Electricity is the same on either plan: under $730 over 24 months, if 1X's under-$1-a-day claim holds. Try your own numbers in our buy vs. subscribe calculator.

When will the 1X NEO ship to US homes?

1X's answer is "US Deliveries start 2026." Its FAQ says Early Access buyers get their robots first and subscribers after them, with other countries later. The launch post says other markets start in 2027.

1X's April 30, 2026 factory update makes several claims:

Full-scale production has started at the 58,000-square-foot Hayward plant.
Buyers reserved 10,000 NEOs, a full year of capacity, in five days after the October 2025 launch.
The current units are "prioritized for our internal team" for home testing.
CEO Bernt Børnich wrote: "Some of you will get your NEO this year, some will get them later."

As of October 29, 2026, we found no 1X announcement of a first customer delivery. A roboticaguide.com review dated October 7, 2026 reached the same conclusion. One trade site reported in September that consumer shipments began in April. We couldn't match that to anything 1X has said, so we treat it as unconfirmed.

Subscribers are second in line, and a new order has no delivery date. We track this on our US availability tracker.

Is the 1X NEO FCC approved?

Our status: Pending. We searched the FCC equipment authorization database and fccid.io for 1X Technologies and its former name, Halodi. We found no FCC ID for NEO.

A missing FCC ID doesn't prove NEO is unauthorized. The FCC's own FAQ says devices approved through Supplier's Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) carry no FCC ID, and that a device with either one is authorized. "Pending" means we can't verify it. It doesn't mean NEO is banned.

The larger question is FCC DA 26-786, released July 28, 2026. It adds "foreign-produced advanced robotic devices" to the Covered List, and its definition explicitly includes humanoids. Covered devices can't get any new equipment authorization unless the Department of War grants a Conditional Approval. None of the seven Conditional Approvals in our tracker covers 1X or any humanoid.

NEO's own status is unclear. 1X says "NEO is manufactured in California" and that it builds motors and batteries in-house. Under the FCC's test, that isn't enough on its own.

A robot counts as domestic only if it's a "domestic end product" under 48 CFR 25.101(a). That means it's made in the US and more than 65% of its component cost is domestic, for items delivered 2024 through 2028. 1X hasn't published its domestic component share, and NEO's spec sheet lists outside parts such as Nvidia's Jetson Thor.

If NEO clears the test, the rule doesn't touch it. If it doesn't, 1X needs a Conditional Approval before NEO can be authorized. Before your final payment, ask 1X for the FCC ID or SDoC compliance statement.

Does a 1X employee see inside your home?

Sometimes, by design. 1X says NEO "works autonomously by default." For chores it hasn't learned, you can book Expert Mode, where a 1X Expert guides the robot remotely.

1X's FAQ attaches these conditions, all company claims:

Experts can't connect whenever they like. You schedule the session and accept it.
NEO's ear rings change color while an Expert is in control.
Experts are "1X employees physically present in the USA."

The FAQ doesn't say how often a typical home will need Expert Mode, whether sessions are recorded, or how long footage is kept.

Press coverage shows why that matters. In the Wall Street Journal's October 28, 2025 report, Joanna Stern found that everything NEO did in her demo was guided by a remote pilot wearing a VR headset. In the accompanying video, fetching water from the fridge took a little over a minute, and loading three items into a dishwasher took five minutes. The demo unit wasn't the shipping model.

What data does NEO collect, and can you opt out?

1X says NEO works without data sharing. Its claims:

In autonomous mode, limited sensor data may be sent to 1X servers to complete a request, but it "isn't stored."
1X does not build a profile of you or sell your data.
You can opt out of sharing at any time.

Notebookcheck reported that home video and audio help train 1X's AI, and that 1X promises to blur faces. TechRadar called the setup a potential privacy problem.

We found no independent security audit of NEO. The FCC raised the stakes for the whole category in DA 26-786, which cites a 2026 flaw that exposed camera feeds and microphone audio from robots in people's homes. That case involved other makers' devices, not NEO. Still, NEO has two cameras, four microphones and a 5G radio, so ask 1X the same questions.

Should you buy the 1X NEO?

Most households should wait. NEO has no confirmed customer deliveries, no verified FCC record and no independent test of its autonomy. Paying $20,000 now is a bet on the company.

Early adopters should subscribe, not buy. At $499 a month, your worst case is a few months' fees and a returned robot. Do this only if you're comfortable with a 1X employee sometimes seeing your home through NEO's cameras.

Buy outright only if you'd keep NEO for more than 40 months, you can handle an open-ended delivery wait, and 1X has given you its FCC compliance details in writing.

To compare NEO with Unitree's R1, read buy, subscribe or wait.

How we checked

On October 29, 2026, we did the following:

Read 1X's order page, spec sheet, embedded FAQ, manufacturing page and factory post.
Read the full text of FCC DA 26-786, including Appendix C, and the FCC's robot FAQ updated October 27, 2026.
Searched the FCC database and fccid.io for 1X and Halodi.
Compared our findings with the Wall Street Journal, Notebookcheck and TechRadar reports, plus independent delivery-status reviews.

Every price and spec on this page links to its source.

FAQ

How much is the 1X NEO? $20,000 to own, with a 3-year warranty, or $499 a month to subscribe. Both need a $200 refundable deposit, per 1x.tech/order as of October 29, 2026.

Has 1X NEO shipped to customers? We found no public confirmation of a customer delivery as of October 29, 2026. 1X says US deliveries start in 2026, with Early Access buyers first.

Does NEO have an FCC ID? We couldn't find one. That alone doesn't mean it's unauthorized, because devices approved through SDoC carry no FCC ID. Ask 1X for its compliance statement.

Is NEO affected by the FCC robot ban? Only if it counts as foreign-produced. That depends on US manufacturing plus a domestic component share above 65%, and 1X hasn't published that share.

Can 1X staff control my NEO? Only in Expert Mode. 1X says you must schedule and accept each session, the ear rings change color while it runs, and Experts are 1X employees based in the US.

Is subscribing cheaper than buying NEO? Yes, for under about 40 months. Twenty-four months of subscription costs $11,976, which is $8,024 less than buying.