The best CSGO knife tier list for case opening in 2023

If you’re looking to open a CSGO knife or two, our tier list will let you know which ones are the best to pull for.

Opening a knife is one of the most exciting things possible in CSGO, but not all of them are made equal. CSGO has 19 different knife models with more on the way, and they range in value from just over $100 to thousands even for the cheapest skins. This variety is part of what makes opening a knife so special, but players unfamiliar with the skins market may not realize exactly what they have.

That’s where we come in. This is a CSGO knife tier list ranking each model’s rough value as of 2023.

CSGO knife tier list for 2023

Our list divides the 19 knives into seven tiers based on their approximate value across all skins. 

The top tier of our CSGO knife list is the holy trinity of the karambit, butterfly knife, and M9. The karambit and butterfly are commonly considered the two best knives in the game, though low-tier butterflies tend to outvalue bad karambits. The M9’s massive blade makes it ideal for high-tier skins like sapphires and fades, but lesser skins similarly fall off in price.

Just below the top tier are the skeleton, bayonet, and talon. These are all basically junior versions of the top tier. The skeleton is popular with pro players, the bayonet is an all-time classic, and the talon is basically a more complicated karambit. All of these are fantastic knives to open regardless of skin. 

The majority of the tier list stretches from the nomad to the falchion. These are still quite valuable, but significantly less so than the top six. Four-figure price tags are harder to come by, but anything particularly rare like a blue gem, black pearl, or factory new Crimson Webs can still fetch an insane price. The D tier is when knives start to get dangerously close to the $100 mark.

And finally, the Navaja, shadow daggers, and gut knife rest at the bottom of the CSGO knife tier list. These are the absolute worst knives to open, and all but the absolute best of them are a disappointment. Shadows and guts can appeal to certain players, but these meme knives are really just there to make the other options look good.