Tamagotchi passed 100 million units shipped worldwide in 2025 (Bandai, August 2025), nearly thirty years after the first egg hatched. That milestone was not driven by nostalgia alone: the 2025 Tamagotchi Paradise is a genuinely new device, Spin Master has two original ideas on shelves, and Digimon quietly built the step-powered wearable everyone assumed Bandai would put a Tamagotchi brand on. Here is the whole field, sorted by who each toy is actually for.
At-a-glance comparison
| Toy | Price | Power | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tamagotchi Paradise | $44.99 | Rechargeable (USB-C) | The best current Tamagotchi |
| Original Tamagotchi | $19.99 | CR2032 | Nostalgia gifts |
| Tamagotchi Connection | $32.99 | CR2032 | Pairs and friend groups |
| Tamagotchi Uni | $59.99 (often discounted) | Rechargeable | Collectors only, see warning |
| Bitzee / Magicals | ~$39.99 | 3x AA | Younger kids |
| Punirunes | $39.99 | Batteries | Kids who want novelty |
| Digimon Vital Hero | ~$45.99 | Rechargeable | Step-powered raising |
| Belly (app) | Free | Your Apple Watch | Anyone already wearing a watch |
The keychain pet's descendants: some are toys on shelves, one lives on the watch you already wear.
How to choose
Three questions sort the whole list:
- Who is it for? Under-8s do better with Bitzee's no-death design. Nostalgic adults want the Original or Paradise. Step-count people want Vital Hero or a watch pet.
- Does it need to be a physical gift? If yes, hardware. If the point is the daily companionship rather than the unwrapping, an app on a device they already own gets used more and abandoned less.
- Will anyone else have one? The Connection is built entirely around device-to-device play. Solo, it loses its reason to exist.
The list
1. Tamagotchi Paradise
Bandai • $44.99 • Released 2025
Bandai's current flagship, and the most inventive Tamagotchi in years. The signature dial zooms your view from cell level (literally watching your pet's biology) out to planet level, and care happens at every scale in between. It launched in mid-2025, won a Japan Toy Award the same year, and is the device that pushed the franchise past 100 million units shipped. If you want the best Tamagotchi being made today, this is it, full stop.
What you get:
- Zoom dial moves between cell, body, and planet views
- Color screen, rechargeable via USB-C
- Multiple shell designs, with new drops through 2025 and 2026
- No Wi-Fi dependency to worry about
The catch: It is the most expensive of the standard line after the Uni, and the zoom mechanic, while clever, adds complexity that very young kids may not take to. For a 6-year-old, the Original is the easier gift.
2. Original Tamagotchi (Gen 1 and Gen 2)
Bandai • $19.99 • Reissue of the 1996/97 device
An exact replica of the program that started the craze: black-and-white pixels, three buttons, beeping, and no pause button. Bandai keeps it in active production with a rotating wardrobe of shell designs, including fresh 2026 patterns. As a nostalgia gift for someone who had one in primary school, nothing else on this list lands the same way.
What you get:
- The authentic 1996/97 gameplay, unchanged
- Cheapest official Tamagotchi at $19.99
- Runs on a single CR2032 coin cell, included
- Dozens of shell designs, with new ones still releasing
The catch: Unchanged means unchanged. No pause, no mute scheduling beyond the original options, and your pet can die during a long meeting. That is the point, but know what you are signing up for.
3. Tamagotchi Connection (2024 reissue)
Bandai • $32.99 • Reissue of the mid-2000s line
The revival of the version millennials traded at school: two devices touch infrared heads-together, pets visit each other, exchange gifts, play games, and can even get married. Bandai relaunched it for the line's 20th anniversary in 2024 and has kept new shells coming since. The two-pack at $57.99 is the right way to buy it, because the whole product is the connection.
What you get:
- Infrared connect between two devices for visits and gifts
- Matchmaking and generational play
- Active shell lineup through 2025 and 2026
- CR2032 battery, included
The catch: Solo, it is a slightly fancier Original at $13 more. If there is no second device in the house or the friend group, buy something else.
4. Tamagotchi Uni
Bandai • $59.99 • Wi-Fi model, released 2023
The Uni is the wearable, Wi-Fi-connected Tamagotchi with the online Tamaverse world, and for two years it was the top of the range. Buy it in 2026 with your eyes open: Bandai's official support page lists the security support period ending July 13, 2026, which means the online features that justify its price are being switched off. What remains afterwards is a competent offline color Tamagotchi with a step counter, often heavily discounted.
What you get:
- Wearable strap design with a built-in step counter
- Color screen, rechargeable
- Personality system that develops from your care style
- Discounts are common as the line winds down
The catch: Do not pay full price for the Wi-Fi features in 2026; they are scheduled to go away. As a discounted offline collectible it is defensible. As a $59.99 online pet it no longer is.
5. Bitzee and Bitzee Magicals
Spin Master • around $39.99 • Released 2023 / 2024
The most interesting hardware idea in the category: instead of a screen behind glass, Bitzee uses a flexible flapping display that creates a touchable, hologram-like pet. You stroke it, tilt it, and shake it, and the pet physically responds under your finger. The base unit holds 15 animals; the Magicals edition swaps in 20 fantasy creatures with wand and potion play. Kids who find a Tamagotchi's buttons abstract tend to get Bitzee immediately.
What you get:
- Touchable display, pets react to strokes and tilts
- 15 animals (20 in Magicals), evolving from baby to Super
- No screen-time guilt, no app, no accounts
- Runs on three AA batteries, included
The catch: Care depth is shallow next to a Tamagotchi. Pets cannot die and the loop is closer to a toy than a responsibility, which is either the selling point or the dealbreaker depending on the kid. Street price has crept up from the original $29.99.
6. Punirunes
Takara Tomy / Spin Master • $39.99 • US release 2024
Japan's squishiest contribution to the genre, brought to US retail by Spin Master. There is a hole in the device. You put your finger in it. The squishy pad inside maps your squishes onto the on-screen pet in real time, so you are physically poking, washing, and tickling a creature that giggles back. Over 55 characters, full-color screen, and a mechanic nobody else has. It sold 700,000+ units across Asia before the US launch.
What you get:
- Finger-in-the-hole squish control, genuinely novel
- 55+ characters to raise and discover
- Full-color screen with mini-games
- English-language US edition at major retailers
The catch: It is louder and busier than a Tamagotchi, and the squish gimmick carries most of the experience. Adults buying for nostalgia usually want the quieter Bandai devices instead.
7. Digimon Vital Hero
Bandai America • around $45.99 • Released 2023
The fitness wearable of the group. Vital Hero is a wrist-worn Digimon raiser where your real steps and activity feed your partner Digimon, push its training, and trigger evolutions. It is the closest hardware analogue to what step-based watch pets do in software, aimed at an audience that grew up with the original Digimon pendulums. Enthusiasts can go deeper with the import Vital Bracelet BE or the made-to-order Digimon Color line via Premium Bandai.
What you get:
- Steps and activity raise and evolve your Digimon
- Battle system with bosses and other devices
- Watch-style wearable design
- Deeper import options exist for collectors
The catch: The original Digimon X handhelds are out of production and marketplace-only now, and Bandai America's attention has visibly moved on. Buy it for what it is today, not for a content roadmap.
8. Belly (the no-hardware option)
Apple Watch • Free
If the person you are shopping for already wears an Apple Watch, the most-used virtual pet you can give them costs nothing and adds nothing to their pockets or drawers. Belly is a pixel cat that lives on the watch face and thrives on daily steps, the same care loop a Tamagotchi runs on, fed by movement instead of button presses. No batteries, no separate device to remember, no $40 to spend.
What you get:
- Lives on the watch face, visible at every glance
- Daily steps feed and cheer the pet
- Free, ad-free, no subscription
- Complications for most watch faces
The catch: It is not a toy you can wrap, and that matters for gifts. There is also exactly one pet, a cat, not a roster of 55 characters. For a physical-gift occasion, pair the app suggestion with one of the devices above.
Prices verified against Bandai, Spin Master, and major US retailer listings in June 2026. Street prices move with stock and seasons, especially around the holidays.
Toy or app: the honest trade-off
A physical pet is a better gift and a worse habit. The toy gets wrapped, opened, loved for two weeks, and then competes with every other object in the house for attention. The app pet wins on one axis only, but it is the axis that matters for a virtual pet: presence. A pet on a watch face is seen dozens of times a day without anyone deciding to pick it up.
That is the whole case for the software route, and it is why we built Belly as a modern Tamagotchi for the Apple Watch. For the app side of this question, our guides to the best Tamagotchi alternatives and Apple Watch games like Tamagotchi cover the field, and Belly vs Tamagotchi Uni goes deep on the device this article tells you to be careful with.
Frequently asked
Are Tamagotchis still being made in 2026?
Yes, and the line is healthier than it has been in years. Bandai's current range includes the Tamagotchi Paradise ($44.99, the 2025 flagship), the Original reissues ($19.99), and the Connection reissues ($32.99), all with new shell designs still releasing through 2026. The franchise passed 100 million units shipped worldwide in 2025, per Bandai. The one model winding down is the Wi-Fi Tamagotchi Uni, whose online support is scheduled to end in July 2026.
What is the best Tamagotchi alternative that is not a Tamagotchi?
For younger kids, Bitzee: the touchable flapping display is immediate and forgiving, with no death state. For something genuinely novel, Punirunes and its squish-control mechanic. For the fitness angle, Digimon Vital Hero turns real steps into training. And if the recipient wears an Apple Watch, a free watch-native pet like Belly delivers the daily care loop without any new hardware at all.
Is the Tamagotchi Uni still worth buying?
Only at a discount, and only as an offline device. Bandai's official support page lists the Uni's security support ending July 13, 2026, which takes its Wi-Fi features, the Tamaverse, and downloads with it. What is left is a decent offline color Tamagotchi with a step counter. If you see it well under its $59.99 list price and that trade is acceptable, fine. At full price, buy the Paradise instead.
Cheap Tamagotchi knock-offs: are they any good?
The $10 unbranded virtual pets on marketplace sites mostly run the same generic chip with crude pixel art, mushy buttons, and no durability. They scratch the itch for about a day. At $19.99, the genuine Original Tamagotchi is close enough in price that the knock-offs make little sense, and on a phone or watch, good free virtual pets cost nothing at all.
Read more: Compare the lineage in Belly vs Tamagotchi, see the app field in best Tamagotchi alternatives, or browse Tamagotchi-style apps for adults.