Tesla charges you more interest to lease a Cybertruck than to buy one. The lease can still win.

Leases don't quote an interest rate. They quote a money factor, a small decimal that does the same job. To turn it into something you can compare with a loan, multiply it by 2,400. Tesla's money factor on a Cybertruck Premium AWD lease was 0.00273 at our last read on October 23, about 6.55% APR. Tesla hasn't listed a new Premium AWD since that truck left the listings on October 25, so that's the last rate we saw, not today's. On the Cyberbeast it's 0.00297, or about 7.13%, as of October 25.

Finance the same new truck through Tesla and the rate is 5.84%. So on paper, you pay more for the money when you lease. Both lease rates have sat where they are since September 1, when Tesla moved the AWD from 0.00305 (about 7.32%) down to 0.00273. In July the AWD factor was 0.00223, about 5.35%, so the rate has been both lower and higher than it is now in the last four months.

Lease rates are Tesla's money factor × 2,400: AWD from our last read, Oct 23; Cyberbeast Oct 25. Finance is Tesla's new-truck rate.

Our last read of Tesla's AWD lease quote, on October 23, was $1,210 a month for 36 months, $5,000 down and 10,000 miles a year, on a truck priced at $90,490. That's the price of the specific truck Tesla quoted, not a price increase: the same quote has run between $1,066 and $1,224 this month as the quoted truck changed between $84,990 and $91,490. Tesla's advertised lease, on its $87,235 base price, is $1,129.

A lease payment is two things. Depreciation is the part of the truck's value you use up: the price minus your down payment, minus the residual (what Tesla says the truck will be worth at the end), spread over 36 months. That's about $792 a month. Rent is the interest: the price after your down payment plus the residual, times the money factor. That's about $389. Together they come to $1,181, and Tesla's fees and rounding cover most of the last $29.

Tesla sets the AWD residual at 63% of the price after 36 months and 30,000 miles. On the $90,490 truck, that's about $57,000. On the Cyberbeast it's 61%, about $63,100 on a $103,490 truck. That residual is also your buyout price: Tesla has let US lease customers, Cybertruck included, buy their truck at lease end since November 27, 2024.

Now look at what Tesla itself asks for used Cybertrucks today. It lists one 2024 Premium AWD, at $73,900 with 50,500 miles, and one 2024 Cyberbeast, a Foundation Series, at $74,500 with 41,600 miles. Those trucks are about two years old, not three, Foundation Series trucks cost more new, and an asking price isn't a final price. So this isn't a like-for-like test. But the gap is large: Tesla's used AWD sits about $17,000 above the value its lease assumes for a truck that's a year older.

Residual: 63% of a $90,490 AWD after 36 months and 30,000 miles. Used: Tesla's listed prices on Oct 26 for 2024 trucks; about two years old, asking prices, not like-for-like.

If you finance, every dollar of depreciation is yours. If you lease, you have a choice at the end. If the truck is worth more than about $57,000, you can buy it at that price and keep the difference. If it's worth less, you hand it back and Tesla eats the loss. That's the part of the higher rate you're getting something for: the lease is insurance against a bad used market.

Here's how that plays out on the same $90,490 AWD with $5,000 down, before taxes and fees. Financed over 72 months at 5.84%, you pay about $1,410 a month, $55,760 in total over the first three years, and you still owe about $46,471. Leasing, you pay $48,560 over the same three years and owe nothing. If the truck is worth more than about $53,700 after three years, financing comes out ahead. If it's worth less, the lease does. Today's used listings say above. A falling market says below, and that's exactly the risk you'd be handing to Tesla.

Maybe, but our own history doesn't promise it. Last December, Tesla advertised the Cybertruck AWD lease at $729 a month with $5,000 down, then raised it to $849 for applications after December 26, with delivery required by December 31. The year-end move that month was a deadline, followed by a higher price. Tesla's biggest headline offers that December (0% APR, free upgrades, $0-down leases) were for the Model 3 and Model Y.

The quarter that just ended looked similar. Tesla's new Cybertruck listings went from 56 on September 17 to just one as of Oct 26, a 2026 Cyberbeast at $106,490, and its lease rates didn't move at the quarter's end: the last change was September 1. A cheaper rate, a cash incentive or a fresh batch of new trucks could still show up before December 31. It also might not.

What to watch: the money factor (anything below 0.00273 on the AWD is a real rate cut), Tesla's current-offers page for a dated year-end deadline, and the new-truck count. As of Oct 26, Tesla lists one new Cybertruck, a 2026 Cyberbeast at $106,490, and no new Premium AWD; the count has refilled in batches before. We'll report whichever happens.

Lease terms (money factor, residual, payment and the price of the quoted truck) are Tesla's own figures from its finance quotes, which we record several times a day; this report uses our last AWD read, on October 23 (no new Premium AWD has been listed since October 25), and our October 25 read for the Cyberbeast. The APR equivalent is the money factor × 2,400, the standard conversion. The finance rate is Tesla's current rate for a new Cybertruck.

Our payment breakdown and the lease-vs-finance comparison are our own math on Tesla's numbers, before sales tax, title, registration and Tesla's $695 acquisition fee. Taxes on leases and loans work differently by state, so your numbers will differ.

Used prices are Tesla's asking prices for the used Cybertrucks it listed at our October 26 check. They're older trucks than a lease-end truck would be, and asking prices aren't what a truck finally changes hands for. We use them as a reference point, not a forecast.

Year-end history: December 2025 lease prices and the December 26 change come from Tesla's announced terms as reported by Electrek and CarsDirect at the time. The lease buyout date is from Tesla's lease-end support page. We don't predict what Tesla will offer this year.