Robotiq alternatives worth a trial.

Robotiq earned its spot. The company says it has sold more than 23,000 grippers, and its 2F-85 is the gripper half the cobot videos on the internet seem to use. The range is focused, though. Two adaptive two-finger grippers (2F-85 and 2F-140), the Hand-E parallel gripper and its Hand-E C10 variant, the EPick and AirPick vacuum units, the PowerPick vacuum line and the 3-Finger Adaptive Gripper. In 2026 Robotiq added TSF-85 tactile fingertips for the 2F-85 and a broader "Physical AI" line.

Inside that range, Robotiq is hard to beat on ease of setup. Outside it, you'll want to look around. The 2F-85's IP40 rating isn't meant for washdown. Its 235 N top force is modest for heavy metal parts. And there's no soft gripper and no tool changer in the catalog.

The other common reason is the plant standard. If your maintenance team runs a crib full of Schunk or SMC spares for the industrial robots, putting the same brand on the cobot means one less set of parts and manuals. That's a perfectly good reason to choose an alternative even when specs are equal.

Robotiq doesn't publish prices on its website; its product pages end in a request-pricing button. That isn't unusual, since OnRobot doesn't either, but it does mean comparisons usually start from a reseller's price list. We use one below.

OnRobot A/S was formed in Odense, Denmark, in 2018 by merging On Robot (the RG2 and RG6 maker), OptoForce and Perception Robotics, and it bought Purple Robotics the same year. The range today runs from the RG2 through the 2FG and 3FG series to the VG vacuum family, the Soft Gripper, the MG10 magnet and the 2FGP20 palletizing gripper, plus the D:PLOY application platform. The RG2 page shows plug-ins for 17 robot brands, including Universal Robots, FANUC, ABB, KUKA, Yaskawa, Doosan and Techman.

Where OnRobot clearly differs from Robotiq is the friction versus form-fit split, which it publishes for every gripper. That tells you a lot about what each one can really hold, and the chart shows it.

Our honest take after many cells with both: Robotiq's adaptive 2F fingers are lovely for mixed shapes, and OnRobot's RG2 and RG6 are the easiest way to cover a wide size range. For heavier parts, OnRobot's 2FG14 and 3FG25 go well past anything in Robotiq's two-finger line. For washdown, the IP67 on OnRobot's 2FG and 3FG grippers beats the 2F-85's IP40, though Robotiq's Hand-E is IP67 too.

We won't repeat the whole comparison here. The Robotiq vs OnRobot page covers ecosystem, software and support in detail.

On the electric side, OnRobot's VGC10 (80% vacuum, 12 L/min) and Schmalz's ECBPi (75% vacuum, 12 L/min, 24 V) are the usual alternatives to Robotiq's EPick, which also pulls 80% at 12 L/min. Those flow numbers are small. They're fine for sealed parts and tight cardboard and struggle with porous material, where a pneumatic unit with real flow does far better.

On air, Piab's piCOBOT runs its COAX ejectors from shop air and goes from 7 kg in the base unit to 16 kg in the piCOBOT L, and Piab announced the piCOBOT L High Payload in August 2026 at up to 35 kg. Robotiq's PowerPick 30 is rated 27.2 kg and OnRobot's VGP30 30 kg on cardboard boxes. That's palletizing territory.

Cup layout matters more than the brand. A vacuum gripper's rating assumes all cups seal on a part that doesn't flex. Real cartons bow, labels peel, and a corner cup that hangs off the edge leaks. Our guide to the best vacuum grippers covers sizing cups and flow for palletizing and handling.

For food, porous or very irregular products where vacuum won't seal at all, look at soft robotic grippers instead. OnRobot's Soft Gripper and Schmalz's mGrip line are the usual candidates.

The DH-Robotics AG-95 is the closest look-alike to the 2F-85, an adaptive two-finger gripper with a 95 mm stroke. Reseller data lists up to 160 N, a 3 kg recommended payload, ±0.03 mm repeatability, IP54 and plug-and-play support for UR, Techman, Hanwha, Dobot, Elite and Han's. We couldn't reach DH-Robotics' own site for this page, so confirm those specs with the vendor.

Weiss Robotics in Germany is a different kind of value. Its CRG 200-085 matches the 2F-85's 85 mm stroke with 75 to 200 N, and Weiss publishes both a 1.0 kg force-fit and a 4.3 kg form-fit workpiece weight. Weiss says the CRG series meets DGUV recommendations for collaborative use, and its GRIPKIT line ships with robot-maker-certified plug-ins.

Those are one store's European list prices, before VAT, and they'll move. US pricing through distributors and integrators can differ, and project discounts are normal. Still, the spread tells you something. Among the mainstream two-finger grippers from Robotiq and OnRobot, the gap between cheapest and dearest is under €1,800. Value brands save a few hundred euros on the gripper.

Against a cell price, that's noise. A gripper is a small slice of a robot cell, and the custom fingers, the integration and the hours spent proving the grip usually add up to more than the gripper. Pick on fit, support and the plant standard, then negotiate price. For the full cost picture, see our robot cell cost breakdown and the industrial robot cost guide.

One price outlier worth knowing: palletizing. Robotiq's own FAQ says its palletizing solution starts at $85,000 in the Americas. That's a full system, not a gripper, and it's a useful benchmark when you're comparing complete material handling cells.