The current snapshot contains 24 upgrades costing 57,680 Stardust to purchase completely from an empty Lab. That full total is a reference, not a sensible first purchase goal. Start with the part of a run you want to improve, then build a smaller plan around it.
Use the calculator without paying for the same level twice
Current means the level already purchased in your game. Target means the level you want after your next round of purchases. The calculator adds only the prices between those positions, using the actual client price for each level. Raising Current automatically raises Target when necessary, because this tool plans purchases rather than refunds. It never assumes that you can sell an upgrade back.
Enter your current Stardust balance after setting the levels. Your upgrade budget is the gross cost of the selected purchases; the amount still needed subtracts the balance you entered. These are deliberately separate numbers. A player with enough currency should see that the plan is affordable, while still being able to compare its purchase cost with another plan.
Expand Every level price on an upgrade to inspect the complete sequence. This is useful when the next affordable level is cheap but later levels become much more expensive. To organize the income side, open the PokéBonk Stardust achievement tracker and record rewards you have not yet earned. Do not add rewards you already spent to the balance field.
The fourth move and Fourth option are different purchases
4th move costs 1,275 Stardust in this snapshot. Its client description is: Unlocks the fourth move slot. By comparison, Fourth option costs 2,550 Stardust, and its description is: Level-ups offer 4 options. The similar wording can make these purchases easy to confuse when reading an older guide or a quick recommendation.
Treat the move-slot purchase as a capacity decision. Before saving toward it, identify the move you actually want to add and how it fits your selected partner. A new slot is more useful when the rest of the plan can support it. The PokéBonk build planner is the place to keep that intended loadout together while this page handles its permanent upgrade budget.
Treat the extra option as a choice-management decision. It changes the offer described by the client; it does not directly guarantee the particular move or item you wanted. Avoid converting an additional option into an invented probability of completing a build. The calculator lists the exact purchase cost without making that statistical promise.
Choose an upgrade priority from the problem you are solving
First upgrades is an editorial starting preset. It targets an initial level in Stamina, Training, Study and Magnetism, while preserving anything you already own. Those upgrades address health, damage, experience and pickup range according to their client descriptions. The preset is intentionally small enough to inspect rather than a claim that every account should follow an identical purchase order.
If runs regularly end because enemies reach you before you can move away, consider whether movement, health or recovery would address that failure more directly than another damage purchase. If you survive comfortably but struggle to clear an objective, compare offensive upgrades instead. Revisit the PokéBonk guide for beginners when the issue is positioning or understanding a mechanic, because a permanent bonus cannot replace a missing control habit.
Damage focus is another editable example, covering Training, Swiftness and Precision. It is not a calculated best-value damage ranking. Attack speed, critical chance and generic damage do not necessarily produce interchangeable gains across different moves and passives. Use the PokéBonk calculator explanations to distinguish a visible bonus from a validated full damage model before comparing them as percentages.
Max everything is useful as a completion target or a consistency check. It fills every Target with that upgrade’s own cap, then deducts the levels you already bought. For practical spending, adjust the preset back down to the purchases that matter next. The purpose of PokéBonk Lab upgrades is persistent progress; the purpose of this tool is to make your next decision understandable.
Read direct bonuses and utility unlocks differently
Some Lab entries have a direct stat modifier in the extracted data. Others describe dedicated mechanics such as an extra slot, a starting resource or removing an offer. A missing generic stat field does not mean that a utility upgrade has no effect. The tool shows the translated client description alongside its prices so those mechanics remain visible without pretending to combine them into a single strength score.
For example, the client describes Vitamin slots as: +1 vitamin slot per level. Its complete price is 3,570 Stardust. The purchase creates room for a different planning decision; the effect of what you put in that room belongs to the PokéBonk vitamins reference. Keep the slot budget separate from the numerical contribution of a particular Vitamin.
Archive, Refresh, Skip and Banish also need a plan behind them. Read each description and decide which offers you want to keep, replace or remove. The PokéBonk items database helps identify those choices. A utility purchase may improve consistency for a particular setup, but this page does not assign it a fabricated average damage increase or expected shop saving.
Estimate runs using your own recent results
Stardust per run is an assumption you supply, not a reward rate published by this site. Record a representative set of your own recent results, then enter an average that reflects the way you expect to play. The estimate divides the remaining budget by that average and rounds up, because a fraction of a future run cannot finish the purchase on its own.
Leave the field empty when you do not have a useful average. The calculator will still provide the exact remaining Stardust requirement and will not show an infinite or invented run count. If your balance already covers the plan, there is no additional farming requirement even without an average. This distinction prevents an uncertain income estimate from obscuring a certain purchase cost.
Recalculate when you change your route, difficulty or goal. Different PokéBonk game modes can mean different kinds of attempts, and a short learning attempt should not be compared blindly with a successful farming session. One-time achievement payouts can also make a small sample look unusually generous. Keep them separate if they are unlikely to recur during the remaining grind.
Plan around the partners you can actually use
A purchase can look strong in isolation and still do little for your next session. Check the requirements for a partner before buying upgrades solely for its future setup. The League unlock tracker lets you keep those requirements beside your longer-term plan. If the partner is still far away, a broadly useful purchase may help more of the runs you will play on the way there.
This does not mean specialized upgrades are bad. It means you should name the purpose of the purchase. An extra slot for a tested loadout, more pickup range for a comfort issue, or a larger utility reserve for a difficult challenge are different reasons to spend. Save separate links for competing plans and compare their remaining cost against the same current levels and balance.
Avoid calling a plan affordable because it fits your lifetime earnings. Only currency you still hold belongs in the balance box. Likewise, changes you make here do not buy anything in the official game. Apply the purchase there, confirm the resulting level, and then update Current in this calculator so your next plan begins from the correct state.
Save, share and check the data version
Copy link includes your current levels, targets, balance and run-average assumption in the address fragment. Anyone you send that link to can see those values. Save locally stores a convenient copy in this browser, and Load saved plan restores that copy when needed. Reset clears the open plan while leaving the separately saved copy available. Browser storage is not an account backup.
PokéBonk Lab upgrades on this page use version 0.8.34, build mvlr7rzv. Opening a plan from another build keeps recognizable levels but recalculates costs with the current snapshot. Check the in-game prices if an update has just landed. The data sources and extraction method explain how the client values are collected and why unavailable mechanics are not filled with guesses.
A copied plan is a comparison aid, not a frozen receipt for a future patch. Keep the version stamp with screenshots when discussing a price discrepancy. If a level cap changes, review the normalized targets after reopening the link. Reporting the upgrade name, your current level and the displayed next price is much more useful than reporting only the full-Lab total.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to max every Lab upgrade?
The current 24 upgrades total 57,680 Stardust from an empty Lab. The calculator subtracts already owned levels when you choose Max everything, so a progressed account will have a smaller remaining purchase cost.
Does the calculator know my game balance?
No. Enter your balance and owned levels yourself. Everything is calculated in your browser, and neither a copied link nor a local save reads or changes your official game account.
Which Lab upgrade should I buy first?
Start with the problem limiting your next run. The presets are editable editorial suggestions, not an official purchase order. Compare their costs, read the effects and choose a target that supports the partner and goal you actually plan to play.