Head to head

Atlas V 401 vs Falcon 9

Two vehicles in the same payload class. Every figure below comes from the same two sources for both rockets, and a row appears only when both publish the input.

Payload to low Earth orbit

Relative

Atlas V 401: 9,050 kg

Falcon 9: 22,800 kg

Side by side

11 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Atlas V 401	Falcon 9
Flights flown	41	697
Success rate	100%	99.4%
Payload to LEO (kg)	9,050	22,800
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,950	8,300
Launch cost	$115M	$52M
Cost per kg to LEO	$12,707	$2,281
Liftoff thrust (kN)	3,827	7,607
Length (m)	58.3	70
Diameter (m)	3.8	3.65
Launch mass (t)	590	549
Stages	2	2

Atlas V 401

Flight record

100% success rate41 of 41 flown

2002peak 2014 · 7 flights2022

Maiden flight 2002-08-21. Retired.

Falcon 9

Flight record

99.4% success rate693 of 697 flown · 4 failed

2010peak 2025 · 165 flights2026

Maiden flight 2018-05-11. Still flying.

Atlas V 401 is built by United Launch Alliance of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Falcon 9 is built by SpaceX of the United States (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Atlas V 401 · Falcon 9.

Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.