Head to head

Falcon 9 vs Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M

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

Falcon 9: 22,800 kg

Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M: 8,200 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	Falcon 9	Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Flights flown	697	36
Success rate	99.4%	100%
Payload to LEO (kg)	22,800	8,200
Payload to GTO (kg)	8,300	3,250
Launch cost	$52M	$48.5M
Cost per kg to LEO	$2,281	$5,915
Liftoff thrust (kN)	7,607	4,150
Length (m)	70	46.3
Diameter (m)	3.65	10.3
Launch mass (t)	549	313
Stages	2	4

Falcon 9

Flight record

99.4% success rate693 of 697 flown · 4 failed

2010peak 2025 · 165 flights2026

Maiden flight 2018-05-11. Still flying.

Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M

Flight record

100% success rate36 of 36 flown

2017peak 2021 · 8 flights2026

Maiden flight 2008-07-26. Still flying.

Falcon 9 is built by SpaceX of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M is built by Progress Rocket Space Center of Russia (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Falcon 9 · Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M.

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