How much do Lego style base plates cost in 2023?

Hi brick fans!  Ever wonder who has the cheapest Lego compatible base plates out there, right now?  I'm talking specifically about the 10"x10" or 32x32 stud classic single sided base plates.

Here is a list of all of the places you can find base plates on-line and in bricks and mortar stores in 2023.  All pricing is in 🇨🇦 Canadian dollars excluding tax.

Lego

The original Lego base plate from Lego costs $9.99.  You can also find Lego base plates at all of the major retailers like Walmart (slightly cheaper at $9.83) and ToysRUs ($9.99), MastermindToys ($9.99) and Staples on-line ($9.99).  Amazon Canada matches their pricing of Lego base plates with Walmart pricing at $9.83.

I was going to check pricing at Indigo Canada, but they have taken their website off-line due to a cybersecurity breach at the moment.

Lego Compatible

Walmart has an exclusive toy brand called Play Day Toys which I think were originally called Brick Tech.  You can get the Play Day branded base plate for $7.97. They come in 4 different colours: Beige, Light Gray, Green and Blue.

In Canada, we have a discount retailer called Giant Tiger.  They have a Lego compatible base plate called Zuru Max Build More for $5.00 available in green and gray.

I checked BestBuy and Canadian Tire but they don't seem to carry much in the way of toys. As a result, I didn't find any Lego or Lego compatible base plates at these two retailers.  Discount retailer Dollarama doesn't carry any sort of Lego style base plates either.

Things used to be much cheaper on Aliexpress, but these days all of the Lego compatible bricks and parts have gone up in pricing, with very few stores still offering free shipping.  The cheapest base plates I could find on Aliexpress are from the Apan Sapio store at a total cost of $4.73. At least you don't have to pay any taxes on these items.

On Amazon, there are various generic branded baseplates where you can get a good deal if you buy them in lots of 4, 6 or 8.  For example, currently you can get a 6 pack of multi-coloured base plates for $22.94.  That works out to about $3.82 per base plate.  

If you buy more, the price comes down even more. For example this 12 pack of base plates from the Strictly Briks Amazon store costs $29.99 making the average cost of each base plate only $2.50 each.

But, by far the cheapest base plates available are through Dollar Tree for only $1.50 each!  Sold under the name Make-it Blocks.  They don't have a lot of stores where I live so I have to drive a bit to find one. And not all stores replenish their stock regularly.  I think that Dollar Tree has different coloured base plates but I've only ever seen brown coloured ones, which is fine by me.

So there you have it, Lego compatible base plates can range from $1.50 to $7.97 whereas actual Lego base plates will cost between $9.86 and $9.99.  If you know of any other retailers in Canada selling 32x32 stud base plates, please let me know!