Leaf It Alone Upgrade Costs: Every Tool and Upgrade Price

Knowing the Leaf it Alone upgrade costs ahead of time saves real money. On Hometown, it decides whether you pop Work Smart, Not Hard, finish under 40 minutes, or end up picking leaves one by one for hours. The first upgrade costs a dime and the priciest leaf blower tier costs $50, so the order you buy them in matters. Below are the Hometown prices for every tool, upgrade and leaf inlet, plus how spending changes on the Castle and Sakura maps added in the free 1.1 update.

Hometown Tool Prices in the Shed

Tools are bought in the shed at the start of the map. Everything else is bought from the Upgrades tab in your journal (Tab on keyboard).

Tool	Price	What it does
Medium Leaf Bag	$0.75	Bag holds 200 leaves instead of 50
Large Leaf Bag	$3.49	Bag holds 500 leaves
Rake	$7.49	Pull leaves into piles or toward leaf inlets
Leaf Blower	$49.99	Blow leaves around or into leaf inlets

Buying the Medium Leaf Bag also unlocks Novice Investor. Early on, a 50-leaf bag only sells for about 20 cents, so the 200-leaf bag pays for itself quickly once you're working away from the bin.

Hand Upgrades

Your bare hands get three upgrade lines. They're cheap, and maxing them early is what makes the rest of the map manageable.

Upgrade	Cost per level	Effect
Fluid Picker	$0.40	Hold the mouse button instead of clicking every leaf
Dexterity 1–5	$0.25 / $0.75 / $1.50 / $2.75 / $4.50	Pickup interval drops from 0.5s to 0.2s
Greedy Grasp 1–5	$0.10 / $0.50 / $1.75 / $3.50 / $5.75	Leaves per grab go 1 → 2 → 3 → 5 → 7 → 10

Speedrun routes buy Greedy Grasp 1 right away: for $0.10 it doubles the leaves you grab each pickup. Fluid Picker doesn't make you faster. It only saves your finger. Speedrunners often skip it until the other hand upgrades are maxed.

Rake Upgrades

Upgrade	Cost per level	Effect
Handle Length 1–4	$3.50 / $6.00 / $8.50 / $11.00	Handle 2.05m → 2.2m, raking distance 0.64m → 0.7m
Sweep Radius 1–5	$4.00 / $6.75 / $9.50 / $12.25 / $14.00	Radius 0.45m → 0.6m
Leaf Stickiness 1–4	$5.00 / $6.50 / $8.00 / $9.50	Stickiness 0.8 → 1.0

An unupgraded rake feels weak, so don't judge it until you've put a few levels into it.

Leaf Blower Upgrades

The blower is where most of your money goes.

Upgrade	Cost per level	Effect
Airstream Width 1–5	$28 / $35 / $40 / $46 / $50	Width 0.55m → 0.75m
Power 1–4	$15 / $20 / $24 / $27	1800W → 2400W, start-up time 0.43s → 0.2s
Air Spread 1–4	$10 / $16 / $21 / $25	Precision 0.48 → 0.12

Buying every tool and tool upgrade unlocks Senior Investor. You don't need the leaf inlets or the Maze bonus for that achievement.

Air Spread improves the blower's precision, so fewer leaves get blown off to the sides. Put your first money into Air Spread and Power. Clearing the Maze gives a strength bonus that adds 10% to every upgrade you've bought, so clear it before the Greenhouse.

Leaf Inlet Repair Prices

Leaf inlets are the vents that suck up nearby leaves and pay out right away. Each one has to be repaired before you can use it.

Inlet location	Repair cost
Porch, right side	$0
Porch, left side	$3
Court side of the garage	$3
Swings, back of the garage	$6
Grill area, house side	$10
Pool	$15
Maze, back of the house	$20
Path to the Greenhouse	$25

The free porch inlet is the first thing to click on a speedrun, because it's instant cash. Skip it entirely on a Craftsman run (finish without repairing any inlet).

Spending Plans for the Hard Achievements

Need for Sweep (under 40 minutes). Money is tight, so buy only what moves you forward:

1. Repair the free porch inlet and buy Greedy Grasp 1.
2. Clear the Porch, upgrading hands as cash comes in, then buy the Medium Leaf Bag.
3. Clear the Driveway or Frontyard for the speed bonus and buy the Large Leaf Bag ($3.49) before the garage dash.
4. Max hand upgrades in the Basement.
5. Buy the Rake on your way to the Shed, but don't upgrade it yet. Arrive at the Pool with at least $15 for its inlet.
6. Upgrade the rake while you clear the Pool, and hold back $25 for the Greenhouse inlet.

The leaf blower is optional on this route. A maxed rake handles the Swings and Greenhouse fine, and skipping the $49.99 blower plus its upgrades keeps the vent money safe.

Work Smart, Not Hard ($700 earned). Purchases don't reduce your earnings total, so you can still buy upgrades. What matters is when you sell. Clear the Porch to unlock bag tying, then stockpile tied bags until you've finished the Entrance (100%), Basement (50%) and Pool (50%). Each one adds +25% leaf value. The Garage pays a $7.50 bonus and the Grill pays $15 for full clears. Earn the $700 before crawling into the secret room, because money earned after the ending doesn't count. Budget only for the hand upgrades and bag sizes you need until the bonuses are in, then sell everything.

Castle and Sakura Costs

On the 1.1 maps your hand upgrades carry over, and the upgrade tab gains Bag Master (faster tying and emptying) and Bag Capacity. A few prices worth knowing:

• Castle: the Large Leaf Bag costs $7.49 and the Giant Leaf Bag (800 capacity) costs $14.99. To get a bag that sells for $10, max Bag Capacity, buy the Giant bag, and clear the Terrace, Fresco and Shooting Range for their leaf value bonuses.
• Suction Mode: this leaf blower upgrade sucks leaves straight into your bag. The Herbivore achievement asks you to suck up 10,000 leaves with a leaf blower.
• Sakura: the mini tractor's upgrades include Sport Mode, Power Steering, Turbo Starter, Carbon Parts and Chiptuning. Patch v1.1.7 (November 5, 2026) lowered the price of some tractor upgrades.

FAQ

What should I buy first in Leaf it Alone?

Speedrun routes open with Greedy Grasp 1 for $0.10, then alternate Dexterity and Greedy Grasp. Cheap hand upgrades speed up everything that follows.

Can I skip the grind on upgrades?

Yes. Custom Mode, unlocked after you finish a map in Story Mode, lets you set starting money, change the income multiplier, pick your starting tools, or unlock all tool upgrades. Since Patch v1.1.7, achievements can be earned in Custom Mode as long as the default parameters are applied. You can get the game on Steam.

Is the leaf blower worth $49.99 on Hometown?

You need it for Senior Investor, since that achievement requires every tool and tool upgrade. On a sub-40-minute run, skip it and spend that money on rake upgrades and the Pool and Greenhouse inlets.