I don’t remember Delphi ever being cheap, although you could perhaps get academic versions or gimped personal editions.
About Delphi 2 released 1996: “List price is $2000 for the Client/Server Suite, $500 for the Desktop version, and $800 for the Developer version. Street prices are usually about half the list price, and upgrade prices are even better. Support options are described the Supportability section of this review.” — https://www.thekompany.com/review-of-delphi-2-from-borland/
Prices went up from there over the years, and Embarcadero are now acting more like Oracle when it comes to trying to enforce their rules (I had a friend get an incredibly rude and nasty call from Embarcadero, regardless that he was a super fan, and he had already been paying many thousands to be fully licensed. I have never personally seen a professional company treat a paying professional client so poorly - seriously avoid Embarcadero.)
About Delphi 2 released 1996: “List price is $2000 for the Client/Server Suite, $500 for the Desktop version, and $800 for the Developer version. Street prices are usually about half the list price, and upgrade prices are even better. Support options are described the Supportability section of this review.” — https://www.thekompany.com/review-of-delphi-2-from-borland/
Prices went up from there over the years, and Embarcadero are now acting more like Oracle when it comes to trying to enforce their rules (I had a friend get an incredibly rude and nasty call from Embarcadero, regardless that he was a super fan, and he had already been paying many thousands to be fully licensed. I have never personally seen a professional company treat a paying professional client so poorly - seriously avoid Embarcadero.)