Almost all ISO-standards/deliverables cost the equivalent of a well researched specialized management book. ISO-standards are in general priced based on number of pages and ISO 26000 contains many pages. Prices range between approximately EURO 19-254 / USD 20-265 depending on which country ISO 26000 is purchased in/from. The main reason prices vary between countries seems to be the difference in local cost for translating, maintaining, promoting, printing, managing the standard. The NSBs can almost set their own prices for nationally adopted ISO-standards and national standards.
The final International Standard ISO 26000 is as almost all ISO standards/deliverables protected under copyright law. This means that the standard must be purchased from the National Standards Bodies or from ISO and can not be distributed freely.
Some institutions have published good books and other documents explaining ISO 26000. However, a strong recommendation is to buy the standard ISO 26000 before you buy any other publication trying to explain ISO 26000. The standard is well written and easy enough to understand.
A few copies of ISO 26000 are available for free
An agreement has been made with an NSB that a few copies of ISO 26000 can be printed and sent to individuals for free through iso26000.info. Priority will be given to individuals from underfunded organizations and regions, or organizations that find it difficult to purchase the standard in their country. Contact the Editor of ISO26000.info if you are interested in a free copy of ISO 26000 in English, or if you want to sponsor more copies to be made available for free.
Special thanks to the following persons who helped making the first copies available for free:
Mr. Einar Söderberg (Sweden), Mr. Kernaghan Webb (Canada), Mr. Ricky Fukada (Japan)