OBJECTIVES: In the 21st century, Brazil became the country with the most reported cases of dengue fever. This study aims to describe hospital costs for managing dengue in the Brazilian Public Healthcare System (BPHS). METHODS: BPHS Hospital Information Database (SIH/SUS) was used to collect data for the period of 2008-2011. Individual claims coded as “Classic Dengue (CD) Treatment” or “Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) Treatment” in the SIH/SUS (regardless ICD-10 codes) were identified in this system and compiled by geographic region, disease type and year. RESULTS: A total of 304,548 individual dengue claims were obtained for the 2008-2011 period. They represented an overall cost of 97,642,495BRL for all 4 years (ranging from 17,843,318BRL in 2009 to 31,235,501BRL in 2010). The 4-year national average cost per inpatient admission was 321BRL (295BRL [2008] - 333 BRL [2010]), with mean length of stay (LOS) of 3.3 days and in-hospital mortality rate of 0.46%. The northeast region represented 43.1% of overall expenditures, while the south accounted for only 1.6%. The hemorrhagic syndrome was responsible for 10%, 7% and 10% of overall cost, individual dengue claims and total hospitalization days, respectively. Mean cost per inpatient admission for DHF was 50.6% higher than CD’s (468BRL vs. 316 BRL), mean LOS was 55.2% higher (5.0 vs. 3.2 days) and in- hospital mortality rate was 997.8% higher than the one from CD (3.0% vs. 0.27%). Stratifying by region, 9.6%, 36.6%, 34.7%, 1.7% and 17.4% of DHF costs were respectively localized on the North, Northeast, Southeast, South and Midwest. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of SIH/SUS administrative information provided insightful information about dengue costs. Although DHF represented only 7% of individual claims, its mean cost per inpatient admission and in-hospital mortality rate was considerably higher than CD’s, persisting as an object of concern for health authorities.