Filing a US non-provisional utility patent costs $2,000 in USPTO fees for a large entity, $800 for a small entity, or $400 for a micro entity, before attorney fees. Attorney fees are the largest cost for most applicants, and international protection adds a separate PCT filing track. This guide breaks down all three cost categories plus maintenance fees.
USPTO government fees for a non-provisional utility application
A non-provisional utility application requires three separate USPTO fees at filing, all payable together: a basic filing fee, a search fee, and an examination fee. The amount depends on the applicant’s entity status — large, small, or micro — which is a legal classification under 37 CFR §§ 1.27 and 1.29, not a self-declared discount tier.
| Fee | Large entity | Small entity | Micro entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic filing fee | $350 | $140 | $70 |
| Search fee | $770 | $308 | $154 |
| Examination fee | $880 | $352 | $176 |
| Subtotal at filing | $2,000 | $800 | $400 |
Figures are from the USPTO’s current fee schedule, effective January 19, 2025 (USPTO Fee Schedule). A $400 non-electronic filing surcharge applies if the application is filed on paper rather than through the USPTO’s Patent Center e-filing system — in practice, essentially every applicant files electronically and avoids it. These three fees do not include an issue fee (due only after the application is allowed), any extra-claim fees (utility applications get 20 claims, 3 independent, before per-claim surcharges apply), or fees for responding to office actions, appeals, or requests for continued examination — all of which are common and add to the total before a patent issues.
Who qualifies for small or micro entity status
Small entity (37 CFR § 1.27): an individual inventor, a business with fewer than 500 employees (counting affiliates), or a qualifying nonprofit — provided none of them has assigned, licensed, or is obligated to assign rights in the invention to an entity that would not itself qualify as small. Small entity status cuts the fees above by roughly 60%.
Micro entity (37 CFR § 1.29): a stricter tier, cutting fees by roughly 80% off the large-entity rate, available on either of two independent bases:
- Gross income basis: the applicant must already qualify as small entity, must not have been named inventor on more than four previously filed U.S. non-provisional or PCT national-stage applications, and gross income must fall under the “maximum qualifying gross income” cap (three times the prior year’s median U.S. household income — $251,190 as of September 2025, adjusted annually).
- Institution-of-higher-education basis: the applicant qualifies if the majority of their income comes from a U.S. institution of higher education (as defined in the Higher Education Act) or they have assigned, or are contractually obligated to assign, an ownership interest in the application to one — regardless of income. This is the basis most relevant to university-affiliated inventors: a faculty inventor who has assigned rights to their university under a standard invention-assignment policy can often qualify for micro entity status even at a income level well above the gross-income cap. The institution itself cannot claim micro entity status directly — only an individual inventor meeting the employment or assignment condition can (USPTO, Micro Entity Status).
Entity status must be certified accurately and re-verified at each fee payment; claiming an entity discount the applicant doesn’t actually qualify for is treated by the USPTO as inequitable conduct, not a paperwork error.
Attorney and patent agent costs: the largest real variable
Government fees are fixed and comparatively small. What actually drives total cost — and what varies most between two applications with identical government fees — is the time a registered patent attorney or patent agent spends drafting the specification and claims, then prosecuting the application through USPTO examination.
The main industry benchmark for these costs is the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s periodic Report of the Economic Survey, a peer-reviewed survey of practitioner billing across firm sizes that is widely cited by courts and by patent practices themselves for fee benchmarking. Figures drawn from and consistent with that survey, as commonly reported by patent firms and cost-comparison analyses:
- Drafting and filing an original application of minimal complexity (a straightforward mechanical or simple electrical invention, roughly 10–20 pages) — commonly cited in the $7,500–$10,000 range for the drafting and filing work alone, excluding government fees.
- Drafting and filing a more complex application (software with multiple embodiments, biotech, or a crowded technical area needing a more thorough prior-art analysis and claim strategy) — commonly cited from $10,000 up to $16,000 or more for the same drafting-and-filing stage.
- Responding to an office action. The USPTO issues at least one substantive office action in the large majority of utility applications, and most applications receive two or more rounds of examiner correspondence before allowance or final rejection. Each response is commonly reported in the $2,000–$4,000 range, depending on the scope of amendments and arguments required.
Hourly rates for registered patent attorneys are commonly reported in the low-$300s to $500+ range depending on firm size, seniority, and geographic market, though many firms quote patent preparation as a flat or capped fee rather than pure hourly billing specifically because clients want cost predictability for this stage. A university TTO retaining outside counsel should ask directly whether a quote is flat-fee or hourly-with-estimate, and whether it includes a defined number of office-action rounds.
Total cost from filing through issuance
Combining government fees and typical attorney costs, a realistic all-in range for a single, U.S.-only, non-provisional utility application — filed directly, without a prior provisional — commonly runs:
| Complexity / entity status | Typical range through issuance |
|---|---|
| Simple invention, small entity | ~$9,000–$15,000 |
| Moderate complexity, small entity | ~$12,000–$20,000 |
| Complex (software, biotech, crowded art), any entity | ~$20,000–$30,000+ |
These are directional industry-reported ranges, not a quote — actual cost depends heavily on invention complexity, how many office-action rounds are needed, whether an appeal or a request for continued examination becomes necessary, and the specific firm’s rates. Two levers move the total more than anything else: filing a well-drafted provisional first to lock in a priority date while the commercial case develops (see CASRAI’s provisional patent application guide for that tradeoff), and controlling the number and scope of office-action rounds through a tight initial claim strategy.
Maintenance fees: the ongoing cost after a patent issues
Filing and prosecution costs end once a utility patent is granted, but the cost of keeping it does not. Under 35 U.S.C. § 41(b), utility patents require maintenance fees at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years after grant to stay in force — design and plant patents require none. At current USPTO rates, the three payments total roughly $14,470 at large-entity rates, $5,788 at small-entity rates, or $2,894 at micro-entity rates over a patent’s lifetime, on top of everything covered above. CASRAI’s patent term guide covers the exact fee amounts at each due date, the grace period and surcharge for a missed payment, and how patent term adjustment and extension interact with the 20-year statutory term — this guide only flags maintenance fees as the ongoing cost line item they are; it does not repeat that breakdown here.
International filing costs: the PCT route, at a high level
A U.S. filing only protects an invention within the United States. Seeking protection abroad most commonly starts with a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) international application, filed within 12 months of the first (priority) filing. The PCT does not itself grant a patent anywhere — it defers and centralizes the early-stage cost of pursuing protection in multiple countries, before the applicant has to commit to the far larger cost of separate national filings.
Filing a PCT application through the USPTO as receiving office involves three fees, current as of the USPTO fee schedule:
- Transmittal fee: $285 large entity / $114 small entity / $57 micro entity.
- International search fee (when the USPTO acts as the International Searching Authority): $2,400 large / $960 small / $480 micro entity.
- International filing fee (paid to WIPO’s International Bureau, covering international publication): $1,667 for the first 30 pages, plus $19 per additional page. Unlike the fees above, this fee is not reduced by U.S. small/micro entity status — PCT-wide fee reductions instead depend on the applicant’s nationality or residence (a 90% reduction applies to applicants from certain lower-income countries; see WIPO’s PCT fee schedule).
A PCT filing alone — transmittal, search, and international filing fees, before any national phase — typically runs roughly $3,000–$3,500 for a large entity, before attorney time for preparing the international application (often lower than a fresh U.S. application if it closely follows an already-drafted priority application).
The real cost of going international is not the PCT filing — it’s national phase entry. A PCT application must enter the national (or regional) phase in each country where protection is actually sought, typically within 30 months of the priority date (31 months in several jurisdictions, including the European Patent Office, South Korea, Australia, and India), under PCT Articles 22 and 39. Each national phase entry brings its own separate national fees, local counsel fees, and — for non-English-speaking jurisdictions — translation costs, which are not included in any of the figures above and which multiply per country. An applicant entering national phase in three or four jurisdictions should budget local counsel and translation costs comparable to, or exceeding, the original U.S. application cost, per country. This is the point in the international-filing decision where a TTO typically narrows to the specific markets with real commercial licensing interest rather than filing broadly.
Ways to manage total cost
- Confirm entity status early and correctly — the small/micro entity discounts apply throughout prosecution and to maintenance fees, not just at filing, so getting this right at the outset compounds savings across the application’s life.
- File a provisional application first where the commercial case is still developing, to lock in a priority date at lower initial cost ($325/$130/$65 filing fee, no examination fee) before committing to full non-provisional drafting and prosecution costs. See CASRAI’s provisional patent application guide.
- Ask for a flat or capped-fee quote for the drafting-and-filing stage, and clarify how many office-action rounds it includes, before engaging outside counsel.
- Use the USPTO Patent Pro Bono Program where eligible — a nationwide network of regional programs matching volunteer patent attorneys and agents with financially under-resourced independent inventors and small businesses, generally for applicants under roughly 300% of the federal poverty level (USPTO Patent Pro Bono Program). Most university-affiliated inventions filed through a TTO will not qualify, since the university itself is typically the applicant of record, but it is a real option for individual inventors and very early-stage spinouts filing before institutional assignment.
- Narrow international filing to real commercial targets — the PCT route defers, but does not eliminate, the much larger cost of per-country national phase entry; decide which markets justify that cost before the 30/31-month deadline rather than defaulting to a broad country list.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to file a patent application with the USPTO?
USPTO government fees alone for a non-provisional utility application (filing, search, and examination fees combined) run $2,000 for a large entity, $800 for a small entity, or $400 for a micro entity. Attorney or patent agent fees to draft and file the application are typically several times larger than the government fees — commonly $7,500 to $16,000 or more depending on complexity — making total filing-stage cost typically $9,000–$20,000 or higher before any office-action responses.
Is it cheaper to file a provisional application first?
Yes, at the initial filing stage — a provisional application’s USPTO fee ($325/$130/$65 by entity size) is lower than a non-provisional’s, and it requires no formal claims, oath, or examination fee, which also reduces attorney drafting time relative to a full non-provisional. It does not reduce the eventual cost of the non-provisional application that must still be filed within 12 months to obtain an actual patent — see CASRAI’s provisional patent application guide for the full tradeoff.
Do patent costs differ for small businesses and individual inventors?
Yes. USPTO government fees are reduced by roughly 60% for applicants qualifying as a small entity under 37 CFR § 1.27, and by roughly 80% for those qualifying as a micro entity under 37 CFR § 1.29 — including, for university-affiliated inventors specifically, the institution-of-higher-education basis for micro entity status. Attorney fees are generally not entity-status-dependent, since they reflect the firm’s own rates rather than a USPTO fee schedule.
How much does it cost to file a patent internationally?
A PCT international application (the standard first step for seeking protection outside the U.S.) costs roughly $3,000–$3,500 in USPTO/WIPO fees at large-entity rates, before attorney time. That figure covers only the international phase. Entering the national phase in each country where protection is actually sought — required within 30 or 31 months of the priority date — brings separate national fees, local counsel fees, and translation costs per country, which are typically the larger share of total international patent cost.
What is the total cost of getting a patent from filing through issuance?
For a single U.S. non-provisional application, industry-reported ranges commonly run roughly $9,000–$15,000 for a simple invention at small-entity rates, up to $20,000–$30,000 or more for a complex invention, combining government fees, drafting/filing fees, and typical office-action response costs. This does not include ongoing maintenance fees after grant (see CASRAI’s patent term guide) or any international filing costs.
Related CASRAI resources
- Provisional Patent Applications: USPTO Requirements, Cost, and the 12-Month Deadline — the lower-cost first filing many TTOs use to lock in a priority date
- How Long Do Patents Last? Patent Term, Maintenance Fees, and Extensions — the ongoing maintenance-fee cost after a patent issues
- 35 U.S.C. § 102: Patent Novelty and Invention Disclosure Timing — the disclosure timing rules that interact with the filing decision covered here
- Technology Transfer & Innovation — the full tech-transfer cluster
This guide summarizes current USPTO fee schedule amounts and commonly reported industry ranges for attorney and international filing costs as of July 2026. It is not legal or financial advice; USPTO fees change periodically, attorney fees vary by firm and jurisdiction, and a specific application’s actual cost should be confirmed with a registered patent attorney or agent and against USPTO’s and WIPO’s current fee schedules directly.
