---
title: "Provisional Patent Cost in 2026: USPTO Fees by Entity Size"
description: "USPTO provisional filing fees in 2026: $325, $130 or $65 by entity size, who qualifies as micro, the size fee, and what drafting adds on top."
answer: "A U.S. provisional patent application has one government filing fee: $325, or $130 for a small entity, or $65 for a micro entity, under the USPTO fee schedule effective January 19, 2025. Applications over 100 sheets add a size fee. There is no search or examination fee. Drafting help, if any, is priced separately."
tag: "Cost"
date: 2026-10-08
author: "patent.click"
read_minutes: 9
url: https://patent.click/blog/provisional-patent-cost
---

# Provisional Patent Cost in 2026: USPTO Fees by Entity Size

The USPTO charges one fee to file a provisional application, set by entity size. The fee codes, who qualifies as small or micro, the size fee, what drafting adds, and the utility fees later.

**In short:** A U.S. provisional patent application has one government filing fee: $325, or $130 for a small entity, or $65 for a micro entity, under the USPTO fee schedule effective January 19, 2025. Applications over 100 sheets add a size fee. There is no search or examination fee. Drafting help, if any, is priced separately.

The USPTO charges one fee to file a provisional patent application, and the amount depends on who is filing, not on how the application was written. Everything else in what a provisional costs is drafting: an inventor’s own hours, a flat service’s price, or a firm’s time.

This post explains the fees in general terms; a registered practitioner should be consulted about any specific invention. Every figure below was checked against its primary source on October 8, 2026. Fees change, usually once a year, so the USPTO fee schedule is the final word, and patent.click keeps its canonical figures on its [fee table](https://patent.click/fees).

## USPTO fee by entity size

A provisional application, filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(b), needs a specification, any drawings needed to understand the invention, a cover sheet and the basic filing fee in 37 CFR 1.16(d). It needs no claims and no oath or declaration. The fee comes in three tiers, by entity size. These are the amounts in the USPTO fee schedule effective January 19, 2025 (last revised August 14, 2026):

| Fee | Fee codes | 37 CFR | Large entity | Small entity | Micro entity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provisional filing fee | 1005 / 2005 / 3005 | 1.16(d) | $325 | $130 | $65 |
| Size fee, each 50 sheets or part over 100 | 1085 / 2085 / 3085 | 1.16(s) | $450 | $180 | $90 |
| Late filing fee or cover sheet surcharge | 1052 / 2052 / 3052 | 1.16(g) | $65 | $26 | $13 |
| Search and examination fees | None | Nonprovisional only | $0 | $0 | $0 |

The small entity fee is two fifths of the standard fee, and the micro entity fee is one fifth. A provisional filed with its fee and cover sheet, and kept under 100 sheets, owes only the first row (37 CFR 1.16). The fee schedule says every application needs a search fee and an examination fee “except for provisional applications,” and the excess-claims fees in 37 CFR 1.16(h) to (j) exclude provisionals by their own terms. So does the non-DOCX surcharge in 37 CFR 1.16(u), as MPEP 607 repeats. The filing fee is due on filing; paid later, within the period in 37 CFR 1.53(g), it carries the surcharge in the third row (MPEP 607).

## Small vs micro: who qualifies

Entity size is a status the applicant claims, not a discount the applicant picks. Under 37 CFR 1.27, a small entity is an individual inventor who has not assigned or licensed rights to a larger entity, a small business concern (the USPTO describes it as no more than 500 employees, affiliates included), or a nonprofit organization. Every party with rights in the invention has to qualify, so a license to a company that is not itself a small entity generally ends small entity status for the application.

Micro entity status, under 37 CFR 1.29, adds conditions on top. On the gross income basis, which the USPTO says most micro entities use, four things have to be true:

1. **Small entity.** Every applicant, inventor and owner qualifies as a small entity under 37 CFR 1.27.
2. **Filing history.** No applicant or inventor has been named as an inventor on more than four previously filed patent applications. Provisional applications, foreign applications and international applications whose U.S. national fee was never paid do not count (37 CFR 1.29(a)(2)).
3. **Income.** No applicant or inventor had gross income, in the calendar year before the fee is paid, above three times the median household income. For fees paid on or after September 15, 2026, the USPTO sets that limit at $262,380, up from $251,190 (37 CFR 1.29(a)(3)).
4. **Ownership.** No one has assigned, licensed or promised rights in the application to an entity whose own income is over the same limit (37 CFR 1.29(a)(4)).

A second route, the institution of higher education basis in 37 CFR 1.29(d), covers some inventors whose employer, or the owner of the application, is a university or college.

The status is claimed with a written certification (the USPTO’s form SB/15A on the gross income basis), and the USPTO asks applicants to check it again each time a fee is paid, because the income limit moves every September or October and incomes change. For a fee paid in October 2026, the test looks at 2025 gross income; for an individual U.S. taxpayer, that is the “total income” line of the federal return, according to the USPTO’s micro entity page.

One detail surprises people. Provisionals never count toward the four-application limit, but an inventor who has already reached the limit with earlier filings cannot claim micro status in a new provisional either. The USPTO’s own example is an inventor with five earlier design applications.

## The size fee

The size fee is for long applications only. It applies when the specification and drawings exceed 100 sheets, and it is charged for each additional 50 sheets or fraction of 50: $450, or $180 for a small entity, or $90 for a micro entity (37 CFR 1.16(s), fee codes 1085, 2085 and 3085, fee schedule effective January 19, 2025).

MPEP 607 explains how the sheets are counted. For an application filed through the USPTO’s electronic system, the paper-size equivalent is three quarters of the sheets the specification and drawings fill once rendered, and sequence listings and computer program listings submitted as text files are left out. A provisional that renders at 180 sheets counts as 135, which is 35 over the limit, so it owes one size fee.

The size fee is the only charge on the provisional schedule that grows with the document. Length is worth paying for only when it describes the invention: a later utility application can claim the provisional’s date only for what the provisional discloses (35 U.S.C. 119(e)(1)), a point the post on [the 12-month deadline](https://patent.click/blog/provisional-patent-12-month-deadline) takes up.

## What drafting adds: self-file, flat service, hourly firm

The government fee is the floor. Above it sits the cost of turning an invention into a specification, and there are three common ways to pay for that work. Each suits some inventors and some inventions; none suits all of them.

**Self-filing.** The inventor writes the specification, prepares the drawings and files through Patent Center, the USPTO’s electronic filing system. The out-of-pocket cost is the fee in the table above. The work is the inventor’s own, and so is the risk: a provisional needs no claims, but the USPTO recommends that its disclosure “be as complete as possible,” because a later application can rely on its date only for what it describes. The USPTO’s Inventors Assistance Center answers general questions about patent procedure.

**A flat-fee service.** One posted price for a defined scope. Scope varies, so the useful questions are concrete: who writes the specification, whether a USPTO-registered patent agent or attorney signs and files it, whether government fees are included or passed through, and what happens to the price if the filing does not go ahead.

**An hourly firm.** A patent attorney or patent agent at a firm drafts and files the application and charges for time. The total depends on the invention, how much of it is already written down, and the hours the work takes. A practitioner is involved from the first conversation.

Whichever route an inventor takes, the government fee is the same. The USPTO charges by entity size, not by who drafted the application.

## The utility stage later

A provisional holds a filing date for 12 months (35 U.S.C. 111(b)(5)). To carry that date toward a patent, a nonprovisional application has to be filed within those 12 months and claim the provisional’s benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e). That is where the larger government fees sit. A utility application owes three fees at filing; under the USPTO fee schedule effective January 19, 2025:

- **Basic filing fee** (37 CFR 1.16(a), fee codes 1011 / 2011 / 3011): $350, or $140 for a small entity, or $70 for a micro entity.
- **Search fee** (37 CFR 1.16(k), fee codes 1111 / 2111 / 3111): $770, or $308 small, or $154 micro.
- **Examination fee** (37 CFR 1.16(o), fee codes 1311 / 2311 / 3311): $880, or $352 small, or $176 micro.

Together that is $2,000, or $800 for a small entity, or $400 for a micro entity. A small entity filing through Patent Center can pay a $70 basic filing fee under fee code 4011, which brings its total to $730 (USPTO fee schedule effective January 19, 2025).

Other fees depend on the application: claims beyond three independent or 20 in total (37 CFR 1.16(h) and (i)), the size fee, and a surcharge of $430, or $172 small, or $86 micro, when the specification, claims or abstract are not filed in DOCX format (37 CFR 1.16(u), fee schedule effective January 19, 2025). Issue and maintenance fees come later still, and fall outside this post.

## How patent.click prices it

patent.click charges $199 flat for a provisional application. Software prepares the draft and puts it through an adversarial review. Then an independent USPTO-registered patent agent or attorney reviews it and, if it earns their signature, signs and files it under their own registration. They may refuse, and the refusal is final.

The USPTO fee is passed through at cost, never marked up. With the 37 CFR 1.16(d) fee from the schedule effective January 19, 2025, the total on filing comes to $524 for a large entity, $329 for a small entity and $264 for a micro entity. No filing, no charge: the $199 is charged only once the USPTO’s electronic acknowledgement receipt exists. A utility conversion within the 12-month window is $799 flat, with the utility fees above again at cost.

patent.click is in preview: orders are recorded, but nothing is filed with the USPTO or charged yet. The [pricing page](https://patent.click/pricing) sets out both prices, the [fee table](https://patent.click/fees) is the canonical list of government fees, and [Order your provisional · $199](https://patent.click/order) records an order.

patent.click is not a law firm and gives no legal advice. It cannot promise a patent, and it is not an invention promoter under 35 U.S.C. 297. For the calendar after filing, see [the 12-month deadline](https://patent.click/blog/provisional-patent-12-month-deadline); for what a filing lets an inventor say, see [what patent pending means](https://patent.click/blog/what-does-patent-pending-mean).

## Questions

### What does it cost to file a provisional yourself?

The USPTO filing fee under 37 CFR 1.16(d): $325, or $130 for a small entity, or $65 for a micro entity, under the fee schedule effective January 19, 2025. A size fee applies only past 100 sheets, and the drafting is the inventor’s own time.

### Who qualifies for the $65 micro fee?

A small entity whose applicants and inventors have not been named on more than four earlier patent applications, provisionals not counted, and whose prior-year gross income is at most $262,380, the limit for fees paid from September 15, 2026 (37 CFR 1.29). No owner or licensee can be over that limit either, and a separate route covers some university inventors.

### What other USPTO fees can apply?

Two are common on a provisional: the size fee under 37 CFR 1.16(s), $450, $180 or $90 for each 50 sheets or part over 100, and the 37 CFR 1.16(g) surcharge of $65, $26 or $13 when the fee or cover sheet arrives after the filing date. Both come from the fee schedule effective January 19, 2025, and petitions carry their own fees.

### Is there a non-DOCX surcharge on a provisional?

No. The surcharge in 37 CFR 1.16(u) applies to original applications “except design, plant, or provisional applications,” and MPEP 607 repeats the exception. It does apply at the utility stage: $430, or $172 small, or $86 micro, under the fee schedule effective January 19, 2025.

### What do government fees look like at the utility stage?

Filing, search and examination fees together come to $2,000, or $800 for a small entity, or $400 for a micro entity, under 37 CFR 1.16(a), (k) and (o) and the fee schedule effective January 19, 2025. Excess claims, size and non-DOCX fees can add to that, and issue and maintenance fees come later.

## Sources

- [USPTO fee schedule (effective January 19, 2025, last revised August 14, 2026)](https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule), United States Patent and Trademark Office
- [Provisional Application for Patent](https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/apply/provisional-application), United States Patent and Trademark Office
- [Micro entity status](https://www.uspto.gov/patents/laws/micro-entity-status), United States Patent and Trademark Office
- [37 CFR 1.16: National application filing, search, and examination fees](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/37/1.16), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
- [37 CFR 1.27: Definition of small entities](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/37/1.27), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
- [37 CFR 1.29: Micro entity status](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/37/1.29), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
- [MPEP 607: Filing Fee](https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s607.html), United States Patent and Trademark Office
- [35 U.S.C. 119: Benefit of earlier filing date; right of priority](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/119), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
- [35 U.S.C. 297: Improper and deceptive invention promotion](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/297), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School