This trademark registration cost calculator estimates the total cost to register a trademark with the USPTO in 2026, starting from the $350-per-class government fee under the office's new single-fee structure and adding optional attorney fees, extra classes, and surcharges. The headline question — how much does a trademark cost — has no single answer because it depends on how many classes you file in and whether you hire an attorney. A bare-bones DIY filing in one class is $350 in government fees; a typical attorney-assisted filing in one class is closer to $700–$1,350 all-in. Use the tool below to model your real cost, then read the full breakdown underneath.
Enter your filing details to estimate your total USPTO trademark cost.
For a standard US trademark, expect the cost to break down into three layers: the USPTO government fee of $350 per class, an optional attorney fee (commonly $300–$1,000 per class for a flat-fee filing), and possible surcharges for custom identifications or long descriptions. A solo founder filing one class with no attorney pays $350. A small business filing one class with an attorney pays roughly $700–$1,350. A brand filing two classes with an attorney can run $1,400–$2,700. This trademark cost calculator captures all of those layers so you are not surprised at checkout.
| Cost component | Typical 2026 amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| USPTO base application fee | $350 per class | New 2026 single fee via Trademark Center |
| Free-form identification surcharge | +$200 per class | Only if you write a custom description |
| Long-description surcharge | +$200 per class | Per 1,000 characters over the limit |
| Insufficient-information surcharge | +$100 per class | If required fields are missing |
| Attorney flat fee (optional) | $300–$1,000 per class | Required for foreign-domiciled filers |
| Clearance search (optional) | $0–$1,500 | DIY free; comprehensive search costs more |
A trademark does not protect a name in the abstract — it protects a name for specific goods or services, grouped into 45 international classes (34 for goods, 11 for services). The USPTO charges per class, so the single biggest lever on your trademark filing cost is how many classes you file in. A clothing brand that only sells apparel files in Class 25 ($350). A clothing brand that also runs a retail store adds Class 35 ($700 total). A software company offering a downloadable app (Class 9) and a SaaS service (Class 42) files two classes. Filing in more classes than you truly use wastes money; filing in too few leaves gaps. The calculator multiplies every per-class cost by your class count so you can see the impact of each additional class instantly.
Plug in the defaults — one class, $350 USPTO fee, $500 attorney fee, $0 search, no surcharges — and the calculator returns:
| Line item | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| USPTO government fee | $350 × 1 class | $350.00 |
| Attorney flat fee | $500 × 1 class | $500.00 |
| Clearance search | one-time | $0.00 |
| Total to file | $850.00 |
So a typical attorney-assisted single-class filing is about $850. Switch the attorney fee to $0 for a DIY filing and the total drops to $350. Add a second class and the attorney-assisted total rises to $1,700, because both the $350 government fee and the $500 attorney fee apply per class. That multiplier is the whole point of a proper trademark registration cost calculator: it surfaces the per-class costs that a single headline number hides.
The USPTO restructured its trademark application fees in January 2025, replacing the older TEAS Plus ($250) and TEAS Standard ($350) options with a single base application fee of $350 per class filed through the new Trademark Center, plus targeted surcharges. The surcharges are designed to encourage clean, complete applications: $200 per class if you write a custom "free-form" goods-and-services identification instead of choosing pre-approved language from the Trademark ID Manual, another $200 per class for each block of 1,000 characters over the description limit, and $100 per class if required fields are incomplete. You can avoid the surcharges entirely by selecting standard descriptions, which is why the calculator defaults to no surcharges. Always confirm the current fee on the official USPTO trademark fees page before filing.
You are not legally required to hire an attorney to file a US trademark — unless you are a foreign-domiciled applicant, in which case the USPTO mandates a US-licensed attorney. Most US applicants still hire one because the application has real traps: choosing the wrong class, writing an identification that is too broad or too narrow, or filing on a name that conflicts with an existing mark. A flat-fee filing attorney (commonly $300–$1,000 per class on top of government fees) runs a clearance search, writes the identification to survive examination, and responds to office actions. The downside is cost; the upside is a materially higher chance of registration and fewer expensive refusals. Set the attorney field to $0 to model a confident DIY filing, or to your quoted flat fee to model professional help.
Federal registration with the USPTO is what most businesses want, because it grants nationwide rights and the strongest protection. But you can also register a trademark at the state level, usually for a much smaller fee — often in the $50–$150 range — through your Secretary of State. The trade-off is scope: a state trademark only protects you within that state and carries less legal weight than a federal registration. State registration can make sense for a purely local business that will never operate across state lines, or as a low-cost interim step. For anything with online sales or multi-state ambitions, the federal $350-per-class route is the one this calculator focuses on, because it is the protection that actually matches how modern brands operate.
The USPTO lets you file in two ways, and the choice affects your timeline and total cost. A use-in-commerce (Section 1(a)) application is for a name you are already using to sell goods or services; you submit a specimen of use with the application. An intent-to-use (Section 1(b)) application is for a name you plan to use but have not launched yet; it reserves your priority date, but you must later file a Statement of Use — with an additional per-class fee — once you are actually selling. Intent-to-use is valuable for protecting a name before a launch, but budget for that extra statement-of-use fee so the total cost does not surprise you. The calculator above models the base application; add the statement-of-use fee separately if you file intent-to-use.
Trademark registration is not instant: from filing to registration commonly takes many months, and longer if an examining attorney issues an office action you must respond to. That timeline matters for cost because office-action responses can add legal fees, and because the longer your name sits unprotected before filing, the greater the risk someone else files a conflicting mark first. The practical lesson is to clear and file early rather than waiting until a dispute forces your hand. Filing sooner locks your priority date, reduces the chance of an expensive conflict, and means the one-time cost the calculator shows is more likely to be the cost you actually pay — rather than that plus the cost of fighting over a name you delayed protecting.
A trademark and a domain protect different things, and a strong brand needs both cleared together. The trademark gives you legal rights to a name for specific goods or services; the domain gives you the address customers actually type. It makes little sense to spend $850–$2,700 trademarking a name whose .com you cannot own, and it is risky to build a brand on a domain that infringes someone else's registered mark. Before you file, run a free USPTO trademark search and check the matching .com with our domain name search. For a deeper look at how the two interact, see our guides on trademark vs domain name and domain name trademark conflicts. Budget the recurring domain side with our domain cost calculator.
In 2026 the USPTO charges a base government fee of $350 per class of goods or services under its new single fee structure, filed through the Trademark Center. Filing in one class with no attorney is $350; one class with a typical flat-fee attorney runs about $700-$1,350 all-in. Each additional class adds another $350 in government fees. Surcharges apply for free-form (custom) identifications and for long descriptions, which this calculator lets you add.
As of the 2026 fee schedule, the USPTO base application fee is $350 per class. A trademark covers specific classes of goods and services, so if your brand sells, for example, both clothing (Class 25) and retail services (Class 35), you pay $350 x 2 = $700 in government fees before any attorney cost. Choosing pre-approved descriptions from the Trademark ID Manual avoids the extra free-form and long-description surcharges.
You are not legally required to hire an attorney to file a US trademark unless you are a foreign-domiciled applicant, in which case a US-licensed attorney is mandatory. Most US applicants still use one because a flat-fee filing attorney (commonly $300-$1,000 per class plus government fees) runs a clearance search and writes the identification correctly, which reduces costly office actions and refusals. This calculator lets you enter $0 for a DIY filing or a per-class attorney fee.
Yes. A US trademark must be maintained: a Section 8 declaration of use is due between years 5 and 6, a combined Section 8 and 9 renewal is due around year 10, and every 10 years after that. Each maintenance filing carries USPTO fees (roughly $325 per class for a Section 8, plus renewal fees), so the lifetime cost is higher than the initial filing. Budget for these so your registration does not lapse.
Yes. Clear and register the matching .com before you invest hundreds to thousands in a trademark application, because a brand you cannot own online is far less valuable and a conflicting prior trademark can derail both. A domain costs about $10-$22 per year versus $350+ per class for the trademark, so locking the domain first is cheap insurance. Run a USPTO search and a domain check together before committing to a name.