How much does a European patent cost?

The four layers of cost

1. EPO fees from filing to grant

Every European application pays five core fees: filing €135 (online), search €1,595, designation €720, examination €2,010 and grant €1,135. That is €5,595 for an application of up to 35 pages and 15 claims. On top come €17 per page from the 36th, €290 per claim from the 16th (rising to €720 from the 51st), and a renewal fee each year from the 3rd until grant: €725, €885, €1,050 and so on, up to €1,865 a year from the 10th.

Renewal fees are the swing factor. The EPO stops charging them with the fee for the year in which grant is mentioned (Article 86(2) EPC), so a slow examination costs you money every year it runs. A grant in year 5 means €2,660 of renewals; a grant in year 7 means €5,250.

Micro-entities (natural persons, microenterprises, non-profits, universities and public research bodies with fewer than five European filings in five years) pay 30% less on the filing, search, designation, examination and grant fees and the renewal fees, but not on claims fees. Every fee, with its deadline and reduced amount, is in our EPO fees 2026 table, which also has a calculator.

2. Professional fees

Drafting the application and handling examination are usually the largest costs before grant, and the hardest to pin down. The EPO publishes no estimate of them, and fee surveys vary by country, firm and technology, so we give no range here. What drives the bill is predictable, though: the quality of the first draft, the number of Article 94(3) communications you have to answer, and whether you end up in oral proceedings.

For applicants based outside the EPC states, a representative is not optional. Anyone can file an application, but after that a US, Indian or other non-European applicant must act through a European patent attorney or other professional representative in all EPO proceedings (Article 133(2) EPC). For a US applicant that usually means paying a US firm and a European firm. The EPO's post-grant estimate below does include attorney costs for validation and renewals.

3. Translations

• At filing: none if you file in English, French or German. An application filed in another language needs a translation into one of those within 2 months (Rule 6(1) EPC).
• At grant: the claims must be translated into the other two EPO languages, filed with the grant fee within 4 months of the Rule 71(3) communication.
• For a Unitary Patent: one full translation of the specification during the transitional period: into any other official EU language if the patent is in English. EU-based small entities that filed in another EU language can claim a €500 lump sum (Art. 4 RFeesUPP).
• For classic validation: nothing in Germany, France, the UK, Switzerland, Ireland and the other states sharing an EPO language; only the claims in the other London Agreement states; a full translation in states such as Spain, Italy, Poland and Türkiye. The per-country list is in our European patent validation guide.

The EPO's own comparison shows how much this matters: a classic European patent validated in the 18 Unitary Patent states needs translations into up to 14 languages, while the Unitary Patent needs one.

4. Validation and renewal fees after grant

Once grant is mentioned, renewal fees move from the EPO to each country where the patent has effect, for the years after the year of grant (Article 141 EPC). A Unitary Patent pays one fee to the EPO instead: €475 for year 6 rising to €4,855 for year 20 (Art. 2 RFeesUPP). Some states also charge to publish a validation translation: Spain, for example, charges €278.28 plus €11.19 for each page over 22 when it is filed electronically (National law relating to the EPC).

The EPO has worked out what the post-grant phase costs over time, comparing a Unitary Patent with a classic European patent validated in the same 18 states. Its figures cover a patent granted in its 4th year, with a 24-page translation, and include attorney and service-provider costs for validation and renewals, uprated by 29.6% for eurozone inflation since 2015.

Two things stand out. External costs, mostly translation and attorney handling, are larger than the official fees for a classic patent in the early years. And the gap narrows over time as renewal fees take over, though it never closes. The EPO also models wider coverage: a Unitary Patent combined with classic validation to cover all 27 EU states costs an estimated €35,004 to year 10, against €83,783 for classic validation alone.

Few applicants validate in 18 states, so treat these as an upper bound for classic validation. A patent kept only in Germany, France and the UK needs no translations at all, and its renewal fees can be dropped country by country. Our Unitary Patent guide explains where the break-even point lies and what the single court means for risk.

Worked example 1: a US company via the PCT

A US company files a PCT application with the USPTO as International Searching Authority and enters the European phase at 31 months with 20 claims and 40 pages. It is not a micro-entity. Because the USPTO did the international search, the EPO draws up a supplementary European search and charges the full search fee. Grant is mentioned in year 5, counted from the international filing date.

After grant the company requests unitary effect for the 18 participating states and keeps the patent in the UK, which needs no translation. The official renewal fees for years 6 to 10 are €4,085 for the Unitary Patent and £870 in the UK (GOV.UK). Add the one full translation for unitary effect and the European representative's charges for prosecution, grant and validation. The EPO's estimate of non-fee costs for a Unitary Patent over years 5 to 10, translation included, is €3,227. Its drafting and prosecution fees are on top, in both the US and Europe.

Worked example 2: a European SME

An eight-person Spanish engineering company with turnover under €2 million files its first European application, online and in Spanish, with 15 claims and 30 pages, and sends the English translation within 2 months. As a microenterprise with no earlier European filings it gets the 30% micro-entity reduction. Filing in Spanish as a Spain-based small entity also earns the language reduction on the filing and examination fees, applied after the first (Art. 14(3) RFees). Grant is mentioned in year 5.

That is €5,328.05 against €8,255 at full rates. After grant, the company takes a Unitary Patent for its export markets and validates in Spain, which is outside the Unitary Patent system. Spain wants a full Spanish translation of the patent as granted; the company can start from its own Spanish text and update the parts changed in examination. It also pays the OEPM publication fee of about €367.80 for a 30-page translation filed electronically. Because it filed in an EU language other than English, French or German, it can claim the €500 translation compensation with its request for unitary effect. Unitary Patent renewals for years 6 to 10 total €4,085, with Spanish renewal fees paid separately to the OEPM.

Had it filed in English, it would lose only the language reduction (€450.45 more) and the €500 compensation. Had it been a 60-person SME, it would get neither the micro-entity reduction nor, on an English filing, any reduction at all.

Where the savings are

• Claims and pages. Each claim over 15 costs €290 and is never reduced. Fewer claims also shrink every claims-only translation later.
• Time to grant. Each extra year pending adds a renewal fee of up to €1,865. A clean first reply to the search opinion saves money as well as time.
• Choosing countries. Pick the Unitary Patent when you need four or more participating states, and classic validation for two or three. Drop national validations as products age.
• Searching first. The search and examination fees together are €3,605. Knowing the prior art before filing avoids paying them for an application that was never going to be granted in useful form.

More EPO guides

• How to file a European patent application

  Direct or Euro-PCT filing, search, examination, grant and validation, with the EPO fees in force from 1 April 2026.

• Patent drawing requirements: USPTO, EPO and India

  37 CFR 1.84, the EPO rules that replaced Rule 46 EPC, and Indian rule 15, compared side by side.

• How to write patent claims: USPTO, EPO and India

  Claim structure and worked examples, then the claim rules and fees at the USPTO, the EPO and the Indian Patent Office, side by side.

• The Unitary Patent and the UPC, explained

  The 18 countries covered, renewal fees, the UPC opt-out, and when classic validation is the better choice.

• EPO fees 2026: the full fee schedule

  Every EPO fee in force from 1 April 2026, the 30% micro-entity reduction, PCT fees at the EPO and a fee calculator.

• European patent validation: countries and deadlines

  Translation rules and deadlines in all 40 EPC states, the London Agreement, extension and validation states, and the Unitary Patent.

• The problem-solution approach to inventive step at the EPO

  Closest prior art, the objective technical problem and the could-would test, with a fully worked example and the usual mistakes.

• Software and AI patents in Europe

  Computer-implemented and AI inventions at the EPO: Article 52, COMVIK, G 1/19, claim drafting, and the UK and US positions.

• European patent opposition at the EPO

  The 9-month deadline and fee, the grounds, procedure and oral proceedings, appeal to the Boards, and how it compares with UPC revocation.

• Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) in Europe

  Who can get an SPC, how long it lasts, the filing deadline, the paediatric extension, the manufacturing waiver and the unitary SPC proposal.

• The European search report and EESR, explained

  X, Y and A citation categories, the search opinion, Rule 62a and 63 limited searches, and the Rule 70a deadline to reply.

• Entering the European phase from a PCT application

  The 31-month deadline, Rule 159 acts and fees, the supplementary search, Rule 161, translations and a worked example.

• European divisional applications under Rule 36 EPC

  When the parent is pending, fees by generation, back renewal fees, the Article 76 added-matter trap and timing.

• How to speed up EPO prosecution: PACE, PPH and waivers

  PACE since February 2026, the Rule 70(2) and Rule 161 waivers, PPH with the USPTO, and fast Rule 71(3) approval.

• The European Patent Convention, annotated

  Key EPC Articles and Rules explained one by one, from novelty and claims to Rule 71(3), with deadlines, fees and Enlarged Board case law.

• Types of patent searches, and which one you need

  Patentability, freedom-to-operate, invalidity and landscape searches compared by purpose, timing, scope and deliverable.

• Patentability search: how to check novelty before you file

  What counts as prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102 and Art. 54 EPC, the grace period gap, search steps and how to read results.

• Freedom-to-operate search in the US and Europe

  In-force claims only, legal status checks at the USPTO, EPO and UPC, FTO opinions after Halo, and design-arounds.

• Invalidity search: prior art to challenge a patent

  IPR, PGR, EPO opposition and UPC revocation deadlines, prior art dates, standards documents and claim charts.

• Patent landscape analysis, step by step

  Building a CPC and keyword dataset, cleaning families and names, the metrics that matter and the 18-month publication lag.

• How to search Espacenet

  Smart and Advanced search, field identifiers, proximity and truncation, CPC, INPADOC families, legal events and Global Dossier.

• Google Patents search guide

  Search operators and fields, Boolean and proximity syntax, non-patent literature, and where Google Patents falls short of the official databases.

• The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), explained

  How CPC symbols are built, CPC against IPC, the Y section, how to find the right class and how to search it in each database.

• Patent search Boolean operators and search strings

  Boolean, proximity and truncation syntax compared across Patent Public Search, Espacenet, Google Patents and The Lens, with semantic search for contrast.

• The PCT application: timeline, fees and national phase

  The international phase month by month, receiving Office and ISA fees in CHF, USD and EUR, national phase deadlines by office, and a deadline calculator.

• How much does a patent cost?

  USPTO fees by entity size from filing to the last maintenance fee, what drives professional fees, EPO fees, and an estimator.

• How long does a patent last?

  US utility and design terms, patent term adjustment and extension, terminal disclaimers, maintenance fee deadlines, Europe and India, with an expiry estimator.

• Can AI write a patent application?

  What AI drafting does well and badly, the USPTO and EPO positions on AI tools, AI inventorship after 2025, and confidentiality.

All guides, by patent office