The provisional patent fee is the smallest number in the whole decision, and focusing on it is how people file provisionals that are worth nothing.
Roughly $60 for a micro entity. That buys a filing date.
Drafting typically runs $1,500 to $4,000, and that determines what the date actually covers.
Priority extends only as far as the disclosure supports. A thin provisional gives a date the eventual claims cannot rely on, and the failure surfaces years later when someone challenges it.
Fees change
| Published figures | Indicative only |
| Authoritative source | The USPTO fee schedule |
| Adjusted periodically | Yes |
| Verify before filing | Always |
The fee
| Entity | Provisional filing fee |
|---|---|
| Micro entity | ~$60 |
| Small entity | ~$130 |
| Large entity | ~$325 |
Verify the current amount on the USPTO fee schedule. Fees change periodically and any published figure should be treated as indicative.
| Micro entity requires | |
|---|---|
| Small entity qualification | Under 500 employees, or an individual |
| ≤4 prior US non-provisionals | Provisionals do not count |
| Income below 3× median household | Per applicant |
| No assignment to a party over that limit | — |
Provisionals do not count toward the four-application limit, which is a useful detail for serial inventors. See small entity status.
What it actually costs
| Item | Typical |
|---|---|
| USPTO fee | $60–$325 |
| Professional drafting | $1,500–$4,000 |
| Drawings, where needed | Varies |
| Self-drafted | $0 — and the risk |
| Size fee, very long specifications | Occasional |
Drafting is 95% of the cost and 100% of the value. The fee buys a date; the drafting decides what the date covers.
What the fee buys
| A priority date | For 12 months |
| Term not started | The 20 years run from the non-provisional |
| Examination | None — never examined |
| Becomes a patent | No |
| Publishes | Not unless a non-provisional follows |
| Enforceable rights | None |
The term split is the real value. Twelve months of priority without consuming any of the twenty years, which adds up to a year of effective protection. See patent priority date.
Priority is only as good as the disclosure
| Provisional contained | Later claim covers | Priority? |
|---|---|---|
| A spring-biased mechanism | Spring-biased | Yes |
| A spring-biased mechanism | Any biasing mechanism | Probably not |
| Detailed ranges | A range within them | Yes |
| A single example | A broad genus | Frequently not |
| A two-page sketch | Anything specific | Doubtful |
This is where cheap provisionals fail. The claims fall back to the non-provisional's date, and prior art published in the gap becomes citable against them.
Draft it as though it were the real application, because for priority purposes it is.
Filing mechanics
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Cover sheet | Identifies it as provisional |
| Specification | The substance |
| Drawings | Where they help |
| No claims required | Though some file them anyway |
| No declaration required | Unlike a non-provisional |
| Fee | Payable at filing, or with a surcharge |
| Filing | USPTO Patent Center |
Some practitioners include claims in a provisional anyway, as a discipline that tests whether the disclosure supports what you intend to claim later.
What to include
| Element | Why |
|---|---|
| Full technical description | Enablement |
| Every alternative you can think of | Cannot be added later |
| Ranges with preferred sub-ranges | Amendment room |
| Materials, geometries, arrangements | Fallback positions |
| Drawings where they help | Support |
| What you tried that failed | Supports non-obviousness |
Nothing can be added after filing. Every variation omitted is permanently unavailable to the claims that follow. See how to write a patent application.
The twelve-month deadline
| Length | 12 months |
| Extension | None |
| Also governs | Foreign filing under the Paris Convention |
| Multiple provisionals | Deadline runs from the first |
| Missing it | Priority date lost entirely |
Nothing extends this. The provisional simply expires.
Serial provisionals do not reset it. Filing a second adds its own date for its own content; the twelve months still runs from the first.
What the fee does not buy
| Not included | Detail |
|---|---|
| Examination | Never examined |
| Any enforceable right | None |
| A patent | A non-provisional must follow |
| Publication | Not unless followed up |
| An extension beyond 12 months | None exists |
"Patent pending" after a provisional is accurate and confers nothing. It signals an application exists, which has deterrent value and no legal force. See patent is pending.
The abandonment advantage
| Abandoned provisional | Abandoned non-provisional | |
|---|---|---|
| Publishes | No | Yes, at 18 months |
| Trade secret survives | Yes | No |
| Public record | None | Permanent |
| Cost sunk | Fee plus drafting | Far more |
A provisional never followed up leaves no public trace. That is a genuine option: file, test the market for twelve months, and walk away with secrecy intact.
An abandoned non-provisional publishes anyway, which is why the fork between patenting and trade secret is decided before the non-provisional, not after. See patent application publication.
Cost across the whole path
| Stage | Micro entity |
|---|---|
| Free prior art search | $0 |
| Provisional fee | ~$60 |
| Provisional drafting | $1,500–$4,000 |
| Non-provisional fee | ~$400 |
| Non-provisional drafting | $5,000–$15,000 |
| Prosecution, 2 rounds | $2,400–$8,000 |
| Issue fee | ~$240 |
| Maintenance, lifetime | $2,894 |
The provisional defers roughly $10,000 by twelve months while preserving the priority date. That is its commercial function.
Worked example: two provisionals
| Filer A | Filer B | |
|---|---|---|
| USPTO fee | $60 | $60 |
| Drafting | Self, 2 pages | Agent, $2,200 |
| Alternatives described | None | Five |
| Ranges | "About 15 degrees" | 5–40, preferably 12–18 |
| Total spent | $60 | $2,260 |
Prior art published four months later
| Filer A | Filer B | |
|---|---|---|
| Claims supported by the provisional? | No | Yes |
| Priority date for the claims | The non-provisional | The provisional |
| Intervening art citable? | Yes | No |
| Outcome | Claims rejected | Granted |
| Spend to that point | $60 + ~$10,000 non-provisional | $2,260 + ~$10,000 |
Filer A saved $2,200 and lost the application. The provisional fee was identical; the drafting was the whole difference.
This is the argument for spending on a provisional, and it has nothing to do with the USPTO fee.
What most filings become
| Ipiry Patent Survival Curve v1.0 | Rate |
|---|---|
| Survive the 3.5-year fee (2022 cohort) | 85.8% |
| Survive the 7.5-year fee (2018 cohort) | 64.6% |
| Reach full term (2014 cohort) | 41.4% |
| Abandoned before full term | 58.6% |
Computed from 27,273,654 USPTO maintenance fee records covering 8,262,336 US utility patents — see the patent survival curve.
Search before filing anything. The free prior art search eliminates most inventions and costs nothing, which makes it the highest-value step regardless of what you spend afterwards. See patent an idea free.
Provisional patent fee: the checklist
- The USPTO fee is small — roughly $60 micro, $130 small, $325 large.
- Verify current amounts on the USPTO schedule before filing.
- Drafting is the real cost and the whole of the value.
- Never file a thin provisional to feel protected. It fails when tested.
- Include every alternative and range. Nothing can be added later.
- Provisionals do not count toward the micro entity four-application limit.
- Diarise twelve months. No extension exists, and it governs foreign filing too.
- Multiple provisionals do not reset the clock. It runs from the first.
- An abandoned provisional never publishes — trade secret survives.
- Run the free prior art search first. It costs nothing and eliminates most inventions.