Free trademark search, done properly
The US (USPTO) trademark check here is free on any name, no login and no card, and it runs exact, phonetic, and fuzzy matching weighted by Nice class rather than a plain exact-spelling lookup. The EU (EUIPO) register is the paid upgrade. That one sentence is the whole offer; the rest of this page explains why the matching method is the part that decides whether a free search is worth anything.
Updated August 2026
What “free trademark search” usually means
Most tools ranking for this query are trademark filing services, and their free search is the funnel into a filing package. That is a legitimate business, but it shapes what the free tier does. As verified in August 2026, LegalZoom's free search reports exact matches from the USPTO register, and Trademark Engine's free search likewise covers the USPTO, with international coverage including the EU sold as a separate paid tier. Both are built to start a filing conversation, not to interrogate a shortlist of candidate names.
The limitation that matters in that setup is the matching, not the price. Trademark law blocks names that are confusingly similar to an existing mark, not just names that are identical to one. An exact-spelling search cannot see “Klariti” when the register holds “Clarity”, or a mark one character away from yours in your own class. So an exact-only result can read as reassurance while the conflict that would block your filing sits just outside the query. The distinction has its own page: identical versus confusingly similar.
What the free check here runs
The free check screens your name against the live US (USPTO) register three ways at once: exact spelling after normalization, phonetic matching through Double Metaphone so sound-alikes with different spellings surface, and fuzzy matching through string similarity and edit distance so near-spellings surface too. Every hit is weighted by Nice class overlap with what you are building, so a match in your own class reads as the warning it is and a match in an unrelated category is discounted instead of inflating the result. Dead marks, abandoned, cancelled, or expired, are dropped before scoring. The full mechanism, thresholds included, is documented on the methodology page.
What comes back is a dated report: a band, a score, and the closest live marks with their classes, status, owner, the goods and services they protect, and a deep link to the official register record so you can read the primary source. If the register cannot be reached, the report says the register was not screened. It never guesses, and it never reports a clear result for a register it did not search.
The paid upgrade is the EU register, stated plainly
The free check covers the US (USPTO) register only. The EU (EUIPO) register is the paid upgrade: every paid check screens the US and EU registers together with the same matching pipeline. A 10-check top-up is $19, the 40-check Launch Pack is $49 one time, and the pricing page carries the monthly tiers for teams screening at volume. If your market is the US alone, the free check may be all you need at the naming stage. If you will trade in Europe, a name that survives the US register and collides in the EU one is a rebrand waiting to happen, which is exactly what a two-register screen exists to catch early.
The do-it-yourself route, for comparison
Everything the check automates can be done by hand at zero cost, and knowing the manual route keeps any tool honest. For the US, the USPTO's own Trademark Search system is free and authoritative; the USPTO search guide walks through it step by step. For the EU, EUIPO's eSearch plus and TMview are free; the EU trademark search page covers both. The cost of the manual route is time and rigor: exact plus phonetic plus fuzzy variants, across two registers, inside the right classes, for every candidate name on your list. Doing that well for one name is twenty minutes; doing it for a shortlist of ten is an afternoon, which is the work the check compresses into seconds per name.
What this search does not do
A registry search, free or paid, is a knockout screen, not legal clearance. It does not cover unregistered common-law marks, company names, US state registrations, or the national registers of individual EU member states, and it does not weigh the full legal factors an examiner or court applies. It surfaces potential conflicts; it does not certify their absence. Use it to eliminate blocked names early and cheaply. Before you file or commit real money to the survivor, have a qualified trademark attorney run full clearance, with the complete name-checking guide as the map of what comes before that conversation.
Questions, answered
Is there a genuinely free trademark search?
Yes, two kinds. The official route is free: the USPTO's own Trademark Search system for the US and EUIPO's eSearch plus for the EU, searched by hand. Here, the US (USPTO) trademark check is free on any name, no login and no card, and it runs exact, phonetic, and fuzzy matching weighted by Nice class instead of a plain exact-spelling lookup. The EU (EUIPO) register is on the paid check.
What is the catch with most free trademark search tools?
Most free tiers report exact spelling matches from the US register only. Exact matching misses the conflicts that matter in practice, because both registers refuse marks that are confusingly similar, not just identical: sound-alikes and near-spellings inside your class. A free search that only checks exact spelling can look reassuring while a phonetic conflict sits one letter away.
How many names can I check for free?
The US (USPTO) check is free on any name, with no login and no card, and screening a whole shortlist is a normal use; ordinary anti-abuse rate limits are the only backstop. The paid upgrade is coverage, not volume: paid checks screen the US and EU registers together, starting at $19 for a 10-check top-up or $49 for the 40-check Launch Pack.
Does the free check cover the EU?
No. The free check screens the US (USPTO) register only. The EU (EUIPO) register is the paid upgrade, and every paid check screens the US and EU registers together in one pass. You can also search the EU register yourself at no cost with EUIPO's own tools, which the EU trademark search guide walks through.
Is a free trademark search enough before I commit to a name?
It is enough to eliminate obviously blocked names, which is most of the value at the naming stage. It is not legal clearance: an automated registry search does not cover common-law marks, state registrations, or the full legal analysis of confusion, and it never certifies a name as available. Screen early to narrow the shortlist, then have a trademark attorney run full clearance on the finalist before you file.
Related: what a knockout search is, searching the EU register, what a trademark costs to file, and checking a startup name start to finish.
Trademark results are an automated database search against the USPTO and EUIPO registries, not legal advice and not a clearance opinion. Registries change daily; results are dated. Before filing, have counsel run full clearance.