Patent Application Status: 8 Best Tools Worth Considering

TL;DR – If you’re managing more than a handful of filings, checking patent application status manually can get frustrating fast. Yes, you can log in to the USPTO Patent Center and look up each case one by one. Or you can wait for updates from outside counsel. But neither approach scales well.In this guide, we break down how to check US patent status step by step and walk through eight tools that make patent application tracking easier. If you want a simpler, more cost-effective way to see both published and unpublished filings in one place, the TIP Tool™ is worth a look.

We recently shared a demo of the TIP Tool^TM with a prospect, an in-house Intellectual Property (IP) counsel. He is one in a five-member team of IP counsel for an innovation-driven company with 5,000+ employees. The enterprise files around 120 patent applications every quarter.

Managing that volume inside the USPTO Patent Center alone quickly becomes time-consuming. Logging in, searching each application, and reviewing prosecution updates one by one does not scale.

Now, imagine the kind of insights they need from their patent portfolio to plan quarterly IP activities. Plus, multiple inventors asking for an update on their patent cases could be a bit tricky to handle.

The prospect asked if there was an easy and cost-effective way to obtain patent application status updates from the USPTO.

So, in this article, we outline the available ways to check patent application status and compare eight leading tools that help IP teams track it more efficiently.

Before we dive in, let us look at the 3 options available today to check the patent status.

Three Ways of Checking Your Patent Application Status

Patent Office – Laborious
Patent Counsel – Expensive
Automated Tracking Tools like The TIP Tool^TM – Cost-Effective at Scale

#1 – Patent Office – Laborious

The USPTO previously provided patent status access through the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system, which included separate interfaces for public and non-public applications. As part of a broader modernization effort, the USPTO has retired Public and Private PAIR entirely and consolidated all patent status and filing functions into the Patent Center.

Today, Patent Center is the single, unified interface for accessing both published and unpublished patent application data.

This consolidation simplifies access conceptually. In practice, however, using the Patent Center effectively still requires hands-on effort, especially when portfolios grow beyond a handful of applications. Navigating this system can be challenging, underscoring the need for effective patent strategies for SMEs and large companies.

Patent center- patent application status

Source – Patent Center User Guide

How to Use the USPTO Patent Center to Check Patent Application Status (Step-by-Step)

Checking patent application status at USPTO is simple in theory, but it becomes slow when you have dozens or hundreds of patent applications to track.

The 3-Step Process

Step 1: Sign in to the Patent Center (required).
Access requires a registered USPTO.gov account with completed identity verification and Patent Center self-enrollment.

Registered patent practitioners must verify their identity, then self-enroll by linking their registration or limited-recognition number and associated customer number(s).
Independent inventors must verify their identity, then self-enroll by linking an existing customer number or creating one in the Patent Center.

After identity verification, the Patent Center prompts users to complete self-enrollment during login.

Step 2: Find your patent application.
Once signed in, you can search from the Home or Search page using an application number, attorney docket number, patent number, publication number, or PCT number. Enter the corresponding identifier to retrieve matching records.

Step 3: Open the application record.
Opening the application record allows you to view the current filing status, prosecution history, and available documents. Newly filed documents may not appear immediately after submission.

For detailed search and viewing instructions, the USPTO directs users to the Patent Center Application Search User Guide.

#2 – Patent Counsel – Expensive

Your patent counsel (attorney) likely filled and submitted your patent applications in the first place. Counsel handles correspondence between you and your local patent office and records everything in a docketing system.

The system then generates spreadsheet reports that are pretty much inaccessible, costing you hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars for your attorney to transform them into actionable insights. And in the US, the hourly billing rates for patent attorneys vary from $200-$800.

Must Read:Why Should C-Suite Executives Look Beyond Spreadsheets for Reviewing IP Updates?

#3 – Eight Top Tools for Checking Patent Application Status

As patent portfolios scale, manual status checks and spreadsheet-based reporting stop working. Several software tools now sit on top of USPTO data to automate monitoring. These tools differ sharply in cost, complexity, and intent. To make things easier for you, we have shortlisted the top eight tools that help you check the status of your patent applications.

Here is the lineup:

The TIP Tool^TM
LexisNexis Patent Advisor
QuickPAIR
PatSeer Alerts Monitoring
Questel Orbit Intelligence
Derwent Patent Search
PatBase
Patsnap

Here is a quick comparison table:

Name of the Tool	Description	Pricing
The TIP Tool™	Centralized platform that syncs USPTO data for published and unpublished applications. Provides portfolio view, prosecution stage tracking, sub-status visibility, and periodic status updates.	Free plan available (up to 10 users). Premium ($50 per month) and Custom plans available.
LexisNexis PatentAdvisor®	Analytics-driven prosecution support tool with PAIR Watch monitoring, QuickPAIR timeline view, bulk tracking, and examiner analytics integration.	Pricing not publicly disclosed. Demo available upon request.
QuickPAIR	Multi-jurisdiction prosecution monitoring with curated alerts, deadline reminders, and centralized watchlists.	Pricing not publicly listed. Contact required.
PatSeer	Customizable alert system for legal status changes, prosecution updates, and newly published applications.	Subscription-based. Pricing available upon request. Free trial available.
Orbit Intelligence (Legal Status Monitor Module)	Monitors legal status changes and patent family updates across multiple jurisdictions with configurable alert frequency.	Optional module. Pricing not publicly disclosed.
Derwent Patent Search	Global patent intelligence platform offering legal status data, invention family grouping, and AI-powered search capabilities.	Pricing not publicly listed. Trial and demo available upon request.
Minesoft AI Patent Monitoring	Tracks prosecution status, legal status alerts, maintenance fees, assignments, and global monitoring with AI-based filtering.	Pricing not publicly listed. Free trial available.
Patsnap	Legal status filtering and event tracking platform with simple and detailed legal status search capabilities.	Pricing not publicly listed. Demo available upon request.

Let’s now take a deep dive into how these tools help in making more informed IP decisions, starting with The TIP Tool^TM.

1. The TIP Tool^TM – Super Easy, Automatic, and Cost-Effective

What if you could have the status of each and every case in your patent portfolio without:

Spending hundreds of dollars in billable hours from your patent attorney
Spending hours deciphering reports

A simple inquiry shouldn’t come at an exorbitant cost or time commitment. Companies should be able to know their patent portfolio status whenever they need to — and the TIP Tool™ by Triangle IP gives you that autonomy at no cost.

Key Features

Below are the standout features that simplify patent application tracking within the TIP Tool™.

Bird’s Eye View

The TIP Tool^TM lists all your patent cases in the portfolio tab. At the top of the page, you’ll see a general glimpse of your patent portfolio. You’ll know how many patents are approved and patented, pending, or abandoned in no time.

TIP Tool dashboard showing patent application status breakdown with charts for patented, pending, abandoned, and expired applications, including allowance rate and average time metrics.

USPTO Public PAIR Data Sync

TIP Tool™ automatically syncs publicly available prosecution data from the USPTO. This means you can view application status, office actions, notices of allowance, publication details, and transaction history without manually searching Public PAIR for each application. It centralizes official status data into one unified interface.

In that same portfolio tab, you’ll see a table just below the glimpse view. The table contains every patent application you’ve worked on, along with their docket numbers, tags, examiners, relevant dates, and status.

The TIP Tool^TM populates the table with automatic updates from USPTO PAIR to track the progress of your patent applications. It also notifies you about any patent rejections received for your cases.

Patent application status table automatically synced with USPTO, displaying application numbers, current status, filing dates, examiner details, and patent numbers in the TIP tool

USPTO Private PAIR Integration (for Unpublished Applications)

For unpublished or restricted U.S. applications, the TIP Tool™ integrates securely using Private PAIR credentials. This allows you to track early-stage filings, examiner assignments, and confidential prosecution updates without having to log in to Private PAIR separately every time.

TIP tool dashboard with Private PAIR sync enabled, showing real-time updates and detailed prosecution information for multiple applications.

Sub-Status & Prosecution Stage Visibility

Beyond basic status labels, the TIP Tool™ shows where the application stands within prosecution. For example, Non-Final Office Action issued, Final Rejection, Request for Continued Examination (RCE) filed, or Notice of Allowance. This provides deeper clarity than simply knowing a case is “pending.”

TIP Tool's Detailed patent application status highlighting sub-status information such as abandoned status, filing dates, publication number, and prosecution history.

Periodic Status Update Notifications

The platform tracks prosecution status changes as they occur and provides periodic summary notifications (e.g., weekly updates) highlighting what has changed across the portfolio. This keeps users informed of developments without requiring continuous manual review, while avoiding compliance-style deadline alerts.

Weekly email notification summarizing patent application status changes, including application number and updated status details.

Pricing

The TIP Tool™ uses flexible pricing to accommodate teams at different stages of growth.

Free Plan ($0 forever): A simple way to get started, with support for up to 10 users.
Premium Plan ($50 per month): Affordable monthly pricing for growing teams that need additional users, storage, and functionality.
Custom Plan: Designed for large enterprises with advanced requirements. Contact the team to create your plan.

Optional add-ons:

Examiner Analysis: $5 per user per month
Art Unit Predictor: $5 per user per month
Patent Family Tree Generator: Included free with any personal-level tool, or available at $1 per user per month at the organization level (minimum 10 users)

For complete details, visit our full pricing page.

Demo & Trial Availability

To see the TIP Tool™ in action, you can book an interactive demo.

Prefer to explore it yourself?

Sign up for a free plan and start working inside the TIP Tool™ with a sample portfolio. Click through the Portfolio Manager, dashboards, and workflows at your own pace — and experience firsthand how simple patent status tracking and portfolio management can be.

2. LexisNexis Patent Advisor

LexisNexis PatentAdvisor® provides analytics-driven patent prosecution support, including automated USPTO application monitoring through PAIR Watch and visual prosecution tracking via QuickPAIR. It is designed to reduce manual PAIR searches and provide structured visibility into application status changes and prosecution history.

Source: LexisNexis Patent Advisor Solution Page