Best for
Best for developers and law firms who build trademark search, screening and monitoring into their own software or AI assistants.
Trademark Search & Monitoring Comparison
Signa vs. USPTO Trademark Search
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for applicants and practitioners who want to search the US federal trademark register themselves before filing with the USPTO.
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Signa | USPTO Trademark Search |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $99 / month Starter, billed yearly, with 20,000 credits a month (up to 2,000 searches) and $10 per 1,000 extra credits. Growth is $399 and Scale $999 a month, also billed yearly. The page offers monthly billing and says annual billing saves up to 25%, without stating the monthly amounts. A search costs 10 credits; credit costs for screening and watches are not yet announced. | Free The USPTO describes its search resources as free. A free USPTO.gov account is needed for the beta image search and custom case summaries, and for an API key. |
| Free trial | Free tier with 10,000 credits on signup and 1,000 credits a month, up to 100 searches, no card required | Not stated |
| API | Yes, a REST API with webhooks, a TypeScript SDK, agent skills and a hosted MCP server at api.signa.so/mcp | TSDR API for trademark case status, documents and images, with an API key tied to a USPTO.gov account |
| Hosting | Cloud: a web app, a REST API, a hosted MCP server and agent skills | Web app at tmsearch.uspto.gov |
| Made in | Not stated | United States |
| Registers and countries covered | 13 production offices with more than 40 million records: USPTO, EUIPO, WIPO, CIPO (Canada), IP Australia, IPOS (Singapore), UKIPO, INPI (France), Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and IMPI (Mexico), most synced daily and Canada and France weekly. DPMA, BOIP, JPO, KIPO, CNIPA and further offices are listed as planned. | Federally registered and pending US trademarks in the USPTO database. For a comprehensive clearance the USPTO lists further sources outside the tool: the Trademark Official Gazette, state trademark and business registries, domain name registries, Madrid Monitor, WIPO's Global Brand Database and EUIPO's TMview. |
| Word, phonetic and image search | Text search through five similarity channels (identical, fuzzy, embedded, phonetic and look-alike characters), each hit labelled with its match tier and the channels that found it. Image search is listed as coming soon. | Word searches by field tag such as CM for the combined mark, with exact phrases in quotes and regular expressions for alternative spellings and pronunciations, design search codes from the Design Search Code Manual, design searches by textual description, and a beta image search from an uploaded image for logged-in users |
| Goods, services and Nice classes | Search and watches filter by Nice class, and classification endpoints list classes and goods and services and suggest and validate goods and services wording | A coordinated class filter in expert mode and the CC field tag find marks in related international and US classes, and the Trademark ID Manual lists acceptable goods and services wording |
| Clearance and conflict screening | A documented knockout and full similarity search workflow for clearance, a Compare Marks endpoint that scores a candidate against up to 10 selected conflicts, and a Screening product open to design partners during beta. The vendor states the results are informational data and not legal advice. | A search tool and not a screening: the USPTO calls its database one essential step of a clearance search, says there is no surefire way to uncover all potentially conflicting trademarks, and suggests a trademark screening service or a US-licensed attorney for an in-depth search |
| Watch and alerts | In beta: five watch types (mark, portfolio, owner, class and similarity), alerts typically within a day of office publication by signed webhook or polling, and computed opposition deadlines on alerts in supported jurisdictions. Image watch is listed as coming soon. | Status alerts come from separate USPTO services: MyUSPTO can send email updates when the status of an application changes, and Trademark Center has a docketing feature that tracks the status of applications filed through it |
| Reports and exports | JSON responses from every endpoint and a monthly proof-of-monitoring attestation per watch, as a PDF and a JSON file | Logged-in users can choose which sections appear on a case summary for a record and print or save it; a result opens most of the TSDR information without leaving the search system |
| Integrations and API | REST API with webhooks, a TypeScript SDK, and a hosted MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and VS Code; Microsoft Copilot is listed as coming soon | TSDR API for programmatic requests for trademark case status, documents and images, requiring an API key tied to a USPTO.gov account; trademark bulk data is downloadable from the USPTO Bulk Data Storage System and further data products sit on the USPTO Open Data Portal |
| AI features | stated Yes | No |
| MCP-ready | stated Yes | No |
| Deployment | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Browser-based |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Live online demos and webinars |
| Integrations | Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor, Visual Studio Code | Not stated |
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Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Signa From $99 / month USPTO Trademark Search Free
- Deployment Signa Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based USPTO Trademark Search Browser-based
- Hosting Signa Cloud: a web app, a REST API, a hosted MCP server and agent skills USPTO Trademark Search Web app at tmsearch.uspto.gov
- AI features Signa Yes USPTO Trademark Search No
- MCP-ready Signa Yes USPTO Trademark Search No
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Signa
Strengths
- Free tier with 10,000 credits on signup and 1,000 a month, no card required
- Hosted MCP server and connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini
- Thirteen registers in one JSON schema, most of them synced daily
- Watch alerts carry a computed opposition deadline in supported jurisdictions
Limitations
- Screening, listing scans and monitoring are in beta, and image search and image watch are not yet available
- No German, Benelux, Japanese, Korean or Chinese register yet; these are listed as planned
- Paid plans are shown billed yearly; monthly amounts are not stated on the pricing page
- Credit costs for screening and watches are not yet announced
USPTO Trademark Search
Strengths
- Free, from the office that examines US federal applications
- Field tags and regular expressions for spelling and pronunciation variants
- Coordinated class filter for related goods and services across classes
- TSDR API and bulk data for trademark records
Limitations
- Covers the federal register only; state, common-law and foreign marks need other sources
- Image search is a beta for logged-in users, and the design search codes page still states the system does not allow reverse image searching
- Field tag syntax takes practice; the USPTO publishes separate handouts and webinars for it
Plans
Pricing
Signa
- Free $0 Per month. 10,000 credits on signup, then 1,000 credits a month, up to 100 searches, no card required.
- Starter $99 Per month billed yearly. 20,000 credits a month, up to 2,000 searches, $10 per 1,000 extra credits, 300 requests a minute.
- Growth $399 Per month billed yearly. 100,000 credits a month, up to 10,000 searches, $5 per 1,000 extra credits, 1,000 requests a minute.
- Scale $999 Per month billed yearly. 500,000 credits a month, up to 50,000 searches, $2.50 per 1,000 extra credits, 3,000 requests a minute.
- Enterprise Not stated Contact sales. Custom credits, white-label and data rights, SLA and dedicated support.
USPTO Trademark Search
- Free Free Public search of the USPTO; a free USPTO.gov account adds the beta image search, custom case summaries and an API key.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Signa
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
USPTO Trademark Search
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Before sending, the author has to confirm three things: that they have used the product themselves, that they work neither for the vendor nor for a competitor, and that nobody is paying them for the review. We also ask whether the vendor invited them to write it. That answer is required, either answer is accepted, and it stays with the review.
Every review is read by a person before it appears. An email address is required and is confirmed: we send a link to it, and a review does not reach us until the author opens that link, so a review has a sender who was reachable at least once rather than being anonymous. Where what somebody writes needs backing, we ask them for evidence that they used the product, and a review that does not get it is not published. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.
What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on their own declaration, on whatever we ask them for, and on the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.
A vendor cannot buy a review, and cannot have one removed or changed because they dislike it. We remove or edit a review only if it breaks our rules or the law, for example a false statement of fact. Paid placement has no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Signa https://signa.so/ · checked against the official source on 2026-11-05
USPTO Trademark Search https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search · checked against the official source on 2026-11-07
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.