Yesterday, RIPE NCC published the charging scheme options for 2027 that will be put to a vote at the upcoming General Meeting in Edinburgh, which will take place on 20–22 May 2026.
What’s new
The publication outlines two primary models – Option A and Option B, and there’s no option to keep the current model or to vote against both proposals.
Fortunately, the proposal introduced during the Charging Scheme Model Consultation Phase 2 to increase the annual fee for PI resources from the current EUR 75 to EUR 1 000 – which we wrote about earlier – wasn’t included in the final options. This was one of the main concerns for holders of single /24 IPv4 PI or /48 IPv6 PI resources. The final options also include neither transfer fees nor the ideas of charging separately for joining the IPv4 waiting list and for receiving an allocation from the waiting list.
Option A
Option A keeps the equal-fee approach for all LIR accounts, but raises the RIPE annual membership fee from current EUR 1800 to EUR 1894 per LIR account. It also introduces a EUR 75 annual fee for legacy IPv4 resources held under a direct contractual relationship with RIPE NCC, while legacy IPv4 resources registered through a sponsoring LIR remain at EUR 75. The first ASN registered to an LIR account would be included in the annual fee, and each additional ASN would cost EUR 50. The LIR sign-up fee remains unchanged at EUR 1 000 per new LIR account.
Option B
Option B differs from Option A only in the annual membership fee model. It is based on the earlier formulated principles in the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme Task Force Report, especially the category approach set out in Annex 1, which proposed splitting LIR accounts into groups based on the amount of PA IPv4 and IPv6 resources they hold. Under the final version, the model has 21 categories, starting from EUR 500 for the lowest category and going up to EUR 39 864 for the highest one. PI resources and legacy IPv4 resources are excluded from the category calculation.
We also have to note that the final version is relatively flexible compared to the earlier consultation. Under Option B, RIPE NCC states that almost 75% of LIR accounts would pay less than they do currently. In practical terms, this mainly concerns the first five categories – that is, LIR accounts with less than a /20 of IPv4 PA resources and less than a /25 of IPv6 PA resources.
What’s next
The selected option will define the RIPE NCC charging model from 2027 onward. As this vote affects all RIPE NCC members, we encourage you to take part if you’re eligible. RIPE NCC has also published a calculator showing how much you would pay under each option. The voting is scheduled on 20–22 May 2026. The vote will take place on 20–22 May 2026. If you are a RIPE NCC member, make sure you’re registered to vote. You can do this here.
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