How much does a customs broker cost?

The short answer

A customs broker's bill for one entry has two parts. One is the broker's own fees. The other is money the broker pays to CBP on your behalf and passes through.

• Broker entry fee: $89.95 to $149.95 by mode at Clearit USA, and $100 to $250 at Strix, both checked November 8, 2026.
• Extras: lines beyond those included, ISF for ocean, a bond, partner-agency filings and a disbursement fee.
• CBP fees: MPF of 0.3464% of value, between $34.58 and $670.86 per formal entry, plus 0.125% HMF on ocean shipments.
• Duties and tariffs: usually the largest number, and not a broker fee at all.

Use the estimator to price your own shipment. It shows a low and a high case built from the published price lists below.

What shows up on a broker's invoice

Entry fee

The base charge for preparing and filing the entry and entry summary (CBP Form 7501). Brokers usually price it by mode. The fee includes a set number of HTS lines and invoices. Clearit's includes 3 HTS codes and 1 invoice.

Per-line charges

Each HTS classification line beyond the included ones costs extra. Clearit charges $15 per additional line and $15 per additional invoice. A 20-line entry at those prices adds $255 to the base fee. If you import many SKUs, the line charge matters more than the headline fee.

ISF filing

Ocean shipments need an Importer Security Filing, the "10+2". Your elements are due no later than 24 hours before the cargo is loaded at the foreign port (CBP ISF FAQ). Clearit charges $50 on time and $100 late. Strix includes ISF in its entry fee.

Customs bond

CBP requires a bond for formal entries and for ISF (AACB). You buy either a single-entry bond for one shipment or a continuous bond for a year. More on the math below.

Partner government agency (PGA) filings

Food, drugs, cosmetics, plants, chemicals, children's products and many other goods need data filed for agencies like FDA, USDA, EPA or CPSC. Clearit charges $35 per PGA filing and $35 for FDA prior notice.

Disbursement fee

When the broker pays duties and fees to CBP for you, it charges for fronting the money. Clearit charges 5% of duties, MPF and other payables. On a shipment with $10,000 in duty, that is $500, more than the entry fee. Ask whether you can pay CBP directly from your own ACH account instead.

Handling and post-entry work

Clearit adds a $25 handling fee to every transaction. Post-entry services are priced separately: $200 each for exam coordination, a post-summary correction (PSC) or a protest.

Published broker prices, side by side

Few brokers publish full price lists. These are the ones we could verify on the brokers' own pages. All were checked on November 8, 2026. Prices change, so confirm before you book.

Sources: Clearit USA pricing, Strix pricing, USA Customs Clearance continuous bond. Strix also offers a self-filing plan at $30 per entry. Clearit's page still shows the FY2026 MPF limits ($33.58 and $651.50); the FY2027 figures below replaced them on October 1, 2026.

Large forwarders and enterprise brokers rarely publish rates. They quote per account, often with volume pricing. That is not a bad sign in itself, but you should get the same level of itemization in writing.

Government fees you pay through your broker

These are set by CBP, not the broker, and every broker passes them through at the same rates. The FY2027 amounts took effect October 1, 2026 (Federal Register notice published July 31, 2026, summarized by Juno Logistics and FedEx).

In practice the MPF minimum applies to any formal entry under about $9,983 in value, and the maximum kicks in above about $193,666. A $50,000 entry pays $173.20 in MPF. By ocean, it also pays $62.50 in HMF.

Single-entry bond or continuous bond

A continuous bond covers all your entries and ISF filings for a year. The bond amount is the greater of $50,000 or 10% of the duties, taxes and fees you paid in the prior 12 months (AACB). You pay a premium on that amount, not the amount itself. Published prices: $500 a year at Clearit and $285 at USA Customs Clearance ($235 plus a $50 processing fee) for a 12-month bond.

A single-entry bond covers one entry. At Clearit's published rate, a $25,000 shipment pays $125 plus $35 prep, so $160. By ocean you also need a $90 ISF bond. That is $250 per shipment.

So at those prices, a continuous bond pays for itself by the second ocean shipment of that size. If you import more than once or twice a year, get a continuous bond.

The ISF penalty is the fee that hurts

CBP can assess liquidated damages of $5,000 per ISF violation, up to $10,000 per filing, for a late, inaccurate or incomplete ISF (CBP ISF FAQ 2.0). Compared with that, the $50 difference between ISF prices doesn't matter. What matters is whether the broker chases your supplier for the data in time. Ask how they do it.

A full example

An ocean shipment entered at $25,000, with 5 HTS lines, on a single-entry bond, at Clearit's published prices:

Add duties, any disbursement fee on them, and anything your freight forwarder bills for transport and terminal charges.

Small shipments after de minimis

Until August 2025, most shipments worth $800 or less came in duty-free with little paperwork. That is over. An executive order suspended de minimis treatment for all countries from August 29, 2025 (Benesch). CBP made the suspension a standing regulation on June 24, 2026 (Federal Register). The Court of International Trade upheld it on August 13, 2026 (Troutman). A statute repeals de minimis for commercial shipments from all countries on July 1, 2027 (Mondaq).

The volume shift shows in CBP's numbers. Informal entry summaries went from 5.2 million in FY2024 to 15.4 million in FY2025 and 76.3 million in FY2026 through July 27 (CBP trade statistics).

If you are importing for the first time because of this, our first-time importer guide walks through the setup in order.

What this means for small shipments:

• Every commercial shipment now needs an entry and is dutiable, even a $200 one.
• At $2,500 or less, most goods can go on an informal entry, with a $2.77 MPF. Above $2,500, a formal entry is generally required (19 CFR 143.21, per Greenwich Mercantile).
• On a small shipment, the broker fee can be larger than the duty. Consolidating several small orders into one entry often cuts the cost per unit.
• Courier shipments (DHL, FedEx, UPS) are usually cleared by the carrier's own brokerage, with its own fee schedule.

How to compare broker quotes

Headline entry fees are easy to compare and mostly beside the point. Run the same real shipment through every quote.

1. Send a sample shipment. Mode, value, number of HTS lines, number of invoices, whether any PGA applies. Ask each broker to price it line by line.
2. Check what the base fee includes. Three lines or ten makes a big difference if you import many SKUs.
3. Ask about disbursement. A percentage of duties can cost more than everything else combined on high-tariff goods. Ask whether you can pay CBP directly.
4. Price the bond. Who is the surety, what is the annual premium, and does it cover ISF?
5. Ask about post-entry work. PSCs, protests, exam coordination and CF-28 responses are where surprises show up.
6. Ask about refund filings. If you paid IEEPA duties, ask whether the broker files CAPE declarations for entries it filed and what it charges. CBP charges nothing (CBP).
7. Look for one-time and monthly charges. Onboarding, account setup and minimums.

Price is one input. Our guide on how to choose a customs broker covers licensing, the questions to ask and the red flags.