So, how much does an ASN cost in 2026? In the RIPE region the registry charges EUR 50 a year for a sponsored AS number, billed to the sponsoring LIR rather than to you; what you pay is the sponsor's fee, which bundles that EUR 50 with the paperwork and database work. The other route is to become a RIPE NCC member yourself: EUR 1,000 once plus EUR 1,800 a year in 2026, rising to EUR 1,894 in 2027 when the first ASN is included. There is no purchase price, because nobody sells AS numbers: the RIPE NCC assigns them under a contract, and the number stays yours as long as you use it and keep that contract alive.
This is the cost and paperwork half of the story. Our guide on getting your own ASN and IP addresses and running BGP covers the journey to the first live prefix; here we stop when the ASN appears in the RIPE Database and go slower on fees, documents, deadlines and what happens if your sponsor disappears.
Key facts, checked on 28 October 2026:
- The RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2026 sets EUR 50 per ASN assignment, EUR 75 per independent IP assignment, a EUR 1,000 sign-up fee and EUR 1,800 per LIR account a year (RIPE-848, 30 October 2025).
- For 2027 the LIR fee rises to EUR 1,894, the first ASN registered to an LIR account is included, and each additional ASN costs EUR 50 (RIPE-867, 11 September 2026).
- RIPE policy requires a network to be multihomed with a unique routing policy before an AS number is assigned; the request form asks for the AS numbers of at least two peering partners and a routing policy in RPSL (RIPE-679; supporting notes).
- Private AS numbers are 64512 to 65534 and 4200000000 to 4294967294, and they must be stripped from the AS path before a route is advertised externally (RFC 6996, July 2013).
- If your sponsoring LIR closes, the RIPE NCC gives you 10 working days to sign with another sponsor or with the RIPE NCC, one reminder with another 10 working days, and then starts deregistering the resources (RIPE-815, January 2024).
- RIS, the RIPE NCC's route collectors, saw 88,498 distinct AS numbers in the global routing table on the morning of 28 October 2026 (RIPEstat, query below).
What an AS number is, and why it cannot be bought
An Autonomous System is a set of IP networks run under one routing policy, and the ASN is the label other networks use for it in BGP, the protocol that stitches the internet together. Every route in the global table carries the AS numbers it passed through, so your ASN is what the world sees as the origin of your prefixes (RIPE NCC, AS Numbers). How many exist in practice? RIPEstat counts the distinct ASNs the RIS collectors see, and anyone can ask without an account:
# as a normal user, any machine with curl
curl -s "https://stat.ripe.net/data/ris-asns/data.json?list_asns=false" | grep -o '"counts":{[^}]*}'"counts":{"total":88498}About 88,500 networks speak BGP with a public ASN; yours would be one more. The number has no value as property: RIPE policy says an AS Number "should be returned to the public pool" when the holder stops using it (RIPE-679, section 3.0), which is why "buy ASN" searches lead nowhere. There is no second-hand market for AS numbers the way there is for IPv4 blocks.
Private ASN vs public ASN: when a private number is enough
Before spending anything, check whether you need a public number at all. RFC 6996 reserves two ranges for private use, and any router runs BGP with them:
| Range | Size | Count | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64512 to 65534 | 16-bit | 1,023 numbers | BGP between you and one upstream, VPN hubs, labs, cloud VPC gateways |
| 4200000000 to 4294967294 | 32-bit | 94,967,295 numbers | Data centre fabrics where each rack or switch gets its own AS |
The catch is section 4 of the RFC: private ASNs "MUST be removed from AS path attributes" before a route leaves your network, and other networks filter paths that contain one (RFC 6996, section 4). So a private ASN works only while exactly one real network stands between you and the internet: your upstream announces your prefix from its own public ASN and strips yours out. Fine with one provider. Useless the moment you want two providers, want to peer at an internet exchange, want a leased /24 to be visibly yours, or want a ROA that names your network as the origin. RIPEstat shows the difference:
# as a normal user, any machine with curl
for a in AS64512 AS4200000000 AS213900; do echo "== $a =="
curl -s "https://stat.ripe.net/data/as-overview/data.json?resource=$a" \
| grep -o '"block":{[^}]*}\|"holder":"[^"]*"\|"announced":[a-z]*'
done== AS64512 ==
"block":{"resource":"64512-65534","desc":"Reserved for Private Use (Reference: RFC 6996)","name":"IANA 16-bit Autonomous System (AS) Numbers Registry"}
"holder":""
"announced":true
== AS4200000000 ==
"block":{"resource":"4200000000-4294967294","desc":"Reserved for Private Use (Reference: RFC 6996)","name":"IANA 32-bit Autonomous System (AS) Numbers Registry"}
"holder":""
"announced":false
== AS213900 ==
"block":{"resource":"213404-214427","desc":"Assigned by RIPE NCC","name":"IANA 32-bit Autonomous System (AS) Numbers Registry"}
"holder":"rs RS Computers L.L.C"
"announced":trueThe private numbers have no holder. AS64512 even shows as announced, meaning some network is leaking a private AS into the global table right now, the mistake the RFC warns about. The public number has a registered holder, and that registration is what you pay for. Rule of thumb: one upstream, no peering, addresses that belong to your host: a private ASN costs nothing. Anything else, read on.
Who may get a public ASN: the RIPE policy in plain words
In the RIPE region (Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, so Kosovo, Albania, the Netherlands and Ireland included) the RIPE NCC assigns AS numbers on one condition: "To request an AS Number, you will need to have a contractual agreement with the RIPE NCC" (request page). You get that contract by becoming a member, which makes your organisation a Local Internet Registry (LIR), or by signing with an existing member that acts as your sponsoring LIR and files the request for you. Either way the ASN is assigned to you, the End User; the sponsor is a channel and a guarantor, not the owner.
Three points in RIPE-679, the current "Autonomous System (AS) Number Assignment Policies", decide whether a request is approved:
- Multihoming. "A network must be multihomed in order to qualify for an AS Number", meaning connected to more than one other AS. The form therefore asks for the AS numbers and contact emails of at least two peering partners: a transit provider plus an internet exchange route server, a second provider or a BGP session over a tunnel.
- Unique routing policy. A new ASN "should be used only if a new external routing policy is required", written in RPSL, the import/export notation of the RIPE Database. In plain words, you need a reason to make routing decisions that differ from your provider's.
- Return when unused. The number goes back to the pool when you stop using it.
A proposal to drop the multihoming rule, 2025-01 "ASN assignment criteria revisited", was withdrawn on 6 July 2026 (RIPE policy proposals), so the two-peer requirement stands in October 2026. On the size of the number: since 2010 the RIPE NCC assigns from "an undifferentiated 32-bit AS Number allocation pool" (RIPE-679, section 5.0). You will receive a 32-bit number such as AS213900, every router of the last decade handles them, and there is no way to pay extra for a short 16-bit one.
How much does an ASN cost in 2026? The two paths, totalled
Figures from the Charging Schemes (RIPE-848, RIPE-867) and the Billing Procedure 2026. Sponsor fees are not regulated, so the right column shows what the registry charges the sponsor.
| Item | Path A: become an LIR yourself | Path B: sponsored ASN through an LIR |
|---|---|---|
| Who signs with the RIPE NCC | You, a Standard Service Agreement signed by hand (electronic signatures are not accepted) | The sponsor already has; you sign an agreement with the sponsor |
| One-time fee to the RIPE NCC | EUR 1,000 sign-up fee | None |
| Yearly fee to the RIPE NCC, 2026 | EUR 1,800 per LIR account, pro rata by quarter in the year you join, plus EUR 50 for the ASN | EUR 50 per ASN, billed to the sponsor on what it holds on 31 December |
| Yearly fee to the RIPE NCC, 2027 | EUR 1,894, first ASN included, EUR 50 for each further ASN | EUR 50 per ASN, unchanged |
| Full first year, registry fees only | EUR 2,850 if you join in January 2026; EUR 2,894 in 2027 | EUR 50 to the registry, plus the sponsor's price to you |
| What else you get | An IPv6 allocation to assign to customers, a place on the IPv4 /24 waiting list, a vote at the General Meeting | The ASN only; a /48 of IPv6 PI can be added at EUR 75 a year registry fee |
| Fits | Hosts and ISPs that hand out addresses to their own customers | One company or one person, one ASN, a leased /24 and a /48 |
Path A costs about 57 times the registry fee of a sponsored ASN in the first year, before a single IPv4 address, and repeats yearly. It pays only if you use the LIR for more than the ASN: assigning IPv6 to customers, holding transfers, sponsoring others. Since 29 September 2026 the RIPE NCC has also temporarily restricted members from acquiring additional LIR accounts (RIPE NCC news); a first account is unaffected.
Path B is what most readers want. A sponsor's yearly fee should cover the EUR 50 registry charge, the organisation and aut-num objects in the RIPE Database, the maintainer that lets you edit them, ROA certificate access for your prefixes, and the re-paperwork when your company changes name or address. The standard agreement makes a sponsor publish fee changes two months ahead (article 4.2), so a written quote should hold for the year. RS Computers sponsors ASNs from its own LIR for clients who then announce their prefixes on our IP transit; the sponsorship is a custom offer with the price on request via Telegram, because the work differs for a person with one /24 and a company with three.
ARIN and APNIC for comparison
Your legal presence decides which registry you deal with, so you cannot shop around; the table shows the cheapest way for a small organisation to hold one ASN in each region.
| Registry | Cheapest route to one ASN | One-time | Yearly | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIPE NCC | Sponsored by an LIR | None from the registry | EUR 50 to the registry, paid by the sponsor | RIPE-848, 2026 |
| ARIN | Registration Services Plan, 3X-Small (1 to 3 ASNs, up to a /24 IPv4 and /40 IPv6), contracted directly | USD 50 organisation create; the first year's plan fee is due when the request is approved | USD 275 | ARIN fee schedule, effective 1 January 2026; a new schedule starts 1 January 2027 |
| APNIC | Non-member account | AUD 575 sign-up; the first two ASNs carry no allocation fee | No charge for two or fewer ASNs; from the third, AUD 100 a year plus AUD 500 once per ASN | APNIC-122 v013, 6 March 2026 |
The paperwork: what an individual or a small company must hand over
The contract you sign with a sponsor is formally the Independent Assignment Request and Maintenance Agreement, often shortened to the End User Assignment Agreement. The RIPE NCC publishes a template most sponsors use as is. The checklist:
- The agreement, signed by an authorised person on both sides. The sponsor sends two signed copies; you return one.
- For a company: a recent extract from the commercial or trade register, or equivalent proof of registration. Recent means months, not years; the RIPE NCC may ask the sponsor for it during verification.
- For an individual: a copy of a valid identity card under the template, or a passport or other ID checked through the iDenfy identity service under the RIPE NCC's request notes. A natural person can hold an ASN; the ID replaces the register extract.
- An organisation object in the RIPE Database with your full legal name exactly as on the extract; the sponsor usually creates it.
- A maintainer (mntner) object, the credential that protects your records, and a person or role object with a NIC handle, the contact other operators email about your routes.
- The AS numbers and email addresses of at least two peering partners.
- A routing policy in RPSL, usually one import and one export line per peer, which becomes your aut-num object.
Two clauses matter after signing: you may use the resources only for your own network and may not sub-assign or transfer them (articles 4.3a and 4.3b), and the RIPE NCC may revoke an assignment for non-compliance with policy (4.4). What ends up in the public database looks like this. Our own ASN, fetched through the RIPE Database REST interface because the laptop we used runs Windows without a whois client (a Linux whois -h whois.ripe.net AS213900 prints the same object):
# as a normal user, any machine with curl
curl -s -H "Accept: text/plain" "https://rest.db.ripe.net/ripe/aut-num/AS213900"aut-num: AS213900
as-name: rs
org: ORG-RCL45-RIPE
import: from AS213900:AS-UPSTREAMS accept ANY
export: to AS213900:AS-UPSTREAMS announce AS213900:AS-DOWNSTREAMS
import: from AS213900:AS-DOWNSTREAMS accept ANY
export: to AS213900:AS-DOWNSTREAMS announce ANY
admin-c: AA44093-RIPE
tech-c: AA44093-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED
mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-END-MNT
mnt-by: lir-al-rscomputers-1-MNT
created: 2024-11-07T13:58:12Z
last-modified: 2026-04-09T16:55:42Z
source: RIPERead it as a template for yours: the import and export lines are the RPSL policy, the two mnt-by lines show the RIPE NCC's maintainer beside the LIR's, and status ASSIGNED is what a sponsored End User ASN carries too.
How long does it take to get an ASN?
The RIPE NCC publishes no fixed turnaround for AS number requests, so the durations here are an order of magnitude, not a promise. Most of the waiting is on your side.
| Step | Who | Typical duration | What slows it down |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decide private or public, pick a sponsor | You | A day | Nothing; private is free and needs no sponsor |
| Line up two peers and write the policy | You, with the sponsor | Days to weeks | The second peer; a transit provider that also gives you a session over a tunnel removes the blocker |
| Sign the agreement, send the extract or ID | You | Same day | Old extracts and a name that does not match the register |
| Sponsor creates the database objects and files the request | Sponsor | Under a day | Organisation, maintainer and contact objects must exist first |
| RIPE NCC evaluation and assignment | RIPE NCC Registration Services | Working days; no published SLA | A question back about the peers or the documents, the sanctions check |
| Route object, ROA, first BGP session | You and your upstream | A day or two after assignment | Covered in announcing leased IPv4 with your ASN, LOA and ROA |
One real data point: the created line in the aut-num above says AS213900 was registered on 7 November 2024, six days after our organisation object was created on 1 November 2024, with the membership approved earlier. Budget two to four weeks end to end for a first ASN and you will usually be early.
What happens if the sponsoring LIR closes, or you want to move
This is the part sponsor websites leave out, and the main risk of path B. The rules are in RIPE-815 and in the agreement template. The good news first: the ASN is yours, not the sponsor's. "Provider independent resources are independent from any LIR", and you can change sponsoring LIR at any time (information for End Users). Moving is paperwork, not a new request, and the number does not change:
- Sign the new sponsor's Independent Assignment Request and Maintenance Agreement.
- Give the old sponsor written notice; the template lets the End User terminate with one month's notice (article 7.2). The old sponsor should tell the RIPE NCC before the termination date.
- The new sponsor files a request in the LIR Portal with the signed agreement, your registration documents and the resource list. If the old sponsor never notified the RIPE NCC, this filing does the job and the RIPE NCC informs the old one.
- If the old sponsor objects, the RIPE NCC accepts the contract of whichever LIR submits a confirmation signed by you that the old agreement is terminated. Your signature settles it.
Now the deadlines. You "must have a contractual relationship with a sponsoring LIR at all times". If your sponsor closes, goes bankrupt or loses its membership, the agreement expires automatically (template article 7.8), the RIPE NCC emails the contacts in your organisation object, and you have 10 working days to sign with another sponsor or directly with the RIPE NCC. Then comes one reminder with another 10 working days, after which the RIPE NCC "will begin deregistering the independent resources". The same clock runs if you end a contract without a new one in place, and resources also return to the RIPE NCC if it cannot reach the holder for three months (RIPE-637). So: keep scans of the signed agreement and the extract, keep the email addresses in your database objects ones a human reads, and choose a sponsor that will still exist next year. A host that carries your prefix on its own transit has a reason to keep the paperwork tidy, because your route is its route too.
From the number to a live prefix
An ASN alone routes nothing. It is one of four pieces, and the other three cost far more than the EUR 50:
| Situation | What you need next | Where to read |
|---|---|---|
| You have the ASN and want IPv4 that stays yours when you change hosts | Lease a /24 or larger (roughly USD 90 to 150 a month for a /24 in October 2026) or buy one; End Users get no IPv4 PI from the RIPE NCC any more | IPv4 lease cost per IP, IPv4 price history 2014 to 2026 |
| You have a leased block and the ASN | An LOA from the lessor, a route object and a ROA naming your ASN; upstreams filter on both | Announce leased IPv4 with your ASN |
| Your servers sit where there is no BGP hand-off, or in several places | A BGP session over a tunnel to a transit provider | BGP over GRE, WireGuard, IPsec and VXLAN |
| You need the upstream itself | Transit that accepts your prefix once the ROA and route object name your ASN; compare billing models before signing | IP transit from AS213900, and 95th percentile vs flat rate explained |
Our transit is flat rate and unmetered at 1, 5 or 10 Gbit/s, month to month, BGP session free, no 95th percentile; prices are on the IP transit page. The Amsterdam PoP is at Qupra with hand-off at Nikhef; the Skopje PoP is at Neocom with a 100G port on IXP.mk and an open peering policy, which also gives you a second BGP neighbour for the multihoming rule. Delivery is by cross-connect or by GRE, IPsec, WireGuard, VXLAN or other tunnel, so a VDS Small with 4 dedicated vCPUs, 8 GB RAM and a 10 Gb/s port in Amsterdam or Prishtina can be the router that terminates the session and originates your prefix. When the sponsored ASN, the transit and the server come from one place, the "who do I call" question stays short.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an ASN cost per year?
In the RIPE region the registry fee is EUR 50 per ASN per year in 2026 and 2027, billed to the sponsoring LIR, which sets its own price to the End User. A RIPE NCC member pays EUR 1,800 a year for the LIR account in 2026 (EUR 1,894 in 2027, first ASN included). ARIN charges a small organisation USD 275 a year; APNIC non-members pay no yearly ASN fee for their first two numbers after a one-time AUD 575 sign-up.
Can I buy an ASN outright?
No. AS numbers are assigned, not sold, and RIPE policy says they should be returned to the public pool when no longer used. You either sign with a sponsoring LIR, which requests the number for you, or become a RIPE NCC member for EUR 1,000 once plus the yearly fee.
What is the difference between a private ASN and a public ASN?
A private ASN comes from 64512 to 65534 or 4200000000 to 4294967294, reserved by RFC 6996, costs nothing and needs no registration, but must be stripped from the AS path before a route reaches the internet, so only one provider can sit between you and the world. A public ASN is registered to you by a regional registry, appears as the origin of your routes, can be named in a ROA and lets you connect to several providers and exchanges.
Can an individual get an ASN, or only a company?
An individual can. The RIPE NCC's request notes ask a natural person for a passport or other valid ID, verified through the iDenfy identity service, instead of a company register extract. The same rules apply: two peer AS numbers and a routing policy in RPSL.
Do I need two upstreams to get an ASN from RIPE?
You need to be multihomed, which the request form turns into the AS numbers and contact emails of at least two peering partners. A transit provider plus an internet exchange route server, two transit sessions, or a transit session plus a BGP session over a tunnel all qualify. The proposal to remove this rule (2025-01) was withdrawn on 6 July 2026.
What happens to my ASN if my sponsoring LIR closes?
The number stays assigned to you, but you must sign with another sponsoring LIR or with the RIPE NCC quickly. The RIPE NCC emails your registered contacts and gives you 10 working days, then a reminder with another 10 working days, after which it begins deregistering the resources. The new sponsor files your signed agreement and registration documents through the LIR Portal and the ASN does not change.
Where to start if you want the number this month
Count your peers first: with one provider and no plan for a second, a private ASN is free and you are done. If you need a public one, get a fresh register extract or your ID ready, decide who your two BGP neighbours will be, and ask a sponsor for its yearly price in writing. RS Computers sponsors ASNs from its own LIR, carries the resulting prefix on its IP transit in Amsterdam and Skopje, and can be the second neighbour over a tunnel if your first is elsewhere. Tell us on Telegram or at info@rscomputers-ks.com whether you are a company or a person, which prefix you will announce and where your servers sit, and we will quote the sponsorship, or say honestly if a private ASN would do.