CA DROP Registration Fee 2026: What Data Brokers Pay and How to Register
How Much Does Data Broker Registration Cost?
The California data broker registration fee is approximately $6,600 per year, paid to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA). This is an annual obligation that must be renewed each year to maintain your registration. The fee applies to every business that meets the statutory definition of a data broker under Civil Code section 1798.99.80(d), regardless of size or revenue. There is no sliding scale or small business discount.
Step-by-Step Registration Process
Registration is completed through the CPPA's online portal. You will need to provide your business legal name, DBA if applicable, primary business address, privacy officer contact information, a description of your data collection and sharing practices, the categories of personal information you handle, and a link to your current privacy policy. The CPPA reviews submissions and may request additional information. Plan for the process to take 2-4 weeks from initial submission to confirmation.
What Happens If You Don't Register
Operating as an unregistered data broker in California carries separate penalties from the deletion request fines. The CPPA has enforcement authority to investigate and penalize businesses that should be registered but are not. Additionally, unregistered data brokers cannot access the DROP portal, which means they cannot retrieve and process consumer deletion requests, compounding their violation. The combination of registration penalties and per-request fines for missed deletions can quickly become existential for small businesses.
Registration vs. Compliance: Understanding the Difference
Registration is just step one. Many businesses register and pay the fee but fail to set up the operational procedures needed to actually comply with the 45-day deletion cycle. Registration gets you access to the DROP portal, but compliance requires a complete set of standard operating procedures, data maps, tracking systems, vendor notification processes, and annual reporting capabilities. Think of registration as getting your driver's license and compliance as actually following the traffic laws.
Get the complete 2026 DROP Compliance Kit with everything you need to register and comply.