Has your microchip database started charging an annual fee?

Been asked to start paying a yearly fee to keep your details up to date?

Here's what your options are to avoid databases that now charge a yearly fee. If you've been affected and decide to move your chip to us before end of October, we'll waive our one-off fee to move your chip across.

Transfer your pet's chip to us, for free

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What to do now

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Here's what's been playing out for a lot of pet owners recently:

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You get an email telling you your pet's microchip registry provider is changing. You log in to check, only to find that updating so much as your phone number now requires signing up for an annual subscription.

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We believe microchip registration should not work like a subscription service because your pet's safety shouldn't depend on whether a bill got paid on time. But a growing number of databases have moved to charging annually just for owners to keep their own information accurate.

That means the moment your pet goes missing after they bolt out the door is the worst possible moment to discover you can’t update your details without paying first.

Asked to pay to keep your details right?

Move your pet's chip to a database that lets you update your details for free, for life.

We'll waive our membership fee entirely. We're running this as a limited-time offer for whose microchip database has introduced new charges. A problem your old provider caused shouldn't come with a bill from us too.

Use the below button to register, and we’ll waive the fee. Available on registrations completed between 24.09.2026 and 31.10.2026

Transfer your pet's chip to us, for free

White dog with a blue collar walking on green grass in a park on a sunny day.

You can choose which database your pet is registered on

You don't have to stay with the database chosen for you by their previous keeper, breeder, vet or even the chip manufacturer.

When your pet is microchipped, your vet, breeder or rescue will register it, or direct you to register with whichever database they use as standard. What a lot of owners don't realise is that, depending on your chip's manufacturer, you may be able to move to a different Defra-compliant UK database instead of the one it started on.

Not every database accepts every chip type; some only register chips from specific manufacturers. Pet Database accepts all UK-compliant microchip types, so for most owners, which database you're registered with really is a choice, not something dictated by what chip your pet happens to have.

Why does this matter? The default database your pet started on may come with a yearly subscription, which means owners who never actively chose that database can find themselves paying an annual fee just to keep their own details up to date.

And if you don't pay it, updating those details (like your address, email or phone number) can come with a fee of its own, which is not a reassuring way to leave something this important.

What to do now

Start by checking whether your pet's microchip is currently registered, and which database holds it. You’ll need your microchip number (you'll usually find it on their microchip certificate, vet records, or adoption paperwork).

Use our checker to see whether your pet's chip is currently registered, and which database currently holds the record.

Microchip number

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If you choose to switch to Pet Database, you can transfer your record in a few minutes. No new chip and no trip to the vet needed. We'll contact your previous database and ask them to close the old record. They may get in touch with you to confirm that's what you want. This way there's only one set of details and no chance of a scan returning the wrong ones.

How Pet Database differs from some other databases

We care about our customers and their pets, which is why we make things as hassle-free as possible.

Update your details anytime at no extra cost. Some databases would charge you for that.

If your pet does go missing, we can help. We are the chosen microchip database of DogLost, the UK’s largest lost and found pet service. Our missing pet posts reached over 487k people in the first half of 2026 and were shared 10.6k+ times by others.

One-off payment, lifetime security.

How our service compares

Other databases

Registering your pet's microchip

One-off fee

Included in the annual fee

Unlimited details updates

Included in the one-off fee

Subscription required

Annual subscription

None, not required

Yes, currently between £5-£39 per annum depending on the provider

*Defra-compliant databases run different business models. This column describes databases that operate an annual subscription model, and is not meant to depict any one specific provider. Pricing as published by the Stolen and Missing Pets Alliance database list, 8 September 2026.