Last updated 2026-08-19
TL;DR
Florida law caps the notary's fee for one online notarial act at $25. In-person acts cap at $10. Getting there means a Florida notary commission (the statute's application math is $39), a $7,500 notary bond, online-notary registration with the Department of State, a required course, and separate technology, bond, and insurance costs that vendors set. Confirm today's posted registration items on the DOS notary pages before you pay anyone.
How much does remote online notarization cost in Florida?
Florida law caps the notary's own fee for one online notarial act at $25. [1] The in-person cap is $10. [2] If you are the signer, $25 is the legal ceiling on the act, not a promise that the checkout page will say $25.
Platforms and other vendors can bill for services that are not the notarial act. Section 117.275 says those other fees are not governed by the $25 cap. [1] That is why a remote closing package can land much higher than the notary fee and still sit inside the statute.
If you are the notary, your cost to get live is a different stack. The underlying commission application math in ss. 117.01 and 113.01 is $39. [3] [4] You also buy a $7,500 notary bond (the premium is not set by statute), take the required courses, register as an online notary public, and satisfy the department's online-notary attachments, including the larger bond and E&O evidence in rule 1N-7.001. [3] [5] [12] Then you pay a RON provider.
Skip the national average charts. Other states set other caps, and a Florida decision needs the Florida number. Florida Statutes § 117.275 caps the fee for one online notarial act at $25. [1]
State fees are the only line items I can quote to the dollar. Everything else is a quote you collect this week from a surety, an insurer, a course provider, and a platform. If a salesperson will not put the number in writing, they do not have a number.
People get hurt when they budget only the $39 application and ignore the software. The statute is cheap. The stack around it is not.
Do you need a license for remote online notarization in Florida?
Yes. Florida does not let a private person perform remote online notarization without a current Florida notary public commission and a separate online notary public registration with the Department of State. [5] [9] [11]
You start as a regular notary. A Florida notary public commission runs 4 years. [3] The application carries the fees in s. 117.01 and the $10 commission fee in s. 113.01, which add to $39. [3] [4] You also post a $7,500 notary bond. [3] Then, if you want remote sessions, you register as an online notary public. That filing requires a classroom or online course covering the duties, obligations, and technology requirements for serving as an online notary public. [5]
A platform login is not a license. A national RON certificate from a training mill is not a license either, unless it is the course Florida actually requires. Read the current DOS online notary page and rule 1N-7.001 before you pay a third party to get you approved. [11] [12]
Civil-law notaries under chapter 118 and commissioners of deeds under chapter 721 can also register. [5] Most people reading this are regular notaries. Stay in that lane unless you already know you are one of the other two.
You identify the RON service provider on the registration. [5] That does not mean the vendor commissioned you. Tallahassee still has the file.
What is the legal fee cap for a Florida online notarization?
The legal cap for the online notarial act is $25. Florida Statutes s. 117.275 states: "An online notary public or the employer of such online notary public may charge a fee, not to exceed $25, for performing an online notarial act." [1]
Read the next sentence in that same section. "Fees for services other than an online notarial act are not governed by this section." [1] That is why a signer can see a bill larger than $25 and the notary can still be inside the law, if the extra dollars are for something other than the act (the platform session, or other work the notary is otherwise allowed to do).
Print the statute and keep it next to your fee card. When a client asks why an invoice is not $25 flat, point to the second sentence instead of inventing a story.
In-person work stays under the $10 cap in s. 117.05, with the online act carved out through the cross-reference to s. 117.275. [2] Do not charge $25 for a wet-ink acknowledgment at a kitchen table and call it RON. If you were not in an online session that meets chapter 117, you are in the $10 world.
Travel fees do not map onto a webcam session. Do not dress a platform surcharge up as mileage. Name the line items.
How much does it cost to become a Florida online notary?
The state pieces are small. The private pieces are not.
On the state side, s. 117.01 sets a $25 application fee and a $4 surcharge, and s. 113.01 adds a $10 commission fee. That is a $39 notary application package ($25 plus $10 plus a $4 surcharge). [3] [4] Online registration again points at the s. 113.01 fee. [5] Confirm the current DOS checklist before you write the check, because the department's form can list the remittance in one line even though the statute splits it.
You also pay a third-party educator for the general notary course DOS describes, then the online-notary course s. 117.225 requires. [5] [10] Florida does not publish a statewide tuition. Vendors set it. Buy the cheapest accepted course, not the one with the glossiest webinar.
Seals and a rubber stamp still matter for paper work. For remote sessions, the electronic seal and journal live inside the RON platform. An engraved desk seal will not make your webcam legal.
Then come the costs the statute does not price: the $7,500 notary bond premium, the online-notary bond and E&O evidence the registration rule asks for, a computer with a camera, and the platform contract. [3] [12] Those line items usually dwarf $39.
If you want a paper-path packet that maps the DOS forms without pretending to file them for you, RONPath sells a $99 one-time State RON Add-On Kit. Use it or ignore it. The statutes are free.
How much are the Florida RON bond and insurance?
Every Florida notary posts a $7,500 bond. That face amount is in s. 117.01. [3] The premium (what you actually pay the surety) is not in the statute. It moves with the underwriter and your record. I will not invent a premium. Call more than one licensed surety and get the 4-year price in writing.
Online notary registration is stricter. Florida Administrative Code rule 1N-7.001 is the registration rule. It is where the department has required evidence of a $25,000 bond and $25,000 of errors-and-omissions coverage as part of the online notary file. [12] Read the current rule text the day you apply. Rules get amended. If 1N-7.001 still lists those face amounts, that is what you buy. If it has changed, follow the new text, not this paragraph.
The $25,000 online bond is not a substitute for the $7,500 notary bond. Plan on both unless DOS tells you in writing that one instrument covers both duties. I have not seen the statute merge them.
E&O is insurance, not a magic shield. It also is not optional if the rule still demands a certificate at registration. Cheap policies with junk exclusions are a waste. Match the coverage to online notarization, not to a paper-only rider from a decade ago.
Keep the declarations page with your commissioning file. You will need it again at renewal, and you will want it if a platform asks for proof before they turn your seat on.
How much do RON platforms cost in Florida?
Florida does not set RON software prices. Section 117.225 makes you identify the RON service provider whose technology you will use. [5] Section 117.295 gives the department standards and rulemaking authority for that technology. [14] The invoice still comes from a private company.
I will not quote a monthly seat fee. Those numbers change, and a stale figure helps no one. Ask each provider for monthly or annual seat cost, per-session fees, who pays identity-proofing (you or the signer), how long they store the recording, and whether they will export your journal if you leave. Florida's journal floor is 10 years, so a platform that deletes files when you cancel is a problem. [6]
Some notaries only pay per session. Some pay a seat plus a cut. If you will do three notarizations a month, a fat subscription is usually a waste. If you will sit on a title platform all day, per-session pricing can get ugly. Run the math on your actual volume, not on a sales deck.
The platform has to do Florida-compliant identity proofing, audio-video, an electronic journal, and recording. A generic video call with a PDF stamp is not remote online notarization in Florida. [8] [14]
Compare that to how other states price the same stack. Georgia and Alabama readers hit the same vendor market with different state caps (see remote online notarization cost in Georgia and remote online notarization cost in Alabama).
How long does remote online notarization take in Florida?
The session itself is short when identity proofing works. For a single acknowledgment with a signer who already has the document and a working camera, many sessions finish in one sitting, often in the 10 to 20 minute range. That is practice talk, not a Florida DOS statistic. The state does not publish an official average session time.
What burns time is everything around the act. Credential analysis can reject a glare-filled driver license. Knowledge-based authentication can lock a signer out. A 40-page loan package is not a one-stamp job. If two signers share one laptop from different chairs, you will wait.
Florida procedures for the online act live in s. 117.265. You have to identify the principal, run the required credential and identity steps, and keep the recording. [8] Skip a step to save five minutes and you do not have a Florida online notarization. You have a problem.
From the signer's side, shopping a platform, uploading IDs, and waiting in a notary queue can take longer than the act. From the notary's side, the career timeline (course, commission, bond, registration, platform approval) is measured in weeks or longer, not minutes. That is the next section.
Do not promise a borrower you can finish tonight unless you are already live on a compliant platform and the signer can pass identity proofing. Failed proofing is common enough that you should have a backup slot, not a speech.
How long does Florida commissioning and RON registration take?
Florida does not give me a board-published, guaranteed processing time I can put in this article. Anyone who tells you commissions always come back in a fixed number of days is guessing or reciting an old anecdote.
The sequence is fixed even when the clock is not. Complete the required education. File the notary application with the statutory fees and the $7,500 bond. Wait for the commission. Then complete the online-notary course if you have not already, gather the 1N-7.001 attachments, and register as an online notary public. [3] [5] [9] [10] [12] Then finish platform credentialing, which runs on a private company's calendar, not Tallahassee's.
Do not resign a job based on a hoped-for mail date. Do not buy a six-month software subscription the day you drop the paper application in the mail either. Confirm current intake times with the Florida Department of State notary unit, then add buffer for the surety, the insurer, and the platform.
Incomplete bond paperwork is the quiet delay. If the surety issues the $7,500 instrument to the wrong obligee, DOS will not fix that for you. Read the current how-to-become-a-notary instructions and copy the bond language exactly. [9]
No approval guarantee exists here. This publication is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company. We do not file your registration and we do not control DOS.
What can you charge clients for a Florida RON?
You (or your employer) may charge up to $25 for the online notarial act. [1] You may charge up to $10 for a regular in-person act. [2] You may charge other amounts for services that are not the notarial act, because s. 117.275 says those fees are not governed by that section. [1]
Write the invoice so a later investigator can see the split. Line 1: online notarial act, $25 or less. Line 2: named platform or clerical service, actual amount. Mixing them into one RON fee looks sloppy even when the statute gives you room.
Employers can collect the $25. The statute says an online notary public or the employer of such online notary public. [1] If you are on a W-2 at a signing service, read your contract. The cap still applies to the act. It does not force your employer to pay you the $25.
Do not charge Florida's $25 cap on a document you notarized under another state's rules while sitting in that other state. The fee statute follows the Florida online notarial act.
Title companies and platforms will often dictate the consumer price. You can decline work that pays you nothing after software cuts. That is a business choice, not a statute.
If a client wants a wet-ink original after the online act, that extra handling is not automatically the $25 act. Say so up front.
What does a first-year Florida RON budget look like?
A clean first-year budget has two columns: statutory or rule-fixed face amounts, and vendor-priced items you must confirm.
| Cost item | Figure you can read in law or rule | Who prices what you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Notary application fees | $39 ($25 + $10 + $4) [3] [4] | Set by statute |
| Regular notary bond face | $7,500 [3] | Surety sets the premium |
| Online registration fee | Points to s. 113.01 ($10) [4] [5] | Confirm remittance on the DOS form |
| Online bond / E&O evidence | $25,000 faces in rule 1N-7.001 [12] | Surety and insurer set premiums |
| Education | Required [5] [10] | Course provider |
| RON technology | Not priced in chapter 117 | Platform |
| Hardware | Not priced | You |
Add a cash reserve for failed identity-proofing sessions and for a second course if you picked a provider DOS will not accept. That reserve is unglamorous and useful.
First-year revenue is a guess. At $25 an act, you need a lot of sessions to recoup software and insurance if you are paying retail for both. Some notaries only turn RON on because an employer already pays the seat. That is the saner path if you do not already have volume.
Compare the statutory cap structure with remote online notarization cost in California or remote online notarization cost in Illinois before you assume every state uses Florida's $25 number. They do not.
Which Florida RON costs are a waste of money?
Skip the upsells that do not appear in chapter 117.
You do not need a framed certified online notary plaque. You do not need a second physical embosser for webcam work. You do not need a national membership that claims to license you. Florida commissions you through the Governor's appointment process and the Department of State registration. [3] [5] [9]
Be careful with packagers who guarantee your approval. Nobody writing honestly can guarantee DOS timing or approval. If a vendor will not show you the exact statute and the exact DOS form they are filling, keep your card in your wallet.
A high-end camera rig is optional. A cheap laptop with a smeared lens will fail credential analysis and cost you more in lost sessions than a simple external camera. Spend on light and a steady connection. Skip the coaching bundle on personal brand.
Multi-year prepaid software on day one is the other common leak. Get through registration first. Confirm the platform is accepted for Florida online notarization. Then buy the shortest term that still gets you a sane rate.
Read remote online notarization cost in Arizona or remote online notarization cost in Colorado and you will see the same junk-fee pattern. The statute is cheap. The shopping is where people get clipped.
How do you confirm current Florida RON fees with the state?
Pull the primary pages, not a social media summary.
Read s. 117.01, s. 113.01, s. 117.05, s. 117.209, s. 117.225, s. 117.245, s. 117.265, and s. 117.275 on the Legislature's statute site. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Then open the Department of State's how-to-become-a-notary page, the notary education page, and the online notary page. [9] [10] [11] Then open rule 1N-7.001. [12]
If the form fee line and the statute look different, the form you are filing that day wins for remittance purposes, and you should ask DOS why. Do not split the difference.
Call or email the notary section for current processing expectations. Get a name and a date on that answer. Screenshot the fee page the day you pay. Portals move.
Chapter 2019-71 (the 2019 online notarization bill) is how Florida added this structure. [13] It is useful history. It is not a substitute for the current consolidated statutes.
Keep copies of your bond, E&O certificate, course completion, and registration. Florida Statutes § 117.245 requires the electronic journal of online notarial acts to be maintained for at least 10 years. [6] Treat your commissioning file with the same seriousness.
Does remote online notarization cost more in Florida than in other states?
Florida's $25 online-act cap is a state choice, not a national rule. Other states use different caps, or they leave more of the price to contract. If you might commission in a second state, read that state's fee statute. Start with the cost guide for remote online notarization cost in Connecticut if you need another example, then come back to chapter 117 before you reuse a fee card.
You still have to be a Florida online notary, physically located in Florida, to perform a Florida online notarization under s. 117.209. [7] That section says an online notary public physically located in this state may perform an online notarization regardless of whether the principal or any witnesses are physically located in this state at the time of the online notarization. A cheaper commission somewhere else does not let you skip Tallahassee.
The paper path is course, $39 application math, $7,500 bond, commission, online course, 1N-7.001 file, platform, then $25 or less per online act. Confirm every remittance with DOS the week you apply.
If you want that sequence laid out as a kit, the $99 State RON Add-On Kit is at /start. The statutes linked below remain the authority either way.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for remote online notarization in Florida?
Yes. Florida requires a current notary public commission plus Department of State registration as an online notary public. A platform account is not the license. Civil-law notaries and commissioners of deeds can register too. Read ss. 117.01 and 117.225 and confirm the current DOS online notary checklist before you take a paid session.
How much does remote online notarization cost in Florida?
The notarial act itself cannot exceed $25 under s. 117.275. Signers may pay more for platform or other services because those fees are not governed by that section. Notaries also pay commission fees ($39 by statute math), bonds, a course, registration, and software. Confirm vendor prices and the current DOS remittance line.
How long does remote online notarization take in Florida?
The live session is often 10 to 20 minutes when identity proofing works, but Florida does not publish an official average. Failed ID checks and long document sets take longer. Getting commissioned and registered is a separate timeline. Confirm current DOS processing with the notary unit. Nobody can honestly guarantee a date.
Can a Florida online notary charge more than $25?
Not for the online notarial act. Section 117.275 caps that fee at $25. Other services are not governed by that section, so a platform or clerical line can sit beside the act. Keep the invoice split so the $25 line is obvious if anyone later asks what you charged for the notarization itself.
Is the $25 cap what the signer pays the platform?
Not necessarily. The $25 cap is the notary act fee. Platforms often charge the signer a technology or convenience amount on top. That structure is why a consumer receipt can exceed $25 without breaking s. 117.275. Ask for a line-item receipt before you assume the checkout total is illegal.
Do I need a new commission to do RON in Florida?
You need a current Florida commission first. Online work is a registration on top of that commission, not a brand new type of appointment with a different statutory term. If your notary commission lapses, you cannot keep acting as an online notary. Confirm renewal steps with DOS when the four-year commission is up.
How much is the Florida online notary registration fee?
Section 117.225 points to the fee required by s. 113.01, which is $10. The DOS form may present that remittance in one instruction line. Confirm the amount printed on the current online notary registration form the week you file. Do not mail an old number copied from a blog.
How long is a Florida online notary registration good for?
Your online registration sits on a commission that lasts four years under s. 117.01. Treat the online authority as dependent on that living commission and on staying inside rule 1N-7.001. Confirm with DOS whether you refile when you renew the underlying commission rather than assuming the portal will roll it forward.
Do I have to be physically in Florida to perform a RON?
Yes, for a Florida online notarization under s. 117.209. That section lets an online notary public who is physically located in Florida perform the act even if the principal is not in Florida. You do not get to sit in another state and call it a Florida online act under that section.
How long do I keep the RON recording in Florida?
Keep the electronic journal at least 10 years after the notarial act. Section 117.245 sets that floor. The audio-video recording is part of the online act record. Confirm your platform will actually hold or export those files for a decade, not only for one subscription term.
Can my employer charge the $25 Florida RON fee?
Yes. Section 117.275 lets the online notary or the employer charge the fee, still capped at $25 for the act. Your paycheck is a contract issue between you and the employer. The cap still applies to what is billed for the notarial act itself.
Are out-of-state RON platforms legal for Florida documents?
Only if the platform satisfies Florida's technology and provider rules under ss. 117.225 and 117.295 and rule 1N-7. A tool that is legal in another state is not automatically legal here. Identify the provider on your registration and confirm Florida support in writing before you take a fee.
What course do I need for Florida online notarization?
Section 117.225 requires a classroom or online course covering duties, obligations, and technology requirements for serving as an online notary public. Regular applicants also complete the general notary education DOS describes. Buy a course the department will actually accept. Confirm the current education page the week you enroll.
Does Florida publish a processing time for online notary registration?
Not a guaranteed turnaround this article can quote. Processing moves with volume, incomplete files, and bond paperwork. Ask the Department of State notary unit for current expectations and keep a buffer for the surety, the insurer, and platform credentialing. Do not resign other work on a hoped-for mail date.
Sources
- Florida Statutes § 117.275, Fees for online notarization: Online notary or employer may charge a fee not to exceed $25 for an online notarial act; other service fees are not governed by that section
- Florida Statutes § 117.05, Use of notary commission; notary fee: Ordinary Florida notarial act fee is capped at $10, with the online-act exception handled in s. 117.275
- Florida Statutes § 117.01, Commission; application; bond: Four-year notary commission, $25 application fee plus $4 surcharge, and $7,500 notary bond
- Florida Statutes § 113.01, Fee for commissions issued: A $10 fee is charged for a commission issued under this section, which 117.01 and 117.225 incorporate
- Florida Statutes § 117.225, Registration; qualifications: Online notary registration requires a current commission, a required course, the s. 113.01 fee, a sworn registration, and identification of the RON service provider
- Florida Statutes § 117.245, Electronic journal of online notarizations: Electronic journal of online notarial acts must be maintained for at least 10 years after the date of the notarial act
- Florida Statutes § 117.209, Authority to perform online notarizations: An online notary public physically located in Florida may perform an online notarization even if the principal is outside Florida
- Florida Statutes § 117.265, Online notarization procedures: Florida online notarization procedures require specified identification, credential, and session steps rather than an informal video call
- Florida Administrative Code Rule 1N-7.001, Online Notary Public: Registration rule sets the online notary application attachments, including $25,000 bond and $25,000 E&O evidence
- Florida Senate, CS/CS/HB 409 (2019) enrolled bill: 2019 enrolled bill created Florida's online notarization structure later codified in chapter 117
- Florida Statutes § 117.295, Standards for electronic and online notarization: Department has standards and rulemaking authority for electronic and online notarization technology