General Information 

The transition to Open Data will lead to the following changes: 

1. The licence that governs the data use will change from the ECMWF Standard Licence Agreement to the permissive CC-BY-4.0 licence. 
2. The Information Cost and High-Frequency Information Cost (data costs) will be set to €0.00. 
3. If you continue to receive ECMWF Real-time Data directly from ECMWF, Service Charges (including Volume Charges) will still apply. 

There are no planned changes to the price or content of the ECMWF Service Packs or charges. 

The current 'free & open data' will remain at the current 0.25 resolution until January 2026. In January 2026, we anticipate increasing the resolution to the full 0.1 degrees with the current parameters and timesteps. 

Hourly data will not be available in the free and open dataset. 

Product Requirements Catalogue Updates

Later in May 2025, ECMWF will release an updated Product Requirements Catalogue that automatically removes Information Cost from 01 October 2025.  You will still be able to evaluate quotes based on past versions of ecQuote to evaluate the changes to your data costs. 

Next Steps for Existing Users

For users with licences directly with ECMWF

Until September 2025, if you already hold a licence, ECMWF will continue to apply the Information Cost. 

1. In September 2025, ECMWF will amend your current agreement to remove the Information Cost from 01 October 2025. 
2. You will receive a document describing the reduction in Information Cost and any credit notes that may apply as a result. 
3. In future, ECMWF will split your invoices and installments into two parts:  one invoice for Information Cost applicable up to 01 October 2025 and a second for Service Charges that apply to the full annual contract. 
4. Amendments until September will still include Information Cost until we have done the automated reduction. 

Existing agreements can be extended until the 30th September 2025 and current charges will be applied until then. 

For users with licences and delivery from an ECMWF Member or Co-operating State

Please contact your Licensor directly to discuss the process. ECMWF is unable to assist in these matters as we are not the Licensee. 

Terminations

As per Article 10 of the ECMWF Standard Licence Agreement, users are entitled to terminate with 3 months notice. As we will be applying a reduction on 01 October 2025, ECMWF will not be waiving the 3 month termination clause and ask that users contact us via the Support Portal if you wish to terminate your licence. 

Important Clarifications & Exceptions

• ECMWF management will continue to review requests for Research Project licences and will decide whether the fees should be waived or not. 
• Recipients of Research Project licences or Council Approved User licences will continue to receive data under the current scope of use and ECMWF will continue to restrict Service Provision and Commercial Use.  If you wish to provide services or operate commercially, a Service Provider agreement will apply with the associated charges.   Please contact ECMWF if you intend to use the data for these purposes.
• WMO Members will be able to receive data free of charge for the Basic service pack for the Official Duty purposes (for the protection of life and property).  For WMO Members requiring more services, the full Service Charges for the relevant pack will apply. 
• ECMWF regrets that we are unable to support users who obtain and use data from third parties (i.e. support is only provided to those with a Service Agreement with ECMWF or the Member and Co-operating States).
• Please kindly note that, whilst we can appreciate users may want to calculate cost changes to their current or upcoming licence agreements ahead of time, we cannot commit to definitive figures currently. Users will be notified of the reduction in Information Cost and any credit notes that may apply as a result.

Frequently Asked Questions

My current Real-Time licence agreement will be expiring in the next couple of months. What are my options and the implications for me?

Since your licence agreement will be expiring in the next couple of months, you would have the option to extend your current licence agreement until the 30th September 2025. For this extension, the same Information Cost(s) will still apply. Then, you may choose to start a new licence contract from the 1st October 2025, where there will be no Information Cost(s) applied to your new licence agreement.

I am a new user, interested in setting-up a Real-Time licence agreement with ECMWF before 1st October 2025. What are my options and the implications for me?

You may start your licence agreement now, however since you would be signing a licence agreement before October 2025, your licence agreement would display the full amount for Information Cost(s). However, as ECMWF invoices quarterly, you would only pay for the Information Costs up until 30th September 2025 (for example: in the first and/or second invoice). Then, after October 2025, your invoices would not contain the Information Costs. This would mean that you wouldn't pay the full amount for the Information Costs for the entire year - only up until October 2025.

Alternatively, you may choose to wait until 1st October 2025, and start a new licence agreement from the 1st October 2025, to avoid the Information Cost(s).

I renewed my Real-Time licence agreement a few months ago, before realising that ECMWF was removing Information Cost(s). What are my options and the implications for me?

Whilst your renewed licence agreement will contain the full Information Cost(s), you will only pay for Information Cost(s) up until the 30th September 2025. These would show in any invoices sent out before October 2025. After that time, you will receive a document describing the reduction in Information Cost(s) and any credit notes that may apply to the remainder of your licence agreement, taking into account the Information Cost(s) reductions.