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NeurIPS, the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, is the largest and best-known machine learning research conference in the world. NeurIPS 2026 is the 40th edition, and for the first time it's held in three cities: Sydney is the main site from December 6 to 12, with official satellite sites in Atlanta and Paris from December 9 to 13.
That three-city setup has made this year's NeurIPS more confusing than usual. Where do you register? Which city gets which papers? Is it sold out? And if you're trying to publish there, how hard is it to get in?
This guide answers every common question about NeurIPS 2026, from registration and cost to acceptance rates, review scores, and where NeurIPS and ICML are heading next. At the end, there's a short section for the companies that sponsor and exhibit at NeurIPS, on turning conversations with ML researchers into lasting relationships. We're Knock AI, and we build relationship infrastructure for B2B companies, connecting every buyer and partner conversation across events, LinkedIn, Slack, WhatsApp, and your website.
TL;DR: NeurIPS 2026 at a glance
NeurIPS 2026 runs in Sydney (December 6 to 12), Atlanta (December 9 to 13), and Paris (December 9 to 13). Sydney and Atlanta waitlists opened on October 30, and Paris registers separately through neurips-europe.cc.
Across all three sites, NeurIPS 2026 accepted 7,900 main track papers from 30,709 submissions, an acceptance rate of about 25.7%, according to conference statistics trackers.
What is NeurIPS?
NeurIPS is an annual research conference on machine learning and artificial intelligence, founded in 1987 and run by the NeurIPS Foundation, a non-profit. It's a multi-track meeting with invited talks, oral and poster presentations of peer-reviewed papers, tutorials, workshops, competitions, and an industry expo focused on machine learning in practice.
Accepted papers are published in the NeurIPS proceedings, Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, at proceedings.neurips.cc. The conference used to be called NIPS and changed its name to NeurIPS in 2018.
Where is NeurIPS in 2026?
NeurIPS 2026 is held in three places. The main conference is in Sydney, Australia, at ICC Sydney from December 6 to 12. Official satellite events run in Atlanta, USA, at the Georgia World Congress Center, and in Paris, France, at the Palais des Congrès de Paris, both from December 9 to 13.
Each satellite has its own keynotes, oral and poster sessions, tutorials, workshops, and exhibit space. Sydney has the fullest program. It runs longer, hosts more workshops and tutorials, and has the main Expo.
Time zones matter if you're following more than one site. In December, Sydney is 10 hours ahead of Paris and 16 hours ahead of Atlanta.
Why does NeurIPS 2026 have three locations?
NeurIPS 2026 has three locations to make the conference more accessible to researchers around the world and to handle its size. The organizers built on the multi-site pilots NeurIPS ran in 2025, including NeurIPS-Mexico City, and turned the idea into official satellites for 2026.
The organizers have said their primary goal is fair access for participants worldwide while splitting registrations across the three venues. In practice, the three sites line up with three regions:
- Sydney serves Asia-Pacific, including researchers from China, and anyone who wants the full program and Expo
- Atlanta serves North America, including international students on US study visas who may not want to leave the country mid-program
- Paris serves Europe
There's a real trade-off. Splitting the conference means fewer chance meetings across regions, and Sydney's program is noticeably bigger than the satellites'. But for many researchers, a satellite close to home is the difference between attending and not attending.
What is the schedule for NeurIPS 2026?
The NeurIPS 2026 schedule differs by site.
Sydney (main site), December 6 to 12
- Expo and Expo Talks open the week on December 6
- A new Education Track primer for AI science communicators runs on December 7
- Main conference sessions, including keynotes, orals, posters, and tutorials, run through December 10
- Workshops and competitions run December 11 and 12
Atlanta and Paris (satellites), December 9 to 13
- Main conference sessions, keynotes, orals, posters, and tutorials run early in the week
- Workshops run December 12 and 13
Across the three sites, NeurIPS 2026 has 102 workshops (accepted from 454 valid proposals) and 13 invited speakers. Check the official schedule on neurips.cc for session times, since they're set in each site's local time zone.
How do you register for NeurIPS 2026?
You register for NeurIPS 2026 through the official site for the city you want to attend. Sydney and Atlanta registration runs through neurips.cc, and Paris registration runs through neurips-europe.cc.
Registration for Sydney and Atlanta opened on September 3, 2026. NeurIPS has warned that it has no affiliation with any third-party service claiming to collect registration or housing information, so only register and book hotels through the official sites.
If you're an author, there's a separate process. At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the main conference, and a virtual-only pass doesn't count. Each accepted poster must be presented at either the main site or a satellite, and paper locations have already been assigned.
Is NeurIPS 2026 sold out?
In-person registration for Sydney and Atlanta has moved to a waitlist. NeurIPS activated the Sydney and Atlanta waitlists on October 30, 2026, and says more registrations will be released daily. Authors with unused reserved spots have been told to register urgently.
If you're not a presenting author, join the waitlist for the site you want and check your email often. Paris registers through its own system at neurips-europe.cc, so check its availability there. You can also buy a virtual-only pass, which includes live streams and access through the conference app.
NeurIPS demand regularly outstrips capacity, so if you want to attend in person in a future year, register as soon as it opens.
How much does it cost to attend NeurIPS?
NeurIPS registration prices depend on your affiliation (full-time student, academic, or industrial), the site, and which parts of the conference you attend. For Sydney and Atlanta, the official pricing calculator on neurips.cc shows separate rates for conference sessions and tutorials, workshops and competitions, and a virtual-only pass. Guest banquet and reception tickets cost $100.
Paris publishes its prices in euros, including taxes. From October 31, 2026, the standard rates are:
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