LLC formation services, compared honestly

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Pick any two of the services we review and jump straight to a side-by-side breakdown of pricing, registered agent renewal, features, support, and 5-year cost.

Do you even need a formation service?

You can form an LLC yourself directly on your state's Secretary of State website. The state fee is identical either way. What a formation service actually sells is convenience: a handled registered agent requirement, a bundled operating agreement, and a compliance dashboard that reminds you when annual reports are due. If your time is worth more than $50 an hour and you would rather not research your state's specific filing quirks, a service makes sense. If you like DIY administrative work, file direct at your state's portal.

Among services, the honest split is between big-volume players with strong onboarding funnels (Bizee, ZenBusiness, LegalZoom), focused registered-agent specialists with flat pricing (Northwest), and non-US-founder specialists (Doola, Firstbase, Stripe Atlas). The remaining services compete on niche differentiators: AI positioning (Tailor Brands), subscription legal bundling (Rocket Lawyer), or startup-fundraising-track incorporation (Clerky, which does Delaware C-corps rather than LLCs).

Every service, side by side

Alphabetical order. "Starting price" is the cheapest tier, excluding state fees. "RA renewal" is the annual registered agent cost from year two onward, which recurs every year you keep the LLC active.

Head-to-head comparisons readers ask for

The best LLC formation service depends on what you optimize for

"Best" only makes sense against a specific priority. The three priorities that define most filers' choices: long-term cost (which means year-two RA renewal, not the $0 formation tier), privacy (whether the service sells your data and what address is on the public record), and bundled features (operating agreement, EIN filing, compliance alerts). Our per-criterion picks for 2026:

Cheapest LLC formation service, honestly

Every "$0 LLC" tier costs exactly the state's filing fee when you pay the state directly. The service fee is $0; the state still charges its formation fee. The honest comparison for "cheapest" is which service has the lowest all-in cost including the add-ons most filers actually need (EIN, operating agreement, year-two RA renewal):

Northwest's promotional price makes it the cheapest over the two-year window despite not being advertised as $0. The $0 tiers end up more expensive once add-ons and year-two RA renewal are included. Read the year-two column; that's where the market separates.

Fit by use case

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which is the best LLC formation service?

  For most owners, Northwest Registered Agent is the best overall pick: $39 promo formation (regularly $100), $125/yr RA renewal with a price lock, free operating agreement, and a privacy-focused business model that doesn't sell customer data. Bizee is the best value $0 tier for cost-minimizers. LegalZoom is the most-recognized brand but the most expensive year-two RA renewal ($249/yr). "Best" always depends on whether you prioritize price, privacy, or bundled features.

• Which LLC formation service is actually cheapest?

  Sticker price: Bizee, ZenBusiness, and Inc Authority all offer $0 Basic tiers (plus state fees). Once you add the EIN filing and operating agreement that most filers need, Bizee Basic ends up around $169. Northwest at $100 regular (or $39 on promotion) includes the operating agreement, so the gap narrows significantly.

• What is a registered agent and do I need one?

  Every US state requires every LLC to designate a registered agent with a physical street address in the state of formation. The agent receives legal and tax documents on behalf of the LLC. You can serve as your own agent if you live in the state, but most formation services include year one of registered agent service with their packages. The year-2 renewal is where services diverge sharply: Northwest is $125/yr with a price lock, Bizee is $119, LegalZoom is $249, CorpNet is $149 after a 60-day free period.

• Do I actually need a formation service, or can I file myself?

  You can file every LLC formation yourself directly on the state's Secretary of State website. The state fee is the same whether you use a service or not. A formation service saves you an hour of research and handles the registered agent requirement; it does not do anything the state requires that you couldn't do yourself. People who value their time at more than $50/hour often use a service; people who enjoy DIY administrative work file direct.

• Which service is best for non-US founders?

  Doola, Firstbase, and Stripe Atlas all specifically serve non-US founders. Doola is subscription-only and heaviest on ongoing compliance bundling. Firstbase offers a la carte (formation + separate RA subscription). Stripe Atlas is flat $500 with Mercury banking integration. For a simple formation without the startup-ecosystem bundle, Northwest or Bizee also support international filers but handle only the formation itself (not banking or ongoing tax).

• Should I elect the cheapest tier to save money?

  Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The $0 tier is a bargain only if you don't need EIN filing or an operating agreement. Most LLCs need at least the EIN (banks require it), so Basic plus EIN add-on often costs as much as the mid-tier bundled package. The honest math: calculate the all-in cost for your specific needs (EIN, OA, RA renewal at year 2) before picking a tier.

• How do I choose between services with similar features?

  The tiebreakers are usually the long-term registered agent renewal cost (since it recurs every year forever), whether the operating agreement is included or a paid add-on, and whether the service has a track record. Trustpilot volume matters more than the star rating: a 4.7 from 25,000 reviews is more meaningful than a 4.9 from 50 reviews. Use the state-by-state formation guides to understand what the state actually requires before picking the service that handles those specifics best.

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Every service paired with every other. Filter by service name to narrow the list; each section shows that service compared to all 14 others.

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