10 Best LLC Formation Services: Profit, Not Paperwork [2023]

Can an LLC formation service really suit everyone? Yes! ZenBusiness works for side hustles and corporations alike. No matter how big or small your LLC is, it can serve all your needs with its value-packed subscription plans.

ZenBusiness offers free tax consultations with all its plans, including the “free” one that only costs you your state filing fees. You’ll receive a 30-minute phone consultation with a tax professional from ZenBusiness’ partner, 1-800Accountant. You’ll get to know your tax requirements, as well as what to expect come tax paying time.

Another freebie you get with all ZenBusiness LLC formation plans is its Worry-Free Compliance service. This provides you with automated reminders for annual reports, license renewals, and other paperwork, keeping your business compliant with your state.

All plans come with another bonus, the ZenBusiness Money Essential – a financial management tool that helps you track expenses. An upgrade version that lets you also track income, invoicing, mileage, taxes, and more called  ZenBusiness Money Pro, is available as a paid add-on on all plans. If you’re not sure what you might need, you can sign up for its free 30-day trial and compare.

One more thing to mention is that after going through ZenBusiness’ very easy signup process, you’ll receive access to your user-friendly dashboard. There’s an app for both Android and iOS that allows you to access your account from your mobile device, as well as through the web-based portal.

The major benefit of Tailor Brands is its range of visual design and marketing tools and add-on services. You get a whole lot more than basic LLC formation, including graphic design, brand growth materials, social media tools, and website development. (In fact, if you don’t need all that, you may want to look elsewhere on this list.)

Tailor Brands provides a free logo creation tool, and you can unlock its advanced features if you pay for the top-tier Elite package. This can help to jump-start your company’s online presence while your paperwork is being filed.

Once your logo, business card, and brand guidelines are taken care of, the Elite plan can get your business online, too. It includes a free domain name for a year alongside a website builder. And then there’s Tailor Brands’ social media post tool to make digital marketing and brand awareness campaigns easier and more attractive.

If all you want is LLC formation services, you’ll probably only need the free plan. However, with the middle-tier Essential plan, Tailor Brands will expedite processing your paperwork, provide you with an Operating Agreement, and send you annual compliance reminders. Your Employer Identification Number (EIN) and Registered Agent will cost you extra no matter what Tailor Brands LLC plan you purchase, but you can also take care of these yourself.

When you’re just starting out, it’s always nice to feel like you have somebody in your corner, helping you along the way. Swyft Filings’ LLC filing process can be done with a minimum of paperwork, making it an ideal choice for new business owners.

Getting your LLC off the ground with Swyft Filings is easy with its user-friendly website and application form. Signing up takes mere minutes, and Swyft Filings’s client account dashboard is extremely user-friendly.

Swyft Filings can help you keep things running smoothly, too. With every plan, you get a free 14-day trial of ComplianceGuard, which helps you maintain state business compliance by providing you with annual reports, meeting minutes, and notifications of when your filings are due.

There’s also the business licensing package that provides you with all you need to register with any necessary local and state agencies to operate your business legally. You get a list of what you need to file, the documents themselves, as well as who to send them to when completed.

Finally, Swyft Filings also offers personalized support, with agents familiar with your specific account.

LegalZoom has been offering legal services to both personal and business clients for over 20 years, making it one of the most established business service providers on our list. If your operation requires you to keep a close eye on legal issues like contracts or compliance, LegalZoom may just be the LLC formation service for you.

While many service providers create pre-packaged plans that may include features you don’t need, LegalZoom gives you the option to create your own package. It offers pre-made plans, too, but the real benefit of LegalZoom’s service is its customizability. You can get what you want and can avoid paying for features you won’t use.

A valuable add-on available from LegalZoom is its Business Advisory Plan. For a yearly fee, you can receive year-round legal assistance. It’s much more cost-effective than LegalZoom’s one-off legal services, especially for businesses that rely on contracts, agreements, copyrights, and other heavily legal business documentation.

Lastly, LegalZoom’s plans and services all come with the option to pay in installments, which can make the services your business needs more affordable.

Would you like a personal touch to your LLC formation and maintenance service? Northwest Registered Agent offers just that. It has over 900 Corporate Guides scattered across the country working from real offices in every state as well as the District of Columbia. Every one of those Guides is a Registered Agent, too. Sign on with Northwest Registered Agent and one will be assigned to you and your business.

The personal touch continues with Northwest Registered Agent’s program called Privacy by Default. The company uses the local offices’ addresses and its payment info in place of yours whenever possible in your filing paperwork. It also cuts out third parties, having its own servers, as well as IT, customer service, legal, and other teams. And Northwest Registered Agent promises never to sell your data.

There are three choices when using Northwest Registered Agent’s services, but only one paid plan. There’s a free DIY program, where you’re supplied with the required forms and then you do all the work. There’s a “walkthrough” plan, where the company will advise you and provide you with an account dashboard – but again, the work is on you. And then there’s the paid plan with lots of add-ons and upsells.

One major benefit of signing up with Northwest Registered Agent is the same-day processing feature. Your account is handed over to one of your local Corporate Guides who immediately starts working on your paperwork – even if it’s a weekend.

Another benefit is that every plan includes an Operating Agreement, something others charge extra for, and that some states require an LLC to have by law.

BusinessAnywhere gives expats, non-citizens, and digital nomads an opportunity to register and run a business while staying location-independent. The wide range of services and simple, easy-to-use dashboard take a lot of the hassles out of running a business without the need for a home base.

All three of BusinessAnywhere’s plans include one year of Registered Agent services and automated compliance reminders. Packages Two and Three add more valuable services. Package Two includes EIN filing and a customized Operating Agreement, while Package Three, BusinessAnywhere’s top-tier plan, includes a virtual mailbox with a physical address and worldwide mail and package forwarding.

The online notary service will cost you an extra fee per document, but this could really benefit home-based business owners and side-hustlers. You don’t always work typical business hours, no matter where in the world you are. BusinessAnywhere provides you with an e-notary that doesn’t keep “regular” hours either, allowing you to get your important documents notarized without worrying about the day or time.

But there’s one drawback to BusinessAnywhere’s services. While your first year is fairly reasonably priced for the services you receive, renewal fees can be quite high. And you still have to pay your annual state fees on top of that.

Sometimes, easy-on-the-budget services only offer the very barest of necessities. Incfile is a little different, in that it provides the basics and a whole lot more, while keeping its prices reasonable. With Incfile, you pay one-time fees, with no hidden costs, and you get a lot of value for your money.

Incfile offers 3 plans, and the entry-level Silver plan is free, minus your state filing fees. All plans, including the free Silver, include next-day filing of your paperwork. And that Silver plan includes a Registered Agent for a year. It’s a good way to form your LLC for a small out-of-pocket expense.

The Gold and Platinum plans offer more, of course, and cost more, but they’re still very reasonably priced. With both of those, you receive an Operating Agreement, your EIN, lifetime compliance alerts for reporting, and a free 30-minute consultation with a tax expert.

The Platinum plan offers a package to get your business online, a library of free business contract templates, and free expedited filing with your state. Again, a lot of good stuff for a wallet-friendly price.

If you’re really cash-strapped, you can apply to receive one of Incfile’s grants: one for students in US high schools, trade schools, and universities, and another for adults who are no longer in school. The adult grant program also includes a free Platinum plan for a year. You can get your dream startup off the ground while Incfile foots the bill.

Just don’t expect a lot of assistance from its less-than-helpful support team. The support agents are the only disadvantage to using Incfile’s services.

Most, if not all, of the companies on this list offer more than just LLC business formation services. They offer S- and C-corp and non-profit formation, trademark services, or expense tracking, for example. BetterLegal goes a step further by offering a package aimed at new businesses.

BetterLegal only offers one plan for LLC formation. It includes your filing, an EIN, an Operating Agreement, and banking resolution paperwork. One thing BetterLegal’s plan doesn’t include is a Registered Agent. That will cost you either a monthly or yearly subscription, or you can handle this responsibility on your own.

Need to get your business online or create an e-commerce store? BetterLegal includes a free website, social media marketing tools, and for e-commerce, online ordering fulfillment and inventory tools.

One thing to note: BetterLegal outsources your website design to Square, so technically, you could get the same free package through Square without BetterLegal. That seems to be a theme with BetterLegal, too. It outsources a lot of its “features” including the accounting and legal services.

As one of the pricier options available, BetterLegal is probably best for partnerships, where the expenses can be shared, rather than solopreneurs trying to bear it all alone. And, honestly, much of what BetterLegal outsources will likely be handled in-house in the case of larger corporations.

Inc Authority isn’t the fanciest nor the most feature-filled option for your LLC formation, but if you don’t need much, then it will do the job just fine – and possibly for just the price of your state’s filing fees. Inc Authority offers a “free” plan that’s a pretty good deal, if you don’t want or need much.

Inc Authority’s free plan includes a Registered Agent for a year, a free EIN, your paperwork filed, a business name check, and tax planning consultation. Anything else costs extra.

Pricing is not transparent. You have to go through the ordering process or contact support to find out just how much the services you need will cost you.

Inc Authority’s optional upsells include:

• An Operating Agreement
• A legal documents package with ownership certificates
• Minutes and resolutions forms
• Expedited processing within 24 hours of placing your order
• Online presence package with domain name, website creator, and email address
• Unlimited phone and email support
• A business checking account and credit card through Bank of America

All of these together will cost you well over $500. Of course, you may not want or need all of them. Just know that the costs can quickly add up.

Another weakness with Inc Authority is that its Registered Agent service carries a hefty renewal fee after the first year is up. If all you need is a very basic package, Inc Authority might be worth a look. If you need more, others on this list might suit you better.

If you’re just starting out, and have a lot of cash to invest in your new business endeavor, then MyCompanyWorks could be an LLC formation service to consider. Its plans are feature-filled, and its features are geared to new business owners, but its prices are a bit higher than others on this list.

One of MyCompanyWorks’ best features is the Startup Wizard dashboard, which you’ll find on its fairly standard client dashboard. It’s a checklist of all the things you have yet to do to get your business going after filing your LLC formation papers. Obtaining an EIN, banking accounts, local and state licenses and registrations – it’s all there so you don’t miss a step.

Other newbie-friendly features are the company’s online resources and support team. There’s a library filled with digital download support materials that include state-specific guides for every US state, as well as info for non-citizens and expats. The MyCompanyWorks blog has many insightful and helpful articles, and the support team is extremely helpful and reliable, too.

The one big downside of MyCompanyWorks is its prices. Your EIN and Registered Agent services cost extra. And not just a little extra. Adding them to the basic plan more than triples its fee before adding in your state fees. The Entrepreneur plan that includes those two services is more than twice the cost of the basic plan without those services added (again, without your state fees).

Granted, the basic plan offers same-day filing and an Operating Agreement. It just feels excessive to pay a significantly higher price for two services that most LLCs require. You can handle these tasks on your own, but if you prefer to enlist a company’s assistance, you’d likely want all the help you can get for the money you’re investing.