The 7 top business formation services in the U.S.

People often ask: Who offers the best business formation service in the U.S.?

DECEMBER 30, 2019 08:14

There were 30.2 million small businesses in the U.S in 2018, and hundreds are registered every day. With so many businesses and non-profits being registered every day, the secretary of state offices and country offices are too busy to handle errors in company formation documents. People who want to avoid errors that will delay their business registrations sometimes consider using attorneys but find that their services are too expensive. Fortunately, there are online third-party incorporation services that handle the whole business formation process at a low cost for any business structure.

A startup can therefore access great services from any of these top business formation services

1. ZenBusiness

For $39, ZenBusiness offers business formation, operating agreement, compliance support through either biennial or annual report notifications, and apply for the Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the business. Lastly, they provide registered agent services such as state and local government correspondence, annual report, notice of lawsuits and legal documents as well as providing best tax filing information and advice.

ZenBusiness is frank, knowledgeable, has responsive customer feedback, and provides an online user dashboard with login features. These qualities, the long list of services, and the small fee make ZenBusiness the best business formation service in the U.S.

2. IncFile

IncFile is one of the best business formation services in the U.S. They charge $0 and the only cost involved is the state filing fee. The services include business formation, operating agreement, EIN, one year of free registered agent services, real-time order tracking, free shipping, and an online dashboard of compliance tools. They have great customer services as confirmed by their 4.8 out of 5 ranking on ShopperApproved.

This is a great service as it reduces the cost of business startup and offers extra services as well.

3. Northwest

Northwest charges a very low price of $49 for basic business formation services. They offer everything that business startups need and nothing that they don’t need. No frills! Their package includes business formation services, an operating agreement, one year of free compliance through a registered agent and industry-leading customer support.

4. MyCompanyWorks

MyCompanyWorks is a small personalized business formation service. For $79, they offer next-day processing for important documents, company formation, EIN and registered agent services. They also provide Startup Wizard to help organize after formation and they have great customer service which earned them a score of 4.8 out of 5 on ShopperAward.

5. LegalZoom

LegalZoom is the most popular and most well-known business formation service, having started in 1999 and served around 4 million customers. Their basic service includes company formation, LegalZoom Peace of Mind Review, one-to-one customer support, legal services and accounting services for business tax. The cost of the basic package is $79. Businesses can select other services for a fee and the costs can add up fast. Their customer service is not the best possibly because of their size.

6. Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer is another great choice for business formation. Their package includes complementary expedited filing of company formation documents, registered agent services for compliance purposes, discounts on legal fees, consultations with business lawyers, and EIN registration. Company formation services cost $99, they are backed by Google Ventures and they deliver what they promise.

Rocket Lawyer has a subscription service for legal fees and businesses who subscribe get the best value out of company formation. It also has a suite of optional legal services. It has a lot of experience, having served 7 million businesses and 20 million individuals.

7. BizFilings

BizFilings has been providing company formation services for more than 20 years, helping entrepreneurs to form different types of business structures. They are still popular and respected for their services. They also provide 6 months of free registered agent services, BizComply Compliance Monitoring tool and access to an extensive document library. The cost of the package is $99.

The BizComply website contains lots of valuable educational content including very informative FAQs and state-by-state guides to company formation, all for free. BizFilings does not stand out in any way but its company formation filing package is well balanced.

Where can a startup find further business formation resources?

Here is a useful business formation guide site that ranks and reviews the top business incorporation services, including for women in business and other business-related startup information to help entrepreneurs succeed.