| Rank number 1 №01 | Northwest Registered Agent Northwest Registered Agent LLC (privately held)
Our Pick — best overall | Score 92/100 | $39.00 + state fees | - Only national provider whose default behavior is address privacy — their address goes on the Articles, not the owner's home
- Minimal upsell density during checkout (roughly two optional add-ons vs. a dozen at competitors)
- Phone support staffed by salaried Corporate Guides rather than a sales call center
| - Base formation fee is higher than the teaser prices advertised by ZenBusiness or Bizee
- No free forever plan — the $39 is a one-time filing fee, not the ongoing cost
- Website and checkout flow feel utilitarian; no slick onboarding dashboard
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| Rank number 2 №02 | Harvard Business Services Harvard Business Services, Inc. (privately held, Lewes, DE)
Our Pick — best for delaware | Score 88/100 | $229.00 + state fees | - Lowest registered agent renewal in the industry: $50/year, flat, no tiered upsells
- Genuine Delaware expertise — the team has filed every Delaware entity type tens of thousands of times
- Family-owned and independent; no private-equity-driven upsell pressure
| - Delaware only — useless if you want to form in Wyoming, New Mexico, or your home state
- Dated website and checkout flow compared to Stripe Atlas or ZenBusiness
- No post-formation banking, tax, or accounting integrations
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| Rank number 3 №03 | Stripe Atlas Stripe, Inc. (privately held)
Our Pick — best for vc backed startups | Score 87/100 | $500.00 all in | - Cleanest end-to-end experience for a Delaware C-Corp aimed at raising venture capital
- YC and accelerator-default — the paperwork output is exactly what institutional investors expect
- Removes several classic founder errors: forgotten 83(b) mailing, missing IP assignments, unclear founder stock basis
| - Delaware C-Corp only by default — LLC support was added later and is not the primary focus
- Not the right choice for a lifestyle business, operating LLC, or anything that will not raise outside capital
- $500 is 5x Northwests basic filing fee; cost only makes sense if you use the bundled banking + stock mechanics
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| Rank number 4 №04 | Firstbase Firstbase.io Inc.
Our Pick — Best for Non US Founders | Score 87/100 | $399.00 + state fees | - Built specifically for non-US founders
- Bundles EIN, mailing address, and formation
- Clean, modern dashboard with compliance reminders
| - Pricier than DIY or budget incorporators
- Mostly opinionated toward Delaware — less flexibility for other states
- Annual compliance tier adds up over time
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| Rank number 5 №05 | ZenBusiness ZenBusiness Inc., backed by Greycroft and Cathay Innovation
Our Pick — best for beginners | Score 82/100 | $0.00 + state fees | - The only provider that reliably files at the advertised $0 tier — the state filing fee is still required, but the service adds nothing on top
- Post-formation dashboard is the most polished in the category: clean compliance calendar, banking integrations, annual-report tracking
- Worry-Free Guarantee is a real refile, not a marketing phrase
| - Registered agent is NOT included at the $0 tier — it costs $199/yr on the Pro plan
- Checkout exposes 8–10 optional add-ons and plan toggles before completion
- Annual renewal creeps up: Pro plan is $199/yr recurring even if you only wanted the RA
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| Rank number 6 №06 | MyCompanyWorks MyCompanyWorks, Inc.
Our Pick — Best Customer Support | Score 81/100 | $79.00 + state fees | - Strong customer support reputation — real humans, fast replies
- Lower-key upsell flow compared to industry norms
- Useful 90-day launch checklist walks new owners through post-filing steps
| - Smaller brand footprint and fewer integrations than ZenBusiness or LegalZoom
- Basic tier is bare-bones; most buyers upgrade to Entrepreneur or Complete
- Dashboard is functional but dated
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| Rank number 7 №07 | Rocket Lawyer Rocket Lawyer Incorporated
Our Pick — Best Legal Bundle | Score 79/100 | $99.99 + state fees | - Bundled legal services — useful if you already need contract templates or attorney calls
- Premium membership includes ongoing legal consultations at a flat rate
- Strong document library covers post-formation legal needs
| - Formation product is really a hook for the $39.99/mo Premium subscription
- Non-members pay significantly more per document and per filing
- Not the cheapest option if you only want formation once and never return
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| Rank number 8 №08 | Bizee Bizee Inc. (rebranded from IncFile in 2024)
Our Pick — budget | Score 74/100 | $0.00 + state fees | - Lowest first-year out-of-pocket cost when you want a registered agent — the RA is included free for year one
- Has filed more than a million entities since 2004, long enough to know each state's SOS quirks
- Three clear tiers (Silver / Gold / Platinum), easier to reason about than ZenBusiness's matrix
| - Rebrand from IncFile to Bizee in 2024 broke some inbound links and complicated trust signals
- Heaviest upsell density in the category: nine add-on toggles at checkout, plus interstitial pages
- Support quality is the most volatile in our testing — chat answered in minutes one day, abandoned the next
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| Rank number 9 №09 | Inc Authority Inc Authority LLC
Our Pick — Cheapest Formation | Score 68/100 | $0.00 + state fees | - Genuinely $0 formation fee — the state fee is all you pay at checkout
- Has been around since 1989, one of the longest-running services
- Reasonable core filing if you can say no to upsells
| - Extremely aggressive upsell flow — checkout walks you through 6+ add-on screens
- Registered agent is free only for year one; renewal jumps to ~$200/yr
- Pricing for bundles is opaque; totals balloon quickly
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| Rank number 10 №10 | LegalZoom LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: LZ)
Our Pick — most recognizable brand | Score 66/100 | $0.00 + state fees | - Largest and best-known brand — roughly 2M+ businesses formed since 2001
- Attorney network genuinely useful if you need one-off legal consults post-formation
- Free-tier filing genuinely exists if you decline every upsell and do not need registered agent
| - Aggressive upsell funnel — founders routinely report paying $300–$600 after starting at the free tier
- Registered agent renewal at ~$249/year is roughly 2x Northwests $125
- Attorney advice is general, not state-specialized; Harvard Business Services knows Delaware better
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