The Best LLC Formation Services in 2026

Every LLC formation service advertises a headline price, and almost none of those headline prices are the total cost. State filing fees sit on top of every plan, and the more polished the checkout flow, the more likely you are to be offered a registered agent subscription, a bookkeeping trial, or a legal-document library that quietly starts billing after a free introductory period. We read the actual plan pages for five widely used services to see what is genuinely included at each price point and what starts charging you later, so you can pick based on the real first-year cost, not the number in the headline.

ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness Starter is $0 plus state fees, a one-time formation with standard 7 to 10 business day processing, a 100% accuracy guarantee, and a first free year of its Worry-Free Compliance service. Pro runs $199 plus state fees and renews annually at that price, adding 1-day processing, an operating agreement template, an EIN, and a logo builder. Premium is $399 plus state fees, also an annual renewal, and layers on registered agent service, 24/7 compliance monitoring, a 25-plus document template library, a business advisor consultation, and a 60-day trial of Money Pro bookkeeping that renews at $30 a month. The honest read is that Pro and Premium are subscriptions, not one-time purchases, so the sticker price is really a recurring annual cost. ZenBusiness suits a founder who wants ongoing compliance handled for them and is willing to pay for that every year.

Northwest Registered Agent

Northwest keeps its base LLC formation at a flat $39 plus state fees, one of the lowest one-time formation fees among established services, and bundles in a domain name, a website builder, a business phone line, a professional email address, a business address, and brand protection tools. Its standout feature is what it calls Privacy by Default: the registered agent's address is used on public filings instead of the founder's home address, customer data is not sold to third parties, and a manager-managed LLC structure is available to further shield member identities. Northwest holds a 4.7 out of 5 rating across more than 1,800 Google reviews. The tradeoff is a leaner add-on catalog than LegalZoom or ZenBusiness; it does not push an attorney-consultation or bookkeeping upsell, which some founders will read as a feature and others as a gap.

LegalZoom

LegalZoom's Basic plan is $0 plus state fees and covers only the Articles of Organization filing and a name availability check, with no EIN or operating agreement included. Pro, at $249 plus state fees, adds attorney review of the filing, unlimited 30-minute attorney consultations for one month (then $49 a month if you keep the subscription), an EIN, an operating agreement, access to more than 150 customizable legal documents with a year of unlimited eSignatures, and a customizable Wix website. Premium, at $299 plus state fees, adds bookkeeping software for six months (then $9.99 a month), invoicing tools, and automatic mileage tracking. Every tier carries LegalZoom's 100% Accurate Filing Guarantee. This is the strongest option for a founder who wants real attorney access bundled in, provided you cancel the attorney-consultation and bookkeeping add-ons before they convert to paid subscriptions if you do not intend to keep using them.

Bizee

Bizee's Silver plan is $0 plus the state filing fee and is genuinely generous for a free tier: it includes a full year of registered agent service, lifetime compliance alerts, and standard filing. Gold, at $199 plus state fees, adds EIN and Federal Tax ID filing, a banking resolution, an operating agreement template, and S-corp election paperwork. Platinum, at $299 plus state fees, adds expedited filing and business contract templates. The catch that matters most is the registered agent: it is free for the first year on every plan, including Silver, but converts to a paid annual subscription starting in year two, and Bizee's checkout flow surfaces several optional paid add-ons along the way. Bizee is the strongest fit for a founder who wants the lowest possible cash outlay in year one and is prepared to shop the registered-agent renewal or switch providers before it bills.

Tailor Brands

Tailor Brands leads with a $0 plus state fees Lite plan covering basic filing and a name availability search. Essential, at roughly $199 a year plus state fees, adds expedited processing, annual compliance assistance, and an operating agreement. Elite, at roughly $249 a year plus state fees, keeps everything in Essential and adds a year of free domain registration, eight custom logos, a DIY website builder with store capabilities, digital business cards, and a social media post generator. Unlike the others, Tailor Brands is built around branding as much as legal compliance, and the Essential and Elite fees are recurring annual subscriptions rather than one-time charges, similar to ZenBusiness. It is the clearest pick for a consumer-facing solo brand that wants a logo and website bundled with the paperwork, and a weaker pick for anyone who only wants formation and compliance without the marketing extras.

How the services compare

Service	Cheapest tier	Mid-tier price	What stands out	Best for
ZenBusiness	$0 + state fee	$199/yr (Pro)	Compliance monitoring bundled in	Ongoing compliance support
Northwest Registered Agent	$39 + state fee	N/A (single tier)	Privacy-first, no upsell checkout	Lowest one-time cost, privacy
LegalZoom	$0 + state fee	$249 (Pro)	Attorney review and consultations	Legal document access
Bizee	$0 + state fee	$199 (Gold)	Free year of registered agent	Lowest year-one cash outlay
Tailor Brands	$0 + state fee	$199/yr (Essential)	Branding and website tools	Consumer brands needing a logo/site

How to choose

If you want the lowest true one-time cost and do not need legal or branding extras, Northwest's flat $39 plus state fee, with no recurring upsell built into checkout, is hard to beat. If you want attorney access and a real legal document library, LegalZoom Pro is the only one of these five that includes actual attorney consultations. If you would rather have compliance deadlines and filings monitored for you year-round, ZenBusiness Premium bundles that in, at the cost of an annual renewal. If your priority is keeping year-one spend at zero, Bizee's Silver plan gets you a free registered agent for twelve months, as long as you plan for the renewal before it lands. If you are building a consumer brand and need a logo and website alongside the paperwork, Tailor Brands Elite is the only option here that treats those as core, not an afterthought.

Verdict

No single service wins on price alone, because the real cost shows up after the first year in the form of a registered agent, compliance, or subscription renewal. Northwest is the most transparent for a founder who just needs the LLC filed correctly and cheaply. LegalZoom earns its higher price with genuine attorney access. ZenBusiness and Tailor Brands both work best if you actually intend to use their bundled services year after year, since you are paying for those services whether you use them or not. Bizee is the right call only if you are comfortable actively managing the registered-agent renewal instead of letting it auto-continue.