5 Best LegalZoom Alternatives & Competitors (2022 Updated)

    by Luke Iovino
Updated August 22, 2022

When you’re looking for an LLC formation company for your business, you’ll come across different business formation services and registered agents. LegalZoom was one of the first to enter the legal services field way back in 2001.

In almost 20 years, LegalZoom has faced a lot of LLC service providers. Some of these companies offer better services and better prices that can save you money.

There are several alternatives that might better meet your needs, and we created this article on the top legal services to help you learn more about the best LegalZoom alternatives. We’ve reviewed five of the top LLC formation providers to help you find the business formation service for your LLC formation.

Top LegalZoom Competitors
fnpnd-table__image
FinancePond Rating
4.8/5
  • Form an LLC for $0 + State Fees
  • FREE Registered Agent Service for a Year
  • Trusted by over 500,000+ Businesses
  • 100% Transparency
fnpnd-table__image
FinancePond Rating
4.8/5
  • Form an LLC for $49 + State Fees
  • Fast & Simple LLC Formation
  • Launched Over 80,000 Businesses
  • 100% Accuracy Guarantee
fnpnd-table__image
FinancePond Rating
4.5/5
  • Form an LLC for $225 + state fees
  • Registered Agent Service included ($125)
  • Forming Businesses Since 1998
  • 100% Error-Free Guarantee
Let’s take a look at these five alternatives to LegalZoom.

Don’t have time to go in-depth? Here’s a quick rundown of LegalZoom’s competitors:

#Ranking Basic Package cost Key Features
1. Incfile Starting from $0 FREE LLC formation, easy to use platform
2. ZenBusiness Starting from $49 Low cost, fast & simple, best value for money
3. Northwest Registered Agent Starting from $79 Excellent customer support, Fast LLC approvals,
4. IncAuthority Starting from $0 Free LLC set-up, great customer support
5. CorpNet Starting from $79 Affordable, secure information, great customer support

LegalZoom Alternatives To Save Money 

Each one of the LegalZoom alternatives that made the list offers competitive pricing, professional legal services, and ongoing compliance to take care of your LLC formation properly.

Although the cost to form an LLC differs from one business formation service to the next, the state filing fees stay the same. Just make sure to choose the best state to form your LLC. It’s very important to pay attention to what you’re buying when hiring an LLC formation service.

Most LLC formation services offer add-ons that increase the expense of the business formation services. Some of these services are very important and can help you save money in the long run, but at the end of the day, you don’t want to pay for something that you won’t use. We will help you find the best LegalZoom alternative that can save you money.

Incfile is the first LegalZoom alternative hands down. Starting from the price, Incfile offers the lowest price point for an LLC filing service. Incfile offers free LLC formation, $0 plus state filing fees!

Compared to LegalZoom, Incfile has the upper hand with LLC formation packages because they are much more affordable than LegalZoom. Incfile also offers a whole year of a registered agent for free with any LLC service.

Despite these sweet deals, Incfile’s services are somewhat limited. While Incfile provides the online legal aspects of forming an LLC and state filing fees, they don’t provide any other legal advice. As we mentioned, LegalZoom does provide tax consultation, guidance, and attorney help.

When it comes to approval or filing speeds, Incfile is the better of the two options.

Incfile processes business formation filings by the next day, regardless of your package. LegalZoom charges extra to speed up or “expedite” the process.

Representatives from Incfile are also known for trying to upsell more expensive packages.

Incfile’s customer support is excellent. Their staff is super knowledgeable and friendly but they are available only 5 days a week. LegalZoom offers weekend phone support as well.

We have a separate extensive article comparing Incfile vs LegalZoom if you’d like to learn get more in-depth knowledge about how the two compare.

Why we like Incfile

File your business for $0 + state fees
Year of FREE registered agent services
Top notch customer feedback

Why we dislike Incfile

Many upsells
Value to cost

High

Ease of Use

Easy

Speed

Fast

Customer Care

High

Reputation
Trusted
More services
Many

ZenBusiness made the list at the second LegalZoom alternative. They offer similar services at reasonable prices. ZenBusiness tends to particularly focus on forming LLCs.

In comparison, LegalZoom has a broader focus. This includes providing tax advice, online legal guidance, filing of legal documents, business advice, and lawyer/attorney help.

Forming an LLC with ZenBusiness costs $49 for the basic package while the basic LLC filing with LegalZoom costs $79 (not including state filing fees).

ZenBusiness and LegalZoom both offer three formation packages, but Zenbusiness is noticeably cheaper compared to LegalZoom.

When comparing their customer support LegalZoom wins the day for small businesses. Their representatives are ready to help you seven days a week. Whether through chat, email, or phone calls, LegalZoom was easier to reach and faster to reply.

ZenBusiness discloses that business formation will take about two to three weeks, but will offer to “expedite” the process for an extra fee.

there are over 4,000 reviews for ZenBusiness with an average score of above 4.5 stars on Trustpilot.com. Their quality of work is exceptional and their customers are very satisfied overall.

If you’d like to learn more about the differences between ZenBusiness and Incfile, check out our post.

Why we like ZenBusiness

File your business for $49 + state fees
Year of FREE registered agent services
Very positive customer reviews

Why we dislike ZenBusiness

Short record, established in 2015
Value to cost

High

Ease of Use

Easy

Speed

Fast

Customer Care

High

Reputation
Trusted
More services
Many

Another great LegalZoom alternative is Northwest Registered Agent. They have a strong focus on customer support and offer all the filing services needed when forming an LLC.

If you have a small business, their high-quality Corporate Guides are super helpful. Each customer’s account is immediately appointed to a Corporate Guiderep representative who helps you with whatever problem you might be facing.

In our experience, LLC filing and approval was much quicker with Northwest Registered Agent. It takes about 2-7 business days to get approved, while LegalZoom can take up to thirty business days.

When signing up for a registered agent, you’ll pay a little more for LegalZoom, and there’s a reason for that. Legal Zoom offers financial guidance, legal advising, and estate planning, while Northwest provides services available to LLC formation and registered agent services.

Northwest registered agent is also a very trusted company and a top LegalZoom competitor. Rated at above 4.5 stars on Google, it’s hard to find a bad review. But even when customers are unhappy, Northwest is quick to respond and resolve the issue.

Check out our Northwest vs ZenBusiness review to see how these two companies match up.

Why we like Northwest Registered Agents

File your business for $225 + state fees (registered agent included)
Professional formation providers
Great customer service

Why we dislike Northwest Registered Agents

Slightly expensive
Value to cost

High

Ease of Use

Easy

Speed

Fast

Customer Care

High

Reputation
Trusted
More services
Many

Inc Authority has recently taken the market by storm and stacks up appropriately as a LegalZoom alternative.

Inc Authority provides a quick and easy LLC formation service to get your small business on the road to success.

The customer service of Inc Authority was quick, and they’re ready to assist from Monday to Friday. However, we must note that LegalZoom’s customer service is also available on weekends.

Inc Authority has more affordable pricing than LegalZoom, especially considering that they offer a free formation package for $0 plus state fees! Services in this package include a business name search, online legal document preparation, form filing, and 1 year of registered agent service.

Turnaround times are pretty similar, but we give Inc Authority extra points because they don’t upsell packages for faster filings and approvals.

Why we like IncAuthority

File your business for $0 + state fees
A full year of FREE registered agent services
Thousands of positive customer reviews

Why we dislike IncAuthority

Premium packages are very expensive
Value to cost

Average

Ease of Use

Easy

Speed

Average

Customer Care

High

Reputation
Trusted
More Services
Many
Corpnet icon

CorpNet

Popular

Our final alternative to LegalZoom, CorpNet, is a well-trusted company with great cost-to-value services.

CorpNet offers 60 days of registered agent services for free in their formation packages.

CorpNet’s prices aren’t the cheapest on the market, but they aren’t the most expensive, either.

If you aren’t satisfied with your purchase, they offer a money-back guarantee if you ask for a refund within 60 days.

Turnaround times are primarily based on the state you form your LLC. CorpNet’s filing and approvals generally take 2-3 weeks.

Comparing customer reviews, CorpNet outshines LegalZoom. CorpNet is currently rated at 4.9 stars from almost 500 reviewers on Trustpilot.com making them a top LegalZoom competitor.

Why we like CorpNet

File your business for $79 + state fees
Filed over 100,000 businesses
Offer 100% satisfaction guarantee

Why we dislike CorpNet

Charge a separate shipping and handling fee ($29)
Value to cost

Average

Ease of Use

Easy

Speed

Average

Customer Care

High

Reputation
Trusted
More Services

Many

LegalZoom Review

So how about LegalZoom itself? How do they stand up against their competitors and why should business owners care about other LLC formation services?

After being around for two decades, they know a thing or two about helping businesses with LLC formation. And they have a few unique legal services that other business formation services lack.

However, they also have some of the slowest turnaround times. Their basic package promises to have you registered in thirty days, while Incfile, a LegalZoom alternative listed above promises much faster times.

LegalZoom Registered Agent

While you can get a registered agent through LegalZoom, it’s going to cost you. A lot. In fact, their registered agent package is a whopping $299 per year, while Northwest Registered Agent, a LegalZoom alternative, offers the same legal services for less than half of the price (no connection to state fee).

LegalZoom’s registered agent service comes with a few bells and whistles such as business identity theft and credit monitoring. If this type of service is important to you, LegalZoom might be the registered agent service you need.

But if all you’re looking for is a standard registered agent, there are many less expensive alternatives.

LegalZoom Pricing

LegalZoom’s packages are some of the more expensive formation packages on the market.

Their Economy package starts at $79 plus state fees and promises to have your paperwork filed in thirty business days.

The Standard package is a big jump up in price, at $329 plus state fees. This formation package completes your paperwork in fifteen business days.

Finally, the Express Gold package costs $349 and promises completion in ten business days. As you can see, the main difference between the packages is simply the speed at which they file your paperwork.

Should I Use LegalZoom?

LegalZoom is a great company that helps thousands of small businesses. They’re highly rated by their customers and offer some unique business advice and legal services.

To decide if LegalZoom is right for you, you’ll have to look at what your company needs. Do you need help with legal forms or legal advice from attorneys? If so, LegalZoom is a great place to get many different business needs met.

They can help you work with legal forms, such as contracts, trademarks, and applying for business licenses.

If all you need is help filing legal documents and finding a registered agent, these other LLC formation services can get the same job done at a reduced cost.

Which Legal Service is the Best LegalZoom Alternative?

We left out a lot of other LLC formation providers, but these five are the best LegalZoom alternatives to choose from. All five formation companies offer excellent legal services, but with their personal twist.

Well, which one should you go for?

To conclude LegalZoom’s competitors:

Incfile offers the most value.

ZenBusiness offers the easiest to use platform.

Northwest Registered Agent offers the best customer support.

IncAuthority offers business care.

CorpNet offers the widest range of services.

LegalZoom Competitors: The Verdict

LegalZoom’s customer reviews aren’t that great. But over 2 million business entities have been formed under their wing.

Aside from LLC service, their legal advice is on point. They offer much more legal services and guidance than their competitors, and for some businesses, this is an important service that is well worth the price.

But as always, we encourage you to do your own research before choosing the best LegalZoom alternative.

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