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by Benjamin AronsonFound the best state to form your business but you’re stuck on which LLC formation service to choose?
We compared the LLC filing costs, LLC processing time, and features that Incfile and LegalZoom provide, then compared them head to head.
Both LLC formation services file Non-profits, corporations, limited liability companies (LLC), and more, so if you’re looking for a top-notch company to file your LLC, read on!
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There are countless incorporation services that offer business formation and registered agent services, but Incfile’s quick turnaround times and customer support has shot them to the top.
With one of the strongest brands in the industry, LegalZoom provides all of the legal services that you need when starting a business.
Before we dove into our Incfile and LegalZoom review we asked ourselves the following:
Those were the questions that we kept in mind while we were analyzing features, customer service, professionalism, and overall value. These are the guidelines that will help us find the best LLC formation service for you.
If you’re at the start of your entrepreneurial path and you’re looking for a company to help you file your legal forms without breaking the bank, Incfile is definitely the service for you.
If you are looking for a formation company with thousands of customer reviews, years of experience, and internationally strong brand power, LegalZoom is your best bet.
Experience: Incfile and LegalZoom have help hundreds of thousands of businesses file LLCs and corporations. When it comes to professionalism and experience, they both qualify.
Education: Both companies offer a large archive with relevant information to learn from. LegalZoom has hundreds of explanatory articles and Incfile has a whole learning center with valuable content guiding business owners throughout the company formation process.
Affordability: Filing an LLC with an attorney is highly expensive. Both legal services provide fair and accessible prices.
Customer Support: Both business formation services have top-of-the-line support. After going through hundreds of customer reviews, we can confidently say that they give great online legal service support.
Additional Services: LegalZoom and Incfile offer many additional services than just classic LLC formation (employer identification number (EIN), operating agreement, registered agent services). They are equipped with professionals on hand to provide custom legal forms as well as business tax consultation, general lifetime company alerts, and banking resolution templates.
Incfile and Legalzoom offer much more than simply filing LLC formation documents. Like ZenBusiness, Incorporate.com, MyCorporation, and many other competitors, both companies provide three formation packages to choose from. LegalZoom provides many services that can be purchased independently where Incfile has general packages and additional services that can be added to existing packages.
In the section below we are going to look at Incfile vs LegalZoom side by side based on corresponding LLC packages.
| Incfile “Silver” | Legalzoom “Economy” | |
| Package Fee (State Fee Not Included) | $0 | $79 |
| Processing Time | Next business day | 30 days |
| Registered Agent | 1st-year free, $119 per year following | $159 per year |
| Operating Agreement | $40 | $99 |
| EIN Registration | $70 | Must be bundled with Operating Agreement, $159 |
| Annual Compliance | Free (company alerts) | 1st month free, $320 per year |
| Counseling Services | 1 hour of Tax consultation | X |
Incfile:
LegalZoom
| Incfile “Gold” | Legalzoom “Standard” | |
| Package Fee (State Fee Not Included) | $149 | $329 |
| Processing Time | Next business day | 15 days |
| Registered Agent | 1st-year free, $119 per year following | $159 per year |
| Operating Agreement | ✓ | $99 |
| EIN Registration | ✓ | Must be bundled with Operating Agreement, $159 |
| Annual Compliance | Free (company alerts) | 1st month free, $320 per year |
| Counseling Services | 1 hour of Tax consultation | X |
Incfile:
LegalZoom:
| Incfile “Platinum” | Legalzoom “Express Gold” | |
| Package Fee (State Fee Not Included) | $299 | $349 |
| Processing Time | Next business day | 7-10 business days |
| Registered Agent | 1st-year free, $119 per year following | $159 per year |
| Operating Agreement | ✓ | $99 |
| EIN Registration | ✓ | Must be bundled with Operating Agreement, $159 |
| Annual Compliance | Free (company alerts) | 1st month free, $320 per year |
| Counseling Services | 1 hour of Tax consultation | X |
Incfile:
LegalZoom:
$0 plus state filing fees with Incfile
Incfile will completely file your LLC for $0. You might also want them to act as your registered agent which is free for the first year. If you want them to file for your EIN, that will be an added cost.
$79 plus state filing fees with LegalZoom
LegalZoom charges $79 to create your LLC. There are many LegalZoom alternatives that charge higher than that amount making it a good price point. To add, LegalZoom offers many additional business services such as filing of intellectual property, annual report filing, and other legal documents all at an additional charge.
↪ When looking at Incfile vs LegalZoom on pricepoint, Incfile is a more economical company formation service.
A year of free registered agent service with Incfile
Incfile is a business formation company that not only offers a super-economical price point, they also offer a registered agent for a full year. No matter which package you choose (silver gold and premium) for you’re a small business, throughout every formation process they provide an agent. Every year following costs $119.
$159 a year for LegalZoom agent services
Throughout LegalZooms packages they, unfortunately, do not offer registered agent services, rather it’s an additional expense. At $159 they are expensive, not only compared to Incfile but to other competitors like Swyft filing or BizFilings.
↪ When looking at Incfile vs LegalZoom in this category, Incfile provides a full year of registered agent service. That is a very nice perk for a small business starting out.
Incfiles’ platinum package takes 2 days to file a new business
The bottom line with Incfile is that they are fast. If you’re looking to file your LLC with Incfile you should know that for the majority of their packages, turnaround time is 1-2 days (even if you opt for the free business formation), yet it may take longer. They claim to file your LLC immediately but the real waiting depends on the state your file your new business.
LegalZoom’s fastest LLC formation package is express gold which takes 10 business days
The main differentiator out of the services that LegalZoom offers for LLC filing is time. LegalZooms’ economy package takes 30 days, the standard package takes 15 days and express gold takes 10 days. Similar to Incfile, the filing time depends on the state.
↪ Out of all the services and LLC providers, Incfile is known to get things done quickly, and if that’s a focus point for your limited liability company Incfile could be great for your business.
LegalZoom is available 7 days a week
It is important to note that both Incfle and LegalZoom are large corporations, but when it comes to support, LegalZoom is performing very well. LegalZoom makes themselves very available for their customers, 10:00 am – 8:00 pm ET throughout the week and 10:00 am -7:00 pm ET on weekends. They are essentially available 7 days a week, in regard to the hours above.
Incfile offers phone support throughout the week
Incfile offers email and phone support. They work throughout the week from 9:00 am – 6:00 pm CST and claim to respond as quickly as possible. While filing an LLC for this review we wanted to see their response time on a Tuesday afternoon and we had to wait for a full 24hour until they got back to us.
↪ Both companies have great support, but if you’re looking for an LLC provider that responded almost immediately, use LegalZoom.
LegalZoom has thousands of reviews across many ranking websites
Since 2001, LegalZoom has been helping small businesses with filing and LLC formation and has thousands of positive reviews. On the Better Business Bureau, LegalZoom has just over 3,000 reviews and scored a customer rating of 4.34/5. We did find negative reviews, but all in all, LegalZoom does a great job at keeping their customers happy.
Incfile is a customer-facing company, and you can see it in the reviews
Incfile opened shop a bit after LegalZoom and therefore has much fewer customer reviews. Almost all of the reviews Incfile received were positive, ranking a 4.4/5 on the Better Business Bureau.
↪ Incfile has much fewer reviews than LegalZoom. Looking at customer review scores, Incfile takes the cake but looking at the number of customer reviews, LegalZoom wins. Both companies are highly respected by customers.
LegalZoom offers small business and personal legal services
Although LegalZoom is known for LLC filing services(employer identification number, operating agreement, articles of organization) they offer much more than just that. LegalZoom has a mission to “democratize law”. They offer just about everything that a small business needs to thrive. With LegalZoom attorneys and tax experts are by your side. They also offer personal services such as will and testament, power of attorney, divorce documents, property aid, and much more.
Incfile is an LLC formation professional
Incfile prides itself on providing the absolute best business filing services they can offer. They are there to help form an LLC and maintain annual compliance. They put a focus on annual reporting, doing business as (DBA) names, Employer identification numbers, agent services, and of course filing operating agreements.
↪ Both of these business formation professionals offer a ton of value and additional features, but if you’re looking for more than just LLC filing, LegalZoom knows how to give service beyond the general “small business” overview.
Now that we’ve completely gone over the online legal services that Incfile and LegalZoom offer I hope that as a business owner, you feel more confident in the business that you choose to help you file your LLC.
If you’re still stuck well help you find which LLC service is best for you:
Incfile is best for –Business owners who are looking to get top legal care, without paying a top dollar price.
LegalZoom is best for – Employers who are looking for a formation company with strong brand power and excellent customer support.
Whether you choose Incfile or LegalZoom, you are in the great hands of small business leaders who will do everything to make sure you’re business succeeds.
Is Incfile trustworthy?
Incfile has been helping small businesses since 2004 and has a near-perfect track record. In almost 20 years they have launched over 500,000 small businesses.
Is LegalZoom a waste of money?
If you’re trying to form an LLC, LegalZoom can help with that service, but they are far from economical. There are many other alternatives that can get the job done in fewer business days and at a cheaper cost.
Is Incfile good for LLC?
Incfile is a great option for LLC formation. They offer LLC filing for $0 plus state fees, free registered agent service for a year, and ongoing compliance reminders.
Are there alternatives LLC formation services to choose from?
There are great Norwest Registered Agent Alternatives, ZenBusienss Alternatives, and other formation services like Incorporate Fast, MyCorporation, and BetterLegal.
Benjamin is the Co-Founder and CEO of FinancePond. He worked at a private accounting firm before he created FinancePond. Benjamin is an entrepreneur at heart and firmly believes in strong personal finance and investing education. He has a passion for finance and his goal is to cut out the fluff and make personal finance simple for everyone.
