Pricing
$199 a year. Everything included.
One flat price covers everything we do to keep one company formed and compliant: preparing and filing your formation, serving as your registered agent all year, and preparing and filing your annual report. The same $199 for any entity type, in any state. The only thing on top is the state's own fee, passed through at cost and shown before you pay. Next year the price is the same $199. That's the whole model, with no menu underneath it.
Receipt / Every Year
Same price for an LLC, corporation, LP, LLP, or nonprofit. Your state's page shows its exact filing fee and annual-report fee on the receipt card. Nothing is added at checkout that you didn't see there.
What $199/yr covers
Formation, prepared and filed
We complete your formation document and submit it to the state: LLC, corporation, LP, LLP, or nonprofit, any state.
Registered agent, all year
A physical in-state address, business-hours availability, and same-day scanning of service of process. Not a first-year teaser, it's simply part of the price.
Annual report, prepared and filed
The filing that quietly dissolves companies when it's missed. We track your state's due date, prepare the report, and file it. Included, every year.
Compliance reminders & permanent records
Your filed documents stay accessible for the life of your account, and you hear from us before every deadline.
That covers keeping one company formed and compliant in one state. A few lifecycle filings sit outside it (a DBA, registering in another state, amendments, certified copies, expedited processing, a dissolution), and when you need one we quote it flat with the state fee at cost and never add it to your bill on our own. See exactly what the price doesn't cover →
One service, not a menu
Most of this industry runs on some version of the same five patterns. None of them require bad intentions. They're just how a business built on upsells and renewals ends up pricing itself. Here's what they look like from the inside.
The à la carte menu
An EIN filing fee for a number the IRS issues free. An operating-agreement template sold as an upcharge. A “compliance plan” billed on top of the filing it's supposed to cover. Each item is small; the list isn't.
Teaser, then renewal
A registered agent bundled free for the first year, or a formation fee advertised as “$0.” The renewal notice arrives the moment the free period ends, priced at whatever the standalone service actually costs.
Billed to look smaller
A registered-agent fee quoted “per month” or billed quarterly reads like a small number until it's multiplied out to what it actually costs across a year.
Free trial, paid subscription
A bundled trial for bookkeeping, a legal-document plan, or a website, thirty or sixty days, then an automatic monthly charge if nobody remembers to cancel it.
Priced by phone call
Renewal rates and “premium bundles” with no number published anywhere online. The price exists; it's just not shown to you until you're already on the phone.
We don't run any of them. There is no à la carte list, no free-then-renews agent, no quarterly bill that hides an annual total, no trial that converts, and no price you have to call to learn. Everything we do for your company is the one $199/yr line printed on the receipt above, the same number this year and next.
The only thing that ever varies is the state's own fee, and that passes through at cost, shown on the receipt card before you pay.
What a simple LLC actually pays, year by year
Same company, same paperwork: formation, a registered agent, and one annual report a year. Here's the honest arithmetic for both models. Industry figures are typical ranges, hedged, and drawn from the comparison table below.
Our side doesn't change: the fifth $199 is the same as the first, minus the state's formation fee, which is only ever paid once. The industry side compounds: four renewal cycles of a registered-agent fee and an annual-report charge, each on its own schedule, before counting anything billed monthly or quarterly on top.
Why "$0 formation" costs more than $199
Most formation services advertise the first year and earn on the second: the "free" registered agent converts to a paid renewal, and the annual report becomes a separate subscription or a per-filing charge. Compare what year two actually looks like.
| Service | Advertised first year | Year two, typically | Where the price hides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mainstay Filing | $199 + state fee | $199, same price, everything included | Nowhere. Formation, agent, and annual report are one price, every year. |
| LegalZoom | $0 + state fee | ~$249/yr agent + ~$199/yr report plan | The $0 covers submitting the form. The registered agent renews at ~$249/yr and annual-report filing is a separate ~$199/yr subscription — plus the paid formation tiers auto-renew trial add-ons at ~$49/mo or ~$9.99/mo if you don't cancel them. |
| ZenBusiness | $0 + state fee | ~$199/yr agent + ~$199/yr compliance plan | Two separate renewals — the registered agent and a "Worry-Free Compliance" plan, each ~$199/yr — replace the $0 you saw on day one, and the $199 "Pro" formation tier itself renews annually rather than being a one-time fee. |
| Bizee (Incfile) | $0 + state fee | ~$149/yr agent + annual report priced per filing | The free first-year agent renews at ~$149/yr, and each annual report is a separate order — Bizee doesn't publish that filing fee; it's calculated after you pick your state and entity type. |
| Northwest | $39 + state fee | ~$125/yr agent + ~$100 per report filing | Among the more restrained in the field, but the agent renewal and each annual-report filing are still two separate charges, up to ~$225/yr combined. |
| Rocket Lawyer | $149/yr membership + first formation free | ~$249/yr membership + ~$125/yr agent + ~$100/report | Registration is a $99 "Premium Legal Service" you can only buy while subscribed — the $149/yr entry membership unlocks just 3 of 9 service categories, so most owners need the $249/yr tier to add a registered agent and annual report too. |
| Swyft Filings | $0 + state fee | ~$596/yr agent (billed quarterly) + ~$199/yr compliance | The registered agent is billed quarterly, not annually — ~$149 every three months annualizes to ~$596/yr, the highest of any provider we checked — on top of a ~$199/yr "ComplianceGuard" subscription for the annual report. |
| Inc Authority | $0 + state fee | Not published — phone quote only | Renewal pricing for the registered agent, and every "premium bundle," is withheld from the website by design — their own page says bundles "can only be ordered through our team" — so year-two cost is unknowable until you call. |
| BetterLegal | $299 + state fee | ~$240/yr (two $120 subscriptions) | The registered agent and state compliance are sold as two separate $120/yr subscriptions rather than one bundled fee — confirmed directly on their services page (verified 2026-07-16) — so year two means tracking two renewals instead of one. |
Competitor figures reflect publicly advertised pricing as of July 2026; plans and prices change often, so verify current numbers on their sites before comparing. State fees apply to every provider, including us.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the price the same for every entity type?
An LLC, a corporation, an LP, an LLP, and a nonprofit all need the same three things done correctly: a document filed with the state, a registered agent maintaining a physical address, and an annual report kept on schedule. The work is comparable across entity types, so the price is one number rather than a tiered menu.
What happens when it's time to renew?
You're billed $199 again, and we continue as your registered agent and prepare and file your annual report for the year. It's the same $199 you paid the first year, with no rate that resets higher and no line items added on.
What are state fees, and why aren't they part of the flat price?
Every state sets its own fee to file formation documents and, in most states, an annual report. That money goes to the state, not to us. We pass it through at cost and show it on your state's receipt card before you pay. It's the one number in this model that isn't ours to set.
I already have an LLC somewhere else. Can you take over as registered agent, or take over my annual report?
Possibly. It depends on your state and your current filing. Contact us and tell us what you have, and we'll tell you plainly whether we can help and what it would involve.
Do you charge extra for an EIN or an operating agreement?
No. An EIN is a number the IRS issues at no cost, and we walk you through getting one as part of formation. An operating agreement is guided, not upsold. Neither shows up as a separate charge.
Can I cancel?
Yes, with one plain rule: once we've submitted your formation or your annual report for the year, that filing is already underwritten and can't be cancelled or refunded for that year, since it's already gone to the state. If you don't want to continue as your registered agent or keep filing your annual report after that, you can cancel any time, and it takes effect starting the next year. We simply won't bill or renew you again. Contact us and we'll confirm exactly where your account stands.
Ready to start? Choose your state to see the exact state fee for your entity type. The receipt card on every page shows the full picture before you pay.