The 10 Best LLC Formation Services in 2026

The 10 best LLC formation services in 2026

1. Northwest Registered Agent: Best overall

Northwest Registered Agent is the best overall LLC formation service for most people: $39 plus state fees, with registered agent service at a flat $125 a year.

Pricing: $39 plus state fees for LLC formation.

What's included: a free domain name, a free website, a free phone line, a free business email, a free business address, and free brand protection.

Registered agent service is priced separately at $125 a year, and Northwest says it hasn't raised that price in 20 years. That kind of price stability is rare in a category that tends to make its money on renewals.

For more on what a registered agent actually does and when you're required to have one, see what a Delaware registered agent actually does.

Choose Northwest if: you want a low paid entry price, a published registered agent rate, and a formation partner that treats your home address as something to protect.

Look elsewhere if: you want attorney access bundled with your filing. LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer build that in.

2. ZenBusiness: Best for scaling from a free filing to full compliance support

ZenBusiness is the best LLC formation service for scaling from a free filing to full compliance support: $0 plus state fees to start, with Pro at $199 and Premium at $299 when you need more.

Pricing:

• Starter: $0 plus state fees. 7 to 10 business day processing. Does not renew.

• Pro: $199 plus state fees, renewing at $199 a year. 1 business day processing.

• Premium: $299 plus state fees, renewing at $299 a year. 1 business day processing.

• Rush filing on Starter: $79, one time.

ZenBusiness is built as a ladder. You can file for free and add services as your business grows, rather than committing upfront to a package with features you don't need yet.

Registered agent service isn't included in any package. It's available on any package for $199 a year.

Choose ZenBusiness if: you want to start free and add services later, on your own timeline, without switching providers.

Look elsewhere if: you want a registered agent year bundled into the formation price. Bizee and Inc Authority include one.

3. Rho: Best for founders who want their LLC formed and a business account opened in the same flow

Rho is one of the best LLC formation services for founders who want their LLC formed and a business account opened in the same flow, at $349 all-in with the state filing fee included.

Pricing:

• LLC formation: $349, all-in. State filing fee included.

• Registered agent service: covered by Rho for your first year.

• Forming a Delaware C-corp instead? That's $400 flat.

Every other provider in this list quotes its price plus state fees, so the number you see at the top of the page moves once you pick a state. Rho's $349 already includes the state filing fee. The number on the page doesn't change when you pick a state.

Here's what the flow covers. Your paperwork is filed on your behalf, and your EIN application is filed for you.

The part that sets this flow apart: your business account opens in the same flow, subject to approval. Once your account is approved and the IRS issues your EIN, funds can move. Banking, invoicing, cards, and bill pay, all live the moment your account is approved.

Choose Rho if: you'd rather not stitch together a formation service, a separate EIN filing, and a bank application, and you want one price that already includes your state's fee.

Look elsewhere if: you already have a business bank account you plan to keep and only need the filing itself. A $0 tier from Bizee or Inc Authority covers that.

Start your LLC with Rho

4. LegalZoom: Best for attorney access alongside your filing

LegalZoom is the best LLC formation service for attorney access alongside your filing, with tiers from $0 to $299 plus state filing fees.

Pricing:

• Basic: $0 plus state filing fees.

• Pro: $249 plus state filing fees.

• Premium: $299 plus state filing fees.

Watch for one thing on the paid tiers. Pro includes a Business Attorney Plan that's free for 30 days, then $49 a month. Premium includes LZ Books free for 180 days, then $9.99 a month. Both renew automatically unless you cancel, on top of the formation price itself.

Choose LegalZoom if: you want attorney access built into the same purchase as your filing, especially for questions that come up after you've formed.

Look elsewhere if: you don't want to track a cancellation window for an add-on subscription you may not use.

5. Bizee (formerly Incfile): Best free base plan

Bizee is the best LLC formation service for a free base plan: $0 plus state fees, with a free first year of registered agent service in every package.

Pricing:

• Three tiers at $0, $199, and $299, each plus your state's filing fee.

• Every package includes a free first year of registered agent service.

Bizee rebranded from Incfile a few years ago; some search results and forum threads still use the old name. For a deeper single-vendor look, see our full Bizee (formerly Incfile) review.

Choose Bizee if: you want a $0 filing with a registered agent year included, without paying for a higher tier to get it.

Look elsewhere if: you want your state filing fee included in one headline price, or your business account opened in the same flow.

6. Tailor Brands: Best for branding and business tools bundled in

Tailor Brands is the best LLC formation service for branding and business tools bundled in, with tiers from $0 to $249 a year plus state fees.

Pricing:

• Lite: $0 plus state fees. Processing within 14 business days.

• Essential: $199 a year plus state fees. 1 day expedited processing, plus a $30 Amazon gift card promotion.

• Elite: $249 a year plus state fees. 1 day expedited processing, plus a $50 Amazon gift card promotion.

• Every tier includes a free 30-day bookkeeping trial.

One structural difference from the rest of this list: Tailor Brands prices its paid tiers as recurring annual fees, not one-time formation charges. Budget for that renewal as well as the checkout price.

Choose Tailor Brands if: you want branding and basic business tools bundled with your formation.

Look elsewhere if: you don't want your formation fee to renew annually by default.

7. Rocket Lawyer: Best for ongoing legal help after you form

Rocket Lawyer is the best LLC formation service for ongoing legal help after you form, with memberships from $149 a year and your first LLC formation free with a membership.

Pricing:

• Standard membership: $149 a year.

• Plus membership: $249 a year.

• Pro membership: $349 a year.

With a membership, your first LLC formation is free, then $99 plus state fees after that. Registered agent service runs about $125 a year and requires a Plus or Pro membership.

Choose Rocket Lawyer if: you expect to need legal document help on an ongoing basis, beyond a one-time filing.

Look elsewhere if: you just want a single filing without taking on a recurring membership.

8. CorpNet: Best for comprehensive compliance add-ons

CorpNet is the best LLC formation service for comprehensive compliance add-ons, with formation tiers starting at $99 plus state fees and a la carte compliance filings in the same order flow.

Pricing:

• Basic: starting at $99 plus state fees. Includes 60 days of registered agent service.

• Deluxe: starting at $219 plus state fees. Includes a year of registered agent service.

• Complete: starting at $269 plus state fees. Includes a year of registered agent service.

• Prices exclude state fees, shipping and handling, and CorpNet's 3% convenience fee.

CorpNet also sells a long menu of a la carte compliance filings in the same order flow, priced individually rather than bundled into the three formation tiers.

Choose CorpNet if: you expect to need ongoing compliance filings beyond the initial formation and want one vendor's order flow for all of them.

Look elsewhere if: you just want a single filing at the lowest possible price. CorpNet's Basic tier starts higher than the $0 tiers from Bizee, Swyft Filings, and Inc Authority.

9. Swyft Filings: Best for a free filing with an accuracy guarantee

Swyft Filings is the best LLC formation service for a free filing with an accuracy guarantee: $0 plus state fees, backed by its 100% accuracy guarantee.

Pricing:

• Basic: $0 plus state fees. 7 to 10 business day processing.

• Standard: $169 plus state fees (promotional; list price $199). 3 business day processing.

• Premium: $269 plus state fees (promotional; list price $299). 1 business day processing.

• Filings are backed by Swyft's 100% accuracy guarantee.

Choose Swyft Filings if: you want a free base filing with the option to pay for faster processing only when you need it.

Look elsewhere if: you want a registered agent year bundled into a $0 tier. Bizee and Inc Authority include one.

10. Inc Authority: Best for fast, free LLC formation

Inc Authority is the best LLC formation service for fast, free LLC formation: $0 plus state fees, with free EIN filing and a free first year of registered agent service.

Pricing:

• $0 LLC filing service fee, plus your state's filing fee.

• Free EIN filing, free 24-hour processing, and a free first year of registered agent service.

• Average completion: 2 to 5 business days, per Inc Authority.

Inc Authority's pitch is total cost: no formation service fee, and no charge for the EIN filing or the first registered agent year.

Choose Inc Authority if: your priority is the smallest possible cash outlay to get an LLC filed, with an EIN and a registered agent year included.

Look elsewhere if: you want attorney access or ongoing legal help bundled with the filing. LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer build that in.

LLC formation services compared: price, state fees, and registered agent

Prices as published on each provider's site on October 15, 2026.

If you want the state filing fee included in one price and your business account opened in the same flow, form your LLC with Rho. Want only the filing? Start with the $0 tiers from Bizee or Inc Authority.

LLC vs. sole proprietorship vs. corporation

An LLC exists to draw a legal line between your business and your personal assets. Run your business as a sole proprietorship and there's no line: a lawsuit against your business is functionally a lawsuit against you, your car, and your savings account. Form an LLC and, as long as you keep business and personal finances separate, your personal assets generally sit outside that exposure.

Taxation is the other half of the decision. A sole proprietorship and a single-member LLC are taxed almost identically by default: profit passes through to your personal return. What the LLC adds is the liability shield, plus the option to elect a different tax treatment later without re-forming the business (more on that below).

A general partnership sits closer to a sole proprietorship than an LLC. Two or more people running a business together without filing anything are, by default, a general partnership, which means each partner can be personally liable not just for their own actions but for the other partners' business decisions too.

A multi-member LLC exists partly to fix that: partners keep the pass-through taxation of a partnership without one partner's mistake putting every other partner's personal assets at risk.

That liability shield isn't unconditional, though. Courts can "pierce the corporate veil," disregarding the LLC's separate legal status, when an owner treats the business's money as their own, skips basic formalities, or uses the entity to commit fraud.

The protection an LLC provides is real, but it depends on actually running the business as a separate legal entity, not just filing the paperwork once and forgetting about it.

Switching entity types later is possible but not free. Converting a sole proprietorship or partnership into an LLC means a new filing and a new EIN in most cases.

Converting an LLC into a corporation is a bigger step: raising venture funding or issuing employee stock makes it a more involved legal process. That's part of why founders who already know they're heading toward a priced round often skip the LLC step entirely and start as a Delaware C-corp instead. See the best incorporation services for VC-backed startups if that's your actual situation.

A corporation is a different animal entirely: it's built for outside investment, stock classes, and a board, not for a solo consultant or a two-person agency.

LLC tax elections: pass-through, S-corp, and when to switch

By default, the IRS treats a single-member LLC as a "disregarded entity" and a multi-member LLC as a partnership. Profit passes through to the owners' personal returns either way, and the LLC itself doesn't file or pay a separate income tax.

That default isn't permanent. An LLC can elect to be taxed as a C-corporation (Form 8832) or an S-corporation (Form 2553), without changing its underlying legal structure.

Here's where it gets useful for a profitable business: the S-corp election lets an owner split income between a salary (subject to payroll tax) and a distribution (not subject to self-employment tax), which can lower the total tax bill once profit clears a meaningful threshold.

Self-employment tax runs 15.3% on top of ordinary income tax under the default pass-through treatment. That's what makes the salary/distribution split worth the extra paperwork once the numbers are large enough.

Timing matters for the S-corp election specifically. To apply for the current tax year, Form 2553 generally has to be filed within two months and fifteen days of the LLC's formation, or of the start of that tax year for an existing LLC.

Miss that window and the election applies starting the following year instead. That's a common reason business owners end up talking to an accountant well before they think they're ready to.

There isn't one number that works for every business, but many accountants start floating the S-corp conversation once net profit is consistently in the $40,000 to $60,000 a year range, since that's roughly where the payroll-tax savings start to outweigh the added cost of running payroll and filing a separate S-corp return. Below that, the paperwork often isn't worth the savings.

A federal tax election also doesn't override a state's own rules. California's $800 minimum annual franchise tax, for example, applies to LLCs regardless of which federal tax treatment they've elected (see the FAQ below). Checking your specific state's LLC tax rules alongside the federal election is part of the same conversation, not a separate one.

None of this is a substitute for an accountant who's looked at your actual numbers. It's the reason the question shows up on every "best LLC service" list, though: the formation decision and the tax-election decision are two different decisions, made at two different times.

How we evaluated these services

We compared all ten providers on the same six criteria, then ranked them by how well each one serves the buyer it's best for:

1. Pricing transparency. Is the full tier structure published, and does the headline price include the state filing fee or add it at checkout?

2. Turnaround time. How long does standard processing take, and what does rush processing cost?

3. Entity types supported. Is the provider LLC-only, or does it also handle corporations?

4. Included services. What's bundled at each price point, such as a registered agent year or an EIN filing, versus sold as a separate line item?

5. Support model. Is help self-serve, or does the provider sell attorney or advisor access as part of the package?

6. What happens after the filing. Does the provider handle the EIN application and the business bank account in the same flow, or is that your next project?

Prices and included features were checked against each provider's published pricing on October 15, 2026.

How to choose an LLC formation service

• If you want a low paid entry price with a published registered agent rate: Northwest Registered Agent charges $39 plus state fees to form, and $125 a year for registered agent service.

• If you want to start for free and decide later: ZenBusiness or Bizee's $0 tiers let you file now and add services as you need them.

• If you want your LLC and your business account set up in one flow: Rho forms the LLC for $349 all-in, your EIN application is filed for you, and your business account opens in the same flow, subject to approval.

• If you want an attorney on call: LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer both build attorney access into their paid tiers, LegalZoom as part of the formation package, Rocket Lawyer as an ongoing membership.

• If you're forming in more than one state: compare registered agent pricing carefully, since you'll need an agent in every state where you're registered.

• If you want branding and business tools bundled in: Tailor Brands packages those with formation, though its fees renew annually.

• If you're actually forming a Delaware C-corp for a VC-backed startup, not an LLC: see the best incorporation services for VC-backed startups instead. Different entity, different vendor set, different priorities.

Other names you'll see

A quick glossary for terms that show up on formation paperwork and provider sites without much explanation.

• Certificate of Formation / Articles of Organization: the paperwork that creates your LLC goes by different names depending on the state. Delaware and Texas call it a Certificate of Formation. Most states, including California, call it Articles of Organization. Massachusetts calls it a Certificate of Organization. Same document, different label, depending on where you file.

• Registered agent: also called a resident agent or statutory agent in most states. It's the person or company designated to receive legal and state mail on your LLC's behalf.

• Organizer: whoever signs and files the formation paperwork, often the formation service itself, not necessarily an owner.

• Member: the LLC's owner.

• Manager: if the LLC is manager-managed rather than member-managed, whoever actually runs day-to-day operations. Managers don't have to be owners themselves.

• Foreign LLC: has nothing to do with another country. It means an LLC formed in one state that's registered to do business in a different one, through a process called foreign qualification. Form your LLC in Delaware but operate out of an office in Texas, and you're a domestic LLC in Delaware and a foreign LLC in Texas, usually with a separate filing fee and registered agent requirement in each state.

• DBA ("doing business as"): a trade name your LLC operates under that isn't its legal name. An LLC can hold a DBA the same way a sole proprietorship can. It doesn't create a separate legal entity or change your liability protection, it just lets you brand and bank under a different name than the one on your formation paperwork.

• Series LLC: a single LLC that creates internal "series," each with its own assets, liabilities, and members, walled off from the others under one parent filing. Allowed in a handful of states, Delaware included. It's a niche structure, mostly useful for real estate investors running multiple properties under one umbrella. Most of the providers in this roundup handle standard LLC formation, not series LLC setup specifically, so it's worth asking about directly if that's your situation.

What to do right after forming your LLC

• Get an EIN. An EIN is obtained by applying to the IRS, typically using Form SS-4, and the IRS doesn't charge for it. You'll need one before a business bank account can move money in most cases. With some formation services, Rho and Inc Authority among them, your EIN application is filed for you. For more on the process, see how to find your EIN after you file.

• Draft an operating agreement, even if your state doesn't require one. It's the document that defines ownership splits, decision-making, and what happens if a member leaves.

• Open a business bank account and keep it fully separate from personal finances. Commingled funds are one of the fastest ways to lose the liability protection an LLC exists to provide. If you formed with Rho, your account opens in the same flow as your LLC, subject to approval. If you formed elsewhere, see Rho's business banking.

• Check your state's ongoing requirements. Some states require an annual report, some charge a flat annual franchise tax regardless of income (Delaware's is $400/yr for LLCs, due June 1, with no separate annual report requirement), and deadlines are easy to miss in year one.

• Register for any state or local licenses your specific business or industry requires, separate from the formation filing itself.

Form your LLC and open your business account in one flow

The usual path is three steps with three vendors: file the LLC, apply for an EIN, then apply for a bank account and wait. With Rho, all three happen in one flow.

1. Form. You pay $349, all-in, with your state's filing fee included, and your paperwork is filed for you.

2. EIN. Your EIN application is filed for you.

3. Business account. Your business account opens in the same flow, subject to approval. Once your account is approved and the IRS issues your EIN, funds can move. Banking, invoicing, cards, and bill pay, all live the moment your account is approved.

Forming a Delaware C-corp instead? Rho forms those for $400 flat, with the same account opening in the same flow.

Form your LLC with Rho

Related LLC guides

• Our full Bizee (formerly Incfile) review

• The best incorporation services for VC-backed startups

• LegalZoom alternatives

• What a Delaware registered agent actually does

• How to find your EIN after you file