The cheapest way to form an LLC is to file the paperwork yourself, directly with your state, and pay only the state's filing fee. No markup, no bundled add-ons, no subscription.
Almost nobody does that, though, and not because the paperwork is hard. Filing yourself means you're also your own registered agent, your own EIN filer, and your own compliance calendar. A missed deadline can cost more than any formation service would have charged in the first place. That's the real tradeoff behind "cheapest," not whatever number sits on the homepage.
This guide breaks down what DIY filing costs against the five cheapest LLC formation services people usually compare it to: ZenBusiness, Northwest Registered Agent, Bizee (formerly Incfile), LegalZoom, and Tailor Brands. Four of the five now advertise a $0 base tier. The real cost differences show up in what's missing from that $0 tier, and in what the renewal invoice looks like a year later.
Pricing below reflects each provider's own site as of September 2026.
The true $0-plus-state-fee options
Every service below charges the state's filing fee on top of whatever they list, since none of them can waive a government fee. What varies is what else you're paying for, and when.
Northwest Registered Agent: $39 plus state fee, no $0 tier
Northwest doesn't play the $0 game. Its only LLC formation tier is $39 plus your state's filing fee. That single price gets you:
A free domain name and basic website
A free business phone line and business email address
A free business address
Brand-name protection monitoring
Registered agent service isn't bundled into that $39. It's priced separately at $125 a year flat, and the company states outright on its site that it hasn't raised that price in 20 years. Mail scanning is free for up to five documents a year, though the company accepts all state and legal mail regardless of that cap.
Bizee (formerly Incfile): $0 plus state fee, free first-year registered agent
Bizee's Basic tier is $0 plus your state's filing fee, and it includes a free first year of registered agent service, which none of the other $0 tiers below match outright. Standard runs $199 plus state fee, and Premium runs $299 plus state fee, each layering on more document templates and support.
The gap: Bizee's registered agent service renews at $149 a year once that first free year ends, a figure the company doesn't feature prominently before you sign up. Know that number going in, not when the renewal invoice arrives.
ZenBusiness: $0 plus state fee, but 7-10 day processing
ZenBusiness's Starter tier is a genuine $0 plus your state's filing fee, with no renewal fee attached to the formation itself. It includes a free first year of "Worry-Free Compliance" monitoring, which renews at $199 a year if you don't cancel it. Processing on Starter runs 7 to 10 business days, the slowest of the four $0 tiers here.
ZenBusiness's paid tiers buy speed and features:
Pro ($199 plus state fee, renews at $199/yr): one-business-day processing, plus an operating agreement template, EIN filing, and a logo builder.
Premium ($399 plus state fee, renews at $399/yr): adds registered agent service, broader compliance coverage, 25-plus document templates, and an advisor consultation.
Starter can also add a paid rush-processing upsell if the 7-to-10-day wait doesn't work for you.
LegalZoom: $0 plus state fee, but the renewals stack up
LegalZoom's Basic tier is $0 plus state filing fees and includes your articles of organization, a business name check, and a tax consultation through 1-800Accountant. Pro, at $249 plus state fee, adds:
An operating agreement and EIN filing
30 days of unlimited 30-minute attorney consultations
A free Wix website, 150-plus legal document templates, and unlimited eSignatures for a year
Premium, at $299 plus state fee, layers on ongoing bookkeeping, invoicing, and mileage tracking on top of everything in Pro.
Two renewal traps to know before you pick Pro or Premium:
The attorney-consultation trial converts to $49 a month after 30 days if you don't cancel it.
Premium's bookkeeping subscription converts to $9.99 a month after 180 days, on the same automatic terms.
Registered agent service isn't bundled into any tier either. It renews at $249 a year, the highest published registered agent renewal of the five services in this guide.
Tailor Brands: $0 plus state fee, but the slowest processing of the set
Tailor Brands' Lite tier is $0 plus state fees, but processing takes 14 business days, the slowest of every option in this guide. Essential ($199/yr plus state fee) bundles a $30 Amazon gift card promo, and Elite ($249/yr plus state fee) bundles a $50 one; both cut processing to one business day.
One structural difference worth flagging: Tailor Brands' prices are recurring annual charges, not one-time formation fees like ZenBusiness, Bizee, and LegalZoom's base tiers. A 30-day bookkeeping trial is included on every tier and converts to $39 a month if you don't cancel it. Registered agent service is offered but not priced on the page.
Here's the pattern across all four $0 tiers: they're not forming your LLC for free. They're using the same state filing fee you'd pay on your own as the hook, then making their margin on what you add, renew, or forget to cancel afterward.
How to file an LLC yourself
Filing directly with the state is simple in most states, and it's the only route where the only fee is the government's fee. The core steps are the same everywhere, though the exact forms and portals differ by state.
Choose your state. Most people file in the state where they actually operate. Filing in a different state (Delaware and Wyoming are common choices) usually means paying for a registered agent and filing as a foreign LLC in your home state too, which erases most of the savings for a small operation.
Check your LLC name is available. Every state's Secretary of State site has a free business name search. Confirm your name isn't taken before you file anything.
File your Articles of Organization. This is the formation document. It asks for your LLC's name, address, registered agent, and management structure, and it's the step every paid service above is really just filling out on your behalf.
Appoint a registered agent. Every state requires one: a person or entity with a physical, in-state address who's available during business hours to accept legal and state mail. You can be your own registered agent for free if you have an in-state address and don't mind that address becoming part of the public record.
Get an EIN. An EIN is applied for using Form SS-4, filed directly with the IRS at no cost, and no formation service actually needs to be involved to get one.
Draft an operating agreement. Not every state requires one on file, but every LLC should have one. Free templates exist; you don't need to buy one from a formation service to have a legally sound agreement.
Filing yourself really does cost just the state's fee, nothing more, if you're willing to be your own registered agent and put your address on the public record. But that tradeoff shows up a year later, not on day one.
Watch the renewals: where free gets expensive
The formation fee is a one-time number. The registered agent fee is the one that repeats every year, and it's where most of the "$0" advantage quietly disappears.
Service | Year-1 registered agent | Renewal price per year |
|---|---|---|
Northwest Registered Agent | Not bundled; priced separately | $125/yr flat (company states this price hasn't changed in 20 years) |
Bizee (formerly Incfile) | Free, included on all tiers | $149/yr |
ZenBusiness (Starter) | Free (as "Worry-Free Compliance") | $199/yr if not cancelled |
LegalZoom | Not included on Basic; not stated as a standalone product on this page | $249/yr, auto-renewing |
Tailor Brands | Available, not priced on this page | Not published |
Only Tailor Brands doesn't publish a renewal figure at all, which is its own answer: read the fine print or call before you sign up for a service based on its first-year price alone. Of the four that do publish a number, LegalZoom's $249 a year is the highest registered agent renewal in this comparison.
Total cost over two years
Stacking the formation fee against a full second year (when most of these renewal fees hit) gives a clearer picture than any single-tier sticker price.
Route | Formation fee | Year-1 agent | Year-2 agent | Two-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
DIY, self as registered agent | State fee only (varies by state) | $0 | $0 | State fee only |
Northwest Registered Agent | $39 + state fee | $125 | $125 | $289 + state fee (across 2 years) |
Bizee (Basic) | $0 + state fee | $0 | $149 | $149 + state fee |
ZenBusiness (Starter) | $0 + state fee | $0 | $199 | $199 + state fee |
LegalZoom (Basic) | $0 + state fee | Not included | $249 (if added) | State fee + $249 if RA added |
Tailor Brands (Lite) | $0/yr + state fee (recurring) | Not priced | Not priced | State fee + unpriced RA if added |
DIY with yourself as registered agent is the only route with a fully known two-year total: your state's filing fee, and nothing else. Every service adds at least one number that either repeats annually or isn't published anywhere you can check before you commit.
When cheap is expensive
None of this makes the $0 tiers a scam. It makes them incomplete, and the parts left out are exactly the parts that cost real time or money later.
Two gaps show up most often:
Processing speed. Tailor Brands' Lite tier takes up to 14 business days; ZenBusiness's Starter takes 7 to 10. If your bank, lease, or vendor contract is waiting on a formed LLC, that's two extra weeks you didn't budget for, and every service charges extra to skip the line.
The upsell structure. LegalZoom's attorney-consultation trial converts to $49 a month, and its bookkeeping add-on converts to $9.99 a month, both automatically, both after the free window closes. Tailor Brands' bookkeeping trial converts to $39 a month on the same pattern.
None of these are hidden exactly. They're disclosed in the terms, but disclosed isn't the same as front and center. Auto-renewal is the default unless you go cancel it yourself.
And DIY carries its own risk if you skip a step rather than skip a service: acting as your own registered agent means missing one piece of mail (a lawsuit notice, a state compliance filing) can mean defaulting on a legal matter you never knew existed, since the whole point of a registered agent is being reliably reachable at a known address.
Where Rho fits once your LLC is formed
Rho doesn't file LLC paperwork today. Rho's own formation product supports one entity type right now: Delaware C-Corp, filed in about 24 hours. LLC coming soon.
Full disclosure: Rho is our product, which is exactly why it isn't in the ranked list above alongside the formation services it's not competing with. Once your LLC exists, whichever route you used to form it, it's worth checking whether Rho's business banking, corporate cards, and bill pay are a fit for what comes next.
Related guides
FAQs
Filing directly with your state and acting as your own registered agent is the cheapest route, since it means paying only the state's filing fee with no service markup on top. Every formation service in this guide, even the ones advertising $0, charges something beyond that same state fee, whether that's an upfront tier price or a registered agent renewal a year later. The tradeoff is time and risk: you're responsible for your own paperwork, deadlines, and being reachable for legal mail.
The formation itself usually is. You always pay your state's filing fee, and the service makes its money on upsells at checkout and registered agent renewals starting in year two, typically $119 to $199 per year. Decline the add-ons you do not need and note the renewal price before you buy.
Yes, every state requires an LLC to have a registered agent: a person or entity with a physical in-state address, available during business hours to accept legal and state mail. You can serve as your own registered agent for free if you have an eligible address and don't mind that address appearing in public state records, or you can pay a service to handle it, typically somewhere between $100 and $250 a year.
Filing an LLC yourself costs only your state's filing fee, since there's no service fee added on top. That fee varies by state and changes over time, so check your state's Secretary of State site directly for the current amount rather than relying on a number from an older article. Beyond the filing fee, the only other potential cost is a registered agent if you don't act as your own.
You can form an LLC with no money beyond the state's filing fee if you act as your own registered agent, apply for your EIN directly through the IRS (which is always free), and use a free operating agreement template. Several formation services also advertise a $0 tier that waives their own fee, though you still owe the state's filing fee either way, since no service can waive a government fee.
Many states charge some form of ongoing fee beyond the initial filing, commonly an annual report fee or, in a handful of states, a minimum franchise tax that applies regardless of whether the LLC turned a profit. California is the best-known example: on top of its state filing fee, California charges LLCs an $800 minimum annual franchise tax to the Franchise Tax Board, due whether or not the LLC made money. These fees are separate from the formation fee and from any registered agent renewal, and they vary significantly by state, so check your specific state's ongoing requirements once the LLC is formed, not just its one-time filing fee.
California's Articles of Organization filing fee is $70, filed online through the Secretary of State's bizfile portal. Every LLC must also file a $20 Statement of Information within 90 days of formation, then again every two years. Beyond those two flat fees, California adds an $800 minimum annual franchise tax to the Franchise Tax Board, due every year regardless of profit, on top of anything a formation service charges. That $800 applies whether you file yourself or pay a service to do it for you.
New York's Articles of Organization filing fee is $200, filed with the Department of State, plus a $9 biennial statement due every two years after formation. New York also has a publication requirement most LLCs can't skip: within 120 days of formation, you generally have to publish notice in two newspapers designated by your county clerk for six consecutive weeks, then file a $50 Certificate of Publication. The newspaper costs themselves vary widely by county and can run well past the state's own $200 filing fee, especially in New York City, which makes New York one of the more expensive states to form an LLC in regardless of which route you use.
A sole proprietorship costs less to start, since it requires no state filing fee and no formal formation step at all; you're simply operating under your own name (or a registered "doing business as" name, which can carry its own small fee). The tradeoff is liability: a sole proprietorship gives you no legal separation between your personal assets and your business's debts or lawsuits, which is the protection an LLC's filing fee buys.
Yes. Filing an LLC doesn't require a lawyer or a paid formation service in any state. The process (choosing a state, checking name availability, filing Articles of Organization, appointing a registered agent, getting an EIN, and drafting an operating agreement) is designed to be completed by the business owner directly through the state's own filing portal.