1
ZenBusiness
Pricing
$49 + State Fees
Service Time
Varies By State & Package
2
IncFile
Pricing
$0 + State Fee
Service Time
Varies By State & Package
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All business entities must have a registered agent. Simply put, a registered agent is a designated person responsible for receiving your legal correspondences and relaying them to you. There are dozens of nationwide services that can handle this for you.
As tempting as it may be, you should focus on more than price when picking a registered agent. Registered agents have an important function, and the best registered agent services are quick, reliable and easy to use.
All the services we evaluated provide registered agent services nationwide—a big plus if your business is registered in multiple states. We took a look at some of the most popular services on the market and evaluated them so that you can determine the best fit for your needs.
1
Pricing
$49 + State Fees
Service Time
Varies By State & Package
2
Pricing
$0 + State Fee
Service Time
Varies By State & Package
$125 per year
$125 per year
Northwest Registered Agent’s tagline is “we’re just not annoying,” and it lives up to that slogan. The company offers quick service, straightforward pricing, great phone support, same-day local document scanning and a commitment to data privacy.
Northwest scans all documents locally, and it will scan regular mail that comes to your registered agent, not just official correspondence. Northwest staffs its customer service lines with local “corporate guides” who can answer your questions without transferring you. It won’t sell your data. And Northwest also sells business formation, mail forwarding and virtual office services in case you need them.
At $125 a year, Northwest is pricier than most. But the extra cost could be worth it to take advantage of features and add-ons that other companies don’t have.
Who Should Use It: Business owners willing to pay a little more for good phone support or the ability to combine mail forwarding or virtual office services with a registered agent service.
$99 per year
$99 per year
ZenBusiness positions itself as fast, easy and affordable, and that combination makes it a good all-around service for any business. It’s one of the least expensive options we evaluated, with plans starting at $99 per year.
In addition to receiving and scanning documents, ZenBusiness helps customers in its upgrade ($149 a year) registered agent plan with annual report filing. This is especially useful, as the company will help you create your annual report according to the specific requirements of your state. It also offers business formation services so you can start your business and hire an agent in the same transaction.
Zen Business is also well-regarded by customers. It has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau, and a high percentage of the more than 6,000 reviews on Trustpilot rate the company as “excellent.” Additionally, ZenBusiness is a public benefit corporation, which means it has a mission to help small businesses that goes beyond profit.
Who Should Use It: Anyone who needs a basic, reliable registered agent service at a low price.
Harbor Compliance specializes in helping companies navigate government licensing and compliance requirements, but it also offers inexpensive registered agent services. Registered agent services cost $99 a year, but there’s a 5% to 10% discount if you commit to multiple years at once.
Harbor Compliance stands out for its promptness and ability to handle complexity. It offers same-day document delivery, and if your company is served with a lawsuit you’ll get an immediate notice via phone and email. (Most registered agent services only notify you by email.)
You can view documents and compliance requirements for several companies under a single client dashboard. Each customer has a dedicated account representative. However, you can’t form a business with Harbor Compliance, and the company had few ratings on the sites we checked.
Who Should Use It: Anyone looking for a good value in registered agent services; business owners who need help tracking regulatory requirements.
Rocket Lawyer offers a broad range of legal services for small businesses, including business formation, contract preparation and review and consultations with attorneys. But at $149, its standalone registered agent service is expensive.
Rocket Lawyer includes the standard services you’d expect from a registered agent—online document storage, a customer portal and email notifications of documents received. The company is popular with customers, but its registered agent service lacks added features like same-day document delivery and telephone notifications that some of its competitors offer.
Signing up for one of Rocket Lawyer’s small business legal plans gets you a 25% discount on registered agent services. But even with the discount, Rocket Lawyer is still one of the priciest services we looked at. It could be a solid value if you bundle Rocket Lawyer’s registered agent services with its other offerings, but small businesses may be turned off by the high price tag.
Who Should Use It: Business owners who want to take advantage of Rocket Lawyer’s other services and don’t mind paying a little more to consolidate their legal needs with one company.
Incfile is marketed toward entrepreneurs starting a business on a shoestring budget. Its registered agent services are free for the first year if you also use Incfile to form your business. While it got a lower score from us, this could be an attractive option for brand new companies.
Incfile includes the main features you’d expect in a registered agent service. It notifies you by email when it receives documents on your behalf, and it also automatically forwards documents to you by mail—though its user interface is a bit awkward.
However, Incfile’s registered agent fee climbs to $119 after the first year, making it more expensive than many of its competitors.
According to our analysis, Incfile user reviews are polarized, and the Better Business Bureau revoked its accreditation in September 2020.
Who Should Use It: Companies whose priority is minimizing startup costs.
Although any adult can technically act as registered agent, there are several reasons you might use a registered agent service instead.
Nolo offers hundreds of consumer-friendly do-it-yourself legal products written in plain English.
To determine the best registered agent services, we gave the greatest weight to price, since small business owners usually want to satisfy the registered agent requirement without spending a lot of money.
Although it didn’t factor into our numerical rankings, we also noted other features offered by registered agent companies, such as assistance with annual reports, mail forwarding, legal services and help with compliance issues.
Here’s a closer look at the factors we considered:
All 50 states require business entities such as corporations and LLCs to have a registered agent. A registered agent is also known as a “statutory agent.” Your business needs a registered agent to remain in good standing with your state.
When you designate a registered agent for your business, you’re saying that legal and governmental notices should be sent to the agent. These notices might include lawsuits, subpoenas or correspondence from state agencies. The agent is responsible for forwarding those documents to the appropriate person at your business.
You do not. Anyone aged 18 or older who has a physical address in the state can be an agent, including you, your spouse or an employee. However, the agent must be at their address during regular business hours every day. And the agent should be someone you can trust to keep track of documents and get them to you right away.
You can change registered agents by filing a form with your state. You can also expect to pay a filing fee. Some states require the new registered agent to sign the form.
Jane Haskins practiced law for 20 years, representing small businesses in startup, dissolution, business transactions and litigation. She has written hundreds of articles on legal, intellectual property and tax issues affecting small businesses.
Rob is an SMB writer and editor based in New Jersey. Before joining Forbes Advisor, he was a content producer at Fit Small Business. In that role, he was responsible for writing, editing, and strategizing content geared toward small business owners. Before that, he worked at PCMag as a business analyst.