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Entrepreneurs, underdogs, visionaries, startups—anyone looking to start their own company has plenty of options for business partners who can help them get up and running. This post looks at how Registered Agents Inc stacks up against national competitors LegalZoom, ZenBusiness, and Bizee.

Business Formation | Registered Agent & Compliance |Business Identity

Each of these companies offer business formation services, which means they’ll file your formation paperwork with the state department responsible for managing new business registrations. Here’s how that cost breaks down by company:

Registered Agents Inc includes one year of registered agent service with its formation package, along with a template for an LLC operating agreement or corporate bylaws.

An LLC operating agreement is not always required by state law, but it is still an important internal document for defining how the company will operate. Corporations usually have stricter recordkeeping requirements, and written bylaws are commonly required or strongly expected.

With Registered Agents Inc, these document templates are included in the $100 formation processing fee. Other providers usually charge separately for these documents or include them only in more expensive service packages.

LegalZoom includes an operating agreement in its $249 Pro formation package. It can also be purchased separately for $99.

ZenBusiness includes an operating agreement or corporate bylaws with its Pro formation package, which costs $199 per year plus state fees. A standalone operating agreement costs $99.

Bizee includes an operating agreement in its $199 Standard formation package. It can also be purchased separately for $99. Corporate bylaws are available as a $30 add-on to the Basic package.

In practical terms, the total cost of forming a company and obtaining an operating agreement or corporate bylaws often ends up close to $100 or more, depending on the provider and selected package.

LegalZoom, ZenBusiness, and Bizee also offer several higher-priced service levels. Registered Agents Inc uses a simpler formation package structure.

The more expensive plans usually include extra services. One common example is EIN application assistance. Some providers include this service in packages priced around $199 to $249.

For eligible U.S. applicants, an EIN can usually be requested directly from the IRS without a filing fee. However, some business owners may prefer paying a provider to handle the process and reduce the amount of paperwork they need to manage.

The better option depends on how much support you want and whether the added services are worth the extra cost for your business.

Registered Agent and Compliance Services

A registered agent acts as the official contact between a business and the state where the business is registered.

The registered agent receives important documents on behalf of the company, including legal notices, state correspondence, compliance reminders, and service of process.

You may also see registered agents referred to as statutory agents, resident agents, or agents for service of process.

Registered agent pricing varies by provider, so the next section compares the costs and included services of each company.

Assuming you form your business with any given company and stick with their registered agent for your first five years, you’ll have paid at least:

$900 to Registered Agents Inc
$1245 to LegalZoom
$895 to ZenBusiness
$476 to Bizee

The states prescribe a registered agent’s duties and qualifications in their statutes, so “registered agent service” tends to be the same across the board. To get a more realistic picture of how these services actually compare, we need to look at one more detail: renewal services. Sometimes rolled into “compliance services,” this service typically attempts to cover state and/or federal filings required to keep your business in good standing with the state and in adherence with federal regulations.

Each of these companies uses compliance services as a catch-all category for regulatory compliance—the documents you need to file with the state to maintain your business in good standing. Typically, this means an annual report, an annual statement of information, or something similar that keeps the state up to date with your company’s current contact and registered agent information.

Registered Agents Inc only files your annual report, while both LegalZoom and ZenBusiness offer amendment filings. Even Bizee more or less keeps up here; since you usually file an annual report every year, the effective cost for an annual report and an amendment with them is roughly equivalent to the pricing for LegalZoom and ZenBusiness. (You just have to remember to hire them to file it for you.)

On the other hand, not every state requires you to file an annual report. In some states the annual requirement varies by entity; in other states, businesses only file every other year; and some states don’t have any required filing beyond your initial formation documents. So depending on where you start your business, it may make less sense to pay for standard compliance.

Registered Agents Inc is the only company that includes this service, which they call a Renewal Service, free. LegalZoom and ZenBusiness will each charge you an additional $199 per year for their compliance services. After forming your business and five years of registered agent service with Renewal Service or compliance filing service, you’ll have paid at least:

$900 to Registered Agents Inc
$2240 to LegalZoom
$1691 to ZenBusiness
$971 to Bizee

It’s also important to note that these costs do not include state filing fees, which can vary from as little as $10 to hundreds for your annual report (or state equivalent). That’s the same fee you’d pay to the state to file the document yourself, so you pay it to the company for them to pass to the state when they file on your behalf.

Business Identity

Your brand, your business identity—whatever you call the public face of your business, you’ll need the communication channels to establish it. This section looks at the service offerings for a branded domain, custom website, professional email, and business phone line by company.

These services can be more complicated to compare directly, but here’s how the five-year cost breaks down by company:

$1005 to Registered Agents Inc gets you:
- a custom domain with SSL and domain privacy (assuming $4.95 first year and $25/year for market value domains);
- a website built with open-source software;
- up to ten email addresses; and
- a business phone line.
$249 plus state fees and unspecified ongoing costs to LegalZoom gets you:
- Pro business formation services (standard filing, operating agreement and EIN); and
- a website built with Wix, a proprietary website builder.
$1495 to ZenBusiness gets you:
- Premium business formation services (expedited filing, operating agreement, EIN, etc.);
- compliance services (annual report filing and up to two amendment filings per year);
- a custom domain with domain privacy
- a website; and
- one business email address.
$1136 plus state fees to Bizee gets you:
- Premium business formation services (expedited filing, operating agreement, EIN);
- free first year registered agent ($119/year after trial—add $476 to keep this service);
- free first month virtual address ($29/month after trial—add $1711 to keep this service);
- a custom domain (free first year, then $36/year with email);
- one business email address;
- one free first year business phone line ($15/month after trial).

Notably, Registered Agents Inc is the only company on this list from whom you can purchase these products without first purchasing a business formation package. This is ideal for small business owners who have already registered their company with the state and are ready to make the leap from social media platforms to their own branded communication channels.

Total five-year cost calculations here are impacted by a lack of available information. LegalZoom refuses to release details related to ongoing costs for their Wix-based website service until you’ve purchased a business formation package, so getting a more complete picture of the total year-over-year cost for their service is not possible. However, if we assume that it’ll cost about $25/year for a domain + $30/month for a website—which is roughly equivalent to market value—that puts LegalZoom’s total five-year cost at $2174 plus state fees. A more conservative calculation of $15/year for a domain + $15/month for a website adds up to $1224 plus state fees. You’d still need a second provider for professional email addresses and a business phone line.

ZenBusiness doesn’t provide a business phone line, although their package otherwise is fairly robust.

Bizee’s package doesn’t include a website. You’ll need to hire a website builder and/or web hosting provider, and using that same conservative estimate of $15/month for a website adds $900 over five years to your budget.

Registered Agents Inc is the clear all‑in‑one choice—simple, affordable, and built to save entrepreneurs money while keeping compliance stress‑free.

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