Nationwide Incorporators vs LegalZoom

Last updated on: May 31, 2021
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Launching a business is an exciting yet challenging task. And it’s essential to kick it off on the right foot to proceed in the right direction. Forming a sole proprietorship, creating a corporation, or starting an LLC is the first step any new entrepreneur makes to legalize their new business activity and run it lawfully. If you prefer an LLC structure for your future business entity, great chances are you might want some assistance from LLC service providers to make the process of forming a new LLC maximum smooth, quick, and hassle-free. Looking for high-end professionals? In our Nationwide Incorporators vs LegalZoom comparison guide, you’ll learn detailed information about two leading industry players and see how they stand against each other in a close companies comparison. 

Quick Overview

If you search for professional help and seek high-rated LLC formation services available online, you’ll hit the spot with Nationwide Incorporators and LegalZoom assistance alike. Supported by huge industry-specific expertise, both providers are a winning choice for creating an LLC. LegalZoom is a strong industry player with an impeccable reputation among top-tier online incorporation services and a huge customer volume. Their biggest advantage over Nationwide Incorporators is fully web-based services while the latter favors phone consultations and sales. At the same time, Nationwide Incorporators is an attorney-powered service ensuring all your papers will be prepared and processed by proficient legal advisors.

In brief, both services target delivering high-quality legal help, they just have a bit different approach to the whole process. To reveal their fortes and downsides, let’s take a look at what features they have in common and how they compare in essential aspects considered by the customers.

6 Common Features They Share

  1. Affordability: To put it clearly, Nationwide Incorporators and LegalZoom are not the cheapest legal service providers out there. However, if you hire a law expert to register an LLC, you’ll still pay a lot more. Notably, given their professional diligence and the quality of service they provide, the pricing plans of these companies are fair enough. They’ll file formation documents and perform all the basic steps needed to legalize an LLC at a fraction of the cost personal attorneys normally charge on an hourly rate. Overall, when it comes to the final costs of LLC formation, these services match each other stride for stride. 
  2. Expertise: Backed by extensive expertise and featuring thousands of LLCs in their portfolios, Nationwide Incorporators and LegalZoom are confidently among the best players in the LLC formation services industry. Both companies boast proficiency comparable to that of an experienced attorney. So, while forming a limited liability company with either of them, you can rest assured you’ll obtain highly professional aid.
  3. Client Service: Entrepreneurs starting a new business entity strive to open an LLC quickly and accomplish the formation process in a maximum smooth and problem-free manner. This is where the comprehensive customer support systems of LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators will come to help. Both of them provide phone and email support and their service reps will readily and accurately consult you on all the questions you have. 
  4. Solid Service Guarantees: Unlike most rivals, these formation companies ensure strong guarantees that will secure peace of mind if some issues occur during registration that makes them presumably the best companies to form an LLC. With LegalZoom’s 100% satisfaction guarantee, you’ll get your funds back if you are not satisfied with their help. And Nationwide Incorporators will fix any shortcomings until you feel satisfied.
  5. Educational Aspect:  A distinctive benefit of LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators is LLC online learning centers. They suggest tons of free info on how to open an LLC and what other business solutions you have at your disposal. Besides, you can come across valuable details on ongoing compliance and taxation issues. 
  6. Added Services: Apart from filing basics, both providers offer a variety of additional LLC business services. Whether you choose LegalZoom or Nationwide Incorporators, each service will be able to obtain an EIN for an LLC, ensure registered agent service online, and deliver many other helpful added perks. 

In-Depth Comparison

Fees and Rates

Taking a look at Nationwide Incorporators vs LegalZoom pricing packages, you’ll see that both of them have a three-tier system. At a glance, you’ll spot quite a big pricing difference in their starter plans while top-tier options are nearly the same. At $79 + state fees, the LegalZoom Economy Package stands for brand power and is almost twice cheaper than that of Nationwide Incorporators at $145 + state fees.

Note that none of these LLC services has a registered agent service in their ready-made pricing schemes. On the other hand, each of the companies has this feature in their arsenal and you can purchase it separately. Thus, to use the LegalZoom registered agent, you’ll pay $299 per annum. And to know the Nationwide Incorporators registered agent fee valid for your state, you’ll have to get in touch with the company directly. 

Set of Features

Different in price, the basic packages of both LLC services are also quite different in features they embrace. Thus, the low-tier package of Nationwide Incorporators covers an operating agreement and organizational minutes that will come at an added cost in LegalZoom and noticeably increase your total expenses. Meanwhile, LegalZoom offers a banking resolution you normally need to open business checking and savings accounts for your legal entity. Yet, where Nationwide Incorporators really has the edge over LegalZoom is a unique attorney-reviewed service. It’s hard to underestimate the fact that all your formation documentation will be prepared and reviewed by a professional business attorney. This alone is a strong benefit of Nationwide Incorporators that makes it worth the status of the best service for an LLC

Expertise

In this aspect of LegalZoom vs Nationwide Incorporators comparison, both firms stand strong. If you want one of the industry leaders to set up an LLC for you, LegalZoom has over 2 million business customers in its portfolio and confidently holds a top position on the market. On the other hand, with more than 20 years of experience in the field and run by a professional who has 25+ years of experience as a business lawyer, Nationwide Incorporators has all the right tools and knowledge to help you launch your business with ease. 

Client Service

To help you handle the steps of the LLC formation, both providers have excellent client support systems. Extensive phone support is a distinctive forte of Nationwide Incorporators. Their CEO is personally available on the phone on workdays from 9 am to 6 pm. You can ask him any business-related questions and obtain an answer from a reputed professional. A LegalZoom customer team is available via email and phone. Their specific benefit is extended working hours. LegalZoom reps are accessible beyond normal business hours and are ready to assist you even on weekends. That said, the quality of customer support in LegalZoom is not as high as that of their opponent, which is no wonder taking into account the number and varying qualifications of their support representatives.

Filing Speed

Prioritizing personal contacts, Nationwide Incorporators does not give any info on the exact turnaround times on their web platform. Their processing times largely depend on the LLC registration requirements varying by state. So, to learn how much time it will take you to file an LLC with them, you need to contact the company directly.

LegalZoom is more specific in this concern. Their filing speeds are determined by the level of service you choose. Thus, basic registration time is about 30 days while premium packages cover expedite LLC registration within 15 days or 7-10 days accordingly.

Order Tracking

Since you need to comply with all state requirements when legalizing a new entity, the whole process is time-consuming. So, an opportunity to check the status of your LLC formation is a nice option to have. Both companies own simple yet functional tools that will keep you informed on how your business registration proceeds.

Registered Agent Service

Unlike many other LLC services, neither LegalZoom nor Nationwide Incorporators adds LLC registered agent service to fixed business formation packages. Even top-tier pricing plans come without this option. It’s an optional payable feature. A year of registered agent service in LegalZoom will be charged at $299 and you can order it online. If you want to incorporate it into your formation bundle, the first year will cost only $159. Meanwhile, Nationwide Incorporators does not expressly declare the cost of this service and, again, you’ll have to call them to find out the price.

Customer Feedback

When it comes to LLC services reviews available online, LegalZoom gets extensive feedback from the clients. You’ll come across nearly 2000 reviews on the web including comprehensive customer comments on such reputed websites as Consumer Affairs and Better Businesses Bureau. However, we’d be remiss not to mention that those comments split between positive and negative ones.

For nationwide Incorporators, you’ll spot only a few comments on Yelp and Google. On the bright side, though, all of them are quite positive reviews posted by users who were happy to have qualified business attorney help. 

Ease of Use

Forming an LLC online, it’s great to have access to all features on the LLC service provider website. With an easy-to-navigate platform and user-friendly website interface, LegalZoom has a noticeable benefit over Nationwide Incorporators since many of their services are only available over the phone.

Add-on Services

As stated above, both Nationwide Incorporators and LegalZoom have a whole bunch of additional business services. Yet, LegalZoom is an obvious leader in this aspect. The add-ons these providers have in common are registered agent service, business licensing, foreign registrations, EIN filing, and operating agreement preparation. To top it off, LegalZoom also provides 501(c)(3) applications, corporate supplies, doing business as (DBA) names, and a variety of personal services. If you need to make up a testament, draft divorce papers, prepare a marriage contract, or write a power of attorney, in LegalZoom, they have all sorts of specialists to do it for you. 

Which LLC Service Is the Winner?

With these two companies, there is no right or wrong choice. Opening an LLC with Nationwide Incorporators or LegalZoom, you’ll be assisted by a strong LLC formation service backed by extensive experience and delivering professional legal help. If you wonder which is the best LLC service provider for your specific business situation, let us make a final note on that. 

Stay With LegalZoom if:

You appreciate the experience, big-brand name power, and premium service. LegalZoom has it all and comes up with lower price points for a basic set of features. A favorite LLC formation service for many happy customers, it has all chances to become your fave too. 

Stay With Nationwide Incorporators if:

An “Attorney-Powered” logo appeals to you and you prefer all your formation documents to be drafted, checked, and filed by an experienced business lawyer. If you don’t mind calling the company specialists from time to time and are ready to pay some extra for a personalized professional approach, this company is for you.

Senior Business Tax Writer, etc
Jean Wilson Murray
https://bestllcservices.co/
(323) 789-5289
Senior Business Tax Writer, etc
Jean Wilson Murray

Entrepreneur, investor, financial commentator

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