Northwest Registered Agent vs Incorporate.com: Who’s Better?

Last updated on: July 7, 2021
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Opening an LLC with an online service is a winning choice both for beginner entrepreneurs and for more experienced businessmen since it saves your time, money, and effort bringing the peace of mind that the process of forming an LLC will be completed in a lawful manner. The biggest dilemma you’ll face is how to choose the best formation service that will cater to all your business needs. In this article, you’ll find a Northwest Registered Agent vs Incorporate.com comparison guide providing a detailed description of two valuable options you’ll have and how they stand against each other. We’ll closely review and compare their features, weak points, and the pricing policies they offer to ease your final choice. 

Are Northwest and Incorporate.com a Decent Choice?

Right off the bat, whether you pick Northwest Registered Agent or Incorporate.com, you can’t go wrong with them. Both companies are reputed and respected LLC services with strong market positions and both can create a compliant LLC quickly minimizing any hassle and fuss you’d experience following a DIY route. What stands behind them you guess? Well, Northwest Registered Agent boasts by far the best customer support in the industry while Incorporate.com is backed by over a century of professional expertise and is one of the most experienced market players. In the meantime, a full year of registered agent services covered in their LLC service packages gives Northwest an edge over many of its rivals including Incorporate.com.

6 Similar Features Shared by These Services

Pretty different at a glance, these two formation services have quite a number of common features that make both of them a worthy choice. See for yourself. 

  • Affordability: Starting an LLC is initially about filing company-related paperwork with the state. While a professional lawyer or legal advisor will charge you on an hourly basis, Incorporate.com and Northwest offer LLC formation services at a reasonable price. Though companies provide different service packages varying in cost, they deliver overall good pricing and value and will save you some money anyway. 
  • Expertise: Companies supported by solid expertise in the industry evoke more trust and no matter if you select Incorporate.com or Northwest Registered Agent, you’ll get service with plenty of experience. Both providers have formed thousands of LLCs and are true LLC experts, especially Incorporate.com, with a company track record throwing us back to 1899. 
  • Formation Speed: Depending on the state, turnaround times might take whole weeks. However, if you need to form an LLC in a hurry, both of these business service providers have the ability to expedite your LLC formation process. Thus, at an additional fee, they can cut down the turnaround time from weeks to just several days, which is a great option when you need to launch an LLC as soon as possible. 
  • Added Services: Both backed by extensive experience, these companies know all ins and outs not only of starting an LLC but also of running an LLC business. Hence, they suggest many additional business services to help you out at every stage of your new activity. Whether you need to obtain a federal tax ID number (EIN), draft an Operating Agreement, or file foreign qualification, they’ll do it for you. 
  • Educational Aspect: Even if you are not an Incorporate.com or Northwest client, these companies eagerly share their professional knowledge by providing a wealth of helpful information on their websites. While Northwest has a number of LLC how-to-guides covering different business scenarios and situations, Incorporate.com boasts an online Learning Center through which you can get free access to valuable data not only on how to register a limited liability company but also on taxation and many other legal issues. 

In-Depth Comparison

Both offering good value and sharing many similarities, Northwest and Incroporate.com are certainly not the same. So, let’s delve deeper to take a closer look at their fortes and drawbacks. 

Fees and Rates

First and foremost, it should be noted that these two providers are not the most low-priced options out there. They rather belong to a higher price segment and a premium segment, with LLC price points crossing the 100$ line. Thus, the cheapest formation package in Incorporate.com will cost you $99 + state fees and the Northwest pricing plan starts at $225. So, comparing Northwest vs Incorporate.com pricing, the latter looks like an obvious winner. Yet, hold off on the conclusions before you see what you’ll get for those prices. 

Feature Set

The basics normally covered by an online service include LLC name availability check, preparation and filing of the Articles of Organization, and LLC registered agent service. Northwest and Incorporate.com are not an exclusion in this concern and have all of these on their service lists as well as EIN registration and annual compliance services you might potentially need. Yet, this is where you’ll spot the difference between providers. Starting at a lower price point, the Incorporate.com basic package doesn’t cover the registered agent service you’ll need anyway. Actually, none of their packages embrace this service, and you’ll have to pay for it additionally, thus bumping up the package cost by $235. Meanwhile, in Northwest, you’ll get a year of registered agent services within their $225 pricing plan. 

A company-specific feature of Incorporate.com you won’t find anywhere else is their $75,000 Corporate Veil Guarantee that will protect you against any filing failures due to formation service negligence or mistakes. In other words, they’ll reimburse all the losses and damages you bear. 

Professional Expertise

Incorporate.com and Northwest Registered Agent are highly professional services you can safely rely on. Launched in 1998, Northwest has helped to open around two million business entities since then and gained thousands of loyal customers. Today, it’s a popular midsize company opening about 200 new LLCs and corporations each day and having a solid reputation among competitors. On the other hand, Incorporate.com is an industry old-timer distinguished by unmatched longevity. They opened their doors back in 1899 and have formed over 750,000 companies within a century. Yet, the biggest value they offer is their immense legal experience and impressive track record that makes them not only the oldest but also one of the most knowledgeable industry players.

Filing Speed

For some entrepreneurs, the speed of business formation is an essential factor to consider and can be even a decisive one. Though both providers follow state-by-state guidelines when launching LLCs, they have standard and expedited processing options to match varying business needs. An expedite service available in Northwest and Incorporate.com alike comes at an added cost and reduces turnaround times to just a few days. 

Order Checking

To let you keep abreast of your formation process, Incorporate.com provides access to a real-time order status tracking tool to check your LLC order progress at each and every stage. Opening an LLC with Northwest, you’ll also be able to easily track your order status, though in a less refined manner. 

Customer Service

Maintaining their confident market positions, both providers have a strong customer service reputation, which is no wonder given their professional experience and decades of presence on the market. What you’ll get with Incorporate.com here is good help rep responsiveness and extended availability hours both on weekdays and during the weekend. The company specialists are ready to answer your questions via phone, email, or online chat. While Incorporate.com delivers excellent customer service, Northwest offers top-of-the-line client service. Their stand-out feature is personal LLC support and Corporate Guides program, within which you’ll be assigned a help rep who will guide you through the whole formation process and will stay in touch with you all the time. 

Ease of Use

Being online platforms, both services have user-friendly websites that offer an intuitive application process and will smoothly navigate you through it. While Incorporate.com will throw several upsells on you before you’ll get to the payment and their pricing page is a bit misleading, in Northwest, everything is crystal clear and straightforward. Anyway, with either of these providers, it won’t take you more than a few minutes to file an application for creating an LLC. 

Registered Agent Service

Each new business entity needs to designate an LLC registered agent to operate lawfully and in compliance with local rules. Both companies are registered agent service providers, yet, at this point of the Incorporate.com vs Northwest battle, Northwest is an indisputable winner. Despite the fact that both providers have the registered agent service on their service menus, Northwest makes it a part of their pricing plans while in Incorporate.com, it’s an added service you’ll have to pay for $235 extra from the very start. Besides, Northwest registered agent service as an add-on will cost you $125 per year, which is a noticeably lower price than that of their opponent. 

The only positive aspect going for Incorporate.com here is that the payable registered agent service they offer also unlocks the Corporate Veil Guarantee and CSCNavigator Compliance Tool to manage your company docs in a safe manner and keep up with important filing dates. 

Add-on Services

To maintain an LLC business you might need some additional services and these companies readily provide many extras. Apart from the registered agent services, Northwest and Incorporate.com can help you with EIN acquisition, annual reports, banking resolution, and mail forwarding. Among others, Northwest delivers comprehensive virtual office service, VoIP business phone number, and S-Corp registration with the IRS.  Incorporate.com, on the other hand, provides business license research and services on renewing a dissolved business entity. 

Customer Feedback

Comparing Incorporate.com vs Northwest Registered Agent in terms of user reviews, neither of the services has large volumes of customer feedback. With that, Northwest boasts mostly high scores given by satisfied customers while those comments you find on Incorporate.com are mostly negative claiming unclear pricing policy. 

Northwest Registered Agent or Incorporate.com: Which is a Better Option for You?

Choosing between these companies, you can rest assured you choose between two of the most experienced and popular LLC formation service providers. Though not similar, they offer good value and will be helpful in LLC registration.

Stay With Northwest if:

You appreciate the personalized approach and want professional help and support throughout the whole filing process. A year of registered agent service and strong customer reviews are two more points that further enhance Northwest position among competitors. 

Stay With Incorporate.com if:

The company’s huge experience and longevity in the industry call to you. Through the Free Learning Center, you’ll get access to tons of valuable info on how to open and run an LLC.

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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