If you seek to form a limited liability company to legalize your business, one of the multiple LLC services can make the whole process of creating an LLC much less of a chore. Yet, finding your proper legal partner among such a big number of LLC companies might turn out quite a challenge. And this is where LLC service comparative guides come into play. In our comprehensive and well-structured ZenBusiness vs Incorporate.com review, we’ll cast a close look at two reputed legal providers you can consider for starting an LLC in the United States.
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Both popular LLC services, ZenBusiness and Incorporate.com are not the same relating to the value they bring. Regarding the value as the price you’ll pay for setting up an LLC online, ZenBusiness not only confidently outcompetes Incorporate.com but also is a leader among top LLC companies. Their $49 starter package (in contrast to a $99 Incorporate.com package) is a real bargain. The same is true if you consider the value as the features you’ll get for your money. At a lower price, with ZenBusiness, you’ll obtain more than their opponent delivers at a higher cost.
While these LLC service providers have a lot of common basic features, at a closer look, they appear different. So, let’s see how they compare in major aspects customers usually take into consideration.
Forming an LLC with either of these companies will come at a completely different cost for you despite the fact that both have three LLC formation packages. Speaking of ZenBusines, they are well-known industry top-liners offering low prices with excellent features. In other words, they sell value for money, with a low-tier pricing plan starting at $49 and covering even more than you expect to get for that price. In contrast, Incorporate.com rates start at $74. Not only is it a noticeably higher LLC price tag but also you’ll get nothing oh-so-special for that money. It’s just basic essentials covering LLC paperwork completion and filing and a Corporate Compliance guarantee that will protect you against all the potential risks related to documents being mishandled by Incorporate.com. They also declare access to the CSCNavigator tool to maintain compliance with the state requirements. Anyway, in price comparison, ZenBusiness is an absolute winner, and we’ll explain why in the next section.
In this aspect of Incorporate.com vs ZenBusiness competition, the latter still has an edge over its opponent. While the low-price package of both services embraces a name availability check as well as filling in and filing the articles of organization with the state authorities, ZenBusines also provides a whole year of registered service and an LLC operating agreement template above that. With Incorporate.com, a registered agent service is always an option that will cost you $235 per year. Besides, note that their CSCNavigator tool to keep an eye on important filing due dates is only available subject to ordering the registered agent service. All in all, at a lower price, ZenBusiness delivers quite a valuable set of features, and to get what you need with Incorporate.com, you’ll have to consider a whole bunch of upsells that will significantly increase your final LLC service costs.
This is hands down the only aspect where Incorporate.com outcompetes ZenBusiness. Established over a century ago, Incorporate.com is a true industry “mastodont” while ZenBusiness (launched in 2015) is a relative newcomer. A subdivision of CSC started in 1899, Incorporate.com has been around under different names for over 120 years and has formed over 750,000 businesses since then. So, if the best LLC service were the one with the longest history, you could safely rely on Incorporate.com since their professional expertise is really beyond all praise. On the other hand, operating for only a few years, ZenBusiness has still managed to form thousands of legal entities within this period. And the company has confidently carved its place among industry leaders.
You won’t be able to legally operate an LLC in the US unless you have an LLC registered agent to maintain contacts with governmental authorities and timely handle LLC documentation on your behalf. Nearly any online LLC service offers agent services to help their users comply with the state requirements. And so do ZenBusiness and Incorporate.com. Yet, they have a totally different approach.
ZenBusiness incorporates a year of registered agent service as a part of all their packages. And to use the service further on, you’ll have to pay $119 annually, which is quite an average rate. In Incorporate.com, this service is optional from the very start, and to use it, you need to add $235 to your chosen formation plan. More than that, in case you want help in changing the registered agent, along with valid state fees, you’ll have to pay the state expediting fee for rush processing.
In Incorporate.com, they use their huge expertise for providing professional support via phone, email, or webchat. Yet, the quality of customer service leaves something to be desired. With no customer department working hours specified anywhere, they state you can get an answer within one business day. When you do manage to contact them via phone or live chat, you’ll get quite efficient and accurate responses.
ZenBusiness service team is available via phone, email, or online chat throughout the whole week. They offer extended working hours (from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m) on weekdays and are even accessible on weekends from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The company boasts excellent customer service. Their help reps are always eager to answer your questions on LLC formation procedures, and whenever you reach them, you’ll get prompt support.
With both Incorporate.com and ZenBusiness, you’ll learn how long it takes to launch an LLC in your state of formation. You can find that info on their websites. However, the approach is different here as well. ZenBusiness specifies turnaround time for each of their packages, and their filing speeds vary from a month for standard services through about two weeks for the expedite service, to 3-5 business days for the rush service. Incorporate.com provides those timings only upon the completion of the application process. In practice, though, chances are great that your application will be handled the same day since the service is not a popular top-liner and, presumably, there will be not so many applications waiting in line.
Customer feedback on ZenBusiness service is not only extensive but also predominantly positive. In thousands of online reviews, ZenBusiness users give the company high scores for the ease of use ensured by their website, efficiency, and high-end customer support that makes ZenBusiness one of the best LLC formation services you can find so far.
Incorporate.com, on the other hand, despite its long history and huge expertise, lags far behind ZenBusiness in this aspect. They have just about 50 online reviews, and most of them are those from non-satisfied customers. The clients outline them as not the most affordable business entity formation service and point out low service quality.
If you choose to form a business with one of these legal providers, on top of basic LLC registration, you’ll get access to a number of optional services. And while a registered agent, operating agreement templates, and state reports are common for both companies, there are many options they don’t share. Thus, ZenBusiness enlists publication service compulsory for some states, a banking resolution template to open a business account for your company, and a domain name to set up your corporate identity at a formation stage. Meanwhile, Incorporate.com has a mail forwarding service, a corporate kit (which is not crucial though), and a business license research service to find out what licenses or permissions you might need to lawfully operate your business. They will even help you file for those docs.
To sum it all up, both companies are well-known service providers. Each of them has unique advantages and some drawbacks, which is a normal thing. Though applying a three-tier formation package system, they still have quite different pricing models and ZemnBusiness obviously takes the lead in both the cost and the quality of service.
You want admittedly the most affordable online LLC service and the best bang for your buck. The full formation process of your LLC comes at only $49, and they will provide really great features for that price. At the same time, positive customer feedback proves the excellent quality of their service.
You prefer to start an LLC with a company that has the largest track record and huge expertise. They eagerly share their professional experience in a wide collection of comprehensive guides on many business-related issues and topics that makes them a great educational platform. Besides, their $75.000 Corporate Compliance guarantee is a truly unique feature no other similar online services provide.
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