BizFilings vs IncFile

Do BizFilings and IncFile Offer Good Value?

BizFilings and IncFile are two highly reliable and trustworthy LLC formation service providers, and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend either of them. Both companies have their own advantages

Most importantly, IncFile offers LLC formations for free (as long as you pay your own state fee), while BizFilings charges $99. Furthermore, IncFile has thousands of positive customer reviews available online, while BizFilings barely has any reviews at all.

However, in general, BizFilings is a good alternative to IncFile, especially if you’re looking for a company that handles state-specific compliance requirements.

Would you like to know more before making your decision? Read on to discover all the relevant details that set these service providers apart.

6 Things They Have In Common

1) Affordable: If you’re trying to save money, look no further. These companies can both save you hundreds of dollars over hiring a business attorney to draft and file your formation documents.

2) Customer Support: Even though you’re saving a significant sum by going with BizFilings or IncFile instead of a lawyer, you still won’t be going it alone. These providers both offer convenient customer service solutions that can get your tough questions answered in an efficient manner.

3) Experience: Is experience a priority for you? IncFile and BizFilings have each helped form thousands of businesses over the years, meaning they have the expertise and know-how necessary to efficiently form your compliant LLC.

4) Registered Agent Service: Every LLC will require a registered agent to receive and forward your government documents. IncFile offers a full year of registered agent service with any formation package, and BizFilings supplies six months. Many of their competitors don’t include any registered agent service in their formation packages. (What is a registered agent?)

5) Additional Services: LLC service is just the beginning when it comes to what these companies have to offer. BizFilings and IncFile both have dozens of business solutions that can help your new LLC remain compliant down the road, from federal tax ID numbers (EIN) to foreign qualifications and much more.

6) Efficiency: Do you need to form your LLC in a hurry? Both BizFilings and IncFile offer expedited processing (for a price, of course) that can dramatically speed up your turnaround times from a matter of weeks down to just a few days in many states.

Side-by-Side Comparisons

Pricing

IncFile: IncFile will help you form your business for free while also providing a full year of registered agent service. Once the first year is over, the registered agent service will renew for $119 per year, which is a strong price point. In addition, their $149 Gold package and $299 Platinum package are both packed with valuable features that make them strong options as well, even at their higher price points.

BizFilings: Starting with their $99 Basic package, which includes six months of registered agent (which costs $220/year after that), their packages are all more expensive overall than some competing formation services. The Standard and Complete packages vary in price by state but generally don’t have enough valuable features to justify their price points.

Experience

IncFile: IncFile has 800,000+ business formations under its belt, and it was formed in 2004.

BizFilings: BizFilings has formed more than 500,000 businesses since it opened back in 1996, which is slightly less than the customer volume handled by IncFile.

Customer Support

IncFile: IncFile offers phone and email support, which we tested. IncFile’s phone support is typically responsive and helpful. However, its email support is much less responsive. Many of our emails have gone unanswered, and several of the responses we have received are just form emails that don’t directly address our questions.

BizFilings: BizFilings provides phone and email support, and there is also a “leave a message” feature on the left side of each page on their website. We called the listed phone number, and we were quickly able to navigate through their phone tree to speak with a real person. When we emailed, we received a response the same day after sending it early in the morning.

Both their phone and email responses were professional, and they answered our questions thoroughly, even providing additional details that were applicable based on what we asked. You can reach BizFilings representatives from 7 am-9 pm ET every weekday, which is a longer window than most competitors provide for support.

Turnaround Times

IncFile: IncFile guarantees that every LLC or corporation formation will be processed and forwarded to your state of formation within one business day. If you need your business formed in a hurry, IncFile offers the ability to order expedited state processing for an additional fee (determined by your state), or you can purchase their Platinum package which includes expedited service.

BizFilings: BizFilings’ cheapest package takes 4-6 weeks, and their most expensive package takes 7-10 days. Their expedited processing has a $60 in-house upcharge to “prioritize your order above non-expedited orders,” but this does not actually speed anything up with the state. They have official state expediting fees on top of that, but again, there’s no indication of how much this option will actually speed up your turnaround time.

Customer Reviews

IncFile: IncFile doesn’t just have hundreds of customer reviews available online, they have nearly 34,000 of them. Furthermore, their feedback is almost entirely positive, with critical reviews in short supply. Customer feedback is a pro for IncFile.

BizFilings: BizFilings essentially does not have customer feedback. We found just 18 customer reviews anywhere online, which is unusual for a company with more than half a million clients.

Ease of Use

IncFile: As you walk through the process of signing up for IncFile, your steps are personalized based on the state you live in and the type of business you wish to establish. There are even little question marks and hyperlinks throughout the application to learn more about a specific question or entry on the form. There are a few upsells and third-party offers to navigate through, but if you opt into any of them, your total price is immediately updated on the screen. There are never any surprises with IncFile.

BizFilings: Their incorporation wizard is a convenient tool that can help you figure out whether you should form an LLC or a corporation. Once you start filling out your order form, there are opportunities for upsells along the way, but they’re quite unobtrusive and never feel pushy at all.

From the moment you start the application process, they automatically assign an order number to your application, so you can reference it with customer service if you need assistance.

Additional Services

With either BizFilings or IncFile, you’ll have access to many other services that can help you launch and maintain your business. As you might expect, they offer quite a few of the same services, including foreign qualifications, doing business as (DBA) names, annual reports, business license research, EIN obtainment, and more.

There are also some services that you can only purchase from one or the other of these companies. For instance, BizFilings offers publication services for LLC formations in states that require it (such as New York), but IncFile does not. On the other hand, IncFile provides its customers with access to business accounting services, which BizFilings doesn’t offer.

Which Is the LLC Formation Service for You?

There are many similarities between BizFilings and IncFile, perhaps more than you usually see between most companies in this industry. They’re both highly experienced and legitimate operations, and each one has some advantages over the other.

If you’re still undecided, let’s close by going over a couple of scenarios that might point you in one direction or the other.

Choose IncFile if You Are:

If you want a provider with the best prices and strong customer reviews, IncFile is worthy of handling your LLC formation service.

Choose BizFilings if You Are:

If you need consistently fast responses to your customer service queries, give BizFilings a look. They’re also a good option if you’re starting a business in a state that requires publication service.