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ZenBusiness reviews CSC’s registered agent services. CSC is a well-known service that’s been around since 1899, but it charges a high price point for its registered agent services.
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Last Updated: August 14, 2025
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When you start a state-registered business like a corporation or limited liability company (LLC) in the United States, you’ll be required to designate a registered agent to accept service of process on your business’s behalf. If you’re researching the many registered agent services on the market today, you might encounter CSC registered agent services.
But does CSC provide a good registered agent service offering? How does it compare to most registered agent services? In this guide, we’ll review CSC, including what this company is, its track record, how its registered agent service stacks up, and more.
A registered agent, sometimes called a resident agent or statutory agent, is an individual or a business entity that receives certain government and legal documents, such as service of process, on behalf of a business. When you register your business with the state, you’ll be required to designate a registered agent. Many business owners decide to hire a registered agent service for peace of mind and to protect their business’s image.
In most states, a registered agent needs to be an individual state resident or a business entity with a physical address in the state (P.O. boxes don’t count). The agent needs to be present at their listed address (often referred to as the registered agent address or registered office) during all standard business hours.
If you don’t designate a registered agent, your business’s initial filings will be rejected, and your business won’t be formed. Additionally, if your existing business no longer has an agent, your business could lose its good standing in the state and face penalties like administrative dissolution.
In many cases, it’s possible to be your own registered agent (and it’s natural to want a free registered agent service, which you’ll have if you serve as your own agent). But just because you can be your own agent doesn’t mean you should. From a logistical standpoint, serving as your own agent means that you’ll have to be present at that listed address during all normal business hours — not ideal if your business requires you to be out and about during the day or if you want to go on vacation.
But more importantly, if you serve as your own agent, you’ll personally receive any notices about pending lawsuits if your business is ever sued. This could happen at any time — potentially while you’re working with a client or business partner — which could harm your reputation.
A registered agent service like ZenBusiness or CSC can help you avoid that scenario. Registered agent services will receive these notices privately in their office, and they’ll deliver the notice to you discreetly. Plus, they’ll give you peace of mind that someone’s always present at your listed registered agent address, helping ensure you’re upholding your state compliance requirements.
But should you use CSC as your registered agent? Let’s dig into this company in more detail.
Short for “Corporation Service Company,” CSC has a long history of providing registered agent services and other business compliance services to companies all over the world. They first got their start back in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware. Since then, they’ve expanded their business to offices across the globe, including the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
According to their LinkedIn profile, CSC serves as a partner for 90% of the Fortune 500® and many other global brands. They offer a variety of business services, including registered agent services, business formation services, tax services, and assistance with global business administration.
Before we begin our full-length review of CSC, let’s review its key advantages and disadvantages.
In our evaluation of CSC, we took time to assess their registered agent service offering, pricing information, online customer reviews, and customer support quality. Let’s go through those categories.
If you use CSC’s registered agent service, you’ll get a registered agent to accept service of process on your behalf in your state. They’ll scan your service of process documents and deliver them to you electronically on the same day they’re received.
Additionally, as a CSC registered agent customer, you’ll get access to a free Good Standing Calendar that outlines annual report due dates and compliance deadlines. You can set up automated emails to notify you about these dates, and CSC provides fillable PDFs and links to filing applicable forms.
Outside of registered agent services, CSC also provides a variety of services, including tax help, global corporate management assistance, international accounting services, and more. It’s worth noting that a lot of their services target large international corporations, not small businesses.
A big weakness of CSC is that they don’t publish pricing details for their registered agent services on their website; in fact, we didn’t see published prices for any of their services. You have to reach out to a sales agent to learn what pricing will be for your business. Granted, CSC does say that the price point varies depending on your requirements and the number of business entities you’re getting service for. But if you want immediate pricing transparency, you won’t find it with CSC.
When we reached out to CSC, we requested a quote for the company’s registered agent services for a single LLC in one U.S. state. The sales rep said the quoted price would be “right around $300.” That’s a pretty premium price point for registered agent service alone, and most competitors have a lower price point for the same service.
In comparison, ZenBusiness offers registered agent service for $199/year. We’ll also give you your first year for just $99 (plus state fees) for the first year.
We went digging to find some of CSC’s customer reviews on third-party websites like Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau. Surprisingly, CSC doesn’t have a high volume of reviews online (and some of the reviews on those profiles seem to belong to other businesses). Granted, CSC’s primary customers are large corporations, and large corporations might not use third-party review sites as frequently as small business owners. But for a brand as old as CSC, it’s surprising to see such a low number of reviews. For reference, the company has fewer than fifty reviews across Trustpilot and the BBB.
More importantly, the reviews we could find were disappointing. Many customers cite billing issues and poor customer service as their primary complaints. For such an established brand, we’d expect much better reviews (and more of them).
In contrast, ZenBusiness has over 23910 reviews on Trustpilot and an average customer rating of 4.8 stars across those reviews.
On their website, CSC provides two primary contact methods: phone support through their listed number and a contact form to fill out. They have two dedicated contact forms: one to contact a sales agent and another to get support if you’re an existing customer.
When we reached out to CSC’s customer team to request a quote for their registered agent services, we heard back from them by email on the same business day. While it wasn’t a lightning-speed response, it was reasonably prompt, and the representative answered our questions well.
CSC does offer a fair registered agent service offering and other legal services, but we wouldn’t say it’s one of the top registered agent services out there, especially for small businesses in the U.S. Other registered agent services offer a much better price point for a comparable product.
That said, CSC might be the right registered agent service for you if you’re looking to expand globally and take advantage of other services. CSC does offer a lot of solutions for international businesses that you can’t find with many competitors.
That said, if you’re looking for the best value for your small business, or if you value a proven track record of excellent customer reviews, then CSC isn’t a good choice. You’d be better served by a brand like ours, which boasts excellent customer reviews and a much lower price tag.
Here at ZenBusiness, we pride ourselves on providing reliable services for a variety of small business needs at a great value. Whether you need registered agent service for a good price, help starting your LLC, a Money Pro app for managing your business finances, or something else, we’ve got your back. We’ll help handle the red tape for you so you can focus on what you love: running your business.
CSC has been around since 1899, and according to their LinkedIn profile, they serve 90% of all Fortune 500 companies in some capacity. While their prices can get pretty high, there’s no doubt that this is a legitimate service.
CSC lists two primary methods for contacting their support team. You can call the phone number listed on their website, or you can fill out their contact form and wait for them to contact you. They provide two different contact forms: one for their sales team (for potential customers) and one for support for existing customers.
In short, yes, every LLC and corporation operating in America today needs to designate a registered agent (in some states, such as Pennsylvania, you list a registered office instead of an agent, but the gist of the requirement is the same). A registered agent is a person or business entity that receives service of process and important document deliveries from the state and then forwards them to your business. It’s a crucial part of any LLC or corporation’s compliance.
Technically, you can serve as your own agent, appoint a friend or family member, or even hire an attorney to fill this role, but a dedicated registered agent service is a wise choice for balancing overall value with peace of mind.
After digging through the legal sections on CSC’s website, we couldn’t find any stated policies for refunds.
CSC offers a broad selection of other business services, including annual reports, accounting, business formations, corporate tax assistance, global treasury management, and more.
The main advantages of CSC are its experience (they’ve been around since 1899) and their support for large global corporations. However, CSC’s biggest disadvantage is its pricing. Pricing information isn’t readily available, and when we got a quote, the price point was higher than many competitors in this sector.
Registered Agent Services Reviewed
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
Written by Team ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness has helped people start, run, and grow over 850,000 dream companies. The editorial team at ZenBusiness has over 20 years of collective small business publishing experience and is composed of business formation experts who are dedicated to empowering and educating entrepreneurs about owning a company.
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