Read the Harvard Business Services vs ZenBusiness LLC review below or get Mark Cuban's recommendation (ZenBusiness) for $0 + state fee.
Starts at $0 + state fees and only takes 5-10 minutes
ZenBusiness and Harvard Business Services are two reputable companies in the LLC websites industry, and we’re quite confident in their abilities to efficiently form your compliant business entity.
ZenBusiness offers LLC formation service for free (just pay your state’s required fee), which is $89 cheaper than the lowest rate offered by Harvard Business Services. In addition, Harvard Business Services only offers services in Delaware, whereas ZenBusiness provides services in all 50 states.
Would you like to learn the details that set these service providers apart, as well as the common characteristics both share? Read on as we discuss all the information you need to make a decision between these two respected companies.
1) Affordable: With either ZenBusiness or Harvard Business Services, you’ll save a significant amount of money on your LLC formation compared to hiring a business attorney to handle your formation process.
2) Valuable Features: Both of these companies have feature-rich LLC formation service packages.
3) Efficiency: Whether you choose ZenBusiness or Harvard Business Services, you’re getting a service provider that’s capable of processing an LLC formation quickly. If you’re in a hurry, both have options available that can speed up your formation.
4) Outstanding Customer Feedback: ZenBusiness and Harvard Business Services have two of the best reputations in this industry when it comes to customer reviews. Both have thousands of reviews available online, and almost all of them are positive.
5) Experience: Both Harvard Business Services and ZenBusiness have helped form thousands of businesses over the years, and both have plenty of expertise. You can definitely trust these companies to have the experience necessary to form your compliant LLC.
6) Additional Services: LLC formation is far from the only service offered by ZenBusiness and Harvard Business Services. Both have tons of other services available, from registered agent service to foreign qualifications and much more. These are one-stop shops for business services.
7) Customer Support: These two services both have customer support networks that can answer your tough questions. Why go it alone when you can get help from ZenBusiness or Harvard Business Services?
If you’re ready to officially start your business and protect your assets, let ZenBusiness take care of the paperwork. We have formed over 500,000 businesses and received thousands of positive customer reviews.
Starts at $0 + state fee
ZenBusiness: A unique aspect of ZenBusiness is the fact that we offer our Starter incorporation service plan for free (you only pay your state’s required fee). In addition, our $199 Pro package adds ongoing compliance assistance, an operating agreement, and faster processing. You also might like our $299 plan, as it adds our fastest processing, a domain name, and a business website package.
Harvard Business Services: We like their entry-level Green package quite a bit, as it costs $89 (plus state fee), and it includes a year of registered agent service, as well as a compliance alerts system to keep you informed of important filing deadlines. On the other hand, their Basic ($139) and Standard ($239) plans don’t provide enough value to justify their price points. We should mention that Harvard Business Services solely forms businesses in the state of Delaware and has no availability in other states.
ZenBusiness: ZenBusiness is a recent addition to this industry, founded in 2015. Since then, we’ve served 500,000+ customers, and our goal is to form one million LLCs and corporations in the next few years.
Harvard Business Services: Harvard Business Services has been around since 1981, and they’ve formed more than 300,000 business entities in that time.
ZenBusiness: With ZenBusiness, customer support is available via phone, email, or our web-based chat feature. We have expanded availability that even includes Sundays — very few competitors have any weekend availability. We pride ourselves in continuously improving the quality and responsiveness of our customer support, and we believe we compare favorably to the vast majority of competitors in this area.
Harvard Business Services: We’ve always been impressed by the customer service provided by Harvard Business Services. They offer support via phone, email, chat, or Skype. We’ve used all of these options except for Skype, and they are always quick to reply with helpful information. One unique aspect of their support that we appreciate is that they list the direct extensions of their entire staff on their website.
ZenBusiness: With ZenBusiness, all formation speeds vary based on state capabilities. Also, if you’re in a hurry, you can choose one of our premium packages to speed things up a bit! When compared to other formation services, we are usually either just as fast or slightly faster. To find out your turnaround time, simply plug in your state and immediately see your estimated processing speed.
Harvard Business Services: As you might expect from a company that only operates in one state, Harvard Business Services has quick processing times for Delaware business formations. Their standard processing has a 3-5 business day turnaround, while their expedited processing (for an additional $150) has same-day processing if filed before 1 pm ET or next-day processing if filed after that.
ZenBusiness: ZenBusiness excels when it comes to customer feedback, as we have more than 10,000 reviews available online, and nearly all of them are positive. Our clients are clearly satisfied with our services, and they frequently praise our efficiency, along with the general ease of use provided by our platform.
Harvard Business Services: Harvard Business Services also has a solid track record in this regard. With around 3,500 reviews online, they maintain high average rating scores. These are two of the top companies in this industry for customer feedback.
ZenBusiness: The business formation process is pretty simple with ZenBusiness. Once you’ve chosen your formation package, all that’s left to do is provide us with some basic information about yourself and your business and select your add-on features. It’s very simple and easy.
Harvard Business Services: We were able to work our way through their order form in just under 10 minutes, which impressed us. The process for ordering incorporation service with Harvard Business Services is straightforward.
With either Harvard Business Services or ZenBusiness, you’ll have access to a wide variety of additional services that can help you grow and develop your business in a compliant fashion.
Both offer many of the same services, including things like registered agent service, EIN acquisition, operating agreement templates, certificates of good standing, and more.
However, there are also some services that only one of these companies offers. For instance, you can access mail forwarding services from Harvard Business Services, which ZenBusiness doesn’t offer. On the other hand, ZenBusiness provides accounting and bookkeeping services, while Harvard Business Services does not. Of course, ZenBusiness also offers services in all 50 states, while Harvard Business Services focuses solely on Delaware.
ZenBusiness and Harvard Business Services have plenty of common characteristics that make these companies two of the top LLC formation services available, but also some major differences.
If you haven’t yet made up your mind between these options, let’s finish this comparison by quickly describing some scenarios that may sway your opinion one way or the other.
Regardless of which one you ultimately choose to help form your LLC, we think you’ll be quite pleased with the service you receive from these great companies.
If you’re forming a business in Delaware, they’re a solid choice due to their fast processing speeds. Their positive customer feedback and affordable registered agent service are good selling points as well.
Seeking reasonable price points? The free LLC formation package (+ state fee) offered by ZenBusiness can save you a lot of money. In addition, we offer services in all 50 states, which Harvard Business Services does not.
Starts at $0 + state fees and only takes 5-10 minutes
Got LLC service questions? We’ve got answers.
It’s impossible to not be a fan of the ZenBusiness Starter plan because it is completely free aside from your state fee.
You might also be interested in our Premium package for $299, which adds ongoing compliance assistance, a custom operating agreement, and a business website package, among other features.
While some competitors won’t handle state-specific compliance requirements on your behalf, ZenBusiness offers a truly comprehensive LLC formation service. This means that if you’re forming a business in a state that requires publication service to form a compliant LLC, ZenBusiness offers to take care of it for you.
For what it’s worth, Harvard Business Service does not offer publication service because it isn’t necessary for Delaware. If you’d like more information on the best options for New York LLC publication services, check out our full guide on this topic.
ZenBusiness has a refund policy that is one of the best in the industry. While many competitors have vague refund policies or even refuse refunds outright, ZenBusiness offers a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Harvard Business Services is reasonably accommodating when it comes to refunds. As long as you request your refund within 30 days of your purchase date, they will refund your money less a 5% processing fee. If you ordered any physical products from them (like an LLC kit and seal), you’ll need to return them within seven business days of your refund request.
Quite a few people do choose to form their own LLCs using the DIY option, and this option is available to you as well. We don’t typically recommend that our readers try the DIY route though, because every state has different rules and regulations for LLC formations, and it can be a real hassle to figure out exactly what your state requires.
Additionally, there’s no substitute for the peace of mind we receive from professional services like ZenBusiness and Harvard Business Services. These companies have so much experience that you can sit back and relax, knowing the entire process is being handled by professionals.
The big advantage for ZenBusiness (compared to most other formation services, not just Harvard Business Services) is the fact that we will form your business for free if you pay your own state fee.
Harvard Business Services has the same advantage over ZenBusiness that it has over every other competitor, and that’s the fact that it can form a Delaware business with lightning-quick efficiency.
Harvard Business Services provides a year of registered agent service with all of their LLC and corporation service packages, and it costs just $50 per year after that, the lowest rate in the entire industry.
They also offer assistance with annual reports and franchise tax, although you’ll need to contact them to get a pricing quote. ZenBusiness charges $199 as an annual fee for registered agent service in any state, with the first year costing just $99, and we also provide annual report service for the reasonable rate of $100.
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