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Inc Authority and Incorporate.com are two of the most popular companies providing online LLC formation services, and they’re both able to efficiently and effectively form limited liability companies. They each have some advantages over the other.
Inc Authority offers LLC formation service for free, as long as you pay your own state fee. By contrast, Incorporate.com charges at least $99 to form an LLC in most states. In addition, Inc Authority receives strong customer reviews, while Incorporate.com has very little client feedback available. However, Incorporate.com has more experience.
Would you like to learn the details that set these service providers apart, as well as the common characteristics they both share? Read on as we discuss all the relevant information.
1) Affordable: With either Incorporate.com or Inc Authority, you’ll save a significant amount of money on your LLC formation compared to hiring a business attorney to handle your formation process.
2) Customer Support: These two services both have customer support networks that can answer your questions. Why go it alone when you can get help from Incorporate.com or Inc Authority?
3) Experience: Inc Authority and Incorporate.com have each helped form thousands of businesses over the years, and they both have plenty of expertise. You can trust them to have the experience they need to form your compliant LLC.
4) Additional Services: Both Incorporate.com and Inc Authority have many other services that they can provide to your business, from registered agent service to annual reports and much more.
5) Efficiency: These companies both work quickly, and they can get your formation processed with the state in a matter of weeks or even days.
6) Informative: Incorporate.com has a helpful Learning Center on its website that includes information on startup tasks, comparison guides on different types of business entities, and much more. As for Inc Authority, they have a blog where they share business tips and tricks. Both are solid educational resources, whether you’re a customer or not.
7) Trustworthy: These are both legitimate operations with strong track records. These aren’t fly-by-night companies, but rather they’re well-respected entities with plenty of expertise to get the job done right.
Inc Authority: They offer a free (+ state fee) LLC formation service package that includes a year of registered agent service and EIN acquisition. Inc Authority also sells two premium packages with advanced features like an LLC operating agreement template, faster filing, and personalized business advice, but you’ll need to contact them to inquire about pricing.
Incorporate.com: Their pricing starts at $99 (+ state fee) for a package that only includes the basics. Even though they have some valuable features, Incorporate.com’s two premium packages, priced at $634 and $734, are too expensive for what you get.
Inc Authority: Inc Authority has been in business since 1989, and they’ve formed more than 130,000 business entities since then.
Incorporate.com: Incorporate.com opened in 1899, and they’ve served 750,000+ clients since then. Over the years, their name has changed several times ― from Corporation Service Company to The Company Corporation to Incorporate.com ― but the core business has stayed the same.
Inc Authority: Inc Authority offers customer support via phone, email, or web chat. With all three options, you’ll receive timely support from friendly and knowledgeable representatives. Inc Authority reps are available from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET on weekdays.
Incorporate.com: They provide support by phone, email, or chat. We tried all three options and had similar experiences with all of them. Incorporate.com’s representatives responded in a relatively efficient manner and accurately answered our questions. We couldn’t find any info about their hours of operation, however.
Inc Authority: Each state has its own in-house processing times, ranging from a few days all the way up to a couple of months. Inc Authority bases its turnarounds on these state estimates, so you’ll see quite a bit of variety in expected processing speeds between different states. All that said, Inc Authority’s turnaround times are usually competitive with other services.
Incorporate.com: When you reach the bottom of your order form, Incorporate.com gives you turnaround time estimates for both standard and expedited processing. Incorporate.com bases its turnaround times on each state’s processing speeds.
Inc Authority: Customer feedback is a pro for Inc Authority. They have 23,000+ reviews available online with a 4.9/5 average score on Trustpilot.
Incorporate.com: Despite being in business since the 19th century and boasting nearly a million customers, there is little customer feedback available online for Incorporate.com. We found just a small handful of reviews on third-party review sites, and a large percentage of them were negative.
Inc Authority: On the first screen, you’ll choose your entity type (LLC, corporation, nonprofit) and your state. Then, you’ll answer a series of questions about yourself and your business. Next, you’ll enter your name, email address, and phone number, followed by your business name, a short description of your business, and your business address. You’ll then navigate through an extensive series of upsells for an operating agreement template, a legal documents package, a minutes and resolutions feature, web design software, personalized business support, audit and lawsuit assistance, and business banking from Bank of America before finally paying for your order.
Incorporate.com: The ordering process is pretty simple with Incorporate.com. After you select your state and entity, you’ll choose from Incorporate.com’s three LLC formation packages. Then, depending on which package you selected, you’ll see a screen with a few upsell attempts. From there, you just need to fill out your personal contact info and business details, then you can review your information and pay for the order.
Inc Authority and Incorporate.com both offer a variety of additional business services, and there’s quite a bit of overlap between their offerings. For instance, they both provide registered agent service, annual reports, business licensing research, LLC operating agreements, and more.
However, there are some services that are exclusive to one company or the other. Inc Authority has business credit and business funding features that aren’t available through Incorporate.com, and they also offer revocable living trusts. On the other hand, Incorporate.com offers mail forwarding services and entity conversions, neither of which are offered by Inc Authority.
Incorporate.com and Inc Authority have plenty of common characteristics that make them two of the most popular LLC formation services available, but they also have some differences that set them apart. If you haven’t yet made up your mind between them, let’s finish this comparison by quickly describing some scenarios that may sway your opinion one way or the other.
Are you interested in getting your LLC professionally formed for free? Does receiving a full year of registered agent service at no additional charge appeal to you? Do you value positive customer feedback? If so, Inc Authority is an option.
Is experience a significant factor for you? You might want to look at Incorporate.com, as they have the longest track record in this industry.
If you’d like to form your LLC with ZenBusiness, we’re here to help. We offer LLC formations starting at $0 (+ state fee), and we have thousands of positive customer reviews available online. Form your LLC quickly and get more tools to start your dream business.
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In our opinion, Inc Authority’s entry-level LLC formation package is the best one they offer. Not only is it free of charge (except for your state fee), but it also includes a year of registered agent service and EIN acquisition. However, you’ll need to contact them to get pricing info for their premium packages.
Inc Authority doesn’t offer to handle New York publication requirements. We called Incorporate.com’s customer support and found out that they don’t offer assistance with publication requirements either because “publication isn’t part of the business formation” but rather is a step that comes after the LLC’s successful formation. If you’re looking for a company that will take care of publication requirements on your behalf, check out our New York publication service.
Incorporate.com gives you several opportunities to add its $235/year registered agent service to your order. In addition, Incorporate.com’s LLC service package selection screen looks like their annual report service and online compliance tool are included features. However, if you read the fine print, you’ll see that you can only access these features if you also purchase registered agent service. Inc Authority includes quite a few upsells throughout their order form, but seeing as they’re a free service to begin with, this doesn’t really bother us too much.
Incorporate.com has a somewhat confusing refund policy, and to be honest, we don’t really understand whether they actually offer refunds or not. Here it is in their own words: “If you cancel your order before we have submitted it to a federal, state, or local office, Incorporate.com will refund the total amount paid for such order less a service fee. If you cancel your order after we have already submitted it, we will use our discretion to determine what portion, if any, we will refund.”
As for Inc Authority, they specifically state on their website that they don’t grant refunds for any reason. In short, it’s pretty clear that both of these companies leave a lot to be desired in this category.
These two sites have turnaround times that are quite similar due to the fact that they both base their processing speeds on each individual state’s ability to process formations. This means your turnaround time might be as quick as just a few days in some states but could take several weeks in others.
You sure can, and many entrepreneurs form their own LLCs every day. However, the do-it-yourself route doesn’t provide the same peace of mind that you’ll receive from having professionals form your business. Furthermore, each state sets its own rules and regulations for LLC formations, and it can be a hassle to track down your state’s requirements. Plus, services like us at ZenBusiness can form your LLC for free, as long as you cover the state fee.
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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 800,000 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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