Bizee vs. Active Filings

If you’re looking to start a registered business, then you might be considering using a business formation service like Bizee or Active Filings. These business formation companies (and other companies like them) can be very helpful if you feel overwhelmed by all the business paperwork you’re facing.

But in the Bizee vs. Active Filings matchup, who comes out on top? Are there any alternatives you should consider instead? In this guide, we’ll review both Bizee and Active Filings, comparing how these two options compete in terms of value, customer service, customer reviews, and more.

Let’s get started.

About Bizee and Active Filings

At first glance, Bizee and Active Filings appear to offer similar services, helping entrepreneurs get their businesses formed and properly maintained. However, their backgrounds and approaches are different.

Bizee entered the market in 2004 under the original name Incfile, a brand it operated under for nearly twenty years. In 2023, the company adopted their new name, Bizee, a shift meant to better represent its expanded lineup of services. What started as a company focused on business formations has grown into a broader business resource, providing registered agent coverage, compliance support, and ongoing tools that assist small business owners beyond the initial setup phase.

Active Filings has an earlier origin, founded in 2001 by Roberto Neuberger after he immigrated to the U.S. from Argentina. His own struggles with launching a business inspired him to create a service that would simplify the process for other entrepreneurs. While it began as a Florida-based company, Active Filings has since expanded its reach, offering formation and related business services across the country.

Key Facts About Active Filings and Bizee

Bizee and Active Filings have a fair bit of common ground as two reputable companies in the business formation and legal services sector. We’ll dive into these distinctions throughout this guide, but here’s a quick glance at these companies.

Active Filings

• Offers a free LLC package (plus state fees)
• One year of registered agent service is included in all LLC packages
• Minimal customer feedback online, and not accredited by the Better Business Bureau

Bizee

• Offers a free LLC formation package (plus state fees)
• Includes one free year of registered agent service in LLC formation packages
• Not accredited by the Better Business Bureau

Bizee vs. Active Filings: Our Full Review

In our assessment of Bizee and Active Filings, we evaluated each company on the basis of several different categories: business formation services, registered agent service, additional service offerings, customer feedback, and customer support.

Let’s take a closer look at those categories.

Business Formation Services

Both Bizee and LegalZoom can help you form a limited liability company, corporation, or nonprofit. Active Filings can also help you form a professional corporation. But what will the business formation process cost you? For most small business owners, that’s an important question to answer.

In this section, we’ll compare how much it costs to start an LLC with either of these brands. While an LLC isn’t the right choice for every business owner, it’s a popular entity choice, so it makes for a great point of comparison for these incorporation services.

Bizee and Active Filings both offer different packages for LLC formation services. To start, here are the package options offered by Bizee:

• Basic ($0 plus state fees): Bizee checks if your name is available and then files your Articles of Organization with standard processing (around 3 weeks). You also get one year of free registered agent service, a month of free virtual address service, and a tax consultation.
• Standard ($199 plus state fees): You get everything in the basic package, plus help creating an LLC operating agreement, getting an employer identification number (EIN), and filing IRS Form 2553 for S corp election if needed.
• Premium ($299 plus state fees): You get everything in the standard package as well as rush filing, business contract templates, a domain name, a business email address, and more.

And here are the package choices from Active Filings:

• The Starter ($0 plus state fees): Active Filings files your business formation documents on your behalf. They also throw in a year of free registered agent service. This package includes standard processing.
• The Sprinter ($125 plus state fees): You get everything in the starter package, plus the ability to use Active Filings’ business address for your company address and the registered agent address for the addresses of your members on the formation paperwork. You’ll also get an EIN and expedited service (they’ll get your paperwork filed with the state on the same day you submit your order).
• The Finisher ($250 plus state fees): This package includes everything in the Sprinter package, plus a corporate seal and corporate book for your records.

Bizee’s prices might seem a little bit higher than Active Filings’ price points, but in our opinion, Bizee provides a better value for the price they charge. For example, the Premium package from Bizee might cost $49 more, but that money gets you tools for building a business website and a business email address. Meanwhile, the “upgrade” in Active Filings’ Finisher package merely gives you a corporate seal and record book, which isn’t all that helpful for most new business owners.

That said, it is appealing that both of these brands offer a free formation service (plus state filing fees). That’s why we offer the same perk: we’ll form your business at no extra cost; you just pay state filing fees.

Registered Agent Service

When you register a business like an LLC or corporation, appointing a registered agent is one of the many legal requirements you’ll need to meet. The agent’s role involves accepting service of process and other official notices from the state on your business’s behalf. While you technically can serve as your own registered agent, it’s generally not recommended. To do so, you must live in the state, keep a physical street address there, and be present at that address during all regular business hours.

For most entrepreneurs, those obligations aren’t realistic to maintain long term. That’s why many turn to professional registered agent services instead. Both Bizee and Active Filings offer this type of service to handle the responsibility for you.

Both of these incorporation services give you one year of free registered agent service if you use their formation service. After that first year, Active Filings will charge you $99 per year, and Bizee will charge $119 per year.

Additional Services

Both Bizee and Active Filings go beyond basic business formation, allowing entrepreneurs to handle several important tasks through a single provider. However, the services they offer aren’t exactly the same. We won’t list every detail here — this Bizee vs. Active Filings review would me much too long if we did — but here are some of the main offerings to know about.

Bizee provides a range of tools designed to help new businesses get set up and running smoothly. Their services include obtaining an EIN, drafting an operating agreement or banking resolution, filing S corporation elections, offering corporate kits, and handling trademark applications. They also offer a business license service to help you determine which licenses and permits are required for your company. If you need it, they even offer a virtual address and mail forwarding service.

Active Filings, meanwhile, supports businesses with a slightly different lineup. Beyond formations and registered agent services, they can assist with annual report filings, drafting bylaws or LLC operating agreements, securing a foreign qualification to operate in another state, and obtaining a Certificate of Good Standing (also known as a Certificate of Status). They also help with EIN acquisition and a few additional filings. While their catalog isn’t as extensive as some larger competitors, Active Filings still covers a solid mix of essential services.

Customer Reviews

When comparing online business service providers, we often turn to third-party review platforms like Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau. These resources provide a more impartial look at how customers feel about each company. With that in mind, we reviewed feedback for both Active Filings and Bizee.

Bizee has built a strong profile on Trustpilot, where it holds an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars across more than 22,000 reviews (as of this writing). In positive customer reviews, many customers praise the platform’s ease of use and straightforward navigation. However, not all feedback is positive. Bizee is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and its business profile currently carries an F rating for unanswered customer complaints. In addition, some reviews report issues with filing errors or unhelpful customer service.

Active Filings, on the other hand, has very little presence on third-party review sites. At the time of this writing, the company has no reviews on Trustpilot (though a profile exists), just three reviews on the BBB, and 11 on Yelp. For a business that’s been around since 2001, that’s a surprisingly small amount of customer feedback.

The few reviews Active Filings does have are mixed. Some positive reviews are five-star ratings, noting that the process was affordable and easy. But others leave one-star reviews citing slow or unresponsive customer service and unexpected charges. It’s also worth noting that, like Bizee, Active Filings is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

If you value BBB accreditation, you won’t find it with Bizee or Active Filings. In contrast, ZenBusiness is BBB accredited, and we have an A+ rating. We’ve also got a glowing reputation on Trustpilot.

Customer Support

At some point, you’re likely to have questions — whether about your business, a service you’ve signed up for, or something else entirely. When that happens, it’s important to know you can get timely and accurate answers from customer support. With that in mind, we reviewed the support options from both of these providers.

Bizee offers lifetime customer support, which you can access by phone, email, or through the contact form on their website. In our test, submitting a question via the contact form resulted in a reply within one business day. Many reviews also highlight positive experiences with Bizee’s support team, though some customers note issues with unhelpful representatives, particularly when trying to cancel unwanted services. Their support team is available Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT.

Active Filings provides support over the phone and through an online contact form. A notable advantage is that their team can assist customers in both English and Spanish. Their hours run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on weekdays. In our most recent test, phone support was helpful, but our request through the contact form took a long time to get a response.

Customer reviews reflect this inconsistency. Some report smooth interactions and quick resolutions, while others mention long waits or delays, particularly when addressing billing concerns or recurring charges.

In our opinion, it’s a little disappointing that neither of these brands offer weekend support hours. If your business is a weekend side hustle, then getting help from these companies would be very challenging. In contrast, ZenBusiness offers truly ongoing support — even on the weekends.

Which is the best LLC formation service?

If you’re looking for help starting your dream business, then you’ll find it with both Bizee and Active Filings. But are they the best option for you?

You might be drawn to either brand thanks to their generous offer to start your LLC at no extra cost (you just pay state filing fees). But these brands’ lack of BBB accreditation or Active Filings’ lackluster review history might have you looking into alternatives.

If that’s you, check out ZenBusiness. We’re proud to offer our customers the best value and service. Like Bizee and Active Filings, we have a free LLC formation service package (just pay state filing fees). But we can also provide you with registered agent service at a great value ($99 for your first year and $199/year afterwards). Plus, we’re BBB accredited, and our customer feedback is fantastic: out of 25,151 Trustpilot reviews, we’ve got a 4.8/5 average score. We pride ourselves on providing excellent customer service whenever you need it.

We can help!

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.