Incorporate.com LLC Service Review

About 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.

The mission statement on the Incorporate.com website states that “It’s a cruel world out there for the small business owner. And we can relate because we’re entrepreneurs, just like you. We work with business owners throughout their companies’ life cycles, helping them overcome the obstacles blocking effective compliance. And we provide the kind of thought leadership and guidance that will inspire and encourage their continued success, no matter the odds.”

A fun fact about Incorporate.com is that they guarantee their services with a unique feature: their $75,000 Corporate Compliance Guarantee. With this guarantee, your purchase is protected against filing defects caused by negligence on the part of Incorporate.com. If your filing is found to be invalid through their fault, they will resolve the issue or pay you up to $75,000.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages of Incorporate.com:

✔ Seeing as they originally opened in the 19th century (as The Company Corporation), Incorporate.com has impressive longevity. They’ve also formed over 750,000 businesses.

✔ Incorporate.com’s Corporate Compliance Guarantee covers their formation services against any filing defects for the life of your business. If your filing is found to be invalid due to errors made by Incorporate.com, they’ll resolve the issue or pay you up to $75,000.

✔ They have a collection of guides in their online Learning Center. Covering topics ranging from state-specific formation requirements to tax filings and deductions, there’s a wealth of information available.

Disadvantages of Incorporate.com:

✖ You can get cheaper LLC services from some of their competitors. Incorporate.com’s basic formation package costs $99 and has fewer features than other top LLC services that will form an LLC for free (just pay your state’s fee), like us at ZenBusiness.

Incorporate.com LLC Packages

Incorporate.com has three different packages for LLC formation: The Starter, The Essentials, and The Works. Here’s a breakdown of what you get in each package.

NOTE: Not all of the features they list on their package selection screen come with the advertised formation plans. In fact, you can’t purchase “The Essentials” or “The Works” packages without adding registered agent service (for $235/year), and even though annual report service is listed in these plans, that too will cost you an additional $150/year.

With this in mind, the prices on this page are the total amounts you’ll need to pay in order to receive all advertised features.

The Starter = $99 + State Fee

➢ Preparation and Filing of Articles of Organization: These documents officially form your LLC with the state. Incorporate.com will create these forms for you, then file them with your state of formation.

➢ Name Availability Check: They will search your state’s official business database to determine if your desired LLC name is available or if it’s already been claimed by someone else.

➢ Online Access to Company Documents: You’ll receive access to their online portal, where you can safely store and access your LLC formation documents.

The Essentials = $634 + State Fee

Everything from The Starter package, plus…

➢ Federal Tax ID Number (EIN): An employer identification number (EIN) is basically a Social Security number for your business, and it allows you to pay business taxes, hire employees, open business bank accounts, and more. Incorporate.com will obtain your EIN from the IRS.

➢ LLC Kit and Seal: A binder with your company name printed on it, along with a customized decorative seal and some sample documents. Keep in mind that this isn’t required to have a compliant LLC and is an optional feature.

➢ Registered Agent Service: Incorporate.com will serve as your registered agent, receiving service of process and other important document deliveries on your behalf and forwarding them to your business. This service costs $235 per year and is mandatory if you want to purchase The Essentials or The Works packages.

➢ Annual Report Service: They will prepare and file your annual reports, making sure you remain compliant with your state government. This service costs $150 per year, and this cost isn’t included in their advertised prices.

The Works = $734 + State Fee

Everything from The Essentials package, plus…

➢ Business License Research Package: With this service, Incorporate.com will identify which licenses, permits, and tax registrations your LLC requires to operate in a compliant fashion. They will provide you with the applications necessary to obtain these items and also give you instructions on how to fill them out and file them.

➢ Operating Agreement: This is the document that describes your company’s ownership structure, and it’s also where you can lay out how you want your LLC to be operated. Incorporate.com will draft this important document for you.

In-Depth Incorporate.com Review

Incorporate.com Overall Pricing and Value

Overall, their prices are more expensive than many competitors’ offerings, without enough added value to balance out the increased cost. Furthermore, their $235 price point for registered agent service as an add-on is quite high. Besides the fact that the packages are all more expensive than those with other incorporation services, their package setup is misleading.

Two of their advertised features ― their compliance dashboard and annual report service ― are listed on the package selection screen as included features but are not actually included unless you also purchase their registered agent service as an add-on. Furthermore, the annual report service costs an extra $150/year on top of the $235/year registered agent fee, so it’s not really an “included” feature at all, even if you do buy registered agent service.

Track Record

Incorporate.com has plenty of experience, as they’ve been around since 1899. Since then, they’ve helped form more than 750,000 corporations and LLCs.

However, 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.

Customer Support

Incorporate.com offers phone, email, and chat support. We tested their chat function first and received a prompt response. The experience was just as we expected ― the support agent was knowledgeable and friendly and managed to answer our questions without a problem.

We also sent an email and received a detailed response in just over 24 hours. While we hoped for a quicker response, the level of detail they included was more than expected, which was a pleasant surprise.

When we called, we received a similar response to that via chat and email. Our question via phone was answered professionally but without as much detail as we received in the email. Once our question was answered, they did ask if there was anything else we needed help with.

Ease of Placing an Order

If you don’t know what kind of business structure you want to form (LLC or corporation), their business formation wizard can help you figure it out. Not sure about which package is the right choice for you? Check out their pricing page. It’s not difficult to decide which one is right for you, as long as you remember that neither the CSCNavigator compliance tool nor the annual report service is included in the listed price.

Once you select a package, there’s a series of seven additional upsells to review before putting in your contact information and checking out. Since their website has a clean design, it was easy to find where to place an order and navigate through to the payment page.

Overall Turnaround Time

When you reach the bottom of your order form, Incorporate.com gives you turnaround time estimates for both standard and expedited processing. Incorporate.com doesn’t commit to a same-day or overnight turnaround like some other services do. However, they said that they file ASAP once all of the information they need from the business owner is provided, which is a fair response.

Is Incorporate.com right for you?

Incorporate.com is an experienced company that’s capable of forming your LLC. Of course, they have quite a few reputable competitors, so we’ll wrap this review up by going over some scenarios where you may or may not want to use Incorporate.com for your LLC formation.

✔ When to Start an LLC with Incorporate.com:

If you place a high value on experience, a company that’s been around since 1899 likely appeals to you, and their Corporate Compliance Guarantee is a nice safety net.

✖ When NOT to Start an LLC with Incorporate.com:

If you want to save money, there are plenty of options. Another factor is that some competitors have a better history when it comes to customer feedback. For instance, at ZenBusiness, we’ll form your LLC for free and we have 12,000+ positive reviews.