LegalZoom DBA Registration Service Review

A doing business as (DBA) name gives your business the ability to operate under an assumed name in addition to your official business name. A DBA can be helpful with branding, introducing new product lines, and more.

If you’d like to have a reputable business services provider register your DBA on your behalf, you’re in luck. Many of the same companies offering the best LLC formation services also offer DBA registration services. But how do you determine which one to use? In this review of LegalZoom’s DBA registration service, we’ll discuss all of the relevant details and figure out whether it’s the right choice for your business.

An Overview of DBA Filing Services

Many of the same companies offering reasonably priced online business formation services also provide DBA filing services. For most businesses, the process is quite simple. All you need to do is provide your chosen company with some basic information about your business — like your principal office address and your desired name — and they’ll fill out and file the paperwork with your state.

Most companies offer similar price points for DBA filing services, and the vast majority of them also provide comparable feature sets. However, that’s not to say that there isn’t plenty setting these companies apart. Let’s dig into the details of LegalZoom and find out how its offering differs from the competition.

LegalZoom DBA Registration Service Review

Let’s quickly review its pros and cons before we dig into the details.

Pros

• Reasonable pricing model
• Plenty of experience
• Satisfaction guaranteed
• Publication service included (where necessary)
• Solid customer feedback

Cons

• Mediocre pricing for registered agent service and some other services

The LegalZoom DBA Registration Service Package

LegalZoom’s core DBA registration service costs $99 plus your state’s fee. It includes a preliminary name search and the completion and filing of your DBA registration forms. There is also a $119 option that adds a 14-day trial of LegalZoom’s attorney advice program.

For businesses located in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, or Pennsylvania, LegalZoom has a unique advantage. These states require entrepreneurs to publish proof of their DBA registrations in reputable local newspapers.

LegalZoom includes publication services in these seven states at no extra charge. While you’ll still have to pay the actual newspaper fees, LegalZoom will take care of the entire process on your behalf. You won’t have to track down the right newspaper or submit your notices to the state.

Overall Pricing and Value

LegalZoom has a roughly industry-standard pricing model for DBA registration services, although we can save you some money. The fact that LegalZoom includes publication service is a nice bonus for those of you in states that require it.

To be honest, pricing is sometimes what holds LegalZoom back, even though it offers a free (+ state fee) LLC formation service package, as its pricing for things like registered agent service is quite high. But for DBA registrations, LegalZoom provides an appealing bargain that compares reasonably to many competitors.

Track Record

LegalZoom has more experience than the majority of its competitors. Since it formed in 2001, LegalZoom has served around 6 million customers, which includes the formation of more than 2 million businesses.

We were able to find around 6,000 reviews for LegalZoom’s services. The majority of these reviews are positive, as LegalZoom maintains an average rating score of roughly 4.3 out of 5 across the three sites.

In their positive reviews, LegalZoom clients often comment on the helpful support they received from LegalZoom representatives, frequently thanking them by name. However, in their negative reviews, clients often complain about the poor quality of customer support, so it seems this aspect of their business is a bit inconsistent.

Customer Support

In our experience, their phone support is good, as we’ve received thorough and accurate responses from their service reps whenever we’ve called them with questions or concerns. On the other hand, we’ve also tested their email support, which is a different story. We’ve actually waited over a full week to get a response to emails in the past, and when LegalZoom does respond to email inquiries, it’s often just a form email that doesn’t actually answer our questions.

In short, we can see why they have a mixed reputation in this regard because our own experiences with them have been hit-or-miss as well. That said, we always appreciate their long hours of availability, as LegalZoom’s support team is available on evenings and weekends when some competitors are out of the office.

Ease of Use

Do you prioritize using a tech-savvy company with an intuitive user interface and a simple ordering process? LegalZoom could be a good fit. This company offers an easy-to-use website and plenty of advanced tech to help your business.

How does LegalZoom work?

The process of ordering DBA registration services from LegalZoom is simple. Here’s an overview of what you can expect when you click the “Register my DBA” button on LegalZoom’s DBA registration service page.

Keep in mind that this process can vary a bit from state to state depending on specific regulations, but for the most part, it will look something like this

• Provide basic business information: Indicate the assumed name you want for your business and the state and county where you want to file your DBA.
• Input further details: The next few pages ask you whether you’re already using your assumed name or not, where your business is located, whether the filing is a renewal or a new registration, the name of its owner, what markets it serves, and what type of business entity (LLC, corporation, general partnership, etc.) you operate. If it’s a formal entity, you’ll need to input some further details depending on the entity type.
• Final steps and payment: Next, you’ll navigate two upsells — one for a federal employer identification number (commonly known as an EIN) and one for LegalZoom’s Forms Advantage Plan for business documents. Finally, you can enter your credit card information and submit your order.

What are LegalZoom customers saying?

As we mentioned earlier, we found about 6,500 mostly positive reviews for LegalZoom. We’ll note that this is a smaller volume of reviews than some competitors (like Incfile, ZenBusiness, Rocket Lawyer, etc.) have available, and the quality of LegalZoom’s reviews lags slightly behind these companies as well.

We found plenty of customers who seem pleased with the service they receive from LegalZoom. These people often discuss how helpful LegalZoom’s support network is and how easy it is to use its services.

On the other hand, we also found a decent chunk of reviews from people who were not as satisfied. These customers talk about things like high price points and inconsistent customer support. Overall, LegalZoom’s customer satisfaction reputation is definitely more good than bad, but it’s not all sunshine and roses either.

Our Final Thoughts

LegalZoom is a popular choice for DBA registration services. We appreciate how this company offers competitive pricing and extended customer support hours, and if you own a business in a state with a publication requirement, LegalZoom could be an appealing option.

Overall, we still strongly prefer forming an LLC or corporation to registering a DBA because these business entities provide personal asset protection and name exclusivity. That said, if you have your heart set on a DBA name, we think LegalZoom is a viable option to help you register it.