ZenBusiness reviews its own products and services and compares them to others in the industry.
LegalZoom is a popular and well-known business service provider, but it has a high price point for registered agent service.
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If you want to form a business in the United States, you’ll need to designate a registered agent. The role of the registered agent involves the usage of their address as your official business address, which means they’ll receive important document deliveries on your behalf, including service of process and official correspondence from your state government.
While you can legally serve as your own agent and still operate a compliant business entity, there are some other benefits of hiring a registered agent service. Having a registered agent makes it so that you don’t need to be available at your place of business during all standard business hours, and it also cuts down on the amount of junk mail you’ll receive.
There are many LLC formation services that also offer registered agent services to businesses, and it can be difficult to discern which one is the best option for your company. In this review, we’ll take a close look at LegalZoom, one of the most popular service providers in the industry. Are they the right registered agent service for your business?
Since it formed in 2001, LegalZoom has served around 6 million customers, which includes the formation of more than 2 million businesses. While it clearly has a high degree of experience, LegalZoom typically charges $249 per year for registered agent service. However, LegalZoom offers a free LLC formation service package (plus your state’s fee).
LegalZoom might be the most recognizable name in the online business services market, as they’ve served millions of customers and do plenty of advertising. They offer a wide array of products and features that can make your life easier as an entrepreneur, including registered agent service.
While LegalZoom has good offers for some other services, it charges $249/year for registered agent service. ZenBusiness also charges $199.
LegalZoom charges an annual fee of $249 to serve as your registered agent. In addition to the essentials of registered agent service, they also include a compliance calendar for annual reports and tax deadlines.
There are several aspects of LegalZoom’s services that we appreciate, but overall there are quite a few competing companies that offer more affordable registered agent services. LegalZoom typically charges $249 per year for this service. Meanwhile, we’ll also provide your registered agent service for just $199. For more information on your other options, take a look at our guide to the top registered agent services available.
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.
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.
Is LegalZoom legit?
LegalZoom has been around since 2001, and they’ve served millions of customers with reliable and trustworthy business services since then. Their customer feedback used to be a bit of a mixed bag, but it has improved in recent years.
They have thousands of reviews available online, and more of them are positive than negative. Their clients appreciate their speedy services, but they also have some issues with inconsistent customer support.
How does LegalZoom compare to other LLC formation and registered agent services?
If you’d like to see how LegalZoom compares to other popular registered agent and LLC formation services, check out our comparative reviews:
How can I get in touch with LegalZoom’s customer support?
You can contact LegalZoom via phone by calling 1-888-379-0854. Instead of listing an email address on their website, they have a form you can fill out on their “Contact Us” page to initiate their email support function. They’re available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on weekends.
Do I need a registered agent for my LLC or corporation?
In short, yes, every LLC and corporation operating in America today needs to designate a registered agent. This person or business entity receives service of process and important document deliveries from the state, then forwards them to your business. It’s a crucial part of any LLC or corporation’s compliance. However, you don’t necessarily need to hire a registered agent service — you can serve in this role yourself, appoint a family member or friend, hire an attorney or accountant to handle it, etc.
Do they have a refund policy?
LegalZoom has a 100% satisfaction guarantee that’s nearly identical to our refund policy. If you request a refund within 60 days of your purchase date, they’ll provide it with no questions asked. This is one of the industry’s best refund policies, in our opinion.
Other than registered agent service, what else can LegalZoom do?
LegalZoom offers more additional services than the majority of its competitors, partially due to the fact that they provide many personal services in addition to their business offerings. For example, they can help individuals with their last will and testament, power of attorney, divorce proceedings, etc.
As for their business services, LegalZoom offers registered agent service, trademark and copyright protection, doing business as (DBA) names, PC and PLLC formations, amendments, dissolutions, foreign qualifications, conversions, annual reports, operating agreements, EIN acquisition, business licensing, and more.
Compare more services below: LegalZoom DBA Registration Service Review LegalZoom LLC Service Review by ZenBusiness
What are LegalZoom’s biggest advantage and disadvantage?
Experience matters and LegalZoom has plenty of it. They’ve been around for decades, and they’ve helped millions of customers. Their longevity and customer volume are an advantage over many competitors.
When it comes to disadvantages, we think their overall pricing for several popular services is rather unappealing. For instance, while they have a free LLC formation package, LegalZoom charges at least $149 (+ state fee) to form a corporation (ZenBusiness has a $0 package) and $249/year for registered agent service (ZenBusiness charges $199).
Registered Agent Services Reviewed
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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