ZenBusiness reviews its own products and services and compares them to others in the industry.
ZenBusiness reviews and compares LegalZoom and Active Filings. Both brands can help you start a business at an affordable price, but LegalZoom’s upsells and Active Filings’ lack of customer reviews might have you seeking alternatives.
Starts at $0 + state fees and only takes 5-10 minutes“LegalZoom” is the registered trademark of LegalZoom.com, Inc. “Active Filings” is the registered trademark of ActiveFilings LLC
Last Updated: September 16, 2025
*Mr. Cuban may receive financial compensation for his support.
If you’re looking to start a registered business, then you might be considering using a business formation service like LegalZoom 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 LegalZoom vs. Active Filings matchup, who comes out on top? Are there any alternatives you should consider instead? In this guide, we’ll review both LegalZoom and Active Filings, comparing how these two options compete in terms of value, customer service, customer reviews, and more.
Let’s get started.
At first glance, Active Filings and LegalZoom look quite similar — both provide services to help entrepreneurs start and maintain a business. However, each company has its own strengths, weaknesses, and background.
LegalZoom is one of the most recognizable names in the business and legal services space. Founded in 2001, the company originally focused on a smaller set of offerings, such as limited liability company (LLC) formations and preparing wills and testaments. Over the years, the catalog has grown to include a wide range of legal services for both individuals and businesses. Since its launch, LegalZoom reports having served more than 9 million customers with personal and business legal needs.
Active Filings was founded in 2001 as well: the brand was dream of Roberto Neuberger, who moved to the United States from Argentina. Roberto strove to start his own business and (understandably) found the process frustrating, so he set up a business helping other entrepreneurs in Florida navigate the process smoothly. Since then, the business has grown to help with business formation services all across the country.
LegalZoom 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.
In our assessment of LegalZoom 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 reviews.
Let’s take a closer look at those categories.
Both LegalZoom and Active Filings can help you form a limited liability company, corporation, or nonprofit; Active Filings can also help you set up a professional corporation. But how much will it cost you? For most small business owners, that’s a very important factor. In this section, we’ll compare how much it costs to start an LLC with these brands (LLCs are popular business structures, so it’s a good comparison point).
LegalZoom and Active Filings both offer packages for LLC formation services. To start, here are the packages LegalZoom offers:
And here is Active Filings’ pricing for LLC formation packages:
It’s a big advantage that both of these brands offer a free LLC formation plan (plus state filing fees). That’s why ZenBusiness has the same offering. We’ll submit your LLC paperwork for you at no extra cost; you just pay state fees.
But if you’re looking at the higher-tier packages, it’s safe to say that LegalZoom packs more valuable features into its packages, even though it charges more. Active Filings charges an extra $125 for a corporate seal and book in their premium package, which isn’t all that valuable or practical for most small business owners. We should also mention that the Active Filings package selection screen is a bit misleading. All packages seem to include annual report service, but when you read the fine print, you’ll see that the service costs an extra $100.
When you form a registered business, such as an LLC or corporation, you’ll be required to appoint a registered agent. This agent is responsible for receiving legal documents and official state notices on your behalf. While it’s possible to act as your own registered agent, it’s not usually advised. To qualify, you must be a resident of your state, maintain a physical street address there, and be available at that location during all standard business hours.
For many new business owners, those requirements are difficult to meet consistently. That’s why hiring a professional registered agent service is often the more practical option. Both Active Filings and LegalZoom provide registered agent services to meet this need.
LegalZoom charges $249 per year for its registered agent service. Meanwhile, Active Filings charges $99 a year, but they provide the first year for free if you use their LLC services.
Both Active Filings and LegalZoom provide more than just business formation services, giving customers the option to take care of multiple business tasks through a single provider. That said, the specific services each company offers are not identical. We won’t cover every offering in this Active Filings vs LegalZoom comparison — that list would be far too long for this guide — but we can highlight some of the main differences.
LegalZoom is one of the few companies with a broad catalog of legal services for personal and business matters. On the personal side, they can assist with wills, trusts, divorce support, and powers of attorney. For business owners, LegalZoom offers help with annual report filings, identifying required licenses and permits, electing S corporation status, tax planning consultations, and intellectual property services like trademark registration. They also provide access to ongoing attorney support through a subscription, which includes thirty-minute consultations with a licensed lawyer in your state.
Unlike LegalZoom, Active Filings provides only business-related services. In addition to starting your company and serving as your agent, Active Filings can help you file your annual report, create bylaws or an LLC operating agreement, get a foreign qualification in another state, get a Certificate of Good Standing (sometimes called a Certificate of Status), get an EIN, and a few other services. Their service library isn’t nearly as big as some of their competitors, but they do serve a variety of business needs.
When we evaluate online business service providers, we turn to independent review platforms like Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau. These sites give us a more objective sense of how customers view each company. With that in mind, we reviewed feedback for both Active Filings and LegalZoom.
On Trustpilot, LegalZoom has a particularly strong presence. At the time of this writing, the company has accumulated over 23,000 customer reviews and an average rating of 4.6/5 stars. Many reviewers highlight how simple the LLC formation process is and note that the customer support team was responsive when questions came up. Still, not every review is glowing — some customers mention difficulties canceling services or frustration over being signed up for features they didn’t intend to purchase.
Unfortunately, Active Filings leaves much to be desired when it comes to customer reviews. To start, the brand doesn’t have many reviews on third-party sites. For reference, as of this writing, they have zero reviews on Trustpilot (their profile is listed but unclaimed), three reviews on the BBB, and 11 reviews on Yelp. For a business as old as Active Filings, we’d expect to see more reviews than that (even for a small brand).
To make matters worse, the reviews that Active Filings does have are lackluster. Sure, there are several customers who give five stars and thank Active Filings for how easy and affordable it was to start a business. But you’ll also find plenty of negative reviews that drop just one star and lament slow customer support and unexpected fees.
It’s also worth mentioning that Active Filings, LLC is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau. If you value BBB accreditation, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
At some point, you’ll probably run into questions — about your business, a specific service you’ve purchased, or something else. When that happens, you’ll want to know you can get clear, timely answers from a knowledgeable support team. That’s why we’ve taken a look at the support available from these brands.
LegalZoom currently offers assistance by phone and live chat. Their support hours run from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT on weekends (their weekend availability is a nice plus). They also maintain three separate phone lines, including two that are dedicated specifically to sales and customer service. In our most recent test, the live chat function connected us with a representative who provided a helpful response in less than ten minutes.
Customer reviews tend to reflect this experience as well. Many people share positive feedback about the support team, though some mention challenges with canceling or managing subscriptions. Overall, customers generally feel that the support LegalZoom provides is useful and accessible.
Active Filings offers customer support by phone or through a contact form on their website. One perk of this brand is that they offer support in both English and Spanish. The team is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on weekdays only. Our most recent test of their customer support was a mixed bag; while we’ve had good luck with their phone support in the past, our latest request through the contact form took forever to get a response.
Judging by customer reviews, that experience isn’t unique. Some reviewers have an easy time getting the support they need, but others felt they were kept waiting for support, especially when they needed to resolve recurring charges.
Both Active Filings and LegalZoom can create your business for you, but are they the top LLC formation services? Or should you look into other options? Both brands have an appealing free LLC formation package (plus state fees). But perhaps you’re hesitant because Active Filings isn’t BBB accredited, or you’d like to avoid LegalZoom’s upsells during the order process.
If that’s you, check out ZenBusiness. We’re proud to offer our customers the best value and service. Like LegalZoom 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 24,450 Trustpilot reviews, we’ve got a 4.8/5 average score. We pride ourselves on providing excellent customer service whenever you need it.
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.
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Frequently Asked Questions About LegalZoom and Active Filings
LegalZoom’s basic LLC formation package is a popular choice; it’s $0 (plus state fees). While there aren’t any bells and whistles in this package, it’s hard to complain about getting your LLC formed for you at no additional cost.
LegalZoom doesn’t assist with New York publication requirements. Active Filings’ customer support team says they do offer New York publication service, but you’ll need to contact them for a pricing quote. If you need help with NY publication requirements, check out our New York publication service for more information.
Active Filings doesn’t present too many upsells in their order form (the main one is a push to upgrade to a higher-tier package that includes their business address services). LegalZoom presents more upsells than Active Filings, especially if you use their free LLC formation package.
LegalZoom offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee that states you can request a refund at any time within 60 days of your initial purchase. It’s nearly identical to the ZenBusiness refund policy and one of the most reasonable in the industry.
Active Filings’ Terms of Service page says that refunds won’t be granted for any purchase older than 90 days. For purchases still in that 90-day window, Active Filings states that they “reserve the right to issue refunds or credits” at their sole discretion. So you might get a refund, and you might not. There are no refunds available for their registered agent services.
LegalZoom, one of the most well-known services online, has formed more than 2 million businesses since 2001. Check out the comparison reviews below if you’d like to see how this giant stacks up to other LLC websites.
LegalZoom compared to:
LegalZoom processes your business formation paperwork within 5-14 business days if you use their standard processing speeds. You can also upgrade to expedited processing to get a one-day turnaround.
Active Filings bases its turnaround times on state filing speeds. That said, you can get expedited filing with the Sprinter or Finisher packages. If you do, Active Filings will submit your paperwork on the same day you submit your order.
You absolutely can form an LLC on your own. Using LLC services can be really helpful, though. Services like ZenBusiness, LegalZoom, and Active Filings can all take some of the paperwork off your plate. These services can also help you navigate your state’s business compliance rules and regulations, which might be trickier than you expect.
Active Filings and LegalZoom both share an advantage: their free LLC plan, where either company will form your company as long as you pay your state filing fee. Active Filings does take this a step further by offering a free year of registered agent service.
Active Filings offers registered agent service and annual report filing services, and they’ll send you notices when due dates for reports are approaching. Their registered agent service costs $99 per year, but you’ll get your first year free if you use their formation service. They charge $100 (plus state fees) for annual report filing.
With LegalZoom, you can get registered agent service for $249 per year, and their annual report service is available for $99.
Competitor Comparisons
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 ZenBusiness Editorial Team
The ZenBusiness Editorial Team has more than 20 years of combined small business publishing experience and has helped over 850,000 entrepreneurs launch and grow their companies. Our writers and business formation experts are dedicated to providing accurate, practical, and trustworthy guidance so business owners can make confident decisions.
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