Nationwide Incorporators vs. LegalZoom

If you’re looking to start a registered business, then you might be considering using a business formation service like LegalZoom or Nationwide Incorporators. 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 Nationwide Incorporators vs. LegalZoom matchup, who comes out on top? Are there any other LLC formation services you should consider instead? In this guide, we’ll review both LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators, comparing how these two options compete in terms of value, customer service, customer reviews, and more.

Let’s get started.

About LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators

At first glance, Nationwide Incorporators and LegalZoom appear to have a lot in common — both help entrepreneurs form and manage businesses. Still, each company comes with its own advantages, drawbacks, and history.

LegalZoom is one of the most well-known providers in the business and legal services market. The company was founded in 2001, starting out with a limited selection of services like LLC formation and will preparation. Over time, it has expanded into a much broader lineup of offerings that cover legal needs for both individuals and businesses. Since its founding, LegalZoom says it has served more than 9 million customers across personal and business matters.

Nationwide Incorporators is unique compared to many business formation services because they truly offer business formation services with the help of an experienced attorney. While they can help you form a business anywhere, they focus on services to start an LLC or corporation in six states: California, Delaware, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Nevada. They’ve been in business for over thirty years, and in that time, they’ve served over 8,000 clients.

Key Facts About LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators

LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators 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.

LegalZoom

• Huge volume of customers (over 9 million served)
• Service offerings include a mix of business and personal legal services
• Offers a free LLC formation package (plus state fees), but other fully-featured packages and other services fall on the pricier side

Nationwide Incorporators

• Every formation includes an attorney review process
• Formation packages include a year of registered agent service
• Package costs are extremely expensive compared to most competitors

Nationwide Incorporators vs. LegalZoom: Our Full Review

In our assessment of LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators, 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.

Business Formation Services

LegalZoom can help you form a limited liability company, corporation, or nonprofit, and Nationwide Incorporators can help you form an LLC, C corporation, and even a professional corporation or professional LLC (PLLC) in the states that allow them. But how much will these services 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 Nationwide Incorporators and LegalZoom. LLCs are a popular business entity structure for many entrepreneurs, so it’s a good comparison point.

Here are the packages included in LegalZoom’s LLC formation service offerings:

• Basic ($0 plus state fees): LegalZoom checks if your name is available and then files your formation documents on your behalf. You’ll also get a free tax consultation.
• Pro ($249 plus state fees): You get everything in the basic package, plus an operating agreement and an employer identification number (EIN). You’ll also get access to a library of customizable legal document templates (for one year) and a free 30-day trial to LegalZoom’s legal assistance subscription, which lets you have 30-minute consultations with an attorney in your state.
• Premium ($299 plus state fees): You get everything in the pro package, plus several tools to help with bookkeeping, expense tracking, and invoicing.

Meanwhile, Nationwide Incorporators’ LLC service looks a bit different, as they promise that their formation package is comprehensive, covering a name check, all of the paperwork you need to submit to the state (including state-specific paperwork), an EIN, filing a beneficial ownership (BOI) report, and more. But as part of that inclusive package, they don’t charge a one-size-fits-all price point (although in the past, they charged $1,150 plus state fees in many cases).

Today, Nationwide Incorporators operates on variable pricing models based on the state you’re forming in. On their website, you can find pricing to start an LLC in six states: California, Delaware, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas. Pricing ranges between $975 and $1,325 in those six states, but these prices include state filing fees. If you’re interested in learning the fees to start an LLC in a different state, you’ll need to contact them for a quote. Though pricey, the formation process upholds Nationwide Incorporators’ “attorney-powered” slogan; throughout the process, you’ll have access to an attorney’s help to answer your questions and review your paperwork.

Nationwide Incorporators charges a lot more than LegalZoom and most of their competitors, but they do handle a lot of the work for you in that price. LegalZoom’s overall pricing and value are more competitive, but you lose the corporate attorney’s assistance you’d get with Nationwide Incorporators.

Registered Agent Service

When you start a registered business like an LLC or corporation, you’ll be required to designate a registered agent. This person or service is responsible for accepting legal paperwork and official communications from the state. Technically, you can serve as your own registered agent, but it’s generally discouraged. To do so, you must live in the state, have a physical street address there, and be present at that location during all normal business hours.

For most entrepreneurs, keeping up with those requirements isn’t realistic or practical. That’s why many choose to hire a professional registered agent service instead. Both LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators offer these services to cover these registered agent responsibilities.

LegalZoom charges $249 per year for registered agent service; you can purchase it as a standalone service or as an add-on for your formation package. Meanwhile, Nationwide Incorporators’ LLC service includes one year of free registered agent service with the formation package. After that, your registered agent service will cost $150 per year. It doesn’t appear that you can sign up for registered agent service with Nationwide Incorporators as a standalone product.

Additional Services

What other services can you get from these brands? If you’re looking for a variety of business services in one place, that’s an important question to answer. We won’t go through every single possible service available from these brands (this guide would get unnecessarily long if we did), but we can give you an idea of what to expect.

Both Nationwide Incorporators and LegalZoom provide more than just incorporation 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 possible offering in this Nationwide Incorporators vs LegalZoom comparison — that list would be far too long for this guide — but we can highlight some of the main services available to you.

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.

Since Nationwide Incorporators LLC packages are designed to be all-inclusive, their business model doesn’t really accommodate for a bunch of extra services. That said, they can help with ongoing compliance by helping you prepare reports and maintain a registered agent. You’ll also have continued access to an attorney if you need to ask additional questions. They can also help with New York’s publication requirements.

If you’re looking for post-formation assistance, you’ll find a much wider variety of services with LegalZoom.

Customer Reviews

When reviewing online business service companies, we like to consult third-party review platforms such as Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau. These sources provide a more impartial look at how customers rate their experiences. With this in mind, we examined reviews for both LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators.

LegalZoom has a high volume of customer reviews on Trustpilot. As of this writing, the company has gathered more than 23,000 reviews and maintains an average score of 4.6 out of 5 stars. In positive reviews, many customers describe the LLC formation process as straightforward and mention receiving helpful support when they had questions. That said, not all feedback is positive — some reviewers report challenges canceling services or frustration with being enrolled in features they hadn’t planned to purchase.

If you go searching for a Nationwide Incorporators LLC service review on third-party sites, you’ll be disappointed. We couldn’t find any reviews for Nationwide Incorporators on Trustpilot. When it comes to the Better Business Bureau, not only is Nationwide Incorporators not BBB accredited, but their profile also has zero reviews. We only found a couple of reviews on other sites like Yelp and Google, but we could count them on one hand. Granted, they were positive reviews. But since Nationwide Incorporators’ reviews are so scarce, it’s hard to make generalizations about the experiences customers have with this brand.

Customer Support

At some point, you’re likely to have questions — whether they’re about your business, a service you’ve signed up for, or something else entirely. When that happens, it’s important to know you can rely on customer support for quick and accurate answers. That’s why we took a closer look at what these companies offer.

LegalZoom provides support through both phone and live chat. Their team is available from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT on weekends; their weekend hours are a convenient feature. They also list three separate phone numbers, two of which are dedicated to sales and customer service. In our most recent experience, the live chat tool connected us with a representative who answered our question in under ten minutes.

Reviews from customers are largely consistent with this experience. Many people note that they’ve had positive interactions with LegalZoom’s support staff, though some point to difficulties with canceling or adjusting subscriptions. Overall, the company’s support is seen as responsive and reasonably helpful.

Nationwide Incorporators has a customer support phone number, email address, and a contact form listed on their website. We couldn’t find any posted customer support hours, though.

When we tested Nationwide Incorporators’ customer support, we had a mixed experience. We never got a response to our request through the contact form, but when we emailed, we received a reply within a couple of hours. It’s worth mentioning that the email response came directly from the company owner, Robert E Stenson, and he provided plenty of helpful information (and apologized for the lack of response from the contact form request). If you do need support, you’ll have the best luck reaching out by phone or email.

Are LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators the best LLC formation services?

Both LegalZoom and Nationwide Incorporators can help you start a new LLC or corporation, and each service has its own unique selling point. LegalZoom’s free LLC formation package is intriguing. Nationwide Incorporators’ biggest advantage is its attorney support, which can be appealing for those who want experienced and personalized customer support from a qualified professional while they navigate the formation process.

But LegalZoom’s upsells or Nationwide Incorporators’ high price points might have you seeking alternatives. If that’s you, check out ZenBusiness. We’re proud to offer our customers the best value and service. Like LegalZoom, we’ll form your LLC for you at no extra cost (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.