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Starts at $0 + state fees and only takes 5-10 minutes
Last Updated: August 26, 2025
*Mr. Cuban may receive financial compensation for his support.
Since getting its start in 1998, Northwest Registered Agent has carved out a name for itself as a no-nonsense company providing online LLC formations and registered agent services nationwide. This Northwest Registered Agent LLC service review discusses all the details and should help you decide whether you’d like to use their services.
Northwest opened for business in 1998. Since then, they’ve helped around 2 million customers. Overall, Northwest isn’t one of the industry giants, but they’re not a small mom-and-pop operation, either. They’ve found a niche as a quality midsize service provider.
A fun fact about Northwest is that they were the first major nationwide registered agent service provider that locally scans every document they receive on your behalf. Some competitors only scan the government-issued forms they’re legally required to scan. Compare other registered agent services: National Registered Agents, Inc. Review and CT Registered Agent Service Review.
✔ Northwest Registered Agent keeps their customer support in-house with a team of professionally trained corporate guides. Every time we’ve called with questions about complicated state rules or forming an LLC, they’ve been able to answer our questions.✔ They’re one of just a few LLC services that include a full year of registered agent service upon formation.✔ As part of their company guidelines, Northwest Registered Agent won’t sell your information to other companies. They also run their own servers and write their own code. In short, they take your security and privacy seriously.
✘ It’s possible to get a cheaper LLC filing service, especially considering that Northwest charges $39 plus state fees. For example, by hiring us at ZenBusiness, you can form an LLC for free (just pay your state’s fee).
With Northwest Registered Agent, customers have one filing option. If you’d like to examine the way they advertise this service, feel free to check out their website for all the details.
➢ Preparation and Filing of Your Articles of Organization: This document outlines your basic company information so that your state can officially form your new LLC. Northwest Registered Agent will prepare this document on your behalf, then file it with your state of formation.
➢ One Year of Registered Agent Service: Every LLC in the U.S. is required to designate a registered agent. The registered agent is in charge of receiving service of process and important legal documents on behalf of your LLC, then forwarding them to you. Northwest will serve as your registered agent for one year, after which you can renew your service for $125 per year, although you’re under no obligation to do so.
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*Processing times are based on receiving complete information. ZenBusiness processing times do not include Secretary of State processing times, which can vary.**SPECIAL OFFER – After the initial free period ends, this service automatically renews at the regular price. You can cancel at any time before or after the introductory period ends.
For $39 (plus state fee), you can form your LLC and receive a year of their registered agent service. Once the first year is up, they’ll continue serving as your registered agent for $125 per year until you opt out.
Northwest was founded in 1998 in Spokane, Washington. They’ve found a niche in being a medium-sized business and boast a motto of “We’re Just Not Annoying.” They say their primary goal is to simplify business formation and registered agent services while being transparent with their customers.
Since its founding, Northwest has helped form around 2 million businesses. They share on their site that they’re currently working with upwards of 200 new LLCs and corporations each day. We could only find 118 reviews of Northwest on Trustpilot, and the average didn’t impress us — only 2.8 out of 5 stars. (These numbers are current as of May 2025.) Northwest is also not accredited by the Better Business Bureau.
Northwest offers phone and email support. You can fill out a form on their site to send an email. While it took nearly 24 hours to receive an email back, the response was detailed, and the rep went beyond simply answering our question and checking off an email response.
We also called them. The representative who answered the phone took the time to ask for details so that he could give us the most accurate answer. Whereas some competitors in this industry outsource their customer support to large, anonymous call centers, we appreciate Northwest’s commitment to providing personalized customer service.
The point of using an incorporation service is to save time and make the formation process as simple as possible. With some online LLC services, it can still feel like you’re basically filing on your own. But with Northwest, the process is quick and easy.
The application process with Northwest is streamlined and easy to follow. You simply enter your personal and business details and pay for the order.
When you select your state from the dropdown menu of the application, an estimated turnaround time will display on the screen. Depending on your state, these could vary quite a bit ― in some states, their turnarounds are as quick as just a couple of business days, but in others, you’ll need to wait several weeks. Most states have expedited service available for an additional fee, so you’ll see two turnaround times on the order form.
At the end of the day, there may be more factors working in Northwest Registered Agent’s favor than there are working against them. They offer strong overall value and customer support. But their poor reviews on Trustpilot and their lack of Better Business Bureau accreditation are causes for concern.
Of course, they won’t be the perfect choice for every entrepreneur forming an LLC, so to wrap things up, here are a couple of scenarios where you perhaps should or shouldn’t use Northwest Registered Agent for LLC services.
If you’re looking for personalized customer support and registered agent service, Northwest Registered Agent is an option for you.
Some of their competitors can offer similar features for much lower prices. For instance, while Northwest charges $39, we’ll form your LLC for free (plus state fees). There are also many services that have a higher volume of positive customer feedback than Northwest has. If these are priorities for you, you might want to look elsewhere.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Northwest Registered Agent
Northwest Registered Agent opened for business in 1998. Since then, they’ve become one of the most popular national LLC formation services, as they claim to form hundreds of new business entities each week.
Seeing as they’ve been around for decades and they’ve served a high volume of customers, we were a bit surprised to see that Northwest only has about 118 reviews available on Trustpilot. (These numbers are current as of May 2025.) Also, they lack Better Business Bureau accreditation, unlike ZenBusiness.
Northwest Registered Agent is a solid company in the business services industry. If you’d like to do some more research and read comparative reviews of Northwest, here are our most popular:
According to the Northwest Registered Agent website, “Unless otherwise stated herein, all purchase are final and non-refundable after 90 days. No refunds will be given for any charges or credits more than 90 days old, unless otherwise agreed to in writing between you and us and/or if specific to the type of service we are providing or if required by law.”
You do always have this option, and there are quite a few entrepreneurs who do choose to form their own LLCs. This process can take time because each state has its own rules and regulations regarding how LLCs are formed and maintained.
On the other end of the spectrum, some entrepreneurs choose to hire a lawyer to form their new businesses, but this is usually much more costly than using an online incorporation service.
Each state has a way to reserve a business name before forming your entity itself. In general, this is only necessary if you aren’t yet ready to enter the formation process.
If you’re ready to start your business, there’s no reason to reserve your name before forming your LLC. We will note that certain states (like Alabama) require you to reserve a name before you form your business.
Yes, there is no requirement that you be present in the U.S. while starting an LLC. In fact, you don’t need to be a U.S. citizen or resident to form an LLC, either, as foreign nationals are allowed to own and operate LLCs just like U.S. citizens are.
Northwest can handle your LLC’s publication requires for $150, which doesn’t include the publication fees or the Certificate of Publication fee. ZenBusiness can also take care of this process for you. Take a look at our New York publication service.
You can contact Northwest via phone by calling 509-768-2249. Instead of posting a general contact email address on their website, they provide a support inquiry form on the “Contact Us” page that you can fill out to start the email support process.
In our opinion, Northwest keeps the upsells to a minimum. Quite a few of their competitors, especially LegalZoom, place a considerable amount of pressure on you to buy expensive add-on features that drive your total cost way up — but Northwest doesn’t bother us in this regard.
Northwest’s processing times vary depending on your state of LLC filing. If you need to speed up your formation turnaround time, you can upgrade to their expedited service which can reduce your processing time from weeks down to just a few days in some states.
Aside from forming your business entity, Northwest’s core services include registered agent service, annual reports, mail forwarding, and virtual office services. They can also help you with international business formations, IRS registrations, S corporation tax elections, and operating agreements. Check out our article on Northwest Registered Agent’s Operating Agreement Review.
This is a tough question to answer without knowing the specific needs of your unique business. We personally enjoy getting an EIN included with our LLC formation, even if it means spending extra to add it on or to upgrade to a higher level of incorporation service.
The convenience of not having to get one ourselves through the IRS is worth it for us, and we like to have our Articles of Organization and EIN confirmation in the same place. However, we would understand if you’d rather save some money and acquire your own EIN from the IRS directly.
Northwest has personalized customer support, which is a noteworthy advantage for them, especially compared to some competitors that outsource their support to massive call centers. Their biggest disadvantage is their pricing. It can be difficult to justify spending $39 for Northwest when some competitors (like us at ZenBusiness) offer LLC services for free (plus state fees). Their poor reviews on Trustpilot and lack of Better Business Bureau accreditation are also a major drawback.
Yes. Northwest offers registered agent service for $125 per year. They also offer annual report service, which is available for $100 plus state fee.
LLC 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 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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