Northwest Registered Agent vs Rocket Lawyer
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This Northwest Registered Agent vs Rocket Lawyer comparison will take a look at the main common points between these two service providers, as well as shine a light on what sets them apart. By the time you’re done reading, we’re confident you’ll know which one is the right choice for you.
Do Northwest and Rocket Lawyer Offer Good Value?
Northwest Registered Agent and Rocket Lawyer are two of the most respected and popular business formation services available online today. They’re both highly capable and trustworthy, and either of them will do a great job forming your new LLC. That said, there are some important differences between them.
To begin with, Northwest Registered Agent offers personalized customer support that few competitors can match. In addition, Northwest includes 12 months of their namesake registered agent service at no extra charge with any LLC formation package.
Overall though, Rocket Lawyer has much lower prices and is a decent alternative to Northwest Registered Agent.
Do you need some more information before making your choice? Let’s get to the bottom of what sets these two services apart. But first, what do they have in common?
6 Things They Have In Common
1) Affordable: If you want to save some money compared to hiring a lawyer to draft and file your articles of organization, these service providers can definitely help. Both Northwest Registered Agent and Rocket Lawyer can save you hundreds of dollars over an attorney’s fees. Furthermore, the LLC isn’t a complicated business structure, and you may not need the lawyer’s expertise anyway.
2) Customer Support: Saving money is one thing, but it’s not everything. If you don’t want to DIY your LLC formation, these companies have customer service departments that can be a big help. If you ever have questions, you can call or email them to quickly receive an accurate answer.
3) Experience: Both Northwest Registered Agent and Rocket Lawyer have formed thousands of LLCs, so you can trust them to get the job done right. Experience matters, and these service providers have plenty of it.
4) Efficiency: Do you need your LLC formed sooner rather than later? That’s not a problem for these providers. Rocket Lawyer and Northwest Registered Agent both have expediting services available that can speed up your formation from a matter of weeks down to just a few days in many states.
5) Positive Customer Reviews: We always prefer to read plenty of positive customer reviews before making a purchase, and both of these companies receive good reviews from their clients. It seems that the customer experience with either Northwest Registered Agent or Rocket Lawyer is usually a positive one.
6) Additional Services: LLC formations aren’t the only service offered by these companies. If you need other services like foreign qualifications or document prep, Northwest Registered Agent and Rocket Lawyer can help. Think of them as one-stop business services shops.
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Side-by-Side Comparisons
Pricing
Northwest: At $225, their price point is quite high compared to many of their competitors. Still, the inclusion of a full year of their registered agent service is a good feature that makes their pricing more attractive. Once the first year is up, the registered agent service will renew at $125 per year.
Rocket Lawyer: Instead of having several different formation packages to choose from, Rocket Lawyer simply offers one barebones business formation plan for $99.99. There are not any features in this package beyond the essentials of creating a business entity. While this isn’t exactly a great bargain, they do provide free formation service for new subscribers to their $39.99/month legal services plan, so if you could see your business gaining some value from this subscription, it’s worth a look. You can also purchase registered agent service from Rocket Lawyer for $149.99 per year.
Experience
Northwest: Northwest Registered Agent opened for business in 1998, and since then they’ve emerged as a trusted midsize company in the business services industry. They’ve served thousands of customers in their 20+ years.
Rocket Lawyer: As for Rocket Lawyer, they’re a true industry giant, with more than 20 million customers served since opening in 2008.
Customer Support
Northwest: Each one of their customers receives personalized support from Northwest’s Corporate Guides. These knowledgeable individuals will help guide you through the entire formation process, which is preferable to having your customer support calls answered by a random person in an outsourced call center.
Rocket Lawyer: You can reach Rocket Lawyer’s support team by phone, email, or the chat application on their website. We’ve always received quick and accurate responses from their representatives. One aspect of their support that is actually better than Northwest is their hours of operation. While Northwest has pretty typical availability, Rocket Lawyer is available from 9 am to 9 pm ET Monday through Friday, which means you don’t have to take time out of your busy workday to contact them.
Turnaround Times
Northwest: When you start filling out Northwest’s order form for LLC or incorporation service, they list estimated turnaround times on the very first page, with formation speeds displayed for both standard and expedited processing. We always appreciate this level of transparency, and their formation speeds are faster than many of their competitors.
Rocket Lawyer: Like Northwest Registered Agent, Rocket Lawyer bases their formation times on how quickly each individual state processes business formations. Therefore, their turnarounds can take as little as a couple of days, or they could take as long as a few weeks. In a convenient fashion, Rocket Lawyer has a page on their website dedicated to state processing times for business entity filings.
Customer Reviews
Northwest: Northwest Registered Agent receives high average rating scores for their client feedback, but they have fewer than 400 reviews available.
Rocket Lawyer: Customer feedback is a pro for both of these companies, but Rocket Lawyer has a slight advantage in this area. They have nearly 7,000 reviews available online, and the vast majority are quite positive in nature.
Ease of Use
Northwest: Northwest presents its clients with a streamlined and user-friendly business formation process. You simply need to give them your basic business information and submit your payment. One of the best aspects of their service is that they don’t push any third-party partnerships or upsell attempts, like so many of their competitors do.
Rocket Lawyer: It’s definitely quite easy to get started with Rocket Lawyer, seeing as you don’t even need to choose a formation package. They do present you with a handful of additional features that you can add to your order, but because of the way their order form is structured, they don’t feel like pushy upsells to us at all. Rocket Lawyer also steers clear of third-party offers, and their website is modern and easy to use.
Additional Services
For the most part, Northwest Registered Agent and Rocket Lawyer have similar offerings when it comes to business services. They both offer registered agent services, LLC operating agreements, certified copies, and more. However, Rocket Lawyer has a collection of specialty and personal services that Northwest doesn’t provide.
For example, Rocket Lawyer can help you with some real estate services like drafting a lease agreement or quitclaim deed. In addition, they offer last will and testament service, divorce settlement agreements, child care authorization forms, and more.
Which Is the Best LLC Company for You?
Northwest Registered Agent and Rocket Lawyer are two of the most popular options for LLC formation service available today. They both have plenty of experience, and they can save you lots of money compared to hiring a lawyer to form your LLC.
We understand that some of you may still be undecided, so to finish this comparison, we’ll point out a few of the common reasons for choosing each service provider. Regardless of which company’s service you end up using, we wish you the best of luck!
➥ Choose Northwest Registered Agent if You Are:
Do you like the idea of having registered agent service included with your formation? Do you want their personalized customer support? These are some of the reasons customers enjoy Northwest’s services.
➦ Choose Rocket Lawyer if You Are:
Do you want to save some money? Are you interested in their legal services subscription? These are a couple of good reasons to go with Rocket Lawyer.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Got questions? We’ve got answers.
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Northwest’s prices are higher than most companies in this industry, as they charge $225 plus your state’s fee for LLC service. They only offer one package for LLC formations, but it includes everything you need to get your business off the ground — a name availability check, the preparation and filing of your formation documents, and a year of registered agent service.
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Northwest doesn’t take care of the entirety of a publication requirement, but they do help quite a bit.
Using New York as an example, Northwest encourages its clients to use their Albany address as their own principal office or “address for service of process” location. Once you do this, all that’s left is to follow Northwest’s step-by-step directions to complete the requirement. However, they leave you to do all of the legwork yourself. You’ll need to select a newspaper, submit your ads, complete and file your Certificate of Publication, etc.
On the other hand, Rocket Lawyer does offer to take care of the entire publication requirement on your behalf, as does ZenBusiness. For more information on New York LLC publication services, check out our guide to the best options.
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Northwest doesn’t take care of the entirety of a publication requirement, but they do help quite a bit.
Using New York as an example, Northwest encourages its clients to use their Albany address as their own principal office or “address for service of process” location. Once you do this, all that’s left is to follow Northwest’s step-by-step directions to complete the requirement. However, they leave you to do all of the legwork yourself. You’ll need to select a newspaper, submit your ads, complete and file your Certificate of Publication, etc.
On the other hand, Rocket Lawyer does offer to take care of the entire publication requirement on your behalf, as does ZenBusiness. For more information on New York LLC publication services, check out our guide to the best options.
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Northwest Registered Agent has basically zero upsells on their entire website, so it would be quite difficult to beat them in this category.
As for Rocket Lawyer, they aren’t too bad about pushing upsells either, but they do make a few attempts to sell you their $39.99/month legal services subscription plan. On one hand, it could be somewhat annoying if you’re not interested in it, but they provide a 7-day free trial and free LLC formation service for new subscribers, so it’s at least worth considering for most of our readers.
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Rocket Lawyer processes refunds that are requested within 30 days of purchase, but they also specify that they “do not offer refunds on payments we have collected for incorporation-related services.”
As for Northwest, they’ll provide a refund upon request, less a $25 processing fee which they refer to as a “You changed your mind fee.”
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Turnaround times with Northwest Registered Agent and Rocket Lawyer are very similar, usually only varying by a day or two one way or the other.
This is because both service providers base their turnarounds on how quickly each individual state processes orders. One company or the other may be slightly faster in your state, but it’s likely not a significant difference.
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The DIY route is always available to you, and it’s not uncommon at all for entrepreneurs to form their own LLCs.
The reason we don’t typically advise this route is that the rules and regulations for LLC formations vary from state to state, so in order to form your own compliant business entity, you’ll need to learn the specifics of your formation state’s requirements.
Plus, services like us at ZenBusiness can create your LLC for free, as long as you cover the state fee.
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Northwest’s most significant advantage is its personalized customer support.
As for Rocket Lawyer, its big advantage is its high customer volume and large collection of positive client feedback.
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Northwest Registered Agent has more assistance available with ongoing compliance issues than Rocket Lawyer does. With Northwest, you can get registered agent service for $125/year after your first free year, whereas Rocket Lawyer charges $149.99 per year and does not include registered agent service in their formation package.
Furthermore, while Northwest provides annual reports for $100, Rocket Lawyer does not offer annual report service.
In Conclusion
Northwest Registered Agent and Nationwide Incorporators are two of the most popular LLC formation services available, and they both have plenty of strong attributes.
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