ZenBusiness vs. Filenow

Are you looking to form a new limited liability company (LLC), but you’re not sure which of the many formation services can best assist you? Companies like ZenBusiness and Filenow can do the heavy lifting for you, but how do you know which one you should use? In this ZenBusiness vs. Filenow LLC service comparison, we’ll walk through these companies’ main commonalities and differences.

ZenBusiness vs. Filenow key differences

ZenBusiness and Filenow are both reliable LLC formation services, and either can form a compliant entity. However, we have a few advantages, starting with our free (+ state fee) LLC formation service package. Filenow charges at least $49 for LLC formations.

Another important difference is that we have a much higher volume of positive customer reviews, with 12,000+ of them compared to around 600 for Filenow. If you’d like to learn more about these two service providers, read on to discover all the relevant details.

6 Things They Have in Common

1. Affordable: Filenow and ZenBusiness can save you hundreds of dollars over hiring a traditional business attorney to draft and file your Articles of Organization.
2. Customer Support: Even though you’ll be saving a considerable amount of money, you still won’t be going it alone. With ZenBusiness and Filenow, you have access to helpful customer service reps who can answer your questions. No need to waste time trying to find the answers for yourself.
3. Experience: If you prefer to conduct business with experienced companies, look no further. ZenBusiness and Filenow have each formed thousands of businesses over the years. These are legitimate operations that know how to get the job done right.
4. Additional Services: If you want other business services like ongoing compliance assistance or an operating agreement template, Filenow and ZenBusiness can help you with much more than just your formation itself. There’s no need to shop around at multiple companies when you can get everything you need under one roof.
5. Educational: Looking for more info about business services before you buy? Still thinking about the do-it-yourself route? Whether or not you end up using ZenBusiness or Filenow for LLC service, these companies have online blogs and learning centers that are packed with free information about tons of business topics.
6. Positive Customer Reviews: While we have a much higher volume of feedback, both of these companies receive mostly positive reviews from their customers.

ZenBusiness vs. Filenow Comparisons

Pricing

ZenBusiness: We offer LLC service for free (just pay your state’s fee). If you’re looking for some advanced features, our $199 Pro package adds ongoing compliance assistance, an operating agreement template, an employer identification number (EIN), and faster processing. You also might like our $299 Premium plan, as it adds a business website builder, a domain name, a business email address, and 25+ business document templates.

Filenow: At $49, Filenow’s baseline price point for LLC formation service isn’t bad. Filenow’s Premium package costs $199 but it might be a better deal than its Starter package, as it adds several valuable features like registered agent service and EIN acquisition.

Experience

ZenBusiness: We were founded in 2015 in Austin, Texas. Since then, we’ve served 500,000+ customers. We’re a public benefit corporation that provides $5,000 grants to help our customers kickstart their businesses.

Filenow: We were unable to glean much information about Filenow’s background or experience level. However, the company does have 600+ mostly positive reviews available on Trustpilot.

Customer Support

ZenBusiness: We provide access to our customer service team by phone, email, or web chat. We have expanded availability that even includes Sundays — very few competitors have any weekend availability. We pride ourselves in continuously improving the quality and responsiveness of our customer support, and we believe we compare favorably to the vast majority of competitors in this area.

Filenow: Filenow offers customer support via phone or email. You can also use its web-based chat application or fill out the contact form on its website. Their representatives are knowledgeable and courteous, and they’re available from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on weekdays.

Turnaround Times

ZenBusiness: With us at ZenBusiness, all formation speeds vary based on state capabilities. Also, if you’re in a hurry, you can choose one of our premium packages to speed things up a bit. When compared to other formation services, we’re usually either just as fast or slightly faster. To find out your turnaround time, simply plug in your state and immediately see your estimated processing speed.

Filenow: With Filenow, turnaround times depend on two things. First, each state has its own timelines for processing LLC formation paperwork. Secondly, Filenow processes LLC formations a bit quicker if you order the Premium package instead of the Starter.

Customer Reviews

ZenBusiness: We excel when it comes to customer feedback, as we have more than 12,000 reviews available online, and nearly all of them are positive. Our clients are clearly satisfied with our services, and they frequently praise our efficiency, along with the general ease of use provided by our platform.

Filenow: We found 600+ reviews of Filenow’s services on reputable third-party review websites, and the majority of them are positive. Overall, most customers seem pleased with the service they receive from this company.

Ease of Use

ZenBusiness: Forming a new business entity is simple with ZenBusiness. You’ll start by selecting your formation package, then you’ll provide us with some basic information about yourself and your business. After that, we’ll take care of the rest. It doesn’t get much easier than this.

Filenow: The first step with Filenow is to choose your entity type (LLC, corporation, S corp) and state. Then, you’ll choose which of Filenow’s two business formation packages you’d like to purchase. From there, you’ll walk through a couple of screens that ask for your personal details and basic business info, followed by a very long series of 11 upsell attempts. Once you finally make your way through Filenow’s exhaustive upsells, you can pay for your order.

Additional Services

With either Filenow or ZenBusiness, you have access to a selection of additional services that can help you grow and maintain your business. As you might expect, these companies offer many of the same services, as either can help you with ongoing compliance assistance, operating agreement templates, registered agent service, and more.

However, there are also some services that are only available from us at ZenBusiness. For instance, we offer New York publication service, which Filenow lacks.

Which is the right service for you?

Filenow and ZenBusiness have many similarities regarding LLC services but also differ in a few key ways. Furthermore, depending on your specific needs and priorities, your preference may vary. If you’re not yet decided between Filenow and ZenBusiness, let’s review a couple of scenarios that may sway you in one direction or the other.

➦ Choose Filenow if:

If you prefer using a smaller company instead of a more experienced option, Filenow could be worth a look.

🎉 Choose ZenBusiness if:

If you’d like to form your LLC for free (plus state fees), we’re an excellent choice. We also have a much higher volume of positive customer reviews than Filenow. Form your LLC quickly and get more tools to start your dream business.

Get Started with ZenBusiness

Starts at $0 + state fees and only takes 5-10 minutes