Best Registered Agent Services 2026 (Cheapest to Most Expensive)
Cheapest registered agent renewal in 2026: Bizee at $119/year. Editor's pick: Northwest Registered Agent at $125/year, which has no upsells and publicly commits to not selling customer data. Most expensive: LegalZoom at $249/year , the brand-tax bracket. Full ranking below, sourced from each provider's pricing page + Trustpilot + BBB. We are NOT affiliates; this is editorial.
Top 10 registered agent services, ranked by year-2 renewal cost
Year-2 renewal is the number that matters. The first-year price is often discounted or free bundled with formation. The second year is what you actually pay forever after.
- $119
Bizee (formerly Incfile)
$119/yr renewal · Free year 1, $119/yr thereafter · Trustpilot 4.7 · BBB F
A rebrand does not fix a refund-policy problem. Trustpilot is high (4.7) on volume because the formation experience itself is fine; the BBB F rating reflects what happens when you try to leave. Aggressive checkout upsells, particularly for EIN ($79+) and "Banking Resolution," and a registered-agent renewal at $119/yr that customers report being unable to cancel without escalating. Only choose if you accept that the Silver tier is a loss leader and you will be marketed to forever.
⚠ BBB rating F, refund/cancellation friction
Source: bizee.com · Trustpilot
- $120
MyCorporation
$120/yr renewal · Bundled in Deluxe year 1; ~$120/yr renewal · Trustpilot 3.7 · BBB A+ (not accredited)
Quietly the most honest of the legacy brands but priced as if 2010 never ended. There is no $0 tier, the floor is $109 plus state. Trustpilot has only ~280 reviews so the signal is thin. There is nothing structurally predatory here, but there is also no reason to pay $109 to MyCorporation when ZenBusiness or Bizee offer $0 (with caveats) and Northwest offers $39 with fewer caveats. Fine but uncompetitive.
Source: www.mycorporation.com · Trustpilot
- $125
Northwest Registered Agent · Editor's pick
$125/yr renewal · Free year 1, $125/yr thereafter · Trustpilot 4.7
The editor’s pick if there is one. $39 promotional price (off a $100 list), one flat tier, no checkout upsells, and the lowest registered-agent renewal in the major-brand tier at $125/yr. They publicly state they do not sell your data, most competitors do. The only meaningful gap is that EIN is a $50 add-on rather than included, but $50 is still less than the $79-$99 EIN upcharges peers run. Lowest hidden-fee risk and lowest 3-year cost of ownership in this set.
Source: www.northwestregisteredagent.com · Trustpilot
- $135
Nolo
$135/yr renewal · $135/yr (separate) · Trustpilot 1.4 · BBB A+ (parent); 1.1/5 customer reviews
An aging brand riding on book equity. Customer ratings on the formation product are catastrophically bad, 1.4/5 Trustpilot and 1.1/5 BBB customer reviews are the worst in this group by an order of magnitude. The operating agreement is sold separately at $50 and registered-agent cancellation is reported as difficult. Avoid for formation; the BBB A+ rating is for the publishing parent, not the formation service customers actually experience.
⚠ 1.4/5 Trustpilot, formation reviews catastrophic
Source: www.nolo.com · Trustpilot · BBB
- $199
Inc Authority
$199/yr renewal · Free year 1, ~$179-$199/yr thereafter (not transparently published) · Trustpilot 4.9 · BBB F
The "free" tier is genuinely free if and only if you can withstand an aggressive outbound sales call within 24 hours, where representatives push EIN, operating agreement ($89), express filing, and a "business credit and funding" upsell. Trustpilot is 4.9, but the BBB rating is F and the registered-agent renewal is not clearly published anywhere, with customers reporting $179-$199 surprise charges. Usable only by sophisticated buyers who treat the sales call as a no-thanks exercise.
⚠ BBB F. Aggressive outbound sales call.
Source: www.incauthority.com · Trustpilot
- $199
ZenBusiness
$199/yr renewal · Free year 1 (Premium only); standalone $199/yr · Trustpilot 4.8
The polished one. The Starter package’s "free" headline is real on day one, but the included Worry-Free Compliance flips to $199/yr in year two and the cancellation flow is buried in account settings. Starter does not include an EIN or operating agreement, both common upsells at checkout. The dashboard increasingly funnels you toward Money Pro at $30/mo. A competent default for non-technical users, but a calculator user who reads small print will see Northwest costs less over three years.
⚠ Auto-renews compliance at $199/yr
Source: www.zenbusiness.com · Trustpilot
- $199
Swyft Filings
$199/yr renewal · $199/yr add-on (free trial typically 60 days) · Trustpilot 4.7 · BBB F
Mid-pack pricing with the worst hidden-charge complaint pattern in the category. Trustpilot looks fine in aggregate but BBB has rated them F and individual complaints describe being charged for services not selected and being unable to get refunds even after dissolution requests. Filings reportedly show "complete" on the dashboard while the state has not received them. Skip, you can get the same package elsewhere with materially less risk.
⚠ BBB F. "Filed" status not always real.
Source: www.swyftfilings.com · Trustpilot · BBB
- $199
Tailor Brands LLC
$199/yr renewal · $199/yr add-on · Trustpilot 4.2
The only operator in this list whose paid tiers are explicitly annual recurring rather than one-time. Customers repeatedly report no renewal email, no in-app warning, and refused refunds, a textbook negative-option pattern. Charging $99 for an EIN, which the IRS issues free in 10 minutes, is the steepest EIN markup in this comparison. Consider only if you genuinely want the AI logo/branding tools and you set a calendar reminder to cancel before renewal.
⚠ Annual auto-renewal; refused-refund complaints
Source: www.tailorbrands.com · Trustpilot
- $249
LegalZoom
$249/yr renewal · $249/yr (separate) · Trustpilot 4.6 · BBB A+
The brand-tax incumbent. Prices are 30-50% higher than peers for materially the same paperwork. The Basic $0 tier is functionally the same as ZenBusiness Starter except it does not include an operating agreement or EIN, both are structurally pushed into the $249 Pro tier. RA at $249/yr is the most expensive in this comparison. The biggest dark pattern is the "30 days free" attorney consult that converts to $49/mo and the "6 months free" bookkeeping that converts to $9.99/mo. Pay the brand tax only if you genuinely value the attorney network, not for the filing.
⚠ Attorney plan auto-converts to $49/mo
Source: www.legalzoom.com · Trustpilot · BBB
- $249
Rocket Lawyer
$249/yr renewal · $124.99/yr (member) / $249/yr (non-member) · Trustpilot 4.55 · BBB A+
Not really a formation service, it’s a legal-doc subscription where formation is a customer-acquisition feature. The non-member price ($99.99) is deliberately set above the membership annual ($239.88) to push you into Rocket Legal+. If you do not actually need ongoing legal documents, you are paying for inventory you will not use. Common complaint: charges continue after self-service cancellation. Only valuable if you are already going to spend $20+/mo on legal docs anyway.
⚠ Free-trial auto-converts to $39.99/mo
Source: www.rocketlawyer.com · Trustpilot · BBB
The editor's pick framing
We have a single editor's pick (Northwest Registered Agent) because the dataset rewards a single winner: lowest renewal at the major-brand tier, no upsell pattern at checkout, public commitment to not selling customer data. Bizee is technically $6/yr cheaper; we don't pick them because the BBB rating F and the cancellation-friction complaint pattern matter more than $6.
If you're cost-driven and willing to handle stonewalling a sales call, Inc Authority's $0 first year (then renewal somewhere around $179-$199, not transparently published) is the cheapest on paper. We don't recommend it.
The "free" trap to watch for
Five of these services bundle "free first year" registered agent with formation. The first year is genuinely free. The second year is $119-$249. Operators often forget the renewal exists, get charged on auto-renewal, and discover the cancellation flow is buried in account settings. The cleanest way to avoid this: pick a flat-rate service (Northwest, MyCompanyWorks) and skip the formation bundle.
When you don't need to hire one at all
Three conditions to be your own registered agent for $0/yr: you have a physical street address in the formation state (no PO Box), you're available during business hours, and you're okay with your address being public on the Secretary of State website. Most home-office founders meet (1) and (2) but not (3), privacy is the real reason most owners hire a service, not the workload.
Frequently asked questions
What is a registered agent?
A registered agent is a person or business with a physical street address in your LLC's formation state, available during business hours to accept legal mail (lawsuits, subpoenas) and Secretary of State correspondence on the LLC's behalf. Every state requires every LLC to designate one. You can serve as your own (free) or hire a service.
What's the cheapest registered agent service?
Bizee's second-year renewal at $119/yr is the cheapest in this comparison among major brands. Northwest Registered Agent at $125/yr is a close second and is our editor's pick because of their no-upsell flat-rate model and public commitment to not selling customer data. LegalZoom is the most expensive at $249/yr.
Should I hire a registered agent or be my own?
Be your own if: (a) you have a physical street address in your formation state (PO Box not allowed), (b) you're available during business hours to receive legal mail, and (c) you're comfortable with your address being public on the SOS website. Hire a service if any of those don't apply, or if you value not having a process server show up at your home.
Why does Bizee have a 4.7 Trustpilot but BBB rating F?
Trustpilot reviews tend to be left right after purchase, when the formation experience itself is fine. BBB complaints accumulate later, when buyers try to cancel registered-agent renewal, dispute charges, or get refunds. The same delta exists for Inc Authority and Swyft Filings. Always check both surfaces; either alone is misleading.
Are these registered agent services tax-deductible?
Yes. Per IRS Publication 535, registered agent service fees are an ordinary and necessary business expense, deductible on Schedule C (single-member LLCs) or Form 1065 (multi-member). Save the receipt and the renewal confirmation.
Can I switch registered agents later?
Yes, in every state. The mechanic is filing a "Statement of Change of Registered Agent" (or equivalent name) with the Secretary of State, usually $20-$50 fee, sometimes free. The new agent must accept the appointment in writing. Most operators switch when the renewal-pricing-vs-quality math changes, typically year 2 or 3.
Related research
Use the main LLC cost calculator to see how each registered agent service changes your year-1 and 5-year LLC ownership cost. For the full editorial review of all 10 formation services (not just RA pricing), see LLC formation services compared.
Other listicles: annual report fees by state · franchise tax by state · cheapest LLC states 2026.