Legalzoom vs Bizfilings Review : Who Are They?
BizFilings
BizFilings are considered The Business Formation Experts and have led a whopping number of over 500, 000 companies since 1996 to form an LLC.
It is also a company that is entirely formed by a team of entrepreneurs, all with a series of intensive history of entrepreneurship. Not only that, but they are also backed by CT.
CT is an entity that allows certain types of businesses to proceed with their services. To attain a CT license, it has to undergo through the Secretary of State.
Bizfilings has been backed by CT since 2002 and is one of the pioneers of the online incorporation space. They also have acquired multiple companies since the opening, further proving their competence in the industry.
Legalzoom
Likewise, another company that helps you start an LLC, its services include a wide range of assistance. It could be from LLC formation service to estate planning to even intellectual property.
Legalzoom also one-ups the majority of other companies, by offering attorney services where needed.
This makes the process easier when it comes to any LLC formation services.
They also have registered agent service, which are certified agents who provide help with almost anything, whether it’s regarding their company or anything you need to know before starting a business.
Bizfilings vs LegalZoom : Registered Agent Service
Both companies offer registered agent service at a professional level. Though many businessmen are not familiar with this term just yet as it is still venturing it’s way to online businesses.
In United States business law, a registered agent (also known as a resident agent or statutory agent) is a business or individual designated to receive Service of Process (SOP) when a business entity is a party in a legal action such as a lawsuit or summons.
Bizfilings and Legalzoom also offer another array of services, such as handling legal documents, filing taxation reports, annual reports or any statements.
Other than that, they also handle state compliance reports, meaning that they are able to notify you, as the director, of any upcoming statements to be filed.
All filed documents are also kept in cloud space, putting convenience first. Both companies will digitally scan the documents to upload into the cloud for instant viewing.
However, most people who opt for the Registered Agent Service by these online service providers often require them to incorporate their business.
These agents are extremely useful when it comes to their LLC service, as they take on most of the workload when incorporating or forming an LLC, and we are talking about the agents from both Bizfilings and Legalzoom.
Customers who opt for this service will find themselves relieving their burden as they do not need to spend time in researching when they can just rest their fears on someone else reliable.
Furthermore, it is important to note that in most states, it is required that a registered and certified agent be named in the document when forming an LLC. This is where the registered agent comes in handy because as we said above, they are there to do just that!
Now moving on to the more important part of the article, so who should you choose for your services? Bizfilings top article published is about supporting the learning process. Information about a business formation service is important, and that’s where Bizfilings come in.
Bizfilings possess very comprehensive online tools and resources to continue the learning process. Be it starting a business, staying compliant, or even managing your business and taxes.
On the other end of the spectrum, LegalZoom has an incredible volume of customers. LegalZoom has served approximately 4 million customers since 1999 and they are one of the most popular online legal services up to date.
With LegalZoom, you can achieve more than just document forwarding and business formation services.
LegalZoom’s registered agents will also be tasked to provide a compliance calendar to notify you on important filing deadlines throughout your subscription with them.
This compliance calendar will show you what you need to do, and the registered agents will also provide you with the necessary documents immediately by phone if anything arises, such as a court summon.
With LegalZoom, satisfaction is guaranteed as they even give you the option to receive a full refund on all of the fees paid to LegalZoom with a given 60 days of range within the purchase, with no questions asked!
LLC Formation
We will be mainly focusing on the LLC formation services aspect of LegalZoom as this is what most people look for. LegalZoom’s LLC service comes bundled with a Registered Agent Service which will take care of your LLC formation entirely.
LegalZoom offers three tiers for its services that form an LLC package starting with their Economy service package which starts at $79.
Do keep in mind that these prices may rise up to $149 due to the state filing fees which are not included.
For LegalZoom’s Standard service package, the package itself is priced at $329 while their top tier Express Gold Service Package is another 20 dollars more and is priced at $349.
Each tier comes with the essentials provided by LegalZoom so that would not be a worry as you will get your LLC formation completed with any package, it is just that the higher tier packages will include more features.
You may or may not find these additional features useful so please consult a customer service representative regarding the pricing and the main website for LegalZoom for more information.
On the other end of the spectrum, Bizfilings provides numerous formation solutions as a primary service. This includes the formation of LLCs, LP, LLP, Non-Profits, S Corporation, and C Corporations. These services are offered in all 50 states of the United States of America.
BizFilings has 3 price points for their LLC formation services, namely the Basic BizFilings Package, The Standard Bizfilings Package, and lastly the Complete Bizfilings Package.
The $99 Basic BizFilings LLC Formation Package is a basic LLC formation package which includes only 1 of the most requested services. BizFilings will prepare and file your Articles of Organization with the state.
As for the Standard BizFilings LLC Formation Package which costs $229, the package contains 3 out of the 4 core services.
Namely (1) the preparation and filing Articles of Organization with the state; (2) which is done within 1 business day; (3) with an operating agreement which outlines the business’ financial and functional standing, which is inclusive of the rules and regulations within the business.
This package also comes with an LLC Kit (a binder to keep papers organized). BizFilings’ Standard Package however does not include a Federal Tax ID/EIN which will cost an additional $70.
Last but not least, the Complete BizFilings LLC Formation Package which costs a whopping $359 includes everything in the standard package, inclusive of an EIN and a Compliance DVD.
Each of the BizFilings LLC formation packages includes the basic filing procedures and six months of registered agent services, excluding state fee.
The pricing of these packages also includes full access to BizComply that provides an online checklist for company compliance.
The Basic Package which costs $99 seems to have the best overall value and customers can add in additional services based on their needs. For customers that want the LLC kit, they can start with the Standard package and build their business from there.
Months of Registered Agent
Both of these service providers offer the same service but at varying prices.
It is important to note that every LLC in the United States is required to designate a registered or certified agent which is the person who will receive important document deliveries from state government officials on behalf of you.
After receiving these documents, these registered agents will forward said documents to you immediately, alongside the ways on how you should handle these documents.
This is extremely crucial to every business as the state requires a reliable contact in order to pass urgent documents immediately at any given time.
LegalZoom offers the service for $299 a year, whereas BizFilings offers the same service for a price of $164 annually.
If you are looking for flexibility and short term commitments with a service provider company, then BizFilings is the way to go as they offer packages in the six months range as well, while LegalZoom only offers packages in years instead of months of service.
The six months of registered agent service by BizFilings is definitely worth your money as well if you’re using this as a stepping stone to learning about managing your business after it has successfully incorporated.
Customer Review
A good majority of the customer reviews in Legalzoom explained that Legalzoom is quite worth the purchase. Legalzoom so far has been able to attain the legal information required, at much quicker and cheaper rates compared to a physical law firm.
The customer reviews also say that they are able to address multiple arising issues during the visit of their website. Most of the reviews on Legalzoom were positive, indicating that it is a good purchase.
With that being said, there are still negative reviews on Legalzoom.
For the negative reviews on Legalzoom, it was mostly on their customer service. At this age and era, it is definitely a limitation that Legalzoom can improve on in the future.
Customer service plays an important role in most online purchases, especially when it is about LLC services. Any LLC services should take in consideration that customer support plays an important role in most services.
When it comes to business, it is especially important, since it is about generating overall revenue for income.
As for Bizfilings, they also include registered agent service. It may not be as good as Legalzoom, but it is a starting point regardless. Compared to Legalzoom, Bizfilings have reported positive turnaround times for customer support.
It is even rated as the best LLC services many times.
To form an LLC, quite a number of people have chosen Bizfilings as their top LLC formation service. Bizfilings packages price points are very competitive since they offer online corporation and additional services for such a cheap rate.
If you decide to use Bizfilings, you aren’t making the wrong decision for sure! It is a good place to get started for an online corporation since they offer months of free registered agent service when you form an LLC.
Although LegalZoom has a stronger standing, there are still reviews on Bizfilings that may not appeal to everyone.
It is no doubt that Bizfilings has a good review especially on the free registered agent, but it is also weaker in such terms that it has no proper strong point against Legalzoom.
Bizfilings may have good reviews, but the quantity is not as many as compared to Legalzoom. Bizfilings has a substantial amount of customer reviews compared to Legalzoom.
Though the total ratings overall may differ in such a way that Legalzoom has more customer reviews, it is safe to say that Legalzoom is generally better than Bizfilings, since it has overall quantity reviews.
Name Availability Checker
You cannot start a business without a name and more importantly, you cannot start a business with a name that is already taken in your state.
That is why it is good that both the companies offer a business name availability checker.
With this, you will not have to go through the hassle of finding out if your dream business name has already been taken as you can find out in a snap with MyCompanyworks’ built-in name availability checker.
Refund Policy
The refund policy for LegalZoom is extremely good as they have a 60-day full refund policy upon purchase of their services. If you at all have any doubt towards LegalZoom’s services, you have the option to request for a full refund within the 60-days buying period.
If this isn’t the way to go, then I don’t know what is.
As for BizFiling’s refund policy, if an order is cancelled after payment has taken place before a preliminary name check has been completed, BizFilings will refund the full amount with a $50 processing fee.
If the order is cancelled after the preliminary name check has been completed but before the incorporation documents have been sent to the state for processing, BizFilings will refund the total amount of the order with a $75 processing fee if the LLC documents have not been filed with the state.
If the documents are filed with the state, the money paid for Bizfilings order becomes non-refundable.
Final Verdict – Legalzoom vs Bizfilings Comparison
While both Bizfilings and Legalzoom are very good, it is completely up to you to decide to use any of the two online incorporations of formation service. It is no doubt that Legalzoom at the end of the day is better than Bizfilings.
Though Bizfilings may not have as many reviews as Legalzoom, they are still generally a good company. However, the customer support for Legalzoom is not as good as compared to Bizfilings.
Customer support, in simple terms, at this age and day, acts as a very important entity, especially when it comes to formation service.
Both Bizfilings and Legalzoom offer free registered agent service at the beginning and would require a minimal fee to renew after a year.
Of course, it is up to you to pick your decision after reading this review. We certainly hope that this would be helpful for your decision-making process.
You should check out our honest LegalZoom review if you want to have more in-depth knowledge about its services.
Cheers!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If I decided to opt for LegalZoom, which package is the best?
As for Legalzoom, the best package for LLC formation service would be their $79 Economy plan among their 3 limited liability formation packages. This Economy plan covers the formation of your limited liability company, equipped with a bank authorization letter to assist you in setting up your bank accounts or any form of checking with the banks. Contrastingly, the other packages offered by LegalZoom are more expensive which is $329 and $349 respectively which may be too expensive for business owners which are just starting out unless you’ve the capacity to do so.
Starting a business correctly doesn’t have to be difficult. With over 15 years of experience consulting new businesses and start ups, Matthew is probably the best person to help you set a strong foundation for your business.