The mission for both Incfile and LegalZoom is to help small business owners to form an LLC at a low price and conveniently. Both Incfile and LegalZoom utilized the advancement of technology to ease the set-up of business formation.
As such, both of these companies are known to offer some of the Best LLC Incorporation Services
Furthermore, Incfile and LegalZoom deliver online legal services to small entrepreneurs. This is because legal services can be very pricey and inexpensive for business formation. Thus, both Incfile and LegalZoom aim to offer affordable business formation services to businesses.
Both Incfile and LegalZoom provide services to help entrepreneurs to form an LLC and they also deliver business compliance and LLC formation service. Both Incfile and LegalZoom help companies to get started to form a new business.
With the Top LLC Services, it could save lots of cost for a company. Moreover, both LegalZoom and Incfile offer business formation and compliance service.
Besides, the business formation and compliance offered by both LegalZoom and Incfile is a necessity which consists of services like file formation papers for any entity, business name and more.
The main difference between Incfile and LegalZoom includes tax filings and tax returns in which Incfile provides tax filing and tax returns while LegalZoom does not.
Furthermore, LegalZoom offers custom legal forms, or copyright filing as well as speaking with an attorney, while Incfile did not offer such services.
Read on to find out our ultimate comparison of Incfile vs LegalZoom. We have broken it down to different categories just easier for your reference.
Incfile vs LegalZoom: Introduction
Incfile
Incfile has launched since 2004 and has helped more than 500, 000 businesses to form a company. With almost 19, 000 good ratings and verified reviews, Incfile was deemed as a trusted service provider.
Incfile offers a full suite of business formation services such as banking, business license, trademark, domain name and bookkeeping.
Furthermore, Incfile offers Registered Agent Services, preparation of annual reports, business license search, and Employer Identification Number (EIN) as well as file business taxes.
In addition, Incfile offers learning centres on their business websites such as research tools, business start-up guides, a complete guide to starting a business and free business downloads and tips
Moreover, Incfile customers will get online access to their own incorporation documents. With this, it will be convenient for customers to review their company information. Incfile also provides a free first year of registered agent.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom was launched in 2001 and has helped more than 2 million businesses and 4 million clients since then. LegalZoom provides flat-rate fees with no hourly charges.
As good as it sounds, LegalZoom also offers a refund for the fee within 60 days if the customers are unsatisfied with their services.
LegalZoom offers its services nationwide which covers all 50 states. Moreover, LegalZoom also offers experienced attorneys to the clients and has delivered more than 550, 000 consultations.
As compared to Incfile who only offers certain legal services, LegalZoom is a full legal services provider and they deliver business solutions to businesses.
For instance, the services that LegalZoom offers include intellectual property, forming an LLC, taxes, licenses or permits and business compliance.
Besides that, LegalZoom also provides additional business services like registered agent services, business legal plan, business tax consultation as well as corporate filings.
We’ve also done a comprehensive review on LegalZoom for you to learn more about their services.
Incfile vs LegalZoom: LLC Formation Service
This is easily one of the most important sections in the comparison of Incfile vs LegalZoom because they are equally known for formation service of LLC.
Incfile
Incfile offers numerous LLC formation services such as preparation and filing of the articles of organization, business tax consultation, next business day processing, business website and more.
Meanwhile, Incfile also provides LLC premium services which require additional charges for Silver packages. As an example, there are $70 charges of Employer Identification Number (EIN) for Silver package, meanwhile, Gold package and Platinum package can get EIN for free.
Similarly, services such as operating agreement, banking resolution, business contract templates as well as preparation and filing of IRS form 2553 are required for additional charges. However, there are free services for the domain name and email service.
To form an LLC, an operating agreement is crucial for an LLC as it is a private agreement between the members or business owner of an LLC and includes details regarding the ownership, rights and responsibilities of the LLC employees.
The operating agreement covers most of the provisions and it is personalised according to the specific company information provided during the order. An operating agreement is the most important document for an LLC formation as it fixes the structure and rules of a business framework.
LegalZoom
LLC formation service offered by LegalZoom includes business formation, wills and trusts as well as intellectual property.
As an example, Limited Liability Company (LLC) formation service, trademark registration, provisional patent application, copyright registration as well as last will and testament.
The advantage of registering for the intellectual property includes protection for the business in which it will prevent other people from copying intellectual property.
Moreover, LegalZoom also offers Estate Plan Bundle at a price of $179 in which customers can get a combination of different services at one low price. Check here to know more.
In addition, LegalZoom offers a session with an attorney for customers to ask their enquiries with an attorney. Customers can call an agent if they have any questions involving legal services.
Moreover, the attorneys are available on weekdays and even weekends. The services include ongoing legal support, legal needs, legal guidance or legal assistance.
It is a worthwhile deal as the price to get an attorney is as low as $40 per month. With this, customers can get legal help and avoid unnecessary mistakes or having to spend money on legal issues such as penalties.
Furthermore, LegalZoom offers creation of legal forms.
For instance, LegalZoom has more than 150 legal forms for corporate or personal needs. Some of the most popular legal forms are Letter of resignation, Termination of agreement and release, security agreement and employee written warning.
Incfile vs LegalZoom Comparison : Pricing
Incfile
Incfile offers one full year of registered agent for free. There are three packages for Incfile LLC formation pricing such as Silver, Gold and Platinum packages. The lowest charges would be the Silver package which is $75 of one-time fee and Incfile even excludes its package fee.
Meanwhile, the Gold package contains comprehensive features for entrepreneurs to form an LLC which costs a total of $224 that include a package fee of $149 and a state fee of $75. Next, the Platinum package of Incfile costs $374 with a package fee of $299 and a state fee of $75.
Moreover, there is a state filing fee of $20 in forming an LLC in California.
The state fees for LLC formation would vary according to different states in the United States. As an instance, the state fee for California is $75, while the state fee for Florida is $125 and Texas costs higher with $300 state fee.
All of the packages consist of next business day processing, business tax consultation, one-year free registered agent and more. However, there are additional charges for LLC formation services like operating agreement, banking resolution and business contract templates.
The pricing of Incfile is worth it for a company to invest for a long time growth. To check out various state fees, click here.
LegalZoom
There is a wide range of legal services offered at LegalZoom. Therefore, there are different charges for different services, even for small companies that require legal help or legal needs every so often.
As compared to other online LLC formation services, the pricing at LegalZoom is more expensive than average by offering LLC formation services starting at $79 plus state fees.
For example, clients who only want to have the basics of legal LLC formation such as business filing, the LegalZoom Economy Package ($79 + state fees) is the right choice.
The clients who choose this package may need to pay for extra $130 or more during adding state fees for this LLC formation package order that is placed within this tier.
This package features name check and business filing, articles of organization, lifetime client service and Financial Account Authorization Letter.
LegalZoom also offers some decent perks like a binder with the company name and a seal for official documents, including all the essentials offered in the LegalZoom Economy package. This package is the LegalZoom Standard Package plus corporate kit.
Clients may doubt the benefits for this package but this price tier actually prioritizes clients to get the legal documents faster than the Economy package.
The LegalZoom Package features a personalized binder for organizing essential company documents, a company seal to give your LLC’s agreement a more official appearance including 20 member certificates customized with your company’s information.
LegalZoom charges $329 + state fee ($70).
Last but not least, for consumers who are in need of immediate LLC formation, the LegalZoom Express Gold package is the best as it mainly features the rush processing of legal business services and express shipping.
This premium package starts at the price of $349, which is $20 more than the Standard package including the state fee of $70 (state fees may vary due to different states).
Incfile vs LegalZoom: Registered Agent Service
Incfile
Incfile delivers nationwide registered agent services as all states imposed a legal requirement where all businesses need to have a registered agent (Check out the top registered agent service).
As an example, the registered agent services include handling of all documents, online dashboard, personalised notifications as well as automatic mail forwarding.
The online dashboard is a digital place where customers can have online access to their documents and information regarding the business. Moreover, clients will receive email and SMS notifications for the documents of the business.
Not only that, but the registered agent service of Incfile also includes receiving state and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) mail correspondence, documents and legal proceedings for the LLC formation.
In addition, Incfile offers a free first year of registered agent. After the free one-year registered agent service, the clients will need to pay $119 per year.
It is still worthwhile for the pricing of $119 per year although it is only for one year. This is because the businesses are still able to save some cost.
Nevertheless, the free first year of a registered agent will be given to clients only when they start a business with Incfile through their business packages such as Silver, Gold and Platinum packages.
Customers can register for an agent by clicking here. It is essential for a business owner to get a registered agent in order to protect their own business.
LegalZoom
It is crucial to hire a registered agent for an LLC formation. One of the reasons is that a registered agent will settle all the paperwork for the business as the entrepreneur would be very busy to manage the operation of their company, thus, by getting a registered agent, it will free up the time for customers.
The registered agent service includes customer service for businesses from 9 to 5 every working day. Not only that, it is legally required for a business to have a registered agent in order to avoid penalties and maintain good standing for the business.
Furthermore, there is privacy provided to clients where the clients would not need to bear the burden of getting countless court papers and eliminate all the hassles.
LegalZoom delivers registered agent service to customers at a price of $299 per year.
Some of the benefits of the registered agent service include clients will receive alerts for important mails, unlimited cloud storage for the documentation, receive emails about critical tax and annual report deadlines as well as identity theft protection and credit monitoring of the business.
Moreover, if the customer requests to change a registered agent, LegalZoom will be the one to deal with all the paperwork regarding state and cover all the fees.
Thus, it is a better deal for customers to do hassle-free work by getting registered agent service while all for only $299 per year.
Incfile vs LegalZoom: Customer Support
Incfile
The customer service of Incfile can be found on their website. Clients are free to make calls to Incfile and the hours are Monday to Friday from 9 in the morning to 6 in the evening (CST). Moreover, Incfile also provides their company address, phone number and fax number.
Furthermore, clients can give their contact information such as name, email address, phone number, and enquiry message under the Client Support Request as provided by Incfile on their customer support page for clients who wish to make further inquiries regarding their service.
This way, Incfile is able to reach their clients in a short time. Incfile also offers lifetime customer support for their clients to encourage customer loyalty.
LegalZoom
Clients who are in need of business formation services can exchange inquiries with the client service of LegalZoom.
The availability of their client service not only will be accessible on weekdays (Monday to Friday, from 5 am to 7 pm PT) but also on weekends from 7 am to 4 pm (PT).
Therefore, clients can rest assured to be assisted with any inquiries about their service with their provided phone support. Moreover, LegalZoom even provided two separate phone numbers with each for sales and customer care.
Other than that, as simple as filling in basic contact details such as full name, email address, topic or reason of clients’ doubt and additional matter can be stated in the message box given on their customer support page.
LegalZoom leaves no stone unturned to deliver the best customer service by providing alternative options of contact and inquiry for their clients.
Incfile vs LegalZoom: Customer Reviews
In this final category of the comparison of Incfile vs LegalZoom article, we summarize the reviews by all the users on the respective websites.
Incfile
Incfile has assisted over 250,000 business owners in forming an LLC with its excellent services that led them to 4.8 overall satisfaction rating based on 18,992 ratings from their clients.
There are mainly guaranteed over 15,000 five stars ratings which are really impressive as a business formation service that covers all the states in the United States.
For product satisfaction, it consists of 4.6 average overall ratings with 1,260 five stars, meanwhile, customer service consists of 4.5 average overall ratings with 322 five stars and lastly, price satisfaction consists of 4.4 average overall ratings with 1,033 five stars.
This shows that the clients of Incfile are happy to use the services Incfile offered and how Incfile treats their clients.
The same goes for their clients’ contentment with the price of entrusting their business formation process. In addition, Better Business Bureau had granted Incfile an A+ rating due to its excellent reputation and service providers of Incfile.
It is no doubt that Incfile will grow bigger and keep providing more top-notch service for their loyal clients who have been giving their trusts.
LegalZoom
As an online business legal service, there are over 4 million businesses that have sought the service of LegalZoom.
LegalZoom has a total of 994 customer reviews which consists of 3.65 stars of consumer ratings with 620 five stars as the most rated from their clients and the total of 287 for one-star review.
The clients of LegalZoom rate their service 3.5 stars, their product value and their quality 3 stars which are almost of equal rating.
It shows that most of the clients are satisfied with the customer service but at the same time, some of them face some bad services regarding their credit card and bank account issues when they were exchanging business legal plans with LegalZoom.
Bonus of Incfile vs LegalZoom: Trustworthiness of LegalZoom
LegalZoom is certainly not a rip-off. LegalZoom has always been legitimate since it launched in 2001. LegalZoom has offered their business formation services to over 4 million individuals.
The trustworthiness of LegalZoom was proven by ConsumerAffairs where ConsumerAffairs has approximately 2 million verified reviews.
The reviews are legit because contact details are required by ConsumerAffairs to make sure that the reviews are not fake and forged. Moreover, the customers are given the opportunity to rate the services from one star to five stars.
The review on the website of ConsumerAffairs can be responded to by LegalZoom as well. Thus, LegalZoom will be able to learn about their company through feedback from numerous customers.
For example, LegalZoom can improve their business formation services by reviewing the complaints from customers.
As a result, LegalZoom can achieve higher customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Besides LegalZoom and IncFile, there’s a rising star in the LLC Services industry that you might want to add into your watchlist. Check out our honest Swyft Filings review to find out more on their services.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Incfile really free?
Yes, as explained above. Incfile used to charge about $49 for their basic package but currently, they offer free business formation service to business owners for a year but this is excluding state filing fees. This would be sufficient for business owner that require registered agent services, assistance in business processing and company alerts.
However, they do have other more comprehensive packages which runs for $149 and $299 which is more efficient so this really depends what you’re looking for.
Does LegalZoom or IncFile offers Refund Policy?
As for Legal Zoom, they offer satisfaction guarantee where request for refunds can be made anytime within sixty days upon the date of your purchase.
As for IncFile, refunds are only avail if you’ve made a request a day prior making payment to the state that is equipped with $30 cancellation fee.
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