Active Filings LLC Service Alternatives
Northwest Registered Agent Alternatives
Compare the top Northwest Registered Agent alternatives below or choose ZenBusiness today.
Starts at $0 + state fees and only takes 5-10 mins
✨ ZenBusiness ✨
What This Service Is Best Known For: Great low rates, feature-packed formation packages, and a dedication to giving back.
At ZenBusiness, we opened our doors in 2015, and we have a unique approach to business formation services thanks to our use of automation to speed up and simplify several parts of the process. We even offer free LLC formations that only require you to pay your state’s fee!
Let’s see how we stack up when compared to Northwest Registered Agent.
- We’re one of the most affordable LLC services online. We’ll form your business for free (just pay the state’s required fee). That saves $225 compared to Northwest.
- If you like seeing positive customer reviews, you’ll love ZenBusiness. We have more than 12,000 reviews available online, and it’s difficult to find more than just a small handful of negative reviews. Northwest gets good reviews, too, but they have roughly 800 of them.
- We have a serious commitment to giving back. We’re a public benefit corporation that provides $5,000 grants to help our customers kickstart their businesses.
If you want to use a socially conscious provider and get exceptional value, choose ZenBusiness.
LegalZoom
What This Service Is Best Known For: Extensive marketing campaigns and a massive volume of customers served.
Another popular LLC service is LegalZoom, a true industry giant. They’ve served more than 4 million total customers since 2001, and they’ve formed 2+ million LLCs in those years.
What are the main advantages and disadvantages of this “big business” company when compared to Northwest Registered Agent?
- Their starting price of $0 (before state fee) is considerably lower than the $225 price point offered by Northwest Registered Agent.
- Northwest includes a full year of registered agent service with any LLC formation package, which is a feature LegalZoom doesn’t include with any of their LLC packages.
- LegalZoom’s customer support doesn’t match the quality of Northwest Registered Agent’s corporate guide system, but they have some advantages of their own in this area. LegalZoom has extended customer service availability hours that run from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on weekends.
LegalZoom also receives mostly positive feedback among thousands of customer reviews. However, there are plenty of quality LegalZoom LLC alternatives out there.
Want to learn more? See our LegalZoom review.
Incfile
What This Service Is Best Known For: Free LLC formations that still come with plenty of valuable features.
Incfile has served more than 1 million businesses since it formed back in 2004, which is a similar experience level to Northwest Registered Agent. Incfile offers a combination of low prices and complete feature sets.
How do they compare to Northwest Registered Agent? Should you use their services or find an Incfile alternative?
- Like us at ZenBusiness, Incfile offers a free LLC package (plus state fee), which obviously compares favorably to Northwest’s $225 price point. Their feature sets are pretty similar as well.
- While Incfile does have solid customer support, they can’t match Northwest Registered Agent’s personalized service department. While some competitors outsource customer support to anonymous call centers, Northwest keeps everything in-house with knowledgeable and helpful support reps.
- Both Northwest Registered Agent and Incfile receive mostly positive customer reviews, but the difference is the volume of feedback. Northwest has about 800 reviews available online, but Incfile has more than 75,000 of them.
Overall, whether you choose Incfile or Northwest Registered Agent comes down to whether you prefer Incfile’s free pricing model and high volume of positive customer reviews or Northwest’s solid customer support system.
Want to learn more? See our Incfile review.
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Identify the LLC package and services that fit your needs and then get started.
Starter
Premium
Starter
$0
Top Features
We do everything needed to file your application with the state and make your business official. Standard LLC Filing
We’ll file your paperwork quickly and accurately. If there are any errors with your filing, our team will do what’s needed to make it right. 100% Accuracy Guarantee
Keeps you compliant with all state-required annual report and amendment filings to maintain LLC protections and avoid fines. Worry-Free Compliance
This essential document is like the constitution for your business. Operating Agreement
Our fastest service puts you to the front of our line of filings. Our Fastest Filing Speed
Our team will secure your EIN from the IRS so you can open a business bank account, hire employees, and pay taxes. EIN
Includes over 25 templates for contracts, service agreements, waivers, and more. Business Documents
Get online with a website builder tool optimized for traffic and customers. Business Website Builder
Build and protect your brand by registering a private domain name that matches your business name. Domain Name with Privacy
Stay organized and give your business more credibility with a business email. Business Email Address
File in 2 to 3 weeks **
1 year free, then $199/yr*
+$99
+$79
+$99
+$99
+$15/mo
+$35/yr
+$25/yr
*SPECIAL OFFER – Get Starter for $0 plus state fees. Includes one optional free year of Worry-Free Compliance that renews at $199/yr.
**These filing times are averages and include our processing times and Secretary of State turnaround times which vary by state.
Final Thoughts
Northwest, ZenBusiness, Incfile, and LegalZoom are all popular LLC formation service providers. Depending on your preferences and the unique needs of your business, you may find that one meets your requirements better than the others can.
When it comes down to making a choice between these services:
- ZenBusiness has free business formation services (just pay your state’s fee) and more than 12,000 positive customer reviews available online.
- LegalZoom is the most well-known LLC formation service.
- Incfile could be worth a look if you want registered agent service bundled with your free LLC formation.
- Northwest has personalized customer support, but its prices are a bit high.
Which Northwest LLC alternative is best for you?
These LLC service providers all have their pros and cons. One major common feature is that they can all save you a ton of money over hiring a business lawyer to form your LLC.
At the end of the day, we combine low prices and great features, a winning combination that not many competitors can match. Plus, we’re a socially conscious organization that gives back through small-business lending platforms to support underrepresented entrepreneurs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Northwest Registered Agent and its Alternatives
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If you’d like to see how these LLC formation websites stack up in one-on-one comparisons, check out our comparative reviews:
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All of these companies have strong customer support reputations, but Northwest Registered Agent takes a personalized approach that we prefer to the “call center” style of support offered by LegalZoom and Incfile. Every Northwest client receives in-house support from employees who are highly trained and knowledgeable.
In addition, here at ZenBusiness, we’ve invested a considerable amount of time and energy into consistently improving our own customer service offering, and we feel we’ve become quite competitive with Northwest in this area.
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ZenBusiness is the only one of these four services that offer state-specific publication service, which is a nice advantage for us if you’re forming a business in a state that requires it. Northwest provides instructions to help you complete your own publication requirement but doesn’t offer to take care of it on your behalf, while Incfile and LegalZoom don’t provide any form of assistance with publication.
If you need help with NY publication requirements, check out our New York publication service for more information.
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The only one of these four services that attempts lots of upsells is LegalZoom. As you work your way through their order form, they present you with over $1,000 of upsell attempts.
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Northwest bases its turnaround time estimates on the actual processing speeds of each state. As for Incfile and ZenBusiness, processing speeds also vary by state, and you can speed things up by purchasing a higher level of LLC service (or opting for rush processing as an add-on feature).
With LegalZoom, turnaround times vary based on which LLC package you purchase. With their most expensive package, you could receive your finalized business formation documents in 7-10 business days, but their cheaper packages take as long as 30 business days (six weeks).
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
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