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Written by: Carolyn Young
Carolyn Young is a business writer who focuses on entrepreneurial concepts and the business formation. She has over 25 years of experience in business roles, and has authored several entrepreneurship textbooks.
Edited by: David Lepeska
David has been writing and learning about business, finance and globalization for a quarter-century, starting with a small New York consulting firm in the 1990s.
Published on September 8, 2022
Updated on September 30, 2023
If you’re starting a business, the business entity formation process is one of the first and most significant hurdles. This step can be terribly complex and time-consuming, which is why many entrepreneurs turn to a professional formation service.
One of the top options is Incorporate.com. But is it the best service? And is it the right choice for you? This review takes a closer look — putting ourselves in the shoes of an entrepreneur to help you choose the formation service that will put your business on the road to success.
Pricing
Turnaround Time
Help and Support
Customer Satisfaction
Ease of Use
Overall Score: 2.4/5
Incorporate.com handles the business formation process for you, making it nearly seamless while offering additional services that can make life easier for a new business owner. Whether you’re forming a limited liability company (LLC) or a corporation, Incorporate.com takes care of all the red tape so you don’t have to.
Incorporate.com offers packages of services and a la carte options. We explored all of the options and have broken down the services and pricing here.
| Services | The Starter | The Essentials | The Works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $99 | $249 | $349 |
| Business Formation | √ | √ | √ |
| CSC Navigator | √ | √ | √ |
| $75,000 Corporate Compliance Guarantee | √ | √ | √ |
| Online Access to Documents | √ | √ | √ |
| Corporate Kit | √ | √ | |
| EIN number | √ | √ | |
| Business License Research Package | √ | ||
| Operating Agreement | √ |
Note that state filing fees still apply with all these plans. Fees vary by state, which we detail below.
Also note that the CSC Navigator, which is an online compliance tool, is only available if you choose Incorporate.com as your registered agent, which costs $235 annually.
The $99 Starter plan includes the business formation service and online access to documents, which is more expensive than other starter plans that include additional services.
The Starter includes the business formation service, with full customer support. It also offers a few extras, including a $75,000 corporate compliance guarantee that protects you from any legal issues that might arise from the business formation process, which is unlikely.
The plan also claims to include a CSC navigator tool, which helps you meet annual compliance requirements, but you only have access to this tool if you choose Incorporate.com as your registered agent.
The fee is high compared to similar plans offered by competitors and does not offer much in terms of extra services.
The $249 Essentials plan has the additional benefits of a corporate kit and an EIN, which is less than you get with competitor plans that are similarly priced.
The Essentials includes all the services included in The Starter with the addition of a corporate kit and an EIN number. The corporate kit is described as “a convenient place to store your vital business documents. Includes a company seal customized with your business name and date of formation, a personalized leatherette binder, sample corporate documents, and stock or membership certificates.”
This plan also does not seem like a good value, since you’re only getting a few extras, and you can get your EIN on your own in just a few minutes.
The $349 Works plan has the additional benefits of a business license research package and an operating agreement. Most similar plans offer expedited filing as well, but Incorporate.com charges $100 to $200 more for that service.
The Works includes everything in The Essentials plus the business license research package and an operating agreement.
This plan gives you the most bang for your buck, since the business license research and the operating agreement are of some value, but most competitors offer something similar as well as expedited filing.
This plan would be beneficial for a business owner who wants to have a one-stop shop for their business services. However, it does not seem worth the money compared to competitor plans.
Note that none of these plans feature registered agent services. You can add those services for an additional fee of $235 annually.
| Services | Price |
|---|---|
| Compliance Kit and Company Seal | $99 |
| EIN number | $80 |
| Business License Compliance Package | $99 |
| Operating Agreement | $99 |
| Expedited Filing - 2 to 3 business days | $100 |
| Expedited Filing - 1 to 2 business days | $200 |
| Expedited Shipping | $20 |
| Registered agent service | $235 annually |
| Annual report filing | $150 annually |
**Expedited filing often incurs additional state costs. Initial state filing fees are detailed below.
***Registered agent service price may vary depending on your state
If you purchase products a la carte, you’ll need to be careful as the costs can add up fast.
Again, the prices seem high compared to competitors. ZenBusienss, for example, only charges $49 for an operating agreement and $99 annually for registered agent services.
Your LLC must be formed with your state by filing articles of organization, sometimes called a certificate of organization or a certificate of formation. This can be done online or by mail. Incorporate.com handles the filing for you online, and the LLC approval time varies by state.
This can be a time-consuming and difficult process for an entrepreneur and getting customer support from your state government office is often a challenge. With Incorporate.com you have access to customer support during normal business hours.
Once your LLC is approved and official, you can access your formation documents on the Incorporate.com website at any time.
When you form your LLC, depending on the state where you want to register your business, there will likely be an added state fee. Below we have listed the fees for each state so you can calculate the overall expenses for creating your LLC.
Please note that the state fees are costs that you will pay in addition to the Incorporate.com formation service costs, or any other formation service you choose.
Use our dropdown calculator to check how much LLC formation will cost using Incorporate.com. Simply choose a plan, a la carte services, and the state where you want to form an LLC to calculate the exact cost based on your needs and preferences.
In most states, when you form an LLC you need a registered agent. A registered agent is a person or business authorized to accept and respond to legal, tax, and financial documents on behalf of your business.
For $235 per year, Incorporate.com can act as your registered agent and ensure that all official correspondence is handled on time and properly filed. They also keep track of deadlines and send reminders of things you need to file, such as tax forms and annual reports.
A registered agent service will help keep you in compliance with the law and save you time by keeping track of key documents and filing deadlines. The agency will also provide support if any issues arise.
Incorporate.com’s registered agent services will enable you to have flexible hours. If you are your own registered agent, you must be personally available from 8 AM to 5 PM at your registered agent address. If you use an agency, they are available during those hours so you can focus on growing your business.
If you use a national agency like Incorporate.com, you can also form an LLC or corporation in another state or multiple states where you do not have residency.
Using Incorporate.com also offers you a level of privacy, as you would never be served with a summons at your business in front of customers or employees.
Incorporate.com offers an operating agreement template customized for your state. An operating agreement for an LLC is an important legal document that details who owns the business and provides essential information pertaining to member duties.
An LLC operating agreement establishes the financial relationship between business owners (“members”) and the basics of the working relationships between those owners and the managers who oversee daily operations.
By using the Incorporate.com template, you can just fill in the blanks, rather than having an attorney draw up the agreement for you from scratch.
This service is only included in The Works. Only a handful of states require an operating agreement, but having one is highly recommended.
We tested the Incorporate.com customer service experience from every angle. Here’s what we found.
When you first go to the Incorporate.com site, you can find a lot of informational articles easily, but no products or pricing. You have to click “get started” to find the service plans.
We had a lot of technical difficulties with the site. It was slow, and we got errors several times, and were even blocked from going back to the site. It was quite frustrating.
The packages are displayed well, and you can see the features and pricing clearly. However, you cannot see the a la carte extras until you put a plan in your shopping cart.
Once you select a plan, you are presented with all the extra services you can add. It’s very easy to select your options. However, the registered agent services are not one of these options.
The next part of the process, entering all your business information, is very clunky and not user-friendly. We continued to have technical issues with the site, as it took time for each page to load. The process took significantly longer than it does on competitor sites.
It took about 30 minutes to get to the point of payment. Right before payment, you can choose to have Incorporate.com as your registered agent. But the site does not tell you the price until you select it and it appears in your cart.
Filing times are advertised as follows:
All time frames depend on state turnaround times. Expedited filing involves additional state fees, which were not disclosed.
Overall, the site was very frustrating to use. Information was hard to come by, the process was clunky, and the technical issues slowed our process down significantly. If actual customers had similar issues, we assume they would “abandon ship” and choose a competitor.
With Incorporate.com, you can cancel any ongoing services, such as registered agent services, at 855-236-4043 during normal business hours.
We tested all three forms of Incorporate.com customer support.
Live chat was not available when we tried it, which was early afternoon on a Wednesday. We were instead taken to a message form to get a response by email. We used the form to ask about the price for annual report filing. We gave it 24 hours and did not even get an automatic response.
Chat Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
We called customer service on a Thursday afternoon and had to leave a voicemail. Our question was about the price of the annual report filing service. We received a call back within five minutes and got an answer to our question. We also got a long sales pitch, trying to get us to go ahead and make our purchase. He was very nice and helpful, but very much a salesman.
Phone Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
We asked email support to send us a list of products and prices, including the annual report service. About an hour later, we received an email saying that we should allow one to two business days for a response. We waited 24 hours and did not get a response.
Email Support Rating:
Response time:
Reasonable
To understand how real Incorporate.com customers feel about the service, we examined customer reviews at the Better Business Bureau and Trust Pilot.
Incorporate has an A+ rating from the BBB.
Incorporate has an A+ rating from the BBB with 1/5 stars in customer reviews, although there are only three reviews. They have been an accredited BBB business since 1978. They have received 3 complaints in three years, all of which have a closed status.
Here are the reviews.
“The worst service ever. Forming a PC does not take 5 months. We decided to take a small shot with a Company that professes stellar work and service. “You pay for what you get”. This is a Company that does not know what service is about and all they want to do is charge you without ever communicating. Terrible outfit- better off using your CPA or LegalZoom.”
“I had a company filed with them and I dissolved the company. They are still asking for money after I told them this and someone at their company confirmed it and said they would remove the charges, but they still email and mail me regularly and now don’t answer my email.”
“I went to see how much it would cost to start a business through Incorporate.com. I went to their website to fill everything out, and after choosing the package I needed I was asked to put in my card information with a total of $173 and after putting in my card information, I was charged $549 without seeing any final balance.”
You can read reviews and complaints on the BBB website.
There are no reviews of Incorporate.com on TrustPilot.
Overall, Incorporate.com’s services offer advantages and drawbacks, as detailed below.
Incorporate.com was founded in 1972. According to the BBB, it is managed by:
We were unable to find much information about the company, as we had difficulty accessing the “About us” page on their website.
We explored several services similar to Incorporate.com to see how they stack up.
For the most part, Incorporate.com offers less for higher prices than its competitors.
ZenBusiness has three packages of services as well:
The ZenBusinesss Starter Plan in particular is a much better value than the Incorporate.com Starter plan. ZenBusiness offers some extras with their plan at a lower price.
Swyft filings is not a subscription service, just like Incorporate.com. They charge a one-time fee for business formation services of $49, and other ongoing services can be added. The differentiating factor for Swyft Filings is their speed. Their signup process is quick, and they have faster business formation turnaround times.
Incfile has very competitive pricing. Their basic package, called the Silver Package, is free and includes registered agent services for a year. Their Gold Package is only $149 and includes the operating agreement as well as a banking resolution. Their Premium Package is $299 and includes some additional services that Incorporate.com does not.
Overall, Incorporate.com has higher prices than its competitors with fewer features. We found their site extremely difficult to use and we had significant technical issues.
In terms of customer service, their chat feature was not available and email responses were slow. We do not recommend Incorporate.com.
As a leading entrepreneurial advisory site, we take our responsibilities seriously. We understand that countless entrepreneurs, and potential entrepreneurs, rely on our judgments and insights, particularly when it comes to creating their business.
As a result, our writers do their utmost to gain a comprehensive understanding of the services offered and the actual customer experience. In this case, we:
Thanks to this full immersion in the actual customer experience, our reviewer and team are able to provide the most complete and insightful review of Incorporate.com’s LLC formation services.
A service like Incorporate can make the business formation process easy for you and ensure that it’s done correctly. They provide customer support and additional services to support your business.
Incorporate.com offers business formation services to handle the paperwork and cut through the red tape with your state, so you don’t have to. They also offer additional services, including registered agent services and annual report filing.
The Starter from Incorporate.com offers LLC formation filing with your state, unlimited phone and email support, and a $75,000 corporate compliance guarantee. You’ll also be able to access your LLC documents online at any time.
The Essentials from Incorporate.com offers the same business formation services as their Starter plan, with the added benefits of a corporate kit and an EIN number.
With The Works from Incorporate.com, you get everything in The Essentials plus a business license research package and an operating agreement.
The Incorporate.com Starter plan is $99 and offers LLC formation filing with your state, unlimited phone and email support, and $75,000 corporate compliance guarantee. You’ll also be able to access your LLC documents online at any time.
Yes, all of the plan prices are one-time fees.
The Incorporate.com registered agent service will ensure that all official correspondence is handled on time and keep copies of documents for you. They will keep track of deadlines for you and send you reminders of things you may have to file, such as tax forms or annual reports.
Registered agent services from Incorporate.com cost $235 annually.
Incorporate.com has an A+ rating from the BBB with 1/5 stars in customer reviews, with only 3 reviews. They have been an accredited BBB business since 1978.
With Incorporate.com, you can cancel any ongoing services, such as registered agent services, at 855-236-4043 during normal business hours.
There are no fees or penalties to cancel your recurring services with Incorporate.com. With Incorporate.com, you can cancel any ongoing services, such as registered agent services, at 855-236-4043 during normal business hours.
Turnaround times for business formation with The Starter are 5 to 10 days, according to Incorporate.com. You can pay $100 to $200 for expedited filing.
We found that Incorporate.com offers less for higher prices than competitors. Their site is difficult to use and the few customer reviews out there are negative.
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