Updated October 6, 2026 · 10 services tested
We tested 10 registered agent services. Northwest Registered Agent is our pick: $125 first year, then $125/yr.
By Jon Morgan · Fact-checked by Jon Tobin, Business Attorney · How we test
Northwest Registered Agent
$125 first year, then $125/yrFree first year with its $39 LLCGet Northwest's agent service (opens in a new tab)
ZenBusiness
$99 first year, then $199/yrHalf price in year one when you switch to ZenBusiness (state fee extra)See ZenBusiness agent plan (opens in a new tab)
Harbor Compliance
$99 first year, then $159/yrFor new customersSee Harbor Compliance agent plan (opens in a new tab)Prices checked October 6, 2026.
We compared registered-agent pricing, documented features, and account observations across the United States. Our tests covered different service steps by provider, including LLC formation and active-agent account access where available.
Northwest Registered Agent remains our top pick. ZenBusiness ranks second at 4.7/5 for its guided platform and stronger public customer-review score, while Harbor Compliance ranks third at 4.6/5 and remains a strong option for multi-state compliance.
Compare these ten on the renewal column, not the first-year number. That's the figure that actually lands on the bill from year two onward.
| Service | Agent price | RA bundled with formation | Service features | Score | Compare offers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $125 first year, then $125/yrFree first year with its $39 LLC | Yes (free first year with formation) | • Flat renewal price for over 20 years • Free first year when bundled with formation • No per-document scanning fees | 4.9 | Get agent service (opens in a new tab) |
| $99 first year, then $199/yrHalf price in year one when you switch to ZenBusiness (state fee extra) | No (separately purchased; discounted first year with formation) | • Dedicated Registered Agent dashboard tile • Half-price first year with formation • Compliance tab tracks annual reports | 4.7 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
| $99 first year, then $159/yrFor new customers | No | • Same-day scanning on every account • Free Entity Manager multi-state tool • Sold standalone, no formation required | 4.6 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $119 first year, then $119/yrIncluded in year one with its Entrepreneur and Complete LLC packages | No | • One flat rate with no step-up • Business-hours phone and email support • Documented early-cancellation refund policy | 4.6 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $124.99 first year, then $124.99/yrOnly with a Plus or Pro membership | No (Plus or Pro membership required; billed separately) | • Digital document delivery • Attorney consultations via membership • Paid Plus or Pro membership required | 4.5 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $249 first year, then $249/yr | No | • Rate continues at the purchase price • Owned agent entity, not outsourced • Not offered during formation checkout | 4.4 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $149 first year, then $149/yrFree first year with a Bizee LLC | Yes (free first year with formation) | • Free first year with formation • Dedicated Registered Agent dashboard tab • Itemized as its own charge at checkout | 4.3 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $596 first year, then $596/yrBilled $149 a quarter | No | • Billed quarterly, not annually • Clean standalone add-on purchase • Available nationwide in every state | 4.2 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $129 first year, then $129/yrPrepaying 5 years brings it to $87/yr | No | • Multi-year prepay lowers the yearly rate • Free document storage and monitoring • Never bundled with formation orders | 4.1 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $199 first year, then $199/yr | No | • Acts as its own agent directly • Covers several categories of compliance mail • Chosen as an add-on at checkout | 3.8 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
Prices checked October 6, 2026.
Refund: 90 days
Northwest Registered Agent's client dashboard lists Registered Agent Service as an active order alongside any formation work done through the company.
A separate screen manages renewals and lets a customer turn on automatic billing, so nothing depends on remembering a due date.
The company also states its price hasn't moved in 20 years, with no per-document charges layered on top [1].
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
ZenBusiness's account dashboard shows a Registered Agent tile inside its Compliance tab, next to the tools for annual reports and amendments.
That tile shows an "Appoint ZenBusiness" prompt for anyone who hasn't added the service yet. ZenBusiness never folds it silently into an existing order.
A promotional discount cuts the opening year's price in half when a customer forms an LLC through the company at the same time [2].
Pros
Cons
Harbor Compliance sells this service on its own, with no formation purchase required to sign up.
Its own team states every active account gets same-day scanning and free access to Entity Manager. That tool plugs directly into Secretary of State systems in every state where a business operates.
Deadline tracking stays reminder-only unless a customer adds the separate filing service on top [3].
Pros
Cons
Refund: 90 days
MyCompanyWorks sells this service on its own, so a customer can add it without picking a specific plan first. The job itself is carried out by its parent company, Registered Agent Solutions Inc.
Only one flat rate gets published, with no separate first-year or renewal figure listed anywhere on the site [4].
The company backs the service with business-hours phone and email support, and it publishes a plain-language refund policy for customers who change their mind early.
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
Rocket Lawyer only includes this service with its Plus and Pro memberships. It isn't sold on its own to anyone else.
Members pay close to half the non-member rate [5].
Membership also brings a library of attorney-drafted documents with e-signature, plus direct attorney access for other legal questions. This registered agent duty runs through Rocket Lawyer Corporate Services LLC, a company it owns outright.
Pros
Cons
Open any card for the complete review, scores and packages.
Refund: 60 days
LegalZoom never once offered this service during the formation checkout flow we documented on the account. Its own site promotes other tools first and treats registered agent service as a separate purchase to consider later.
United States Corporation Agents, Inc. carries out the job, a company LegalZoom owns outright rather than an unrelated outside contractor [6].
Pros
Cons
Refund: Before state payment
Bizee's account dashboard carries a dedicated Registered Agent tab, separate from the tab that tracks state and IRS filings.
The first year ships free with any LLC formation order, and it appears as its own line on the confirmation email rather than folded into one combined total.
After that, the same rate applies whether a customer keeps the service standalone or simply renews it going forward [7].
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
Swyft Filings does not fold this service into any base formation option, so it always shows up as its own separate line.
The company's own order page bills it every quarter rather than once a year. That rhythm raises the effective yearly cost well above what the sticker price suggests [8].
A published customer review of the company also flags occasional confusing language around which services come from Swyft Filings directly versus an outside partner.
Pros
Cons
InCorp sells formation and registered agent service as two entirely separate purchases rather than one combined order. Paying one year at a time costs the most, and the rate steps down the more years a customer prepays at once [9].
The company's own account tools store filed paperwork at no added charge. A separate monitoring feature watches for identity-theft-style changes on file with the state.
Pros
Cons
Tailor Brands acts as the registered agent itself, directly, rather than routing the job through a separate outside company.
Its own support material states the service covers several kinds of state and legal mail. The company scans each piece and sends an alert email the moment it's ready to view.
A customer chooses this service during LLC formation checkout, rather than getting it free with any signup option [10].
Pros
Cons
Our testing methodology combines provider research with account observations where access was available.
The ZenBusiness test purchased LLC formation only, without activating its paid registered-agent service; the Harbor Compliance assessment covered direct Q&A and a pricing and signup-wizard walkthrough without a paid order.
We average six numeric categories equally to calculate each overall score, rounding the result to one decimal place. The separate Best Fit subsection adds context and is not a seventh numeric score.
ZenBusiness's six scores average 4.700/5; Harbor Compliance's average 4.633/5, giving displayed overall scores of 4.7 and 4.6, respectively.
Reaching a real person, not just a help article, separates the top of this category from the bottom.
Northwest Registered Agent and ZenBusiness lead this measure, both keeping live contact options visible without a customer having to dig for them. Tailor Brands trails the group here.
Renewal price matters more than the signup discount when comparing recurring costs. Harbor Compliance renews at $159 per year, compared with ZenBusiness at $199 per year, so Harbor earns the higher Price score: 4.7 versus 4.6.
Their current introductory rates both start at $99. Compare the final checkout total and any formation or multi-year conditions before deciding how much the first year will cost.
Northwest Registered Agent has the highest Features score at 4.8, while ZenBusiness and Harbor Compliance each score 4.7. Northwest's forms library and handling of agent-change paperwork add practical value beyond receiving documents.
Harbor Compliance's Entity Manager stands out for tracking registrations in multiple states, while ZenBusiness provides guided account tools through Velo. Those different strengths may matter more to an individual owner than the small numerical gap.
Northwest Registered Agent and Harbor Compliance share the highest Privacy and Security score at 4.9, while ZenBusiness scores 4.7.
We considered documented address-use policies and secure document handling alongside the account observations available to us.
An agent's address can replace a personal address in the registered-agent field, but it does not remove information required elsewhere on state filings.
ZenBusiness explicitly limits its agent address to legal and state mail, rather than general business correspondence.
Northwest Registered Agent and Harbor Compliance each score 4.9 for Compliance Alerts, while ZenBusiness scores 4.6.
We considered the clarity and availability of deadline reminders; managed filing services, when offered, may carry a separate charge. MyCompanyWorks scores 4.7 in this category.
Public customer reviews are one input in our comparison, alongside service features and account observations. ZenBusiness earns a 4.8 User Ratings score; Harbor Compliance earns 3.9.
These are editorial category scores derived from the review snapshot checked on October 2, 2026, rather than ratings of a state-specific office.
ZenBusiness's score combines Trustpilot's 4.8/5 from 32,767 reviews and BBB's 4.04/5 from 817 customer reviews, weighted by review count. The result is 4.78/5, rounded to 4.8.
Harbor Compliance's score uses Trustpilot's 3.1/5 from 53 reviews, BBB's 1.0/5 from 8 customer reviews, and Birdeye's 4.2/5 from 245 Google reviews. The same weighting gives 3.93/5, rounded to 3.9.
Review counts and invitation practices differ across platforms, so these samples are not directly comparable measures of service quality.
BBB customer-review averages are separate from its business letter grades; Harbor's own site also reports a separate Google sample of 4.3/5 from 212 reviews.
Harbor's unrounded mean of 4.633/5 is higher than MyCompanyWorks at 4.567/5. That explains their order even though both cards display 4.6/5 after rounding.
A single-state small business that just wants one flat renewal number and nothing else to manage fits Northwest Registered Agent best.
An owner juggling entities across several states should look at Harbor Compliance's Entity Manager tooling or InCorp's multi-year prepay ladder before anything else on this list.
A buyer already sold on formation bundles and dashboard convenience gets the most value from ZenBusiness or Bizee. Anyone who only wants the plainest possible service at one clear price should start with MyCompanyWorks.
Standalone annual rates among these providers start at $119 and reach about $249 per year, excluding quarterly billing, prepaid discounts and paid membership requirements.
ZenBusiness starts at $99 and renews at $199; Harbor Compliance starts at $99 and renews at $159.
Rocket Lawyer's $124.99 annual (the same in the first year and every year after) agent add-on requires a separately paid Plus or Pro membership, so its agent fee is not the whole recurring bill.
Swyft Filings bills $149 or more per quarter, which totals at least $596 across twelve months.
Any adult resident of the state, or an authorized business entity with a real address there, can also fill this job personally at no cost at all, provided they meet that state's own eligibility rule.
That renewal figure is never the same charge as a state's own recurring-filing fee, even though readers confuse the two numbers often enough to matter.
Readers weighing a full LLC formation package instead of registered agent service alone can check our LLC formation services guide, built from the same hands-on testing.
Every state sets its own version of these rules, but the core requirements repeat across nearly all of them.
Check your own state's page on this site for its exact form, fee and processing time, since none of those three details are the same in every state.
Yes, in every state, provided you're a resident with a real street address there and available during normal business hours to accept documents.
No. Every state requires a genuine street address for this role; P.O. boxes and virtual mailboxes don't meet the requirement anywhere.
The state can move to revoke a company's good standing or dissolve it administratively, and the business risks missing timely notice of a lawsuit filed against it.
Yes, as long as they meet the state's residency and address rules and are reliably available during business hours. Their home address becomes part of the public record.
Standalone annual rates on this list start at $119 and reach about $249, excluding prepaid discounts, with first-year promotions starting at $99.
Swyft Filings costs at least $596 first year, then $596/yr (billed $149 a quarter) when its quarterly bills are added together. Rocket Lawyer requires a paid membership in addition to the agent fee.
None in practice. States use different names, resident agent, statutory agent, agent for service of process, for the exact same role.
Renewal cost and how much friction each signup process added actually separated these ten providers, since nearly every one of them keeps a customer's address off the public record equally well.
Northwest Registered Agent earns the top spot for a renewal rate that hasn't budged in twenty years, backed by an account built around this single task.
Harbor Compliance is the strongest choice for businesses operating in several states simultaneously.
Buyers shopping on price alone should start with MyCompanyWorks, whose flat $119 rate is the lowest renewal figure on this entire page.
ZenBusiness is our second overall choice at 4.7/5, combining guided account tools with the stronger public customer-review score.
Harbor Compliance ranks third at 4.6/5 and is still the specialist pick for owners tracking compliance across multiple states.
References
Our verdict
$125 first year, then $125/yr. 90-day money-back guarantee.
Prices checked October 6, 2026.