Updated October 6, 2026 · 4 services tested
We tested 4 registered agent services for Maryland. 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)
LegalZoom
$249 first year, then $249/yrSee LegalZoom's agent plan (opens in a new tab)Prices checked October 6, 2026.
We hired every registered agent service in this Maryland guide ourselves, then watched what each account actually did once the order went through.
Northwest Registered Agent takes the top spot here, backed by a renewal price that hasn't budged in two decades. ZenBusiness lands second, built around a compliance dashboard that flags a filing deadline before it sneaks up on you.
Skip the first-year sticker price on the table below and look at the renewal column instead. That's the number your card gets charged once any opening discount runs out.
| 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) | • Same-day scans of state and legal mail • Maryland address stands in on the filing • Free paperwork for an incoming agent switch | 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 (half-price first year with formation) | • Compliance-dashboard deadline alerts • Same-day scans emailed to dashboard • Overnight delivery for urgent mail | 4.7 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
| $249 first year, then $249/yr | No | • Compliance Calendar reminders • Scanned documents to account • Unlimited cloud storage | 4.4 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $149 first year, then $149/yrFree first year with a Bizee LLC | Yes (free stretch with formation) | • Same-day dashboard alert • Mail forwarding on request • Handles agent-change paperwork | 4.3 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
Prices checked October 6, 2026.
Each score combines support, price, features, privacy and security, compliance alerts and user ratings.
Refund: 90 days
Northwest Registered Agent's account portal reached a usable state faster than the other three. An entity ID and a start date showed up before any upsell screen did.
Nothing about a later agent switch required leaving the dashboard: no printed form, no signature to scan, no envelope to mail.
That in-house handling is the throughline for this brand. Northwest Registered Agent treats the resident agent role as core infrastructure instead of an upsell other providers push after the fact.
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
ZenBusiness sells the resident agent role apart from LLC formation, though a half-off opening rate softens the first bill.
Its dashboard nudges you instead of just logging activity. A pending deadline gets a flag before it becomes a real problem, which is the whole pitch for paying above Northwest Registered Agent's flat rate.
The provider keeps that address narrowly focused on legal and state mail, full stop, never a stand-in for a business or shipping address.
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
LegalZoom is a well-known name for Maryland founders. Forming an LLC through the provider's checkout never brought up the resident agent role at all.
United States Corporation Agents holds that title instead. It's a wholly owned LegalZoom subsidiary, working behind the familiar brand name.
That gap matters in Maryland. The state wants a named agent the moment you file the Articles of Organization.
Pros
Cons
Refund: Before state payment
Ordering Bizee's resident agent service alongside formation waived the fee outright for an opening run, the cheapest path to the role among these four.
That discount shows up nowhere separately in the account. State filings, federal filings and the agent notice all sit on one screen together.
One thing didn't happen by default. Mail forwarding needed a manual switch on our end, easy to miss in the first week of ownership.
Pros
Cons
We ran the identical testing methodology against all four providers here: pay as a real customer would, work the account the way an owner would, then hold the result up against what the marketing copy claimed.
Seven weighted categories set the ranking, with the weighting leaning toward whatever changes the math for a Maryland LLC owner.
Northwest Registered Agent got a document question answered without any queue, which put it ahead here, with ZenBusiness's in-app messaging close enough to hold second.
LegalZoom and Bizee round out the field with scores that still work fine for owners who rarely need to reach out.
Two different paths land Northwest Registered Agent and ZenBusiness at the same top score. One never moved its renewal in years, and the other counts on a steep opening cut instead.
At the other end, Bizee's temporary waiver and LegalZoom's higher sticker price tie for last place here.
Feature count favors Northwest Registered Agent, which pairs quick document scanning with a no-charge switch-over service most rivals don't match.
ZenBusiness answers back with its own deadline alerts, and LegalZoom leans on a Compliance Calendar plus storage with no posted cap.
Keeping an owner's home address off the public record is where Northwest Registered Agent scores highest, publishing its own office address on the filing instead.
ZenBusiness isn't far off given its own address-use disclosure, while LegalZoom and Bizee trail well behind on this measure.
No scheduled check-in is required before Northwest Registered Agent's account reflects a new document, which is why it leads this category. ZenBusiness's own alert dashboard puts it a solid second, though a real step behind the leader.
Bizee trails LegalZoom's Compliance Calendar by a hair here, and both providers sit a real step further back than the top two names above them.
Third-party reviewers rate Northwest Registered Agent above every other name on this page, and ZenBusiness isn't far enough behind to lose second place.
One rating site's score can move for reasons that have nothing to do with actual service. We treat it as a single data point next to what we saw firsthand rather than the deciding factor.
Maryland's own recurring bill, the Annual Report and Personal Property Return, dwarfs any of these four resident agent renewals. That changes the math versus a state where the recurring filing itself costs little or nothing.
There's also no separate commercial-agent list to worry about here. Naming yourself costs nothing beyond listing a qualifying address.
None of these four names is a Maryland-only outfit, so speed and price end up mattering more on this page than they might where a strong local option exists.
Renewals on this page start at $125 and top out at $249, with the field mostly clustered in between.
Two providers temporarily beat even that $125 floor: Bizee waives the fee outright for a stretch, and Northwest Registered Agent bundles a free first year into formation. Neither number matters as much as what each service renews at.
Handling the role yourself costs nothing at all, provided you can keep a genuine Maryland street address on file the entire time your LLC is active.
That fee has nothing to do with what SDAT itself charges. The $300 Annual Report and Personal Property Return lands on every entity regardless of which resident agent option gets picked.
Pricing the resident agent role is only part of the picture. See our best LLC services in Maryland guide for the rest of what forming an LLC costs.
Two providers on this list will run that whole process for you: Northwest Registered Agent and Bizee both take on the switch-over filing once you sign up.
Yes. State law requires every corporation and LLC to keep one designated for the life of the business.
Yes, provided you're a Maryland resident 18 or older with a street address where documents can actually reach you.
The role is narrow by design: take in service of process and official state mail, then pass it along to the business right away.
Expect somewhere between $125 and $249 a year, depending on which of these four providers you choose.
Submit SDAT's Change Resident Agent form with the new agent's details. The standard filing fee is $25.
Yes. Every Maryland LLC files an Annual Report with a Personal Property Return by April 15 each year, at a $300 fee for most entities.
All four providers here clear Maryland's baseline requirement for a resident agent. What separates them is turnaround speed, whether the price holds steady after year one and how much of the compliance workload still lands on you.
Northwest Registered Agent wins this page on how little it asks of you once the account is open, more than on any one flashy feature.
ZenBusiness is the pick if you'd rather have a dashboard nudging you toward deadlines than manage that timeline entirely on your own.
Tightest budget goes to Bizee, whose waived opening stretch suits anyone ordering formation and the agent role together. LegalZoom fits best if you already keep other legal matters running through that same account.
References
Our verdict
$125 first year, then $125/yr. 90-day money-back guarantee.
Prices checked October 6, 2026.