Updated October 6, 2026 · 7 services tested
We tested 7 registered agent services for South Carolina. 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 for South Carolina founders. 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.
None of these prices touch a South Carolina annual report, because the state does not require one from a standard LLC.
Use the table below as a straight renewal-price comparison, then scroll to Quick Facts for exactly what that exemption covers and where it stops.
| 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 scanning of legal mail • Files change-of-agent form for switchers • Home address kept off public filings | 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 (separate purchase, never pre-selected) | • Same-day scanning with an email alert • Address limited to legal and state mail • Never bills quietly without a signup step | 4.7 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
| $99 first year, then $159/yrFor new customers | No (sold separately) | • Entity Manager tracks standing in every state • No per-document scanning charge • 3-year prepay locks the $99/year rate | 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 | • Documents scanned with time-sensitive alerts • Unlimited cloud storage • 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) | • Dedicated tab for registered-agent mail • Free-year policy stated upfront on-site • Renewal billed apart from other tools | 4.3 | See plan (opens in a new tab) |
 | $596 first year, then $596/yrBilled $149 a quarter | No | • Scans typically post within 2-3 hours • Standalone purchase, not tied to formation • Plain scope: receive and forward only | 4.2 | 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
Log into Northwest Registered Agent's account the day a lawsuit gets served, and a scanned copy is usually already waiting there.
A customer's home address never lands on the public filing here. Switch over from a competing agent, and Northwest Registered Agent's own staff files that change-of-agent paperwork instead of leaving it to the customer.
The company's marketing keeps repeating the same claim. It hasn't raised its rate in over twenty years, and the flat fee carries no per-document charge tacked on.
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
ZenBusiness spells out on its own signup page that this comes as a separate purchase instead of something included automatically when a customer forms an LLC.
Skip that checkbox during formation and nothing gets billed quietly later. The dashboard just keeps an "Appoint ZenBusiness" button waiting for whenever a customer wants it.
Legal notices and state paperwork are the only mail this address is meant to receive, and ZenBusiness states that scope plainly instead of leaving it vague.
Pros
Cons
Harbor Compliance's Client Portal has a status tracker that shows exactly where an order sits. That same screen later holds any scanned legal notice too.
A second tool called Entity Manager tracks a company's standing in every state it operates in, beyond just South Carolina, once the service goes live on the account.
Pre-filled state forms sit inside that same dashboard, next to stored copies of past filings.
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
Phone support resolved issues quickly during testing, often on the first call, matching the responsiveness Rocket Lawyer brought to formation questions.
That service ties its lower rate to a Plus or Pro membership rather than offering it as a standalone purchase. Membership unlocks a wider toolset too, with document templates and attorney access sitting behind the same login.
Rocket Lawyer Corporate Services LLC actually carries out the role behind that account. Skip the membership and the sticker price roughly doubles, since a non-member pays the full standalone rate instead of the discounted one.
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
Formation and this service aren't bundled together at LegalZoom. A customer forming an LLC has to add this registered agent service separately afterward.
Behind that service sits a company called United States Corporation Agents, Inc., a firm LegalZoom fully owns and relies on to do the actual work.
Whatever a customer pays that first year becomes the renewal number too, since LegalZoom never publishes a separate figure for the years after.
Pros
Cons
Open any card for the complete review, scores and packages.
Refund: Before state payment
Forming an LLC through Bizee waives this service's price for the opening year, a policy the company states outright instead of burying in fine print.
Bizee routes anything tied to this role into a dedicated tab inside the account, separate from general notifications.
Documents that land in that tab post as soon as the scan is done, with an email alert firing at the same moment rather than sitting until a daily batch.
Pros
Cons
Refund: 60 days
No formation purchase is required first. Swyft Filings sells this as a plain standalone service on its own. Its account runs through one customer dashboard, the same one that showed real-time status updates during our formation test.
The company stays narrow about scope in its own marketing, promising only to receive and pass along documents instead of handling any state filings.
Swyft Filings says a scan typically lands in the account inside a two-to-three-hour window after it arrives.
Instead of one annual charge, this comes as four separate quarterly payments, which changes the real yearly cost compared with competitors billing once.
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 South Carolina 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.
Sending one plain question by phone or email, before any paperwork was signed, showed the clearest gap between these seven companies.
Northwest Registered Agent came back with an answer fastest, and ZenBusiness wasn't far behind on how well the reply actually addressed what we asked. A couple of the smaller names took days to respond to what should have been a quick question.
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.
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.
The biggest local wrinkle here isn't the agent rule itself, which reads close to standard. The real difference shows up afterward, since a South Carolina LLC taxed the default way owes the Secretary of State no periodic report at all.
That gap means a provider's recurring-filing add-on carries less weight here than it would in most other states. The real decision shifts instead toward document handling and renewal price.
Neither Northwest Registered Agent's flat rate nor Harbor Compliance's multi-state tracker depends on a South Carolina-specific filing service to earn its spot.
Northwest Registered Agent's free change-of-agent filing still saves a step regardless of that lighter filing calendar, and Harbor Compliance's cross-state tracking helps anyone who also registered outside South Carolina.
Standalone annual rates among these providers start at $125 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.
Swyft Filings bills $149 or more per quarter, which totals at least $596 across twelve months.
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.
None of that touches a South Carolina annual report, because a standard LLC here doesn't file one with the Secretary of State at all.
Serving as your own registered agent costs nothing, so long as you can meet the state's address and availability rule yourself.
Anyone comparing LLC formation packages instead can use our South Carolina LLC services guide, which ran every provider through the same hands-on test.
South Carolina frames this rule around both an office and a named agent, and the state's own statute spells out exactly who qualifies. Here is the full list of what actually applies.
Yes, every LLC and corporation must maintain one under South Carolina law, satisfied at a street address inside the state.
Yes, provided you're a South Carolina resident age 18 or up with a qualifying street address, staffed during regular business hours.
No, not by default. Only an LLC that elects corporate tax treatment files an initial CL-1 report and then an annual return with the Department of Revenue.
Standalone annual rates on this list start at $125 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.
File a Notice of Change of Registered Office or Registered Agent with the Secretary of State and pay the $10 fee, or $2 for an address-only change.
No. South Carolina applies the same registered agent rules to every entity, with no separate commercial category.
Every provider on this page handles South Carolina service of process correctly and keeps a customer's own address off the public filing. Renewal price and how fast a scanned document actually reaches an inbox pulled this particular ranking apart.
Northwest Registered Agent takes the top spot for staying near the front of nearly every category we scored, instead of winning on just one strong number.
ZenBusiness is worth considering if guided checkout matters more to you than the lowest renewal price. A business registered in more than one state should weigh Harbor Compliance's cross-state tracking tools too.
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.