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Bizfilings vs LegalZoom (2023) — Which of the Two LLC Services Fares Better Overall?

Starting and running a Limited Liability Company can be a bit overwhelming. That’s why you need reliable and trusted LLC services like LegalZoom and Bizfilings who have been in the industry for many years. 

In this comparison, our experts compared and will give you first hand and valuable information to be certain which one is the better option for your business.

Features of Bizfilings and LegalZoom

Packages and Pricing

Usually, when you’re getting an LLC incorporation service company such as Direct Incorporation LLC services, you want to look and filing at the cost and state fee. Companies have comparison to choose. Some companies charge outrageously with the state fee and offers the bare minimum in return for  their features. The same does not apply in these LLC formation services.

Bizfilings basic packages include  services that get started at $99. Our experts find that bizfilings is fairly affordable for 6 months of registered agent most as it includes  to choose your best llc formation package . bizfilings also gets you the standard necessary features you’ll need to get your business off the ground. In addition, you may also choose get free registered agent service for six months. 

Legalzoom Services

Meanwhile you can get started with LegalZoom at a comfortable price points of $79. The comparison with this company is more affordable than Bizfilings offers. With a starting price this low, it’s fairly easy for you to cut costs while still getting the basic package features you’ll need.

Overall value in terms of pricing and inclusions of packages, LegalZoom is the clear winners.

Winner: LegalZoom

Experience and History

The longer a company value has been around, the better the company is generally value. Usually, a longer-existing company would’ve had the chance to understand the industry properly. For this reason, they’re often equipped to cope with any challenges that may come up in the formation process of carrying out their responsibilities to their customers. However, the main thing is how many customers includes in a company has been value able to work with beyond all these state.

Reasons to choose LegalZoom

Bizfilings has been around since 1996. Bizfilings is older than MyCorporation LLC service that has been founded in 1998. In its many years of existence, the bizfilings company has served about 500,000 businesses across different states. However, the numbers still aren’t quite as high as the competition.

To put that in perspective, LegalZoom was established in 1999. This makes it about three years younger than Bizfilings. However, bizfilings incorporation package services like LegalZoom has value and helped more than two million businesses. Apart from the 2 million businesses they have accomodated online, they has gathered more than 4 million customers across the world. Thus, this particular battle has a clear winner.

Winner: LegalZoom

Registered Agent Service: Bizfilings and LegalZoom

All LLC service incorporation in the United State are required to have registered agent service providers including the well-known Harvard Business Services. This could be an online service or a person. The free registered agents package includes everything from receiving your legal documents deliveries to sending those legal documents to you.

This is incredibly important for several reasons. For starters, the state government needs a way to send correspondence across to your LLC incorporation as often as is required online services. Apart from that, if you receive these document deliveries directly, you could be vulnerable to value and invasion of your privacy and a truckload of junk mail.

Bizfilings User friendly process

Bizfilings formation package will include bizfilings registered agent service fee that costs about $164 per year. Registered agent of LegalZoom, on the other hand, has price points of up to $299 per year . Apart from the free registered agent services and state fee. Bizfilings provides, Bizfilings will give you six months of registered agent services if you choose their LLC formation package. The six months of registered agent service will help you $299 per year cut costs effectively. 

Unlike other reputable registered agent services, LegalZoom, however, does not give these 6 months of free registered agent services. These six months of registered agent service puts Bizfilings ahead of its LLC formation service competitor in this Bizfillings vs. LegalZoom race.

Turnaround Time

Usually, when tracking turnaround times, companies would give a comparison to estimates based on each client’s states. However, they choose a different approach. They give turnaround times based on your preferred service package.

Overall, LegalZoom offers different turnaround times for its package. For their Express Gold, Standard, and basic Economic packages they give 7 10 business days, and 15, 30 business days, respectively. 

Legalzoom Registered Agent Services

When we reviewed Bizfilings, it showed a comparison to LegalZoom  that they offers different turnaround times for their bizfilings packages. For value their Standard and Complete packages, they give 7 10 business days of processing while for their Basic package, 4 to 6 weeks. 

At its lowest, Bizfilings Basic package offers roughly the same 7 10 business days turnaround duration as LegalZoom’s Economy to start a state file form an LLC online incorporation. At its highest, Bizfilings packages offers the exact turnaround duration as LegalZoom. The only difference is in their Standard and Complete package to form an LLC. 

User-friendliness of Bizfilings and LegalZoom

Our team believe that it’s a must to use leading LLC formation services that will be easy to handle. This largely translates to ease in using the company’s website, swiftness of the application process’s completion, and stress-free customer care contact.

For the most part, both of these companies have value the following qualities in terms of use. You can find the call-to-action on both sites easily, and our experts confirm that the application process is a smooth sail. It would seem as though we have a tie, but we would have to give LegalZoom the floor here.

LegalZoom business advisory plan

While they both have websites, LegalZoom is unarguably the most modern of the two. Its content and buttons are lined up effectively for you to move easily from one state to another.

Winner: LegalZoom

Additional Services of Bizfilings and LegalZoom

These two companies both offer excellent standard services. However, beyond these include registered agent service in each service provider has additional features that come with using their company. A few of those have full additional services include:

1. Operating Agreements

An operating agreement is a documents that essentially defines how your Limited Liability Company will operate. It clearly outlines every member’s roles within the company and what they would value and contribute to the company’s growth. This could be financial efforts or other such nuances. When every member of the company signs this agreement, it could serve as a formal business contract. Given its importance, drafting it could be quite a bit of work. These company both offer these agreements for the solution of compliance issue.

2. Federal Tax ID Acquisition

Your federal tax ID/EIN is a vital part of your Limited Liability Company/business. It serves as a unique identifier for your tax accounts. The IRS of the United States is in charge of assigning this ID. Applying for it could take precious time out of your hands. Bizfilings and LegalZoom are both offer to start and help you get this done pretty easily.

legalzoom

3. Foreign Qualification

This service will be particularly useful to you if you’re considering to start moving your business formation services to another state. You see, as an LLC incorporation, you cannot simply form an expand into another state by setting up shop. You have a form to register within that state as a foreign entity. It takes some time to complete this as well. But, LegalZoom and Bizfilings offers to simplify the process by doing it for you.

Apart from these three, Bizfilings provides and have the following services and features: bizfilings have a 30-day free trial of Quickbook, $50 discount off a toll-free phone number, and two complimentary months of a form of business email.

Apart from the preparation and filing of an annual report with a compliance calendar, LegalZoom LLC service also has a few services Bizfilings does not offer. However, these llc formation services are centered on personal compliance issues, unlike that of a registered agent service. For example, LegalZoom can assist with your divorce proceedings (they could assist the additional compliance in form of with online legal services and legal advice ), LegalZoom last will/testament, and power of attorney[1]

In the part of the miscellaneous services in this LegalZoom vs Bizfilings review, our experts compared and said we don’t have a clear winner. They both offer different useful additions to their llc formation services.

Customer Support: Bizfilings and LegalZoom

Customer service is a significant part of working with an LLC incorporation . It determines how smoothly you’ll be able to complete different tasks. It will also help you to resolve issues properly as soon as something arises.

Legal and agent support from LegalZoom

It’s fairly easy for you to reach Bizfilings if you have to tackle any issues. You can reach Bizfilings in their customer service via phone, online webchat, or email. They’re available every weekday between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Our team finds bizfilings in their customer help polite and courteous enough to work with pleasantly.

LegalZoom LLC formation also has excellent customer service that is as effective as it is polite. However, the difference between these two companies is that LegalZoom’s customer care is available for much longer than Bizfilings. LegalZoom’s customer care lines are open in phone on weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each week. They’re also open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. every weekend. This extra contact time is excellent when you need to resolve certain issues as they happen.  In this regard, LegalZoom has a clear advantage in this aspect.

Winner: LegalZoom

Guarantee: Bizfilings and LegalZoom

These two companies provide you with a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. Their full services are comparable to the first class online incorporation services today. If you aren’t satisfied, file a refund and you can get your money refunded. Any filing of  refund requested after the initial name check. With Bizfilings, the full refund policy on the LLC business includes the formation services  that involves getting a $50 cancellation fee. It also having processing fees requires a $75 fee if Bizfilings had performed the initial name check.

LegalZoom refund policy  , however, doesn’t have these. It simply refund your money within the first 60 days.

Winner: LegalZoom

Customer Reviews

Keep in mind that Bizfilings’ LLC formation service doesn’t get a lot of customer reviews on third-party websites. However, LegalZoom has more than 1500 customer reviews on the internet regarding its business formation packages and most of them are positive.

legalzoom customer reviews

Winner: LegalZoom

FAQ

Which has a quicker turnaround between the two?

Neither of the two has a quicker turnaround time. They’re both equally fast at their highest packages. At their lowest, there isn’t much of a difference either.

What is the most recommended package from Bizfilings and LegalZoom?

The most recommended package from this company is the Basic plan. It is the most affordable, and it has virtually everything you’re going to need. This includes registered service, LLC formation, business name availability confirmation, and more.

Overall Winner: LegalZoom

LegalZoom registered agent service

This LegalZoom vs Bizfilings comparion showed that LegalZoom is the best LLC service provider for any old/new business or online incorporation. LegalZoom offers a very affordable business formation service for anyone looking to start a business. In addition, they have served millions of customers across the world. These customers have then left thousands of reviews online about their formation packages. Should you decide to use them for your business, LegalZoom can provide customer support from Monday through Friday for any package you choose.

We also compared LegalZoom against Northwest. Find out which LLC service is ideal for your business in our comparison between LegalZoom and Northwest here

Charles McMillan
Charles McMillan
Charles is a family man, an entrepreneur, and a writer. He is skilled in finding the balance between efficiency, affordability, and high-quality offerings when it comes to business services. He’s on a continuing mission to discover and rediscover the most popular LLC services, while sharing his most accurate assessment and review to help business owners like himself.