Do you want to form a limited liability company business structure? It’s a good idea to engage the service of the best LLC formation company, where you can easily get affordable and reliable online business formation and legal services. Otherwise, you might end up forgetting to file certain documents on time or filing them incorrectly which can lead to legal penalties by the state.
However, it can be very tough to decide on which LLC formation service you should choose from the many LLC service providers available. This comparison review will help you choose the best LLC service for your business.
Features of Zenbusiness and Legalzoom
Before we embark on the comparison, here are those features that both companies have in common.
Customer Reviews: Both companies have lots of online customer reviews. For customer reviews, LegalZoom has more reviews and feedback but most of them are negative reviews. For instance, LegalZoom is rated A+ on Better Business Bureau [1] but has only one 5-star review out of 182 reviews.
Order Tracking: Both LegalZoom and ZenBusiness offer order tracking on their websites. To track your order, simply login into your account to find your order status in your profile.
Informative: Both LegalZoom and ZenBusiness offer necessary and timely information to their customers. While ZenBusiness has a blog for sharing info on the various business entity available types and other business tips, LegalZoom has a “Knowledge Center” with lots of information on legalities and other common issues that entrepreneurs may face.
Let’s take a look at the differences between ZenBusiness and LegalZoom across different features.
Overall Value and Pricing
ZenBusiness LLC offers the most affordable pricing. With ZenBusiness, you can form an LLC starting from as low as $0 + state fees. On the other hand, LegalZoom’s pricing starts at $99.
Aside from the affordable pricing, ZenBusiness also offers the best overall value by offering more valuable features in its LLC packages.
Company Experience and Track Record
Both LLC formation services are highly experienced and have the right expertise to get your business formation procedure done right. They can compare to other top-performing online incorporation services today. However, LegalZoom wins here because it has more experience having formed millions of businesses across the US. LegalZoom started in 1999 and has grown to become one of the industry giants.
ZenBusiness, on the other hand, started in 2015 and has served several thousands of businesses. Although LegalZoom has more experience and a greater track record, ZenBusiness isn’t relenting on its effort to catch up.
Winner: LegalZoom
Zenbusiness vs Legalzoom: LLC Packages
Both LLC formation services offer great pricing and affordable business formation services. LLC formation with either of them will help you save more money than hiring a business attorney for your business formation. In this comparison, we compare their LLC formation packages to find out which one offers the most value for money.
LegalZoom: This LLC service offers three LLC formation packages — Economy, Standard, and Express Gold. Economy is the basic package with a starting price of $99 (including state fees) and includes business name availability check, incorporation services, filing of Articles of Organization, and letter of financial authorization.
The Standard package costs $329 (including state fees) and includes all the features in the Economy package in addition to 20 official membership certificates. This package also comes with a corporate kit which includes a customized official binder and seal for your business. The Express Gold package costs $349 (including state fees) but offers just expedited filing over the Standard option.
ZenBusiness: Like LegalZoom, this LLC company also offers three LLC formation packages — Starter, Pro, and Premium. Starter is the basic package with a starting price of $0 (plus state fees) and includes incorporation services, customizable documents, worry-free compliance, operating agreement, online document access, and annual registered agent services. Most other LLC companies including Incfile and Bizfilings charge between $100 to $125 for this service per year.
The Pro package costs $149 (plus state fees) and includes all the features in the Starter package plus tax identification number (EIN), expedited processing time, and Worry-Free Guarantee. The Premium package costs $249 (plus state fees) but offers little benefits, such as domain name registration, domain name privacy, business website, business email, rush filing, etc. for new business owners. Considering both companies, Zen Business has a more affordable LLC package with better features.
Zenbusiness and LegalZoom Ease of Use
Both online LLC services offer ease of use. For instance, the entire order process on LegalZoom is about 15 to 20 minutes and in case a customer couldn’t complete the order process in one sitting, an email containing a link to the incomplete order would be sent to the customer to enable him/her complete the order at a later time.
Nevertheless, ZenBusiness takes the lead in this comparison because of the personalized online dashboard it offers, which contains important documents and provides a less intimidating and more tasteful approach to customers.
Formation Service Speed
You can get your business registered with both providers within any state in a matter of weeks or days depending on the package you subscribe to because both companies work quickly and efficiently.
The formation speed for both companies is not based on the state you site your business but on the pricing package you purchase from them. LegalZoom’s Economy package takes about 30 business days for the business formation process while the turnaround times for both the Standard package and Express Gold package are about seven to 10 business days.
On the other hand, ZenBusiness’s Starter package takes about three to four weeks to incorporate a business while the Pro package takes about one to two weeks and the Premium package takes three to five days. Overall, ZenBusiness has the best turnaround times in most states.
Other Features and Added Services
In terms of features, ZenBusiness LLC seems to provide far more value for your money than LegalZoom. For instance, ZenBusiness’s $0 (plus state fees) package, as well as other packages, includes state filing fees, publication services (New York), a customizable LLC operating agreement, and free registered agent services, which are offered at an extra cost on LegalZoom of $99 and $249 per year respectively. The Premium package features domain name, domain registration, domain name privacy, and business website, which LegalZoom doesn’t offer.
However, Legal Zoom offers more added business services to customers than ZenBusiness does. This is mainly because LegalZoom offers an extensive range of personal legal services in addition to their business formation services.
For instance, LegalZoom offers EIN acquisition, trademark registration, copyright protection, probate and executor assistance and can help you create property deeds, divorce papers, last will and more, which ZenBusiness does not offer although ZenBusiness offers publication services in states like New York.
Winner: LegalZoom
Registered Agent Service
It is required of high caliber business formations services to have registered agents in a state that they don’t have a physical location in. The registered agent service receives all-important professional and legal documents on behalf of your business from your state government, informs you about the document and forwards them to you or upload them online for you to view them any time.
The agent service ensures your business doesn’t miss any important documents or get any late filing fines or penalties. The most reliable means of contacting your business at any time is through the registered agent.
ZenBusiness’ services are well known as every package comes with this service provided for free. On the other hand, LegalZoom charges $249 per year which is quite a high price point for a new business. ZenBusiness’s registered agent services cost $119 per year if you aren’t purchasing their LLC formation package.
Worry-Free CPA Assessment
As one of the recognized registered agent services and LLC, Zen Business has the worry-free CPA assessment. It is only offered by ZenBusiness, which is a plus to the company.
The worry-free CPA assessment is featured in all ZenBusiness’s LLC packages. This assessment provides customers with an evaluation of their business’ finances and recommends to them, at no cost, a licensed CPA for their specific needs.
Customer Support and Personalized Assistance
If you’re differentiating LegalZoom vs ZenBusiness as online incorporation providers, customer service and support may be one of the top priorities when choosing an LLC service.
These two LLC services have a quality customer service system that promptly answers customer’s requests, queries, or questions via email, online chat or phone call. This is evident from their online customer reviews.
However, LegalZoom offers the best support with its extended support hours. While customer service for ZenBusiness is available only on weekdays from 10 am to 7 pm ET, LegalZoom’s customer support is available on weekdays from 10 am to 8 pm ET and also on weekends from 10 am to 7 pm ET.
Winner: LegalZoom
Overall Winner: ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness has a lower price point for its cheapest package and offers more features for free which may be more suitable for a new business looking for the best LLC service.
The worry-free CPA assessment, free registered agent service, free operating agreement and better customer reviews give ZenBusiness an edge as the best LLC service if you want to form an LLC.
