Do you want to incorporate online and you prefer to have a professional service handle the paperwork for you? Rocket Lawyer is one of several companies that can get the job done.
In this review, we’ll talk about the important details you need to know before choosing their service. Alternatively, you can check out our comparison guide of the best incorporation services or best LLC websites.
Overview
When it comes to online incorporation services, here’s what matters most:
- Is it a good deal?
- Is it a reliable company?
- Is there good customer support?
- Is the incorporation website easy to use?
- How quickly do they incorporate your business?
Rocket Lawyer has a ton of experience, with a customer volume that’s unrivaled in this industry.
Rocket Lawyer has also made serious strides in recent years to improve their customer satisfaction reputation. They used to receive quite a few negative reviews from unsatisfied customers, but that aspect of their service has improved dramatically. These days, the vast majority of their thousands of customer reviews are quite positive in nature.
However, Rocket Lawyer is more expensive than many competitors, especially considering that they don’t include any registered agent service in their formation packages.
For entrepreneurs who may need more legal assistance like attorney advice and a suite of online legal tools, Rocket Lawyer may be the right choice. That part of their service will end up costing you about $40/month, but it does include free incorporation filing and discounted registered agent service.
In-Depth: Rocket Lawyer Review
Overall Pricing and Value
Rocket Lawyer is significantly more expensive (by about $50) than some competitors based on what services they offer.
As an entrepreneur who’s looking for more basic offerings, you can easily spend less somewhere else, while also receiving a wider variety of features. For instance, ZenBusiness and Northwest both offer business formation, and they also include a year of annual report or registered agent service.
However, for the right customers, Rocket Lawyer’s monthly legal membership could be a great benefit, as it provides valuable discounts and free document templates for your business. The monthly fees can add up quickly, so we suggest you do your research before jumping in and signing up. If your business will have significant legal needs, Rocket Lawyer’s services may save you money over a traditional legal service.
Track Record
Rocket Lawyer was established in 2008, primarily as a way for customers to have access to online legal services. Over the last decade, they’ve expanded their offerings to include everything from wills to advice on legal issues and help starting a business. They’ve helped more than 20 million customers, although this number includes their many personal customers, not just their business clients.
As we briefly discussed earlier, customer feedback is a big pro for Rocket Lawyer, but that wasn’t always the case. A few years ago, they received plenty of negative reviews, largely because many customers didn’t think they were up-front enough regarding their free trial.
Rocket Lawyer has always offered free legal documents as part of a 7-day trial for their legal services subscription, but they weren’t always as clear regarding the nature of this trial. Some customers used to get confused and not understand that this was actually a subscription service, and would get upset when charged for it down the line.
These days, Rocket Lawyer is quite clear regarding the nature of their legal services subscription, and they don’t have issues with negative customer feedback anymore.
Customer Support
Rocket Lawyer offers phone, chat, and email support, with operating hours from 9am to 9pm ET, Monday through Friday.
We called to clarify the timeline for receiving finalized documents back for business formation, and were pleased with the service we received. Our call was answered in under a minute, and the customer service representative was very helpful.
However, it was obvious that they were ready to make a sale while on the phone. Since they have a membership, the customer service representative talked to us about using it to save on incorporation. Even though we knew they wanted to make a sale, we still appreciated the clarification, since it’s a unique feature from what other incorporation services offer.
We also emailed with a question and received a response in about 24 hours. Similarly, we received a good response with some elaboration on our next steps, and the offer to help more if needed.
When we tried their chat feature, it didn’t quite work the way we expected. Instead of messaging with a Rocket Lawyer representative, the chat is actually more of a searchable FAQ. You type in a few keywords about the issue you’re having, and they show you results that match your key phrase.
If that doesn’t solve your problem, you can then request live assistance, which does pull up the expected person-to-person messaging function with a Rocket Lawyer rep. All told, the chat feature is a bit convoluted in its presentation, but does work well once you figure it out.
Ease of Placing an Order
Ordering business formation with Rocket Lawyer can be easier or harder than other services, based on your perspective. They do not have tiered packages as many of their competitors do. Instead, you walk through a handful of add-ons before checking out, which we’ll describe in detail shortly.
There are positives and negatives to this approach. On one hand, they’ve greatly simplified their offerings to eliminate confusion for their customers over what is needed and what isn’t. However, since you don’t really know everything they offer until you make it to checkout, you can’t compare their prices without putting in a little extra work.
Still, it only took us about 10 minutes to walk through the form, make our selections, and reach the checkout screen.
Overall Turnaround Time
If you would like to get an estimate for turnaround times for your state of formation, all you need to do is click through the order form to the page where you decide whether or not to expedite your order. On this page, you can access estimates of the number of days required for both expedited and standard processing times.
While it would be nice to have these turnaround times listed in a more convenient spot, as opposed to several pages into the order form, the fact that they give you such specific estimates is certainly a plus.
Pricing & Features of Rocket Lawyer
Instead of viewing prices up front, you’ll put your personal information in first, and then walk through choosing features to add onto the base price of $99.99 for LLC or corporation formation. This fee includes the basic preparation and filing of all your formation documents, as well as a business name availability check with your state.
Step 1)
Once you input your basic business info, you’ll accept or decline a series of add-on features before making it to the checkout, as they do not have any packages. First, you’ll decide whether you want to pay extra for an expedited turnaround time for your business formation. This fee varies by state, as does the efficiency of both standard and expedited turnarounds.
Step 2)
Next, you can decide whether you’d like to have Rocket Lawyer obtain your federal tax ID number (EIN) for you, which is a $59.99 upcharge. Considering the fact that you can request an EIN for free from the IRS, this isn’t a necessary expense, but if you would rather save the time and hassle, you do have that option.
Step 3)
The third option asks whether you want to acquire a corporate kit and/or seal. For $99.99, you can get a binder with your company name embossed on it, along with a personalized decorative seal, and some sample forms. You also have the option to add just the seal for $59.99.
Neither the binder nor the seal serves any real purpose in the modern business landscape, but if you appreciate their symbolic nature, you can obtain them in this step.
Step 4)
Since registered agent service is not included in their formation package, you’ll be prompted to choose if you’d like Rocket Lawyer to fill this role for your company. A registered agent allows you to use their address for receiving mail, which limits the availability of your personal information in the public record.
Their registered agent service also includes reminders when you have important due dates for items like annual report filings. Their fee is $149.99 annually, with 25% off for members of their legal services subscription plan.
Step 5)
Finally, Rocket Lawyer offers you their legal services subscription. This is the heart of their business model, and a service that they really like to push. Subscribers receive a wide variety of features, including:
- Unlimited free legal documents
- Document Defense attorney review on all documents
- Ask a lawyer your legal questions
- 30-minute attorney consults for each new legal matter
- Up to 40% off attorney fees
- Free LLC/corporation formation (for new members, excluding state fee)
- 25% off LLC/corporation formation (for existing members, excluding state fee)
- 25% off registered agent service
The membership comes with a 7-day free trial, after which your cost will be $39.99 per month. You may cancel at any time.
Who Is Rocket Lawyer Best For?
Rocket Lawyer specializes in bundled legal services. They offer a unique legal subscription service that gives access to valuable discounts, registered agent service, business legal templates, and more.
That’s why Rocket Lawyer may be a better option for businesses with a lot of legal needs; if you subscribe to their service, you’ll get consultations with lawyers, legal review of each document, and discounts on multiple services.
And if you are a new customer subscribing to their legal service, then Rocket Lawyer throws in free business formation services.
What Are Rocket Lawyer’s Customers Saying?
Rocket Lawyer used to receive a lot of negative reviews, but in the past few years, their customer experience has taken a turn for the better. Of course, they’re not perfect—and no business is—but they’re trending in the right direction.
A lot of their bad reviews occurred because people misunderstood the free trial for their legal subscription service. But now Rocket Lawyer has made it obvious how the trial works, so that confusion occurs far less often. The uptick in positive reviews reflects that.
Here are some of the positive things people have to say about Rocket Lawyer:
- Easy access to a wide variety of forms (both business and personal)
- Great customer service
And here’s what the naysayers had to say:
- Difficult to cancel the legal service subscription
Rocket Lawyer has gotten better about communicating the terms of the free trial, helping their ratings significantly. The good news is that the legal subscription service gives you a lot of helpful forms and advice to go hand-in-hand with your business formation.
LegalZoom vs Rocket Lawyer: What’s the Difference?
Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom are the two most well-known brands in the industry today, thanks to the fact that they both have enormous advertising budgets.
Overall, we prefer Rocket Lawyer when compared to LegalZoom, primarily because they receive better customer feedback than LegalZoom, a company that also receives largely positive reviews, albeit with lower average rating scores than Rocket Lawyer. Additionally, LegalZoom has an overwhelming number of upsells, as they attempt over $1,000 in upsells as you work your way through their order form.
Final Thoughts on Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer has a simplified ordering process to incorporate online. You won’t spend a lot of time poring over features to decide what you need for your business, as you may with other services.
They also have strong customer feedback, and a smooth, streamlined customer support system with extended operating hours that we really appreciate.
The biggest negative for Rocket Lawyer is that their $99.99 price point for formation service isn’t great, especially considering some competitors offer prices 50% lower while also including registered agent service.
However, if you’re interested in their legal services subscription plan, the ability to get free LLC or incorporation service as a new member is a highly valuable feature. It’s easy to see why this membership is Rocket Lawyer’s main focus, and you can give it a try for free if you’d like to.
As mentioned before, if you’re on the hunt for the incorporation service with the best overall value and much lower prices, check out how ZenBusiness compares to Rocket Lawyer.
Common Questions
What Is Rocket Lawyer?
In 2008, Rocket Lawyer’s founders saw a need: regular people have legal questions.
But they don’t always have the time or money to get those questions answered. So they founded Rocket Lawyer to help regular people get a lawyer’s answers to their questions—without the hefty consultation fees or the inconvenience of going to a law firm.
Rocket Lawyer serves businesses and individuals alike. Whether you need to write a will or you’re ready to start a company, Rocket Lawyer can help.
In the decade since their founding, Rocket Lawyer has helped more than 20 million customers. That number includes individuals and businesses alike, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive.
What Are Rocket Lawyer’s Biggest Advantage and Disadvantage?
Rocket Lawyer’s experience level is a huge advantage, considering that none of their competitors serve a higher volume of clients than Rocket Lawyer does.
As for their disadvantages, their pricing isn’t too impressive if you don’t subscribe to their legal services plan, as their $99.99 offering for LLC or incorporation service is as barebones as it gets.
What Is Rocket Lawyer’s Order Process Like?
Have you ever tried to order something online, only to get lost in a never-ending series of cluttered web pages? The harder it is to order a service, the less likely you are to use it. Streamlined ordering is an important component of any good formation service.
Rocket Lawyer’s order process is both confusing and straightforward at the same time. Here’s why: you don’t know exactly what you’re spending until you reach the checkout. That’s due in part to the fact that there are no “packages” with Rocket Lawyer. In a sense, you build your own package.
In a way, that puts the ball in the customer’s court, which can either be empowering or frustrating depending on your preferences. If you want a single-click, one-shot order process, you’ll be disappointed. But if want to pick and choose your features, you’ll find Rocket Lawyer helps you do just that.
Thankfully, it doesn’t take too long to get through the entire order menu; when we tested it, it took about ten minutes. And they do a good job of explaining each add-on, too.
If I Use Rocket Lawyer, Which Features Should I Buy?
We almost always advise our readers to acquire registered agent service along with their formation. Unfortunately, Rocket Lawyer doesn’t include registered agent service with their LLC or incorporation service, so you’ll need to add it on for $149.99.
Other than that, their formation package should have everything you need to get your business off the ground.
Do They Offer Publication Service?
In some states, you need to publish your company’s formation in a regional newspaper. For example, Arizona and Nebraska require publication for LLCs and corporations, New York requires it for LLCs only, and Pennsylvania and Georgia have this requirement for corporations only.
Many competing services in this industry do not provide any assistance with publication service, but Rocket Lawyer does. However, they charge a rate of $299 for this service, not including the actual cost of newspaper publishing, or any applicable county fees.
Does Rocket Lawyer Help With Ongoing Compliance Requirements?
They do somewhat, but if you want their help with ongoing requirements, you’ll need to purchase these features separately, as their LLC/corporation formation package does not include any assistance with future compliance issues.
You can add on their registered agent service for $149.99 per year, but they do not offer annual report service, so Rocket Lawyer’s level of assistance with ongoing compliance requirements is less than impressive.
What Is Their Refund Policy?
Rocket Lawyer has a strong refund policy, as they will grant your refund in full as long as you request it within 30 days of your purchase date. The only exception to this policy is state fees that they can’t recoup.
Do I Need to Use a Formation Service?
If you would rather form your own LLC, corporation, or nonprofit, there is no legal requirement to hire a formation service. Many people do form their own business entities, but we don’t usually recommend this option for our readers.