If you’re in the process of launching a new business, you may be wondering which formation service is the best option to help you form your corporation.
There are many online incorporation services available these days, and it can be tough to figure out which one is the right fit for your business. ZenBusiness and BizFilings are both highly popular and trustworthy formation services, and they each have their own pros and cons.
In this comparison guide, you’ll find all the relevant information about the five key points that we use to analyze incorporation services. Let’s find out if ZenBusiness or BizFilings is the better option for you.
Key Comparison Points
In our review and comparison of each online incorporation service, we performed a “stress test” on each based on 5 key factors:
- Compared pricing and features to determine overall value.
- Researched their track record.
- Assessed the quality of customer service.
- Tested their ordering process and service’s ease of use.
- Reviewed the turnaround times for incorporating online.
As you’ll see in this comparison of ZenBusiness and BizFilings, they’re both good value incorporation services.
However, we think ZenBusiness is the better option because of their $50 lower prices. In addition, we think ZenBusiness’ inclusion of a year of annual report service is more valuable than the six months of registered agent BizFilings includes.
$99
- ✔Acceptable Pricing & Features
- ✔Backed by Large Compliance Firm
- ✔6 Months Free Registered Agent
Overall Pricing and Value
ZenBusiness: Are you interested in getting your incorporation service for just $49, with the exception of paying your state fee? ZenBusiness is one of the cheapest companies in the business formation industry, and it includes a year of annual report service, up to two amendments, some sample business documents, and a no-risk accounting assessment. If you want more advanced features, their $299 plan is a solid bargain as well, as it adds custom corporate bylaws and a business website package.
BizFilings: The Basic package from BizFilings costs $99, which is a reasonable (if less than impressive) price point, and it includes six months of their registered agent service. Their Standard and Complete plans are unique (and not in a good way) because they operate on variable pricing models, so it’s hard to analyze their value. In general, their prices are somewhat competitive, but they’re definitely not the best value in the industry.
Guru Tip: If you’d like to compare ZenBusiness to two other top-rated incorporation services, see how they stack up to Incfile and LegalZoom.
Company Track Record & Experience
ZenBusiness: They’re one of the recent additions to this industry, as ZenBusiness was just founded in 2015. Since they opened for business, they’ve formed thousands of corporations and LLCs, and they state on their website that their goal is to form one million business entities in the next five years. When it comes to customer feedback, it’s tough to top ZenBusiness. They have thousands of reviews available, and almost all of them are extremely positive.
BizFilings: BizFilings has been around for awhile now, as they opened back in 1996. They’ve served an impressive volume of customers over the years, with over 500,000 businesses formed to date. Even though they have such an extensive experience record, we only found 18 reviews for their services. Obviously, that’s such a small sample size that we cannot analyze it.
Customer Service
ZenBusiness: ZenBusiness provides customer service by phone, email, or web chat. We have experience with all three options, and we’ve found that they provide consistently high-quality support regardless of which route you use to contact them. They provide accurate information, and their response times are quite fast as well.
BizFilings: With BizFilings, you can access their customer support department via phone or email. We’ve never experienced lengthy wait times when we’ve contacted them, and their representatives are always courteous and well-informed. Overall, we’re impressed with what BizFilings has to offer in this regard.
Ease of Use
ZenBusiness: Simplicity is the name of the game when it comes to forming a new business with ZenBusiness. They streamline the formation process so that all you have to do is choose a package, and provide them with all relevant personal and business information. While we are a fan of ZenBusiness for ease of use, we will mention that there are a small handful of upsell attempts.
BizFilings: BizFilings provides their clients with a helpful “incorporation wizard” tool that helps you decide what business structure is the right choice for your company. As you begin filling out their order form, they assign you an order number so that you can discuss your order with customer support if necessary ― even before finishing the process. However, they have an extensive list of upsells and third-party offers to work through.
Speed of Formation
ZenBusiness: Whereas most companies in this industry base their turnaround times on the actual processing speeds of each state, ZenBusiness instead chooses to structure your formation speed based on the package or rush filing you choose. Overall though, when compared to other formation services, they are either just as fast or slightly faster.
BizFilings: BizFilings is one of the only other companies in this industry that has turnaround times based on how much money you spend on their services, rather than on state processing times. Their most affordable package takes 4-6 weeks, and their most expensive package still takes 7-10 days. If you want expedited service from BizFilings, you’ll need to pay their own in-house $60 upcharge, and then also pay the state expediting fee.
Conclusion
In our opinion, ZenBusiness wins this comparison quite easily and is honestly one of the best services available for incorporations or LLC formations. They have a massive advantage in the most important category ― overall pricing and value ― and they also have faster turnaround times, as well as superior customer feedback.
BizFilings has a couple of advantages of their own, like their longevity/experience, but we don’t think it’s enough to catch up to ZenBusiness.
That said, if your priorities are a bit different than ours, and you prefer BizFilings for whatever reason, there’s nothing wrong with using their services. They’re still a quality company that provides reliable and trustworthy services. For most of our readers though, you’ll want to stick with ZenBusiness.
$99
- ✔Acceptable Pricing & Features
- ✔Backed by Large Compliance Firm
- ✔6 Months Free Registered Agent
Common Questions
What Is the Biggest Advantage of Each Service?
It doesn’t matter what company you’re comparing them to, because ZenBusiness has a massive advantage over most other companies in this industry, which of course is their offer of a $49 business formation package.
Very few competitors can match this level of affordability for incorporation service. BizFilings has a couple of advantages when compared to ZenBusiness, with the most significant being their longevity and experience, as they’ve served many more clients and they’ve been around for longer.
Which Is the Best Package Available From These Services?
We always advise our readers to select the cheapest package available that includes registered agent service. However, for this competition, we prefer the ZenBusiness Starter package for $49, as this package includes a year of annual report service and other valuable features. If you want to add registered agent service, you can do so for $99 for the first year.
Which Company Offers More Help With Ongoing Compliance Requirements?
Both ZenBusiness and BizFilings provide ongoing assistance to help your business remain in good standing with your state. With ZenBusiness, you can get registered agent service for an annual fee of $199, although the first year costs just $99. They also provide annual report service for $100 and include a year of this service with all incorporation packages.
BizFilings unfortunately can’t compete with these prices, as their registered agent service costs $220 per year, and their annual report service has a variable pricing model, so you’ll need to contact them if you’d like to receive a pricing quote.
Can I Get a Refund if I Need One?
ZenBusiness has one of the best refund policies in the industry. This company provides you with 60 days in which to analyze your purchase. If you’re unhappy for any reason, you can simply request a refund and they will grant it. They don’t even charge any cancellation fees!
BizFilings is a bit more restrictive. If you cancel your order before they start working on your formation process, they will provide a refund less a $50 fee. However, even if all they’ve done is your name availability check, requesting a refund anytime after that will see that fee increase to $75.
Which Is the Better Option if I Need 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.
While many of their competitors don’t even offer this service, both ZenBusiness and BizFilings offer to handle the entire publication step on your behalf. If you would like them to take care of this requirement, we suggest using BizFilings, because their $100 price point is half as expensive as the $200 you’ll pay for this service with ZenBusiness.
Does Either of These Services Go Overboard With Upsells or Third-Party Partnerships?
BizFilings used to have a crazy amount of third-party partnerships but they have really cut down on them over the years. You’ll still find a couple of third-party offers sprinkled throughout, but it’s not that obtrusive.
ZenBusiness has a couple of third-party offers in their higher-priced formation package, and a handful of upsells in their more affordable packages. Overall, we wish that they didn’t feel the need to do these things at all, but at the same time, ZenBusiness keeps the upsells and third-party partnerships to a relative minimum.
Am I Required to Use a Formation Service?
No state has any legal requirement that forces entrepreneurs to use a professional formation service when forming a business entity. If you would rather try forming your own business, you can use our comprehensive guide to forming a corporation.
The reason we don’t recommend the DIY option more often is that corporations are rather complex businesses, and we only recommend forming your own if you’re 100% confident in your ability to complete the incorporation process correctly.