Are you ready to form a new corporation for your business, but you’re not sure which of the many online incorporation services is the right choice to assist you?
ZenBusiness and Rocket Lawyer are two of the leading companies in this industry, and each has its own set of pros and cons.
This incorporation service comparison guide takes a look at the five crucial points you need to consider in order to make the right decision for your business. Is ZenBusiness the best option for you? Or perhaps Rocket Lawyer is preferable? Read on as we weigh all the advantages and disadvantages of each service.
Key Comparison Factors
In our review and comparison of each online incorporation service, we performed a “stress test” on each based on five 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, both ZenBusiness and Rocket Lawyer are reliable business incorporation services. Which one is the better option for your unique needs?
$0
- ✔ Great Low Prices
- ✔ Outstanding Customer Reviews
- ✔ Gives Back to Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs
Overall Pricing and Value
ZenBusiness: Would you like to form your new LLC or corporation for free, except for paying your state fee? ZenBusiness is one of very few companies that offers an incorporation package starting at $0. Furthermore, our $199 Pro package adds ongoing compliance assistance, a guided operating agreement or corporate bylaws, and faster processing. You also might like our $299 package, which adds our fastest processing, a domain name, and a business website package.
Rocket Lawyer: Unlike most competitors, Rocket Lawyer does not offer several different business formation packages to choose from. Instead, they provide one general formation package for $99.99, which you can then add features to on an a la carte basis. We will note that if you’re interested in their legal services subscription for $39.99/month, you can receive discounted or even free business formation service as long as you cover the state filing fee.
Guru Tip: If you’d like to compare ZenBusiness to two other top-rated incorporation services, see how we stack up to Incfile and Northwest Registered Agent.
Company Track Record & Experience
ZenBusiness: ZenBusiness opened for business in 2015. In those few short years, we’ve already formed 300,000+ business entities, and we want to form 1 million businesses in the next few years. Our customer feedback is almost entirely positive, as we have more than 10,000 reviews and high average rating scores.
Rocket Lawyer: It’s nearly impossible to compete with Rocket Lawyer’s customer volume, as they’ve served over 20 million customers since opening in 2008. It’s important to note that not all of these customers are business clients, as Rocket Lawyer also offers a wide variety of personal services, like wills. Customer feedback is a pro for Rocket Lawyer, as they have a few thousand reviews available online, with mostly positive ratings.
Customer Service
ZenBusiness: You can contact our support team by phone, email, or chat. We have expanded availability that even includes Sundays — very few competitors have any weekend availability. We pride ourselves in continuously improving the quality and responsiveness of our customer support, and we believe we compare favorably to the vast majority of competitors in this area.
Rocket Lawyer: Rocket Lawyer provides customer support via phone, email, or web chat, and their hours of availability from 9am to 9pm ET. They have quick response times, and their representatives are well-informed regarding the services Rocket Lawyer provides.
Ease of Use
ZenBusiness: There’s nothing complicated about forming a business with ZenBusiness. All you need to do is choose your formation package, provide us with your relevant personal and business information, and select any additional features that you may want. It’s incredibly simple and straightforward.
Rocket Lawyer: On one hand, Rocket Lawyer only has one business formation package, so it’s quite simple to decide which one you want to purchase. On the other hand, it can be a hassle to walk through their additional services. Still, overall it only took us around 10 minutes to complete the entire order form, which reflects how quick and easy the process is with Rocket Lawyer.
Speed of Formation
ZenBusiness: With ZenBusiness, all formation speeds vary based on state capabilities. Also, if you’re in a hurry, you can choose one of our premium packages to speed things up a bit! When compared to other formation services, we are usually either just as fast or slightly faster. To find out your turnaround time, simply plug in your state and immediately see your turnaround time.
Rocket Lawyer: Rocket Lawyer’s formation speeds are determined by how quickly your state can form your business entity. In fact, they have a convenient page on their website where they list average processing times for both standard and expedited service.
$0
- ✔ Great Low Prices
- ✔ Outstanding Customer Reviews
- ✔ Gives Back to Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs
Common Questions
What Is the Biggest Advantage of Each Service?
ZenBusiness offers incorporation service for free (all you need to pay is your state’s fee). This is a unique and highly valuable attribute that few competitors in this industry can match. Rocket Lawyer has a high level of experience. They’ve helped millions of customers over the years, which is a track record that outpaces most competitors.
Which Company Offers More Help With Ongoing Compliance Requirements?
ZenBusiness provides a wide variety of services that can help your business stay compliant down the line. ZenBusiness offers registered agent service for a rate of $99 for the first year and $199 per year after that, while Rocket Lawyer provides this service for an annual fee of $149.99. If you want ongoing compliance assistance like annual report service, ZenBusiness includes it with our Pro and Premium packages, while Rocket Lawyer does not provide this feature at all.
Can I Get a Refund if I Need One?
We genuinely believe that 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 we will grant it. We don’t even charge any cancellation fees!
Rocket Lawyer is quite similar in this category, as their refund policy gives you 30 days to analyze your purchase. If you decide that you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they will provide a full refund of your service fees, with no convenience fee.
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.
For those of you forming businesses in these five states, you’re in luck ― both of these companies offer publication service. Rocket Lawyer has a price point of $299 (plus publication fees) for this feature, whereas ZenBusiness charges just $200.
Am I Required to Use a Formation Service?
Legally speaking, there is no requirement that forces entrepreneurs to use professional formation services. If you would rather form your own business entity, that is always an option. In fact, we have our own instructional guide for forming corporations.
However, we will point out that the corporation is a generally complicated business structure, and we only recommend forming your own if you’re entirely comfortable with the incorporation process.
Additional Reading
If you’d like to check out more reviews to help start your business, in addition to our own LLC service, here are some of the most popular: