Jack DonaldGetting ready to register an LLC to legalize your business and wonder if LegalZoom is a good choice to make this process a doddle for you? If so, while reading our review, you’ll find out if this LLC service will meet your needs and help you start your legal business journey on the right foot.
About Company
LegalZoom has been present in the industry since 1999 and has helped millions of entrepreneurs to open their businesses who give their thumbs up for this service. With that, for now, it’s hands down the most popular LLC formation service available on the modern market supported by the most recognizable brand, which alone is a strong selling point.
However, what really makes the company a big and reputed player is that apart from the top-tier LegalZoom LLC formation service, it offers reliable assistance in running the business and resolving intellectual property issues. Along with business, LegalZoom provides a whole range of services for individuals on estate planning, marriage and divorce affairs, and real estate deals. More than that, the company consistently welcomes onboard talented attorneys to create a solid team of professionals always ready to help customers and make quality legal help accessible for everyone.
In a word, LegalZoom is deservedly given high rates in many reviews and is really a good choice at a glance. Yet, to be 100% sure about your decision to open a business with LegalZoom, let’s delve into more details on its LLC services.
What Packages Does LegalZoom Offer?
Striving to make the whole process as easy and stress-free for beginner entrepreneurs as possible, LegalZoom has neatly systematized all the services provided by the company and organized them into three major bundles suggesting starting a business at only $79 or get added upgrades and premium support at extra cost. This way, LegalZoom pricing packages have something to offer to any client needs and any budget.
LegalZoom Economy Package: $79 + State Fee
Economy means affordable and, though some might claim it’s expensive, $79 is really the price nearly anyone could pay. Besides, despite state fees that will further increase the final cost, it’s not too much for the peace of mind you’ll get about your entity being registered in a proper and legitimate manner.
For the price, you’ll get your company business name checked, all LLC paperwork including the Articles of Organization filed, and a Financial Account Authorization Letter drafted for you to easily open a bank account for your business. In addition, you’ll get lifetime access to excellent customer support available 7 days a week and covering not only habitual assistance via email and phone calls but also a live chat.
Once the filing process is complete, you’ll receive all your incorporation documents via email. Since LegalZoom doesn’t provide expedite filing speed for Economy orders, note that it will take about 30 days to open an LLC with this package.
LegalZoom Standard Package: $329 + State Fee
In addition to everything you obtain with the Economy Package, this plan also provides common essentials for setting up your signature corporate style. You’ll get a corporate kit containing a personalized document binder, a company seal to make your business documents look more official, and 20 customized member certificates for other company members if there are any.
While a corporate style is a nice thing to have from the start, the real value of this LegalZoom package is the VIP processing. Your order will get priority over Economy customers and all the paperwork will be filed within 15 days.
LegalZoom Express Gold Package: $349 + State Fees
Here, above the Standard Package, you’ll be ensured premium order processing, which means your order will be filed in a rushed manner. Normally, all documents are delivered to and processed by the Secretary of State within a week or 10 days maximum. While the package provides paperwork shipping in 2 days as a standard, you can order it to be shipped the next day by paying an extra $7. Though quite an expensive option, Express Gold is a good choice for anyone who needs their business to be legally registered in mere days for some reason.
To make a quick round-up, LegalZoom formation prices on the major packages do not cover many important and valuable features you’ll find in pricing plans of other LLC services. Thus, added LegalZoom services that come at extra cost and are essential for forming and running LLC include:
- Operating Agreement: $99
- Operating Agreement along with EIN registration: $159
- Operating Agreement + EIN +License certificate search Bundle: $199
- Registered Agent Service: $159 per year that is usually provided free of charge within annual LLC packages in other LLC services.
As a result, necessary add-ons can noticeably bump up the final LegalZoom LLC cost.
LegalZoom Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- 20 years of experience on the market ensure strong brand power and reputation making the company a trusted legal advisor for many startupers and beginner entrepreneurs.
- Extensive experience results in excellent service quality and high proficiency.
- You can check business name availability for free, no matter if you hire LegalZoom in the end or not.
- Despite their package costs being on the higher price end, LegalZoom provides a 100% money-back guarantee for all its service costs which means you can get your money back within 60 days if you are not satisfied with their service.
- Apart from aid in opening the business, LegalZoom provides assistance in operating it afterward as well as other types of legal help for businesses.
Cons:
- The branded LegalZoom power comes at cost and service packages don’t cover advanced features normally included in most competitor plans.
- Before you reach the final package formation page, you’ll have to pass through a whole series of upsells and might end up at a much higher total cost than you expected.
Should You Start an LLC With LegalZoom?
Going with an established brand name such as LegalZoom always entangles higher prices. If you are ok with that and ready to pay some extra for working with a popular online legal service, LegalZoom is presumably your best bet. And their return policy provides promising payment security.
On the other hand, higher prices might not be the best option for customers with a limited budget on a company formation and smaller business that just need regular legal advice and are not eager to overpay for services.
Conclusion
With millions of happy customers supporting them and millions of opened businesses in their portfolio, LegalZoom is a confident industry top-liner that offers a whole range of valuable and quality business services beyond LLC formation. So, if a strong company reputation, recognizable brand, high-quality support, and secure return policy are what you look for, you can’t go wrong with LegalZoom. Yet, if you want some more value for your buck, there are many decent alternatives to this service.
