How we make money.Links marked "sponsored" pay us a commission if you buy. That keeps the site free. It doesn't change the order we rank providers in, which follows our published scoring method.
Key takeaways
- Northwest is our pick at $125 a year, the same price every year, with its own address on your filings where the state allows.
- Bizee's agent is free for the first year with a formation order, then $149 a year. ZenBusiness and LegalZoom sell it as a $199 or $249 add-on.
- If you live in the state and are there during business hours, you can be your own agent for free.
1Northwest Registered Agent
Best overallOur top pick
People who want privacy and a fair renewal price.
- First year
- Free
- when they form your LLC
- Each year after
- $125/yr
- renews automatically
- Uses its own address on filings, so yours stays off the public record where the state allows it
- Operating agreement and a year of registered agent included at $39
- The registered agent renews automatically at $125/yr after the free first year.
Visit Northwest(sponsored link, opens in a new tab)Sponsored · on northwestregisteredagent.comRead our reviewPrices from Northwest's pricing page, checked November 8, 2026.
2Bizee
Free first year
Owners who want a $0 filing and a free first year of registered agent service.
- First year
- Free
- when they form your LLC
- Each year after
- $149/yr
- renews automatically
- $0 formation with a year of registered agent included
- Long track record (formerly Incfile)
- The free agent year turns into a $149/yr subscription unless you cancel.
Prices from Bizee's pricing page, checked November 8, 2026.
3ZenBusiness
Bundled with compliance
First-time owners who want annual report filing handled for them.
- First year
- $199/yr
- add-on
- Each year after
- $199/yr
- renews automatically
- $0 Starter plan with a free first year of compliance filing
- Pro files your annual report for you while it renews
- Pro ($199) and Premium ($299) are yearly subscriptions, not one-time fees.
Prices from ZenBusiness's pricing page, checked November 8, 2026.
4LegalZoom
Best-known brand
Owners who want attorney and tax help in the same account.
- First year
- $249/yr
- add-on
- Each year after
- $249/yr
- renews automatically
- Well-known brand
- Expert Service includes attorney review and unlimited consults
- Highest registered agent price of the four.
Visit LegalZoom(sponsored link, opens in a new tab)Sponsored · on legalzoom.comPrices from LegalZoom's pricing page, checked November 8, 2026.
Our picks
Northwest Registered Agent is the one we’d use ourselves. It charges $125 a year, the same every year, puts its own address on your filings wherever the state allows, and says it doesn’t sell client data. If you want the LLC formed at the same time, that’s $39 plus the state fee, with the first agent year included.
Bizee gives you the first year of agent service free with a formation order, then charges $149 a year. That’s fine, but it’s $24 a year more than Northwest once the free year ends, and the renewal is automatic.
ZenBusiness and LegalZoom sell registered agent service as an add-on, at $199 and $249 a year. Neither includes it in a formation package. Neither is a bad agent. They’re just a more expensive way to get the same mail forwarded.
The table below has the figures. We checked every price on the providers’ own pricing pages on November 8, 2026.
Side by side
Three things to look at in the table. The standalone annual price is what you pay once any promotion ends. Whether the service uses its own address on your filings is the privacy question. And renewal tells you what happens when the year is up.
How we chose
The scoring is on our methodology page. For registered agents the weights are renewal price (35%), address privacy (25%), forwarding (20%), upsell pressure (10%) and track record (10%). We don’t score first-year price, because that’s where the discounts live and they don’t last.
We haven’t run our own document-forwarding test yet. When this page talks about how fast a service forwards mail, that’s the company’s own claim. When we’ve tested it, we’ll say so and give the date.
Commission doesn’t affect the order. If a provider paid us more, or stopped paying us, it would stay in the same place.
Being your own agent
You need a street address in the state and you need to be there during normal business hours. If you work from home or a fixed office in the state, you probably qualify. Plenty of single-member LLCs are their own agent for years without a problem.
What it costs you:
- Your address is public. Anyone who looks up the company sees it. For a home business, that may matter.
- You have to be there. In many states, a process server who can’t find your agent can serve the state instead, and you might not hear about a lawsuit until it’s too late to respond.
- Moving means a filing. Every change of address is a form, and often a fee.
If none of that bothers you, save the money. The registered agent guide has the rules in more detail, including the states that call it a resident agent or statutory agent.
Switching agents
Changing agents is a short state form. Across our 51 state guides, the fee runs from $0 in states like California and Indiana to $100 in Alabama, and the new agent will usually file it for you. Do it before the old service’s renewal date, not after. Most renew automatically and refunds are rare.
The state table on the registered agent guide lists the change-of-agent fee for each of those states.
Compare registered agents side by side
Prices checked November 8, 2026| Service | Per year | The details | Best for | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Northwest Registered Agent | $125 | $125/yr, the same price every year. $100/yr per state if you need five or more states. | People who want privacy and a fair renewal price. | Visit(sponsored link, opens in a new tab)Pricing page |
| 2Bizee | $149 | Free for the first year with formation, then $149/yr. | Owners who want a $0 filing and a free first year of registered agent service. | Visit(sponsored link, opens in a new tab)Pricing page |
| 3ZenBusiness | $199 | $199/yr as an add-on. No ZenBusiness package includes it. | First-time owners who want annual report filing handled for them. | Visit(sponsored link, opens in a new tab)Pricing page |
| 4LegalZoom | $249 | $249/yr as an add-on, auto-renewing at the same rate. | Owners who want attorney and tax help in the same account. | Visit(sponsored link, opens in a new tab)Pricing page |
Published list prices before the state fee. "Visit" links are sponsored; the order comes from our scoring, not from who pays us.
Frequently asked questions
What does a registered agent actually do?
It accepts legal papers (lawsuits, subpoenas) and official state mail for your company at a street address in the state, and passes them on to you. That's the whole job. Everything else a service bundles in is extra.
How much should a registered agent cost?
Of the four services we compare, the standalone price runs from $125 a year (Northwest) to $249 a year (LegalZoom). A free first year with a formation order is common, so compare the renewal price, not the first-year one.
Can I be my own registered agent?
Usually, yes. You need a street address in the state (not a PO box) and you need to be there to accept papers during business hours. The trade-off is that your address goes on the public record.
Do I need a registered agent in every state I operate in?
Yes. Every state where the LLC is registered, at home or as a foreign LLC, expects an agent with an address in that state. Companies in several states often use one national service for all of them.
Sources
We take every fee, deadline and rule on this page from these pages and nowhere else. Rules change, so open the source before you pay anything.
- 1.Northwest Registered Agent: LLC and registered agent pricingChecked November 8, 2026
- 2.Bizee: LLC packages and registered agent renewalChecked November 8, 2026
- 3.ZenBusiness: add-on pricingChecked November 8, 2026
- 4.LegalZoom: LLC formation and add-onsChecked November 8, 2026
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