ZenBusiness LLC and business formation review

Registering your business is a small but vital step on your journey to becoming an entrepreneur. You can typically do this yourself for free, but if you're worried about making a mistake or just want some additional support and tools, it can be worth the money to sign up for a business formation service. 

ZenBusiness is one of the most popular services for registering an LLC, S-Corp or C-Corp. Read on to learn more and see if it's the right fit for you.

ZenBusiness is a business formation service that will help you file the paperwork for registering a business entity as either an LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp and DBA (Doing Business As). When you choose one of these business structures, you potentially gain tax advantages and legal protections you wouldn't otherwise get.

ZenBusiness also offers other services to help you complete various legal and compliance tasks, like Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report filing, registered agent service, operating agreement filing, Employer Identification Number (EIN) application, annual report filing, amendment filing, certificate of good standing and business license report filing.

The platform also sells services to enhance your marketing, such as logo kits, website-building tools, domain registration, business email and more.

To get started, go to the ZenBusiness website and select which entity you'd like to form. You'll then answer a few questions, like what kind of business you're forming and when you plan to launch. You can also decide whether you want to appoint ZenBusiness as your registered agent (for an added fee of $199 per year).

Lastly, you'll just choose a pricing plan. Getting started takes just a few minutes, but you should know what type of business you'd like to start and what you're naming your business before you begin.

ZenBusiness offers three pricing plans: Starter, Pro and Premium. Here's a breakdown of what each of those plans offers.

If you want to get started as cheaply as possible, the Starter plan may be your best bet, but keep in mind that it doesn't include a template for your business operating agreement. This is a document that five states — New York, California, Missouri, Maine and Delaware — require if you form an LLC in the state.

Before signing up for ZenBusiness, consider these pros and cons.

ZenBusiness is certainly one of the more popular names in business formation with quite a bit to offer in one convenient place, but here's how it stacks up to a few of its competitors.

ZenBusiness vs. Northwest Registered Agent

While ZenBusiness packages its services into three pricing plans, Northwest Registered Agent takes an à la carte approach to selling its offerings. You can pick from business registration filing, domain registration, website and business email offerings, EIN application service, compliance and registered agent services. Business registration includes your operating agreement and articles of organization for $39 plus your state's filing fee. Remember that ZenBusiness's basic plan doesn't include the operating agreement.

Northwest Registered Agent gives you a free year of its registered agent service, and then charges $125 a year. This is more affordable than ZenBusiness, which charges $149 a year for the same service and doesn't offer the first year for free.

Northwest also offers a more affordable price point when it comes to EIN registration. It costs only $50 if you already have a social security number, versus the $99 that ZenBusiness charges.

One thing ZenBusiness offers that Northwest doesn't is access to templates for documents such as non-compete agreements, employment offer letters and more. Available through the Premium plan, this service can come in handy as your business grows and you want professional templates for new needs.

While Northwest Registered Agent makes sense if you want access to just a few services, ZenBusiness can be the stronger option if you want to access a wider array of features for your money.

ZenBusiness vs. Bizee

Like ZenBusiness, Bizee offers three pricing plans: Basic, Standard and Premium. Bizee's most basic plan comes pretty stacked with offers like articles of organization, registered agent service (free for one year), a business banking account and a business tax consultation. That's a lot of value compared with the ZenBusiness Starter plan, and both plans share the price point of $0 (plus the state fee). However, Bizee's Starter plan lacks the compliance services that ZenBusiness offers, so if that's a stickler for you then ZenBusiness may be a better choice.

ZenBusiness also offers website-building tools as well as domain registration in its Premium plan, two services that Bizee doesn't provide. As is often the case when choosing between two competing products, you have to decide what your company really needs before making a decision. If you want help with managing compliance or creating your web presence, ZenBusiness has those services. But if neither is a priority, Bizee is definitely worth a look.

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