LegalZoom (Basic, $0 + state fee) review 2027

What problem does LegalZoom solve, and who is it for?

LegalZoom is the best-known name in LLC formation, and the reason to pick it is not the filing itself. It is the attorney plan: a licensed attorney in your state on a monthly subscription, which nobody else in this test offers properly. The same account also holds trademark, contracts and estate documents, and the company backs the work with a satisfaction guarantee and a long track record.

That is the whole case. As a pure filing service it is the most expensive way to do a twenty-minute job, and our verdict says so plainly: worth its price only if you use the attorney plan. It finished sixth of seven services tested, with a score of 7.3.

How did LegalZoom score in our testing?

We scored five criteria, and the pattern is consistent — strong on service, weak on money.

• True first-year cost — 20 of 30. What we actually paid in year one: package, registered agent and anything the checkout added, on top of the state filing fee.
• Renewal cost — 11 of 20. Registered agent and compliance fees from year two, which is where these services make their money.
• Filing & compliance service — 16 of 20. Days from order to approved articles, EIN handling, operating agreement quality, annual-report reminders and filing.
• Checkout transparency — 11 of 15. How clearly the state fee and renewals were disclosed, and how many upsell screens stood between us and the order.
• Support & extras — 15 of 15. Phone and chat support quality, attorney access, banking and bookkeeping add-ons, and privacy of your home address.

What does LegalZoom do well?

The attorney access is the standout. A licensed attorney in your state on a monthly plan is a genuine service the cheaper filers cannot match, and it is the one thing no rival here replicates. The document breadth is the second strength: trademark, contracts and estate documents live in the same account, so a business that needs more than a certificate of formation gets real use out of the subscription.

Beyond that, the satisfaction guarantee and the long track record matter to buyers who want a name they recognise, and the help library is extensive enough to answer most routine questions without a call.

What is in the package, and how is it built?

The nine spec rows tell the story of the checkout.

• Entry package: 0 USD, and yes, there is a $0 package.
• Registered agent year 1: No ($249/yr).
• Registered agent from year 2: 249 USD/yr.
• Our year-one total (excl. state fee): 0 USD.
• EIN: $99 or Pro package.
• Operating agreement: Pro package.
• Attorney access: Yes, $49/mo legal plan.
• Approved in (our order): 12 business days (Basic).

So the free tier is genuinely free to start, but the registered agent, the EIN and the operating agreement all sit behind a price. The EIN is the sharpest example: $99 for a number the IRS gives free.

How does LegalZoom compare with the other services we tested?

Against Northwest Registered Agent (9.1, $39), LegalZoom is behind on both price and speed. Northwest includes a year of registered agent service, puts its own address on the public record instead of yours, and approved our order in 6 business days against LegalZoom's 12. Northwest charges $125/yr from year two; LegalZoom charges $249/yr. Northwest has no attorney access, which is LegalZoom's counter-argument.

Against Harbor Compliance (8.4, $99), the gap is narrower on service and wider on cost. Harbor includes the EIN on request and an operating agreement, charges $99/yr for the registered agent from year two, and approved in 7 business days. It offers licensing specialists rather than attorneys.

Against Bizee (8.3, $0 + state fee), LegalZoom is the more expensive route at every step. Bizee's $0 package is real, includes a free first year of registered agent service, renews at $119/yr, and approved in 8 business days. Its EIN is $70 or bundled in the Gold package. No attorney access.

Against ZenBusiness (8.0, $0 + state fee), LegalZoom is slower and dearer on renewals: ZenBusiness charges $199/yr for the registered agent, $99 for the EIN, and approved in 10 business days on the Starter plan. ZenBusiness sells legal advisory as a $199/yr add-on; LegalZoom's attorney plan is $49/mo.

Against Rocket Lawyer (7.5, $99.99), the closest rival on legal services, LegalZoom is the pricier subscription but the broader document account. Rocket Lawyer includes the EIN and operating agreement with membership, charges $149.99/yr for the registered agent, and approved in 9 business days.

Where does LegalZoom fall short?

Value, and the three test cons show why. First, $249 a year for registered agent service and $99 for an EIN the IRS gives free — both avoidable elsewhere in this test. Second, the most upsell screens of any checkout we ran, which is what dragged checkout transparency to 11 of 15. Third, the Basic filing took twelve business days, the slowest in the group we compared here.

None of that is a service failure. It is a pricing model, and it is the reason the score sits at 7.3 rather than higher.

What does LegalZoom cost?

The price summary is $0 + state fee. Measured, year one came to 0 USD excluding the state fee, and year two came to 249 USD for the registered agent. The attorney plan is $49/mo on top, and the EIN is $99 or bundled in the Pro package.

Who should buy LegalZoom?

Businesses that want a lawyer on call. If you will use the $49/mo legal plan for contracts, trademark work or estate documents, the subscription earns its keep and the filing cost is secondary. If you only need articles of formation approved quickly and cheaply, the cheaper filers in this test do that job for less.