If you want to form a business in the United States, you will need to designate a registered agent. The role of the registered agent involves the usage of their address as your official business address, which means they’ll receive important document deliveries on your behalf, including court summons and other official correspondence from your state government.
While you can legally serve as your own agent and still operate a compliant business entity, there are some other benefits of hiring a registered agent service, like the ability to keep your personal information out of the public record. In addition, having a registered agent makes it so that you don’t need to be available at your place of business during all standard business hours, and it also cuts down on the amount of junk mail you’ll receive.
There are many companies that offer this vital service to businesses, and it can be difficult to discern which one is the best option for your company. In this review, we’ll take a close look at BizFilings, one of the most popular service providers in the industry. Are they the right registered agent service for your business?
About BizFilings
BizFilings has been around since 1996, and they’ve formed more than half a million businesses in that time. The company is a subsidiary of the massive global information services company Wolters Kluwer.
On their website, BizFilings shares their mission statement as follows: “Our single focus is to help entrepreneurs and business owners start, run, and grow their companies. We work with companies of all sizes, and offer products, services, and tools that provide companies the support they need throughout the life of their business.”
A fun fact about BizFilings is their “BizFilings Guarantee” that covers all purchases made on their platform. In their own words, “BizFilings is confident in its ability to deliver a service that exceeds customer expectations.
Our business filing services are both accurate and timely, and we pride ourselves on providing the highest level of service in the industry. Each order received is reviewed to identify potential errors. In the unlikely event that a filing error is made, we respond promptly to remedy the error.”
30-Second Summary
BizFilings has plenty of experience, with over 500,000 business filings since they were founded in 1996. All of their LLC formation packages include six months of registered agent, although their annual fee of $220 is pretty high.
BizFilings Strengths
- Solid track record and customer volume – With 20+ years of experience and over 500,000 clients served, BizFilings really impresses in this area.
- 6 months registered agent included with each package – BizFilings includes six months of registered agent service with every one of their business formation packages.
- Good customer service with long availability hours – You can reach BizFilings’ customer support representatives from 9am until 8pm ET every weekday. This is a longer window of availability than many competitors provide.
BizFilings Weaknesses
- Almost zero customer reviews available – For a company with as much experience as BizFilings has, it’s odd that there’s so little customer feedback available.
- Prices aren’t great – While their prices are reasonable, there are quite a few competing service providers that undercut BizFilings’ pricing considerably, without sacrificing anything when it comes to included features.
Pricing & Additional Features
BizFilings provides registered agent service for $220 per year, and they also offer six months for free if you purchase any of their LLC formation packages. They also include their BizComply online compliance monitoring tool, as well as franchise tax and annual report filing alerts.
BizFilings vs Other Registered Agent Services
BizFilings does have some attributes that we appreciate, like their experience level, and the fact that they include six months of registered agent service with their formation packages. On the other hand, there are several cheaper options that provide similar services.
For more information, check out our list of the top registered agent services available online.
Online Customer Reviews
While BizFilings has been around for decades, and they’ve served hundreds of thousands of customers, we were only able to find 18 customer reviews online. With such a tiny quantity of reviews to work with, it’s impossible to analyze that feedback in any meaningful way, other than to point out that they’re mostly positive.
Customer Service Quality
BizFilings provides customer support via phone and email. With either option, you’ll receive prompt service from knowledgeable professionals, and their hours of operation are longer than the vast majority of their competitors. You can reach BizFilings support reps from 7am-8pm ET Monday through Friday.
Main Reasons to Use BizFilings
If experience matters to you, they’re certainly worth a look. In addition, their inclusion of six months of registered agent service with every business formation package is always welcome.
Main Reasons Not to Use BizFilings
You can find lower price points elsewhere, without sacrificing anything when it comes to features or service quality. For instance, ZenBusiness offers LLC formation service starting at $0 (only pay your state’s fee), and our premium packages include ongoing compliance assistance and other valuable features. We also significantly undercut BizFilings’ price points for registered agent service. Also, some of their competitors have thousands of positive reviews available online, while BizFilings barely has any customer feedback at all.
Conclusion
BizFilings is a comprehensive service provider, offering assistance with state-specific compliance requirements that few competitors provide. It doesn’t have the best pricing for LLC formation or registered agent service but this company is still a good fit for some entrepreneurs.