Do you need to form a limited liability company, but you don’t want to bother with the complexities and hassles of forming your own LLC?
There are many companies like Inc Authority and Swyft Filings that offer high-quality LLC services, but it can be tough to figure out which one is the best option for your new business.
In this Inc Authority vs Swyft Filings comparison guide, you’ll find all the relevant information about these two reputable service providers organized in a convenient manner. Let’s find out which one is the right choice for your LLC!
Do Inc Authority and Swyft Filings Offer Good Value?
| Service | Price | Legit Service? | Value | Commonly Recommended? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inc Authority | Starts at $0 | Yes | Good | Often |
| Swyft Filings | Starts at $49 | Yes | Solid | Sometimes |
Inc Authority and Swyft Filings are two of the most popular companies providing online LLC formation services, and they’re both able to efficiently and effectively form limited liability companies. They each have some advantages over the other.
First and foremost, Inc Authority offers LLC formation service for free, as long as you pay your own state fee. By contrast, Swyft Filings charges $49 for its most affordable LLC package. In addition, Inc Authority offers all of its business formation customers one year of registered agent service at no charge, while Swyft Filings charges $149 per year for registered agent service. However, Swyft Filings can usually form LLCs faster than Inc Authority.
If you’d like a more in-depth look at these LLC services, keep reading.
7 Things They Have in Common
1) Affordable: With either Swyft Filings or Inc Authority, you’ll save a significant amount of money on your LLC formation compared to hiring a business attorney to handle your formation process.
2) Positive Customer Feedback: Although Swyft Filings has a higher volume of reviews, both of these companies receive high average rating scores in their customer reviews, which indicates a strong level of client satisfaction.
3) Customer Support: These two services both have customer support networks that can answer your tough questions. Why go it alone when you can get help from Swyft Filings or Inc Authority?
4) Experience: Inc Authority and Swyft Filings have each helped form thousands of businesses over the years, and they both have plenty of expertise. You can definitely trust them to have the experience they need to form your compliant LLC.
5) Additional Services: Both Swyft Filings and Inc Authority have many other services that they can provide to your business, from registered agent service to annual reports and much more.
6) Efficiency: These companies both work quickly, and they can get your formation processed with the state in a matter of weeks or even days.
7) Trustworthy: These are both entirely legitimate operations with strong track records. These aren’t fly-by-night companies, but rather they’re well-respected entities with plenty of expertise to get the job done right.
Best LLC Service Alternative
| Service | Price | Value | Legit? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 ZenBusiness | $0 + state fee | Excellent | Absolutely |
If you’d like to explore other LLC services, choose ZenBusiness. We have formed 400,000+ businesses and accumulated thousands of positive reviews. We'll form your LLC for free — just pay your state's required fee!
Side-by-Side Comparisons
Pricing
It’s impossible to beat Inc Authority’s offer when it comes to pricing. That’s because they’re one of only a few companies in this industry (along with ZenBusiness) that offers LLC formations free of charge, as long as you pay your own state fee. As for Swyft Filings, their base-rate LLC formation package costs $49.
Obviously, no one prefers to pay $49 when you can pay nothing for similar services. However, pricing isn’t everything! Read on to learn more about these two companies.
Features
Inc Authority’s free formation package includes one year of registered agent service, along with an S corporation tax election filing (which most LLCs don’t need). Swyft Filings includes a corporate compliance monitoring tool plus a statement of the organizer form which can help you open a business bank account.
The real prize here is the free year of registered agent service from Inc Authority. The other features these companies add to their packages all have some value, but nothing like 12 full months of registered agent service. In fact, if you wanted to add this feature to your Swyft Filings LLC package, you would need to pay an additional $149, raising your total cost to $198.
Experience
Inc Authority was founded in 1989, and they’ve formed more than 140,000 LLCs and corporations over the years. Swyft Filings opened for business more recently, in 2012, but they’ve already served thousands of customers as well.
Customer Support
Swyft Filings has support available from 10 am to 7 pm ET on weekdays, and you can reach them by phone or via chat. Inc Authority offers customer support via chat, phone, or email. Their representatives are available from 11 am to 8 pm ET on weekdays.
In general, both of these companies provide solid support. Their reps are friendly and knowledgeable, and they respond to messages quickly. Especially considering the fact that they’re both open for nine hours per day, we’ll call this category a tie.
Turnaround Times
Both of these companies base their turnaround times on the capabilities of each individual state. These processing times vary from just a few business days all the way up to several weeks. Swyft Filings can be slightly faster in some states, but it’s usually an insignificant difference.
Order Tracking
Both of these service providers have order-tracking tools available on their websites. Simply log into your account, and you’ll find your order status in your profile.
Registered Agent Service
Every LLC in America is required to designate a registered agent, which is a person or business entity that receives important document deliveries (like service of process) from your state government, informs you of the receipt, then forwards the documents to you. This is so crucial because the state needs to have a reliable means of contacting your business at any time.
As we’ve mentioned, Inc Authority includes one year of registered agent service at no extra cost with any LLC formation package. After that, their price point is a reasonable $99 per year. Swyft Filings does not include registered agent service with business formations, and they charge $149 per year to add it on.
Customer Reviews
Inc Authority’s customer satisfaction reputation is good. We found more than 11,000 reviews of their services, and they were overwhelmingly positive. Their clients clearly like their free LLC formation service offering, and they also seem to appreciate their quick processing speeds.
While Inc Authority certainly has impressive feedback, Swyft Filings takes things a step further. They have more than 36,000 reviews online, and they still maintain high rating scores.
Ease of Use
These companies are relative equals in this category, as they both make the LLC formation process quite simple compared to forming your own business using the DIY method. Still, we will give Swyft Filings a slight edge because their website is a bit more streamlined and user-friendly than the Inc Authority site.
Additional Services
With either of these companies, you can access a wide variety of additional services to help your business thrive. Both Swyft Filings and Inc Authority provide registered agent service, S corporation tax elections, EIN acquisitions, and operating agreements. However, they also both have some services the other doesn’t offer.
For example, Swyft Filings provides its customers with seller’s permits and entity conversions, which Inc Authority does not offer. On the other hand, Inc Authority has a business credit service to help you build your business, and they also offer revocable living trusts.
Which Is the Best LLC Service for You?
Swyft Filings and Inc Authority have plenty of common characteristics that make them two of the top LLC formation services available, but they also have some major differences that set them apart. If you haven’t yet made up your mind between them, let’s finish this comparison by quickly describing some scenarios that may sway your opinion one way or the other.
Regardless of which one you ultimately choose to help form your LLC, we think you’ll be quite pleased with either of these LLC services.
| Service | Price | Legit Service? | Value | Commonly Recommended? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inc Authority | Starts at $0 | Yes | Good | Often |
| Swyft Filings | Starts at $49 | Yes | Solid | Sometimes |
➥ Choose Inc Authority if:
Are you interested in getting your LLC professionally formed for free? Does receiving a full year of registered agent service at no additional charge appeal to you? These are a couple of good reasons to use Inc Authority.
➦ Choose Swyft Filings if:
Do you want to use a company with a stronger customer feedback reputation? Are you in a hurry and need the fastest LLC formation possible, even if it’s just a difference of a day or two? Give Swyft Filings a look.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I Decide to Use Inc Authority, Which Package Should I Choose?
As it turns out, Inc Authority’s entry-level LLC formation package is its most popular option. Not only is it free of charge (except for your state fee), but it also includes a year of registered agent service and an S corporation tax election filing. Their premium packages are all a bit more expensive than they should be, in our opinion – starting at $399.
Does Inc Authority Handle Extra State Requirements Like New York Publication?
Some states have additional compliance steps, such as publishing your LLC’s formation in a reputable local newspaper. Unfortunately, Inc Authority does not offer publication service, and Swyft Filings doesn’t either. If you’re looking for a publication service, you should take a look at BizFilings or ZenBusiness.
If you’d like more information on the best options for New York LLC publication services, check out our full guide on this topic.
Which Service Has Fewer Upsells?
Inc Authority includes a page of optional add-on features at the end of their order form, but seeing as they’re a free service to begin with, this doesn’t really bother us. Swyft Filings is still the winner in this category though because we’ve never noticed any upsells whatsoever when placing orders with them.
Does Either of These Services Have a Refund Policy?
One of the biggest advantages Swyft Filings has over its competitors is its generous refund policy. With their 100% satisfaction guarantee, they ensure that any customer who requests a refund will receive one. They don’t have time limits on their guarantee (you’ll often see 30-day or 60-day refund windows with other companies), and they don’t charge cancellation fees either.
As for Inc Authority, they specifically state on their website that they do not grant refunds for any reason.
Which LLC Formation Website Is Faster?
These two sites have turnaround times that are quite similar due to the fact that they both base their processing speeds on each individual state’s ability to process formations. This means your turnaround time might be as quick as just a few days in some states but could take several weeks in others.
Even though they both use the same method to calculate turnaround times, Swyft Filings really does live up to their name. They form businesses faster than most competitors, and they’re slightly quicker than Inc Authority in some states.
Can I Just Form an LLC On My Own, Without a Service?
Of course, you can. In fact, thousands of American entrepreneurs form their own businesses each year.
While there’s certainly nothing wrong with doing this, we will caution that because each state is allowed to create its own rules regarding how LLCs are formed, there is some variance from state to state regarding how this process works.
Furthermore, we appreciate the peace of mind we receive from hiring a reputable company to form our businesses.
In Conclusion
Inc Authority and Swyft Filings are two of the most popular LLC formation services available, and they both have plenty of strong attributes.
We wouldn’t blame you for preferring one over the other — either way, you’re using one of the best companies in the industry.
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