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 Incfile, one of the most popular service providers in the industry. Are they the right registered agent service for your business?
About Incfile
Incfile opened for business in 2004, and since then they’ve formed more than 500,000 LLCs and corporations. In 2018, they were named one of the 360 best entrepreneurial companies in America by Entrepreneur magazine.
On their website, Incfile outlines their “5 Really Good Reasons to Choose Incfile!” These reasons include the ability to talk to an incorporation specialist rather than a salesman, the ease of use associated with their platform, the value they provide, their focus on strictly providing business services, and their ongoing support.
A fun fact about Incfile is that they are one of only a few companies we’re aware of that offers LLC formation service for free. All you need to pay is your state fee. This isn’t a barebones package either, as it includes a year of registered agent service.
30-Second Summary of Our Review
Incfile Strengths
- Free business formation offer – Incfile is one of a few companies we’re aware of that offer a business formation service package for free. All you need to do is pay your state fee, and they’ll take care of the rest!
- Thousands of positive customer reviews – Incfile has one of the best customer feedback reputations in this industry. They have thousands of positive reviews, and very few negative reviews to be found.
- One year registered agent service included with formation packages – No matter which one of their formation packages you choose (even the free version), they’ll include 12 months of registered agent at no extra cost.
Incfile Weaknesses
- Lots of upsells – While Incfile’s services are affordable, you’ll have to navigate through plenty of upsells to order them.
- Mediocre customer support – Incfile’s phone support is pretty good but its email support is almost entirely non-responsive. If you need help, you’ll probably need to call them.
Pricing & Additional Features
Incfile’s registered agent service costs $119 per year. Aside from the basics of being your registered agent, they include an online dashboard to help you keep your compliance requirements organized.
Incfile vs Other Registered Agent Services
Incfile has a better offering for registered agent service than many competitors, but they aren’t the cheapest or most fully featured provider. Their $119 price point is good, but there are some competitors who beat that price, and some others that include advanced features.
On the other hand, it would be tough to find any companies that can beat their solid customer feedback reputation. For more information on your other options, take a look at our guide to the top registered agent services available.
Online Customer Reviews
Incfile truly shines when it comes to their customer feedback, as they have more than 32,000 reviews available on Shopper Approved, and 99% of them are positive.
Their satisfied customers like to talk about how quickly and easily they can leverage Incfile’s services, and they also frequently compliment their support reps.
Customer Service Quality
You can access Incfile’s customer support team via email, phone, or chat, and we have experience with all three options.
Their response times are fast if you call them, as we’ve never had to wait on hold for more than a minute or two, but their email support unfortunately does not have the same level of responsiveness. Our only other complaint about their customer service is that they often don’t expand much on their answers, keeping their responses short and to the point.
Main Reasons to Use Incfile
If you still need to form your business entity, Incfile’s offering of a free formation service package is hard to pass up. In addition, their customer feedback is mostly positive.
Main Reasons Not to Use Incfile
If you don’t need to form your business, there are better options for standalone registered agent service. Incfile doesn’t have the best pricing for this feature, and they also don’t include many additional features beyond the basics. You might be interested in ZenBusiness, which offers registered agent service starting at $99 for the first year, and we also have a free LLC formation service package.
Conclusion
This company receives strong customer feedback and offers reasonably priced registered agent service. Incfile is a well-rounded service provider.