Are you forming a new LLC, but you’re not sure which of the many service providers you should look to for help?
Swyft Filings is a popular option when it comes to LLC service, but does that mean they’re the best fit for your company?
This Swyft Filings LLC service alternatives guide highlights the similarities and differences between Swyft Filings and some of their top competitors. Which one has the features you need at the prices you want?
3 Fast Facts About Swyft Filings
Before we get too far into our discussion of its alternatives, let’s quickly dig into some core components of Swyft Filings as a company. Here are the three most important attributes of Swyft Filings to know before examining your other options:
- Incredible Customer Feedback: Most of Swyft Filings’ competitors can’t even hold a candle to their sterling reputation for customer feedback. Swyft Filings has tens of thousands of reviews available on reputable third-party review websites, and nearly all of them are positive.
- Reasonable Pricing: Swyft Filings doesn’t have the absolute lowest price point in the industry for LLC formation service, but the $49 they charge is still considerably lower than the industry average.
- Satisfaction Guaranteed: Many companies in the business services industry have subpar refund policies, to say the least. Some of them refuse to grant refunds entirely! With Swyft Filings, you have the safety net of their 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you’re unsatisfied with your purchase, you can get a full refund of your service fees, with no questions asked.
What This Service Is Best Known For: Great low rates, feature-packed formation packages, and a dedication to giving back.
ZenBusiness opened their doors in 2015, and they have a unique approach to business formation services thanks to their use of automation to speed up and simplify several parts of the process. Let’s see how they stack up when compared to Swyft Filings.
- ZenBusiness is one of the most affordable LLC services online. For just $39 (plus state fee), they will form your business and provide a full year of registered agent service. That off the bat will save you $10 as opposed to Swyft Filings.
- If you like seeing positive customer reviews, you’ll love ZenBusiness. They have more than 6,200 reviews available online, and it’s difficult to find more than just a small handful of negative reviews.
- We really appreciate ZenBusiness’ commitment to giving back. As a public benefit corporation, ZenBusiness partners with Kiva.org to provide financial lending services to poverty-stricken individuals, and they also loan money to women-owned and minority-owned businesses.
The only negative with ZenBusiness is that if you’re on a VERY tight budget, they might not be the best option for you. If that is the case, IncFile has a free LLC service.
Want to learn more about ZenBusiness? Read our review.
What This Service Is Best Known For: Industry-best customer support and outstanding registered agent service.
Since opening in 1998, Northwest Registered Agent has become a trusted midsize company providing affordable business services online. Where do their advantages and disadvantages lie when compared to Swyft Filings?
- Northwest Registered Agent starts the pricing for their LLC formation service at $225, which is much more expensive than Swyft Filings at $49.
- Like ZenBusiness, Northwest includes 12 months of registered agent service when you order any LLC service package. Even better is the fact that Northwest Registered Agent is the only major service provider that locally scans every document they receive as your registered agent, whereas most competitors only scan your official government docs.
- Customer support is what Northwest Registered Agent is known for above all else. Northwest provides a level of personalized support that very few competitors can match.
Although they don’t have a comparable volume of feedback to the thousands of reviews Swyft Filings and IncFile have, the hundreds of Northwest Registered Agent reviews available online are almost all positive in nature.
Want to learn more about Northwest Registered Agent? Read our review.
What This Service Is Best Known For: Free LLC formations that still come with plenty of valuable features.
IncFile has been in the game a bit longer than Swyft Filings (which opened in 2012), with more than 500,000 customers served since they opened in 2004. With great rates and smartly bundled features, IncFile is a top LLC service for a reason. How do they compare to Swyft Filings?
- IncFile’s starting price point of $0 plus state fee is the cheapest LLC formation service online.
- One major advantage IncFile has over Swyft Filings is the inclusion of a full year of registered agent service with the purchase of any LLC formation package. Swyft Filings does not include registered agent service with any of their LLC service packages.
- Much like Swyft Filings, IncFile gets highly positive customer feedback. Both companies have thousands of reviews all over the internet, and they both also maintain high average scores that indicate most customers would recommend the service.
Both of these companies offer strong customer support, but Swyft Filings is much more responsive than IncFile. Whereas Swyft Filings always responds to phone calls and messages quickly, we’ve experienced wait times exceeding 24 hours to hear back from IncFile at times.
Want to learn more about IncFile? Read our review.
What This Service Is Best Known For: Extensive marketing campaigns and a massive volume of customers served.
As opposed to the other options in this guide, LegalZoom is an industry giant. Since 1999, they’ve served more than 4 million clients, including more than 1 million LLC formations, which is a massive volume of customers. Here’s how they stack up to Swyft Filings otherwise.
- Their LLC service starts at $79 before state fees, which is exactly $30 more expensive than the $49 rate offered by Swyft Filings.
- Like Swyft Filings, LegalZoom does not include any registered agent service in their LLC formation packages. Whereas Swyft Filings provides a 30-minute business tax consultation and a free domain name for a year, LegalZoom counters with a banking resolution to help you open business checking and savings accounts.
- LegalZoom has longer customer service hours than any other company in the industry. They’re available from 8am-10pm ET on weekdays and they’re even open from 10am-7pm ET on weekends. While Swyft Filings has a better reputation for the high quality of their support, their hours of operation are a more standard 10am-7pm ET on weekdays.
One major area of overlap between LegalZoom and Swyft Filings is the fact that both of them offer satisfaction guarantees. If you’re less than entirely pleased with your LLC formation, you simply need to ask for a refund and they will grant it.
However, it’s worth noting that our LegalZoom LLC alternatives article is one of our most researched reviews.
Want to learn more about LegalZoom? Read our review.
The Best Swyft Filings Alternative?
These providers are all more than capable of handling your LLC formation, as well as offering many other business solutions.
The biggest benefit of using a provider like this is that you save hundreds of dollars compared to hiring a business attorney to draft and file your articles of organization.
Each of these four companies has its advantages relative to the others. Which one you choose likely comes down to which one best addresses your priorities. IncFile and ZenBusiness offer the lowest prices, LegalZoom has the most experience, and Northwest Registered Agent has the best customer service.
No matter which provider you choose for your LLC formation, we wish you the best in all your future business endeavors!
Customer Feedback Comparison
One of the most important aspects of any LLC formation service is the customer feedback the company receives. To help you analyze each company’s customer reviews, we decided to create this customer feedback comparison section that breaks down how these companies stack up next to each other in this crucial area.
LLC formation services can have customer feedback collections that vary considerably in both quality and quantity. With this in mind, we created the following comparison in an attempt to make it as easy as possible for you to compare these companies in an apples-to-apples manner.
- Swyft Filings: 75,340 reviews / 4.5-star average score
- ZenBusiness: 6,260 reviews / 4.8-star average score
- Northwest Registered Agent: 269 reviews / 4.4-star average score
- IncFile: 26,608 reviews / 4.8-star average score
- LegalZoom: 4,070 reviews / 4.1-star average score
Frequently Asked Questions
Got questions? We’ve got answers.
How Do Other LLC Services Compare with Swyft Filings?
If you’d like to see side-by-side comparisons of these LLC formation websites, check out our reviews below:
Which Service Has the Best Customer Support?
None of these service providers have bad customer support, but Northwest Registered Agent definitely takes things the extra mile in this regard. Every Northwest client receives support from a dedicated employee who is highly trained and knowledgeable.
Do Any of These Services Handle Requirements Like Publication?
Swyft Filings and ZenBusiness are the only two of these five companies that offer publication service where required. While LegalZoom and IncFile leave you on your own to complete the requirement, and Northwest only provides a list of instructions, Swyft Filings and ZenBusiness offer to handle this for you.
In their own words, “There are certain states that will require you to publish a notice of business formation in the local newspaper(s) such as Arizona, New York, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. The requirement can be met by using a filing service such as Swyft Filings.”
Which Service Has the Fewest Upsells?
We don’t have a problem with the way Northwest, IncFile, ZenBusiness, or Swyft Filings operate in this category. They all provide opportunities to upgrade services or add features, but they never feel pushy about it at all.
However, LegalZoom attempts more than $1,000 worth of upsells as you navigate their LLC service order form, which really feels like overkill to us.
Do These Services Share My Information With Third Parties?
While LegalZoom and Northwest Registered Agent do a good job of avoiding third-party partnership offers, both IncFile and Swyft Filings have a handful of them.
IncFile pushes third-party deals for a business tax consult session, a business bank account, and a website builder package through other companies. For their part, Swyft Filings has offers for domain names, website hosting, and a national accounting firm. As for ZenBusiness, their upper-tier packages have features like domain name registration and a corporate website that are provided by third parties.
Are Any of These Services Faster Than the Others?
Swyft Filings really lives up to their name, as they are often slightly quicker when forming LLCs than the other competitors in this guide, although it’s usually not a significant difference.
The only other thing we’ll mention in this section is that LegalZoom and ZenBusiness structure their turnaround times differently than the other three companies do. While Swyft, Northwest, and IncFile all base their processing times on each individual state’s ability to process LLC formations, LegalZoom and ZenBusiness instead have turnarounds based on which level of service you order from them.
LegalZoom’s cheapest package takes around 30 business days, while their most expensive package takes 7-10 business days. ZenBusiness’ turnaround times do vary somewhat by state, but they will still significantly speed up or slow down your formation based on how much money you spend.
Which Service Has the Best Refund Policy?
Swyft Filings and LegalZoom both have outstanding refund policies. With their satisfaction guarantees, they will grant a refund request for any reason, and they don’t even charge any convenience or processing fees.
Can I Just Form an LLC on My Own, Without a Service?
You certainly can, and many entrepreneurs do indeed form their own LLCs every day. However, there’s no substitute for the peace of mind you receive from hiring a professional service to form your LLC. Their expertise can be reassuring.
