Getting the best service for your LLC (Limited Liability Company) registered agent in Georgia is critical
The right registered agent service will ensure you meet all your legal obligations and ensure your personal and business assets are protected from any legal action.
The wrong registered agent service will open yourself up to scammers stealing your personal information and frivolous lawsuits taking what you’ve worked so hard to build.
I’ve analyzed 60+ registered agent services, assessed the top 13, and compiled in-depth reviews of the top 3. Here are my picks for the best registered agent in Georgia.
1. Northwest Registered Agent – 9.08/10 (My top pick)
Northwest Registered Agent is my number one choice for the best registered agent in Georgia because they provide the most value at the second cheapest price on the market.
Pros
There are lots of things to like about Northwest Registered Agent.
First of all, they offer everything you need from a registered agent service.
When you assign them as your registered agent, they provide a statutory agent available to accept all important communications from Georgia’s Secretary of State as well as service of process. They will scan, upload, and forward all incoming mail, and provide access to it in their online portal. They will also help prepare your Articles of Organization and notify you of every important upcoming compliance deadline.
But, the place where Northwest Registered Agent really shines, and what sets them apart from the competition, is their customer support.
Not only do they have a US-based team of ex accountants, lawyers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs, but this team will also answer any general business-related questions have you have.
With every other customer support team only assisting with your registered agent service queries and questions, this is a massive plus.
When you factor in that they’re the second cheapest registered agent service at only $125 per state per year (only $26 more than the cheapest service), there’s a lot to like.
Cons
The only drawback with Northwest Registered Agent is the same as their biggest plus: their customer support.
There are some moments in business when your to-do list is filling up faster than you can clear it and you really need a quick answer to a quick question. There have been moments when I’ve called Northwest’s support team for an answer and instead of giving me a quick answer, they’ve asked more questions.
In their defense, their questions were designed to provide me with the most appropriate response possible and I ended up getting a much more comprehensive solution than I would have without those questions. But at the time, it was frustrating.
Overall
Northwest Registered Agent is my #1 choice for the best registered agent in Georgia because they provide the most value at an extremely competitive price.
They’ll give you your all-important physical street address in Georgia, upload and forward all your mail, and alert you to any important upcoming compliance deadlines.
But best of all, their US-based customer support team composed of ex accountants, lawyers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs will support you through your business development journey and help you achieve your goals.
If you need a registered agent service that will guide you through the tough times and support your small business dream, head to Northwest Registered Agent now.
2. ZenBusiness – 7.95/10 (Best for new LLCs)
ZenBusiness is our pick for the best registered agent service for those who haven’t started their company yet because ZenBusiness is our #1 choice for the best Limited Liability Company ( LLC) formation service and they provide a free year of their registered agent service when you use them to form your company.
Pros
The first thing that stands out about ZenBusiness is the price. At $49 for their LLC formation service that includes a year of their registered agent service, their initial cost (more on that below) is half our budget pick.
They provide all the foundations you need in your Georgia LLC formation service (which you can read about in our best LLC formation recommendation) and take care of all the dealings with the Georgia Corporations Division. They also tick all the boxes for your registered agent service, including your business address, mail scanning and forwarding, and compliance alerts.
Additionally, for an extra $50, you can purchase their ‘worry-free compliance’ where they will prepare and file your annual report on your behalf — something that is sure to save a lot of headaches.
Cons
The most notable con is that while the initial cost of their LLC formation and registered agent service is $49, the subsequent years rebill at $119 per state per year.
While that is less than Northwest Registered Agent, the $6 less is only a saving if you don’t want the excellent support they offer. This is because while ZenBusiness has great support, they only support you on your LLC formation and registered agent issues, not your small business challenges.
Overall
If you’re yet to establish your business and are looking for a cheap and reliable way to both start your business and get your registered agent service, ZenBusiness is a great option.
For $49, they will file your Articles of Organization and all other related paperwork and throw in a year of their registered agent service for no additional cost.
While the subsequent years will cost $119 per state per year, they still represent great value for new companies.
If you’re yet to start your new business and want a free year of a registered agent service, head to ZenBusiness now.
3. Harbor Compliance – 7.12/10 (Best Budget Registered Agent)
Harbor Compliance is my #2 pick for the best registered agent service because while they’re a cheaper option that provides the services you need, they don’t provide anything exceptional (like Northwest Registered Agent’s customer service).
Pros
Harbor Compliance has earned the #2 spot on my list of best registered agents in Georgia because they do the things you need to protect your business, your assets, and your personal details.
They provide a physical address in Georgia, they will upload and forward all mail they receive and will notify you of any important upcoming compliance deadlines. Their computer system is simple to use and their customer support will answer any questions you have about your registered agent service quickly and politely.
And at $99 per state per year, they’re the cheapest full-service registered agent I reviewed.
Cons
The drawback with Harbor Compliance is that while they do all the basics at the cheapest price, they don’t go above and beyond.
They provide everything you need to protect your business, but nothing additional. Their online system is simple enough but can be counter-intuitive on some points. And while their customer support will answer every question you have about their registered agent service, they can’t and don’t answer any general questions about business in Georgia that you may have.
Overall
If you can’t afford the additional $26 to get the business support available at Northwest Registered Agent, then Harbor Compliance is a good second choice.
They provide the basics you need to protect your business, your assets, and your personal details for only $99 per state per year.
You can find out more about Harbor Compliance by visiting their website.
4. LegalZoom – 6.59/10 (Best Premium Registered Agent)
LegalZoom has made its way to the top of a not very competitive ‘premium’ registered agent service.
Pros
LegalZoom does what it needs to do to be considered a registered agent.
They provide your physical address in Georgia, are available to collect and forward your important mail (including service of process and documents from Georgia’s Secretary of State), and they will protect your personal information from scammers. They offer $1 million in identity theft insurance as well, which is why they made my ‘premium’ list.
Cons
LegalZoom is, at heart, a legal services company, not a registered agent service. And, it shows. Their offering is limited, their system is clunky, and their support is weak.
On top of that, their service costs $299 per state per year.
When you can buy the identity theft protection for less than the difference between LegalZoom and Northwest Registered Agent, the choice is pretty clear.
Overall
LegalZoom provides a great registered agent service if you’re already a LegalZoom client and want to consolidate all your outsourced services into one dashboard or you really want identity theft protection included in your registered agent package.
For anyone not currently with LegalZoom or who is happy to source their own identity theft protection, there are other, more suitable options.
If you want to know more about LegalZoom’s services, head to their website: LegalZoom.
5. IncFile Review
Incfile costs the same as Harbor Compliance but offers less. You get your physical street address in Georgia and your mail scanned and uploaded to their online portal, but you don’t get those important compliance alerts.
Just like ZenBusiness, they offer a free year of their registered agent service when you use their LLC formation service, but even after that, you’re left paying more for less so I don’t recommend them.
6. Rocket Lawyer Review
Rocket Lawyer is a cheaper version of Legal Zoom and their offering reflects the fact that registered agent services aren’t the major focus of their company.
They’re $149 per year and they don’t offer compliance alerts or a free year with their LLC formation service.
The only real reason you would use Rocket Lawyer registered agent service is if you’re already using them for their legal services and wanted to keep all your outsourced services in one dashboard.
If you want to know more about their services and online legal services, you can read my full Rocket Lawyer review.
7. SunDoc Filings Review
SunDoc Filings will give you the Georgia street address you need that’s available during normal business hours as well as scanning (they only scan legal notifications) and forwarding all your important mail.
They don’t offer compliance alerts and charge $159 per state per year.
8. InCorp Review
InCorp is an interesting registered agent offering.
They provide a street address with a statutory agent who is available during normal business hours, they scan and forward all-important mail, and they notify you of all upcoming compliance dates. And, they do it all for the same price as our budget pick, Harbor Compliance.
But, they’re #8 on our list for a reason. Their signup and management system is incredibly under-optimized. It’s painful to use, it wastes time, and it ultimately results in more frustration for a service that should take the pain out of running your business.
9. Swyft Filings Review
Swyft Filings offers the same range of services available with Northwest Registered Agent (without anywhere near the level of support) and charges $149 per state per year.
If you want to know all about their products and offerings, read my Swyft Filings review.
10. CSC Global Review
CSC Global is the other ‘premium’ offering on our list, but it’s ‘premium’ in price only. At $299 per state per year for the same level of services you get for Harbor Compliance for $99 per year, the only good reason to choose them is if you’re already using CSC Global for other projects and want all your services managed with one company.
11. Registered Agents Inc. Review
Registered Agents Inc. charges $200 per state per year for the same services that Northwest Registered Agent charges $125 per year.
12. Jumpstart Filings Review
Jumpstart Filings is another LLC formation company that also offers a registered agent service. At $150 per year for a basic level of service, there’s no solid reason to recommend them.
Registered Agent Review Summary
If you’re looking for a registered agent that will help you achieve your business goals in the shortest time possible, the best choice is Northwest Registered Agent.
Firstly, they provide all the basics. This includes a street address in Georgia, a statutory agent available during business hours able to accept all important legal correspondence (including service of process), they will scan and upload all this mail to your personal online portal, and they will alert you to any upcoming compliance deadlines.
Secondly, their customer service is the most helpful in the industry. Their US-based team of ex-accountants, lawyers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs will not only answer your questions about your registered agent service, but will also support you with any small business-related questions as well. They’re the only registered agent service to provide this kind of support and it really separates them from the rest of the field.
And finally, at $125 per state per year, they’re only $26 more expensive than the cheapest service on the market.
So if you’re looking for a registered agent service that provides all the basics you need as well as experienced and helpful customer support that goes above and beyond the rest of the industry, for the second cheapest price on the market, then head to Northwest Registered Agent now.
Georgia Registered Agent Review Methodology
This is my process for selecting the best registered agent in Georgia.
Why You Should Trust Me
The reason you should trust me to help you find the best registered agent for your Georgia small business is that I’ve got more experience in this space than just about every other person related to this industry.
My journey into the world of registered agents started with my first two companies — a health website and a cafe. I desperately wanted to keep my personal details off the public register and so I needed an entity that could be my registered point of contact.
After building and selling those two companies, I started looking for a new business to run by asking my entrepreneur friends what they were struggling most with in their business life.
When most replied with some variation of, ‘There’s so many services and so much information available and I don’t know which is right and wrong’, I decided to start a small business information website (which you are now reading).
Since starting BoostSuite, I’ve assisted more than 1,000 entrepreneurs to find the right advice, products, and services for their businesses and I’m here to help you do the same.
How I Selected The Best Registered Agent
Selecting the best registered agent from the over 60 options available was a 4-stage process.
Stage 1: Reviews
My deep dive into the registered agent industry started with online reviews. I scoured the internet looking at trusted sources to get a big-picture overview of what others were saying about these registered agent services.
This allowed me to eliminate a large percentage of these services due to some very unethical pricing strategies (see the ‘price’ ranking factor below for a breakdown of this).
Stage 2: Website Analysis
Once I’d eliminated the C-grade offerings, the next step was to get an overview of the company by reviewing their website. This allowed me to understand their positioning, their offering, and the overall perception the public formed when they clicked on the company’s website..
I read through their product and service pages, their FAQ and support portals, and read news and updates from their product teams.
This gave me an excellent understanding of what each company was offering, how they were positioning themselves in their market and what their latest product updates were, as well as many other cues that contributed to their eventual ranking.
Stage 3: Speaking With Real Customers
After reviewing their website, the next task was to speak with ‘live’ customers.
This is necessary because, while online reviews are great at getting an overall picture of the quality of a company, people tend to leave reviews for one of two reasons: they’ve either had an overwhelmingly positive or overwhelmingly negative experience with the company.
This means that online reviews will always be skewed to the extremes so, if you want to get a real and complete picture of what it’s like to use an organization, you need to speak with people who are using their services right now.
To do this, I reached out to visitors landing on my website as well as previous visitors to whom I’d given recommendations and asked them about their experiences with registered agents. What was the signup process like? How intuitive is their online system? How helpful is their customer support team?
I was able to get an ‘insider’ view of a particular agent by talking directly to people who are current clients also honing in on how simple and intuitive their systems were.
Stage 4: Speaking with Their Sales Team
The final step in my analysis was to take all the issues, questions, comments, and thoughts I discovered about a company and confront their sales team.
To do this, I simply called their sales phone number, pretended to be an interested organization, and hit them with as many of the issues and challenges I could had encountered in my review and live customer phases.
Doing this allowed me to see how well the organization handled negative feedback (blaming the customer vs. taking ownership of their issues) and whether or not they’re committed to improving the products and services they offer.
Rating Factors
I rated each of the registered agent services I assessed using the following five factors.
Factor 1: Offerings
The first factor on which I assessed with each registered agent was their product offering.
- Do they just provide a physical address and a statutory agent but then do nothing more?
- Will they simply forward your mail or scan and upload it as well?
- Will they alert you to important upcoming compliance dates or file your annual reports as well?
- Will their customer support just help with registered agent questions or will they answer your small business questions as well?
The products and services available with each registered agent vary significantly and so the first factor in my ranking process was which products and services does this company provide?
Factor 2: Price
The second factor I analyzed in determining the best registered agent in Georgia was the price.
With such a massive price variance between providers (ranging from $99 to $299) to go along with the large variance in services offered, it was important to work out who was providing the most bang for your buck.
So once I had a complete list of the products and services on offer, I then analyzed each provider to see who was providing the best value.
One interesting thing I found was that there were a number of providers who claimed to offer complete registered agent services for $49 per year. While this was technically correct (in that you could signup for $49 per year), to get any of the services I consider essential in a registered agent service, there were a significant number of hidden upsells you had to purchase.
I believe this kind of deceptive pricing practice is entirely unethical and so I excluded these companies from my final ranking list.
Factor 3: Ease of Signup
One of the interesting elements of the registered agent industry is as it’s been around since the mid 90s, there are some legacy organizations still operating whose systems and processes were developed before the age of automation and optimization afforded by the invention of the internet.
This means that to sign up with some registered agent services, you still need to download and mail physical pieces of paper and verified copies of your identification, while other providers allow you to complete online forms and upload photos of your identification.
To ensure you don’t waste precious time using clunky, outdated systems that should have been discarded along with flat-top haircuts and the final episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I analyzed the signup process of each registered agent service.
Factor 4: Ease of Use
The signup process isn’t the only legacy element of these antiquated registered agent services that can drain your precious time. It’s very easy to waste hours trying to navigate their clunky and under-optimized backend systems because they haven’t made any changes to their system in the last 15 or so years.
I spoke to clients of all the major registered agent services on our list and heard first-hand what it’s like to use their online management and access systems.
Factor 5: Customer Service
Regardless of how well a system is designed, there are always going to be questions that need to be asked. To make sure that getting the right answers was easy and simple, we spoke to the customer service team for every company and put them through their paces.
This gave me a personal insight into how polite, efficient, and effective their support teams were so I knew exactly how long it would take to get the answers you need.
The Best Georgia Registered Agent Results Summary
After putting each of the 60+ registered agent services through the 4-stage, 5-factor analysis, here are my recommendations for the best registered agent service in the state of Georgia.
Best Overall Registered Agent – Northwest Registered Agent (9.08/10)
The best overall registered agent in Georgia is Northwest Registered Agent. They’re #1 for three significant reasons.
The first is that they provide everything you need from a registered agent service. They’ll give you a physical address in Georgia, a statutory agent willing to accept service of process and legal notifications from the Secretary of State during regular business hours, protect your personal details against hackers, upload and forward ALL your mail, and notify you of all upcoming important compliance deadlines.
Secondly, their system is both easy to register on and easy to navigate once you’re signed up. There are no clunky and counter-intuitive processes to navigate, just a simple and straightforward system.
Finally, they’re #1 because they’re the only registered agent service to have a US-based support team of ex accountants, lawyers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs who can answer your registered agent service questions but will also answer any questions you have about your small business journey.
At $125 per state per year, they’re only $26 more expensive than the cheapest service on the market and so provide incredible value for money.
If you want a registered agent service that provides everything you need in a simple-to-use system with industry-leading support, then head to Northwest Registered Agent now.
Best For New LLCs – ZenBusiness (7.95/10)
If you have yet to form your LLC and are looking for an LLC service that includes a registered agent service, then ZenBusiness is a great option.
They DO NOT offer a standalone registered agent service, but when you use their $49 LLC formation service, they include a free year of their registered agent service at that price.
Their LLC service is the best service on the market and their registered agent service ticks all the boxes necessary to ensure you meet all legal obligations, including a physical address in Georgia, statutory agent available to receive all important communication during business hours, compliance alerts, and mail uploading and forwarding.
While their customer support won’t answer any small business questions (they will only answer your registered agent and LLC service questions) and they will cost you $119 per year from your second year, their LLC service is still great value for money.
If you have not established your Georgia LLC and want an LLC service that includes a registered agent service, check out ZenBusiness now.
Best Budget Registered Agent – Harbor Compliance (7.12/10)
If you’re happy to trade away the personalized and detailed small-business support available with Northwest Registered Agent for a $26 saving, then Harbor Compliance is a reliable option.
They provide the same basic services you’d expect from a registered agent service but lack the bonus of the small business support available with Northwest Registered Agent and the budget LLC formation package available with ZenBusiness.
Even without those bonuses, for $99 per state per year, they were still the best budget option available in our analysis.
If you’re looking for a registered agent service that will save you a few dollars, you can learn more about Harbor Compliance on their website.
In Conclusion
Getting the right registered agent service in Georgia is critical to ensure your business success.
I analyzed over 60 registered agent services through my 4-stage, 5-factor analysis process and the best registered agent service in Georgia is Northwest Registered Agent.
Not only do they provide every service you need in a registered agent to ensure you remain in good standing, but they also have a US-based support team of ex accountants, lawyers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs who can answer your small business questions.
They’re the only registered agent service to provide this kind and level of support and so for $125 per year, they’re an easy #1 choice.
If you’re looking for a registered agent service that will support you while you grow your small business, sign up with Northwest Registered agent now.
