Choosing the best registered agent for your New York business is critical.
The right New York registered agent service will ensure that your limited liability company (LLC) meets all its legal compliance deadlines with the State Division of Corporations and the New York Secretary of State, as well as keeping all your legal business documents and information safe.
The wrong New York registered agent can be careless with your information, leaving it in the hands of scammers or hackers, and putting your business in New York at risk of lawsuits and legal action.
So, if you don’t feel like losing your entire business, you’ll want to make sure you get the best registered agent for your New York LLC. Here are my top picks for the best registered agent service in New York:
1. Northwest Registered Agent Review — 9.13/10 (Top Registered Agent Service)
My top pick for the overall best registered agent in New York is Northwest Registered Agent. The reason they’re #1 is that they meet all your legal requirements, and then go above and beyond.
Pros
First of all, Northwest Registered Agent provides you with all the basics for just $125 per state per year (the second-cheapest price in the industry).
They'll give you a business address in New York, ensure that your information and documents are kept safe, and draft your Articles of Organization. They’ll also forward all mail sent to them on your behalf (including service of process), and they’ll notify you about upcoming compliance deadlines, such as when you need to file your annual report for your corporation. They ensure that your business keeps a good standing with the New York Secretary of State.
But the place where Northwest Registered Agent really shines is with their customer support.
First of all, when you contact their support team, you don’t get a chatbot or get passed between foreign support agents for 20 minutes while they try to find someone who knows the answer. Your call is answered by a local support agent—one of the mix of former accountants, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who are available to help.
And when you do get them on the phone, they won't just answer your questions about how to reset your password or access your online mail. Each of their Corporate Guides has years of experience both supporting small business owners and managing their own small business, and they're happy to provide answers to questions you have about starting, managing, or growing your business.
Considering that this level of advice can cost upwards of $5,000 per day, Northwest Registered Agent delivers a huge amount of value in their registered agent service.
Cons
The only drawback with Northwest Registered Agent is the same as their primary strength: their customer support.
There are some moments in life when you just need a quick answer to a quick question. Your plate is full, your customers are calling, your paperwork is flowing off your desk, and all you want is to know one thing about one topic so you can clear your plate.
When you call Northwest, their support team can sometimes ask too many questions and keep you on the phone for longer than you want. They ask specific questions about your business and business situation to give you the best advice possible. But even though it comes from a place of wanting to help as much as possible, it can sometimes cause a little frustration.
Overall
Northwest Registered Agent is my #1 choice for the best registered agent service in New York. They’ll make sure you meet all the legal obligations of the New York Department of State in accordance with the law, give you access to all your important documents online, all while keeping your personal information and assets safe.
On top of this, their US-based customer support is the best support team I’ve tested of any company in any state.
For $125 per state per year, they’re clearly the best option available.
If you want to ensure you meet your legal requirements, as well as getting small business support, sign up with Northwest Registered Agent now.
2. Harbor Compliance Review — 7.92/10 (Best Budget Registered Agent)
If you don’t want the level of customer support available with Northwest, but do want to save $26 per year, Harbor Compliance is the best option.
Pros
Harbor Compliance is another full-service New York registered agent service. They provide everything you need to ensure your business meets the legal requirements established by the New York Department of State, including a New York business address, personal information protection, mail scanning and uploading (including service of process), and compliance alerts for filing deadlines.
Cons
While Harbor Compliance provides everything you need from a New York registered agent service, they’re not great at anything. Their sign-up forms are simple enough, but not great, and their customer support is polite, but definitely won’t go above and beyond.
Overall
If you don’t want the guidance and support offered by Northwest Registered Agent, Harbor Compliance is the best option for your New York registered agent.
They provide everything you need to run and maintain your business presence in New York while saving you $26 per year.
You can learn all about Harbor Compliance’s offerings here.
3. LegalZoom Review — 6.59/10 (Best Premium Registered Agent)
LegalZoom takes the #3 spot on my list, and they’re the only premium registered agent service in my top three.
Pros
LegalZoom is a reputable, big name in the business services industry.
Besides the usual services you must receive from a registered agent in New York for your LLC, like mail forwarding, a name and address, and accepting mail and service of process on behalf of your corporation during normal business hours, compliance alerts for filing annual reports so that your limited liability company stays in compliance with the New York Secretary of State, LegalZoom also provides up to $1 million in identity theft protection.
Cons
They charge $174 per state, per year more for their services than Northwest. They also specialize in templates for legal documents—not registered agent services—and their customer service isn’t as knowledgeable or as helpful as those of other companies.
Overall
If you’re looking for a big company with a reputable name, or if you’re concerned about identity theft, LegalZoom is the company for your corporation.
You can check out their services here: LegalZoom.
4. ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness is an LLC formation service that offers everything you want from a New York registered agent service, but for some reason, it charges $199 for a Pro Package that only offers basic services.
This package costs $199 per state, per year and includes everything included by Northwest, with two notable exceptions—no free year of their registered agent services (after signing up) and their customer support is not at the same level as Northwest's who have more comprehensive and cheaper services.
This is probably because their primary focus is on LLC formation services, rather than registered agent services, so they haven’t fully optimized their offering. Regardless of the reason, they’re still more expensive than Northwest..
If you want a full breakdown of all their services, read my full ZenBusiness review.
5. IncFile
IncFile offers bare-bones services, like a name and address and mail forwarding. However, they don’t do anything extraordinary, like alerts for compliance paperwork deadlines your New York LLC must meet, or assistance with drafting your Articles of Organization, obtaining the Certificate of Publication, and the Certificate of Good Standing your corporation needs to stay in compliance with the New York Secretary of State.
They also charge a fee of $119 per year for what few services they do offer, making their services less attractive than that of Northwest.
6. Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer’s registered agent services are pretty much a cheap knockoff of LegalZoom. Unfortunately, they’re not very much cheaper at $149 per year. Their service offerings aren’t as comprehensive as those of Northwest Registered Agent, but you will still get a name and address and they’ll receive your legal notices and service of process.
If you want to know more about Rocket Lawyer, including their full range of attorney and online legal services, read my Rocket Lawyer review.
7. Sundoc Filings
Sundoc Filings is another New York registered agent service that charges too much and gives too little. While you’ll have a name and address and they’ll accept your legal documents and service of process, you won’t get notifications about your compliance filing deadlines for your corporation. And they charge $159 per year for the few services they provide.
8. InCorp
While InCorp offers services that are very similar to those of Northwest, and for the same price as Harbor Compliance, there’s a reason they’re so far down the list.
Their computer system is a confusing, frustrating nightmare to navigate. They have spent no time or money making it easier for their customers, and trying to work your way around it will simply drain your precious time.
9. Swyft Filings
Swyft Filings, like many of the other entries on this list, provides the bare minimum in terms of services, like a name and address and accepting service of process on your behalf, and charges you $149 per year for them.
If you want to know more about Swyft Filings products and services, read my Swyft Filings review.
10. CSC Global
CSC Global is a premium agent service, so you’ll get the business address you need for your LLC. They’ll also cover any of the costs you incur if you have to pay a state filing fee to change your address from another state.
However, they charge $299 per state, per year, which is obviously far more than everyone else on my list.
11. Registered Agents Inc.
Although Registered Agents Inc. is the only registered agent in New York on the list that specializes solely in registered agent services and they provide every service you expect, unfortunately, they charge $200 per state per year.
12. Jumpstart Filings
With Jumpstart Filings you get the bare minimum services but will be charged $129 per year for them. So, it’s probably better to use one of the other agents on this list for your limited liability company (LLC).
Registered Agent Review Summary
From the over 60 registered agent services available for your New York LLC, my pick for the best registered agent in New York is Northwest Registered Agent.
They offer every service you need from your registered agent, backed up with polite, courteous, and actually useful US-based support, and they only charge $125 per year.
If you’re in need of a New York registered agent, head to Northwest Registered Agent.
Best Registered Agent Review Methodology
Here is the methodology I used to determine the best registered agent in New York.
Why You Should Trust Me
You should trust me because I’ve got more experience in the registered agent industry than anyone else.
It all started when I began searching for a New York registered agent for my two businesses. I spent many hours and a lot of energy reading online reviews and mountains of information.
When I sold my two businesses, my friends and colleagues came to me and asked for advice about how to find a registered agent for their businesses. I wrote down the advice I gave them and that advice made me realize that I should be providing this service for other people.
I’ve helped thousands of people find the right services for them since I launched my website, and I’m confident that I can help you find the right New York registered agent service for your business, too!
How I Selected the Best Registered Agent
I used a four-stage process to investigate the New York registered agents on my list and determine if they were even worth rating.
Stage 1: Reviews
You can actually learn a lot about a company from online reviews. I read reviews on Facebook, Google Business, TrustPilot, the Better Business Bureau, and more to find out how people felt about the services these companies provided.
This stage helped me to weed out over 50 different New York registered agents who used deceptive pricing. (More on that later.)
Stage 2: Website Analysis
After the first stage was completed, there were 12 New York registered agents left. The second stage involved a deep dive into each business web page.
This was easy enough. I checked their business websites to determine what services they offered and how many ways they listed to contact their customer service team, I read their “About” pages, and if I had any questions, I contacted their customer service teams.
Stage 3: Speaking with Real Customers
A New York registered agent’s business website and its sales team will tell you all about the services they offer and how fantastic they are, but their customers will tell you whether they think the services are as good as they’re advertised to be.
Unfortunately, people will usually only leave an online review if they’ve had either a really good or an exceptionally bad experience with a business. So it’s a bit hard to read between the lines and find out what the average customer thinks about the business from their online reviews.
In order to complete this stage, I reached out to people who had previously used my site to find New York registered agents, as well as new users of my site.
Their reviews and feedback provided a clearer picture as to the types of services these companies provided for them.
Stage 4: Speaking with Their Sales Team
The last stage was to talk directly to the sales teams.
A sales team's job is to give you an incredibly biased pitch. So it was interesting to see how they reacted to feedback and whether the business was actually trying to improve based on it.
I took all the negative online comments and the feedback I got from live customers and questioned each sales team about them. I then listened to whether the companies said they’d used that feedback to improve their services, or if they were quick to blame customers.
This gave me a clear idea of the values of each business and whether they wanted to improve the quality of their services, or if they just blamed their clients for their own failings, rather than listening to them.
Rating Factors
Here are the five factors I used to rate the remaining 12 registered agents for your New York LLC.
Factor 1: Offerings
There’s a variety of registered agent services in the state of New York.
Some agents will provide your business with an address in New York, make sure your information stays off public record, be the point of contact for your business during business hours, and forward any mail or service of process received on your behalf to you.
Other agents will scan any documents that were sent to them on your behalf and give you access to them online, assist you in forming your LLC, drafting your Articles of Organization, and obtaining a Certificate of Publication and a Certificate of Good Standing, as well as giving you notifications of upcoming compliance filing deadlines.
Some other agents offer additional services, like legal documents, a cheap LLC service, or even the best LLC service.
So, the first factor I considered was the range of services each agent offered.
Factor 2: Value
One of the most confusing things when it comes to choosing a registered agent in New York is the fact that the prices vary so greatly and it's difficult to ascertain which agent gives you the best value for money.
Some of the premium services can cost almost $300 per year, and some of the budget services only cost $39 per year.
So, when considering this factor, I determined whether the price was worth it for the services provided.
During my investigation, I found that some of the budget services, ranging $39–$59 per year, only offered minimal services at that price. In order to get the services provided at a full-service level from the budget services, you have to pay extra fees that can add up to an additional $120 per year.
These pricing practices are unethical and deceptive, so I removed from my list any agent who used them.
Factor 3: Ease of Sign-up
It doesn’t really matter if the New York registered agent service you’ve chosen has a great list of service offerings and a value price if it takes forever to get set up in their system.
Just so you don’t have to waste your time dealing with lengthy and frustrating setup processes, the ease of sign-up was the third factor I considered.
I actually signed up with each of the registered agents on this list to determine how easy or hard the process was.
Factor 4: Ease of Use
There are some agents whose sign-up process is a breeze to get through, but then their online systems are so confusing and clunky that it takes hours instead of minutes to complete even the most simple of tasks.
Because time is money, I logged into each computer system and performed some simple tasks, taking note of how easy or difficult it was to complete.
Factor 5: Customer Service
Even if the computer system is highly intuitive and user-friendly, you’ll eventually require customer service.
An organization that has great customer service will fix your problems quickly and let you get back to your day, as well as leaving you feeling positive about the experience. But an organization that doesn’t answer the phone, doesn’t help you fix the issue, or is rude to you will change how you feel about the entire company.
I called the customer service teams of each New York registered agent on this list and asked them about some fairly easy-to-solve issues, and then noted how adequately they answered my questions, how quickly they responded to me, how friendly and helpful they were, and how many people I got transferred to in order to solve my problem.
The Best New York Registered Agent Results Summary
I investigated and rated over 60 different registered agents in New York. Here are the results of my investigation:
Best Overall Registered Agent — Northwest Registered Agent (9.13/10)
Northwest Registered Agent is the best registered agent service in New York because they provide great value at a very competitive price, with stellar customer support to guide you through the challenges of setting up and running your company.
You’ll get all the services you need for your company to operate legally as an LLC for $125 per year.
They provide your all-important business address to receive official mail, service of process, and other important documents from the New York Department of State on behalf of your business entity, during regular business hours.
They also scan your important documents and put them in an online portal for you to access, and give you notifications about upcoming compliance filing deadlines to keep your New York LLC in good standing with the New York State Department of State Division of Corporations, in accordance with the law.
But their real difference is their customer support. When you sign up, you get lifetime access to their customer support team (which they refer to as Corporate Guides), a mix of US-based former accountants, lawyers, and entrepreneurs who’ve faced the same challenges you’re up against and can talk you through the simplest way to solve them.
With more than 3,000 positive Northwest Registered Agent reviews, you can be confident that my experiences aren't a one-off.
If you want a great product at a competitive price with patient, helpful, and polite support, head to Northwest Registered Agent now.
Best Budget Registered Agent — Harbor Compliance (7.92/10)
If you’re looking to save $26 per year and don't want the level of customer support offered by Northwest Registered Agent, Harbor Compliance is my pick for the best budget option.
They provide the services you need to ensure your small business or LLC meets the legal requirements set out by the New York Department of State.
You get your registered New York LLC street address, they’ll scan and upload your important documents (including service of process), and they'll be available during regular business hours to receive any important correspondence.
They don’t offer anywhere near the level of support available with Northwest, but theirs is still reliable and helpful when you need some guidance.
And even though it's one of the cheapest services, there are hundreds of positive Harbor Compliance reviews online to prove what I'm trying to say here.
If $26 more per year is a big deal to you and you’re happy to take a lower level of customer support, check out Harbor Compliance here: Harbor Compliance.
Best Premium Registered Agent — LegalZoom (6.59/10)
LegalZoom is a premium New York registered agent service with a bit more to offer than the full-service agents on my list.
They’ll provide the basic services that a New York registered agent must provide, such as a business address and receiving service of process and other documents from the New York Department of State Division of Corporations on behalf of your New York LLC. They’ll also provide you with a mail-forwarding service, scan your documents and allow you to access them through an online portal, and notify you of compliance filing deadlines to keep you in good standing with the State Division of Corporations in accordance with the law.
The thing that LegalZoom provides that Harbor Compliance and Northwest Registered Agent don’t is identity theft protection. They include up to $1 million in identity theft protection.
Their fee is more than double that of Northwest Registered Agent. However, if you need identity theft protection, or any of the other services that LegalZoom also provides, or if you’re already using LegalZoom for something else, it may be worth it to you to appoint LegalZoom as your agent for service.
In Conclusion
Choosing the right New York registered agent service for your corporation is a very important decision.
The right registered agent service can help you meet all the compliance filing deadlines, provide you with a physical street address, and accept important documents and service of process, as the state of New York requires through the Division of Corporations and the Secretary of State.
I investigated over 60 different registered agent services in New York and found that Northwest Registered Agent was the best that New York had to offer.
They provide all the services that a registered agent must, and a few that make their services exceptional. Not only do they provide your corporation with a physical address and accept official mail from the Secretary of State on behalf of your business in New York, they’ll forward mail to you, scan and upload your documents to an online portal, and notify you about upcoming compliance filing deadlines so that your LLC can get that Good Standing Certificate.
Additionally, their US-based customer support is helpful and polite and can answer your questions, and you’ll find that their online system is intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.
For just $125 per year, they provide far more value than any other registered agent service in New York.
So, whether you own an established business in New York, or have freshly created a New York LLC, Northwest Registered Agent can meet the needs of any corporation.