The choice you make when choosing a registered agent (also known as resident agent) in Indiana for your limited liability company is vital to business success.
The right Indiana registered agent will ensure that your corporation or limited liability company (LLC) meets all its legal obligations in order to maintain good standing with the business services division and the Indiana Secretary of State, keep your sensitive business information safe, and keep your personal information off the public record.
The wrong Indiana registered agent will cost your Indiana business a lot more than money. The wrong agent will charge you more for their mediocre services than they should. Not only that, resident agents perform many legal functions for your business and have access to your information, so they could potentially set you up for personal lawsuits or leak your information to scammers and hackers.
I investigated a list of over 60 different resident agents in the state of Indiana, rated the 12 best of them, and then wrote thorough reviews about the top 3. Here are the best registered agent services in Indiana:
1. Northwest Registered Agent — 9.13/10 (My Top Pick)
Northwest Registered Agent earned my highest recommendation because they offer a whole range of full-service options, they have the second-lowest price offered by any of the Indiana registered agent services I researched, and they have the best customer service in the industry.
Pros
One of the first things I noticed and appreciated about Northwest’s Indiana registered agent service is that it is a small business that actually cares about its customers. They don’t simply plaster these words everywhere so often that they become hollow, they actually mean them. You can see this level of customer care in every aspect of their services, as well.
They offer a full-service range of options that will provide your limited liability company (LLC) with everything that a registered agent in Indiana must provide, as well as a few luxury services that you’ll come to love. As your registered office, they provide your business with a physical street address in the state of Indiana, accept mail, service of process, and legal documents on behalf of your business during regular business hours in order to maintain good standing with the Business Services Division and the Indiana Secretary of State.
They’ll also issue compliance alerts to tell you about any forms or documents you need to file, like your annual report. One of Northwest's most unique services is that they will also scan ALL your mail and legal documents, put them on an online portal for you to access with an online account, and then forward all your mail to you. Other agents simply scan your legal documents.
Signing up for their registered agent service is quick, easy, and painless. You can also easily sign up for multiple states through the same portal. This is a unique feature that’s made possible because they’re a national registered agent, and it means that they can grow alongside your business and provide you with services in any state because they have offices in every state.
Their online system is easy to use and it doesn’t take long to learn how to navigate it. It’s designed to be simple even for those who don’t have any technical experience to be able to pick it up and learn how to use it.
The main reason that Northwest Registered Agent is in the #1 position on my list is their extraordinary customer service.
Finding a company that prioritizes customer service is a breath of fresh air, especially in an age where most companies outsource their customer service, and their teams are more concerned about the length of the call than whether the customer actually had a positive experience.
Northwest’s customer service team is based in the United States, and they’re made up of former lawyers, entrepreneurs, and business owners that have enough business experience to confidently answer any question you may have. They’re very patient and listen to your problems to make sure they understand them before they even try to provide solutions. And not only will they answer questions about their registered agent service, they will happily answer any business question. The customer service team is available all weekdays during normal business hours.
Since they make themselves available to answer any question you have along your business journey, and they’re the only Indiana registered agent service to do so, it was pretty easy to make the choice to put them at the top of my list.
They charge only $125 per year for their services, which makes them the second-lowest price on my list. There are lots of reasons to love Northwest Registered Agent!
Cons
As is often the case with very high-quality services, Northwest’s best feature is also their biggest drawback: their comprehensive approach to customer service.
Calling their customer service isn’t as simple as a rapid-fire question-and-answer session that takes mere seconds or minutes to solve your problem. They carefully listen to your problems and ask a lot of questions in order to get a detailed idea of your problem before they even try to provide you with any solutions.
Because they’re so hellbent on ensuring that you’ve been provided with the best customer service possible, there’s really no way to have a quick customer service call with them. This can be a real pain when you’re pressed for time. In most instances, if you have a time constraint, it’s a lot faster to just Google your question.
This is only a slight criticism of Northwest Registered Agent’s services. And it honestly only comes up whenever you’re really pressed for time.
Overall
Northwest Registered Agent made the top of my list because they provide every service that your Indiana business could possibly need, they have a great price, and they provide the best customer service in the entire registered agent industry, which is vastly helpful for a new business.
Whether you’re thinking of changing your registered agent in Indiana, or are looking for your first agent, get the best registered agent the state of Indiana has to offer at Northwest Registered Agent.
2. Harbor Compliance — 7.45/10 (Best Budget Registered Agent)
Harbor Compliance is #2 on my list because they provide an array of full-service registered agent services, and they charge the lowest fee on this list.
Pros
Harbor Compliance is a full-service registered agent in Indiana and offers a lot of the same services as Northwest Registered Agent.
They provide your limited liability company (LLC) with a street address in the state of Indiana, and are available during normal business hours to accept mail, legal documents, legal notices, and service of process from a process server on behalf of your business, and they scan your legal documents and then put them on an online portal for you to access with an online account.
They also issue compliance notifications that will remind you when you need to file important forms and documents for your business (like your annual report) in order to comply with the Indiana Secretary of State.
Signing up for their Indiana registered agent service is simple, and their online system is easy to use. However, a few simple changes to the system would make it even easier to use.
Their most appealing factor is their price. They only charge $99 per year for their registered agent service. This makes them the cheapest registered agent on my list, charging $26 less than Northwest Registered Agent.
Cons
The biggest complaint with regard to Harbor Compliance’s services is that, while their services are good, none of them are extraordinary.
The services they offer are pretty basic, but there aren’t any that could be considered unique or premium services, and, while their customer service is adequate, their team is nowhere near as supportive and their customer service is not as comprehensive as Northwest Registered Agent’s.
So, as you can see, all their services are GOOD, but none of their services are GREAT.
Overall
Harbor Compliance is a solid choice for Indiana registered agent service. You’ll get all the services that your limited liability company (LLC) needs, and they charge the lowest price for their services. However, none of their services are unique or fancy, and they don’t stand out in any substantial way unlike with Northwest Registered Agent.
If you’re happy to trade unique services and the best customer service you can possibly get in order to save a mere $26 per year, you can read more about Harbor Compliance’s Indiana registered agent service here: Harbor Compliance.
3. LegalZoom — 6.59/10 (Best Premium Service)
If you’re interested in premium registered agent services, LegalZoom is the best premium registered agent in the state, which may not be saying a lot because the other premium agents were pretty iffy, to say the least.
Pros
LegalZoom is not only a premium registered agent but a commercial registered agent. Because they’re a big name in the business world for their other services (mainly templates for legal documents), a lot of people think that gives their registered agent services more credibility, and it does to a degree.
As a premium registered agent service, they provide all the full-service options that a registered agent must. They provide your Indiana LLC with a physical street address in Indiana, accept mail, documents, and service of process for your company during normal business hours so as to be in compliance with the Business Services Division and the Indiana Secretary of State., and they also offer up to $1 million in identity theft protection for your business.
Cons
There are a few significant drawbacks to LegalZoom’s Indiana registered agent service.
The first and obvious drawback is their price. They charge $299 per year for their premium services, which is $175 more than Northwest Registered Agent. For that price, you could purchase services from Northwest, buy identity theft protection from a different company, and still have money left over!
The second drawback is a result of their commercial registered agent service. Because registered agent services are not the primary focus of LegalZoom’s business, they tend to get pushed aside and neglected. As a result, their customer service isn’t as knowledgeable as they should be about the services, and their online system is pretty difficult to use.
The third is that they don’t issue compliance alerts to make sure that your company files the necessary paperwork to maintain good standing with the Indiana Secretary of State.
Overall
If a registered agent’s name makes a difference to you, then it’s worth noting that LegalZoom has a good reputation throughout the business world. Their services cost more than buying individual premium services from third-party companies, and their online system is far more difficult to use than one would expect for these prices.
The only reason to use LegalZoom’s registered agent service is if you already do business with LegalZoom for something else, and bundling services is convenient for your LLC.
If, for some reason, you want to spend more money than you have to for services that are lacking, you can read about LegalZoom here.
4. ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness offers a reasonable registered agent service. For $199 per year, they provide most of the basics you need from your registered agent service.
They provide a physical street address in Indiana, a statutory agent (another term for registered agent) available during normal business hours to receive all your important notifications, such as service of process, and mail uploading and forwarding, compliance alerts in order to be on the good side of the Indiana Secretary of State, an online portal to store your official documents, and a few other basic services.
Their basic service list doesn't really justify the steep price. Especially if you consider that Northwest Registered Agent is a much cheaper option and they include superior customer support services.
In saying that, they do offer additional LLC formation services, and if you want a full breakdown of those services, read my ZenBusiness Review.
5. IncFile
IncFile is an Indiana registered agent that provides some pretty lackluster services for limited liability companies (LLCs). While you will get a point of contact and street address within the state of Indiana, you won’t get compliance alerts. They charge an outstanding $119 per year for these minimal services.
They do provide you with a year of free registered agent services when you sign up for their LLC formation services, but at $119 per year for bare-bones services, you’ll wind up paying more for their services than they’re worth.
If you’re interested in paying an Indiana registered agent far too much for far too little, you can read about IncFile here: IncFile.
6. Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer is a cheap knock-off of LegalZoom that isn’t much cheaper. Of course, by this I mean that they’re another commercial registered agent whose registered agent services aren’t focused on. They charge a whopping $149 per year for their negligible services, which is a far cry from Northwest’s.
It’s worth mentioning that their online system isn’t as easy to use as Northwest’s and their customer service can’t really even be described as adequate when compared with Northwest’s either.
While their registered agent services aren't stellar, they do offer a large range of online legal services, including legal documents and attorney services. If you want a full breakdown of those services, read my Rocket Lawyer review.
7. Sundoc Filings
Sundoc is another registered agent in the state of Indiana that also provides LLC formation services to help draft Articles of Organization for your Indiana LLC.
Their agent services are quite minimal. Of course, they provide your business in Indiana with a name and address along with a registered office in the state, and they accept mail and service of process for your LLC to maintain a good standing with the Business Services Division and the Indiana Secretary of State. But they charge $159 per year for their services, and you’re not going to get any bells and whistles for that price, so they aren’t even a great choice if you need help to form a business entity.
8. InCorp
InCorp is a registered agent in Indiana that provides LLC formation services as well. They provide an interesting conundrum when you’re trying to determine whether their services are good value for their price.
They charge $99 per year for their Indiana registered agent services, which you’ll notice is the same as other resident agents on this list. And, they provide the necessary services your LLC needs from an agent, like a point of contact and an agent’s name and address in the state to use as the point of contact for your LLC.
The problem is that their online system is pretty much the exact opposite of user-friendly. It’s massively difficult to navigate, it’s not at all intuitive, and it’s very poorly laid out. On top of all that, their customer service isn’t adequate to support this terrible system.
9. Swyft Filings
Swyft Filings is an Indiana registered agent that provides the same sort of service that a full-service registered agent may, like providing an address in the state, accepting service for process on your behalf, and sending compliance alerts . However, they charge you $149 per year for full-service options, and Northwest Registered Agent only charges $125 for better services.
If you want a detailed breakdown of their services, read my Swyft Filings review.
10. CSC Global
CSC Global is yet another one of the “premium” Indiana registered agents to make my list. The reason I mockingly refer to their services as “premium” is that they offer so little in terms of premium services.
They will, of course, provide your business entity with an address in the state, scan your important documents, and forward your mail. However, they don’t offer compliance notifications.
They charge $299 per year, and the only real premium service that they offer is that they will cover any state fees you incur when you file for a change of registered agent. However, the difference between their fee and Northwest’s is $174. You could sign up for Northwest’s services (which, by the way, DO include compliance alerts), pay the state fees due to changing agents, and still have money left over!
11. Registered Agents Inc.
Registered Agents Inc. specializes entirely in registered agent services, which makes them stand out on this list because they’re the only company to do so. However, they charge a fee of $200 per year, which seems ridiculous. They don’t offer any premium or unique services to justify the additional expense.
12. Jumpstart Filings
Jumpstart Filings is another in a long list of Indiana registered agents who charge way too much for services that are lacking when compared with Northwest’s. They charge $129 per year, and there’s really no way that they will provide your company with the same level of support or quality services that Northwest provides.
Registered Agent Review Summary
I started with a list of over 60 Indiana registered agents, put them through an investigative process and whittled the list down to 12, then rated the remaining 12 to determine the top 3. From this process, it was clear that Northwest Registered Agent is the best registered agent in Indiana.
Their service offerings are enough to satisfy the needs of corporations of any size, and they can support your business entity as it grows. It’s easy to sign up for their services and their online system is easy to use. Their outstanding customer service support really sets them apart from other Indiana registered agents, not just in the state, but in the industry at large.
While Northwest doesn’t offer premium services, you can certainly afford to purchase them elsewhere because they only charge $125 per year.
Click here to sign up for the best registered agent service in the state, and the best customer support in the industry: Northwest Registered Agent
Best Registered Agent Review Methodology
Here's how I identified the best registered agent in Indiana.
Why You Should Trust Me
I’ve probably spent more time researching the Indiana registered agent industry, as well as individual registered agent companies, than any other sane person. I probably even know more than some people who work at registered agent companies!
It all started when I began researching to find the best Indiana registered agent for my two businesses: a health website and a cafe.
Of course, I didn’t want any legal problems and I didn’t want to risk missing a service of process or something else equally important. So, I researched tons of resident agents, combing through mountains of reviews and promotional information in order to try to decipher which services were quality services and which ones didn’t live up to the hype.
I’ve also helped thousands of people find the best Indiana registered agent service for their company. Many of them were random people who came to my site for advice, just like you.
While helping some of my friends and colleagues to find their registered agents, it quickly became apparent that I not only knew more about Indiana registered agents than the average bear, but I also I had more time to devote to researching resident agents than most people do.
Since the launch of my website I’ve helped thousands of people and now I’m here to help YOU as well.
How I Selected the Best Registered Agent
My investigative process to determine which Indiana registered agents were even worth putting on my list involved four stages.
Stage 1: Reviews
I started my investigation by looking through online reviews about each Indiana registered agent, resident agent, or statutory agent. Most people would probably be surprised by the amount of information you can find simply from reading reviews! I visited sites like TrustPilot, Facebook, the Better Business Bureau, and Google Business to read what customers were saying.
Truthfully, I didn’t read through every last review, for that would have taken years. But I did read through the ones that were longer than a paragraph and gave enough information to find out if the agent in question was legitimate and worth their fee or not.
This process gave me some insight into how customers felt about each agent, and it led to me axing nearly 50 agents because they were outright scams or used deceptive pricing practices. (More on that later.)
Stage 2: Website Analysis
The next thing I investigated was each agent’s business website.
I read through their sites to find out what services they offer, combed through their “About Us” pages to find company histories, location, and awards displayed on their site, and checked to see how many different methods they list in order to contact their customer service team.
This stage tells me what sort of promises each agent makes to potential customers and how they present themselves to the world.
Stage 3: Speaking with Real Customers
The company website may tell you what services they offer, but if you want to know how well they actually provide these services, you have to ask the customers.
Online reviews do provide you with lots of information, but the problem with online reviews is that customers tend to only leave one if they’ve had an overwhelmingly negative experience or an outstandingly positive experience with a company. So, by asking multiple customers about their experiences, you can find out whether their customer service team is patient and helpful, if they actually provide the services they advertise, and if there are problems with their services.
In order to do this, I reached out to customers who had previously come to my site looking for a new Indiana registered agent, as well as new visitors to my site. I asked them all how satisfied they were with the service of each agent, and they gave me some valuable feedback.
Stage 4: Speaking with Their Sales Teams
Reading through online reviews, combing through company websites, and consulting actual customers may provide a ton of information, but if you want to know about how a company deals with complaints and feedback, you have to talk to their sales team.
I rounded up all the negative feedback, comments, and issues I had found with their services during the course of my investigation, called up their sales team, and asked very direct questions about them. After all, a customer service team should be at my beck and call every weekday during normal business hours. A sales team is obviously going to give biased information, but it was important to see which teams actually owned up to the service failings and which ones didn’t.
Some of the agent’s sales teams actually said they’d taken the feedback and used it to fix the problem so that it was no longer an issue. This means that the company actually uses feedback to improve its services and grow.
Other agent’s teams wouldn’t own up to the problems and blamed the customers for the comments and negative feedback. Some sales team members even went as far as to indicate that I shouldn’t listen to that one “crazy” customer’s stories.
This gave me crucial insight into how each company handles problems and whether they are proactive about problem-solving and growth, or if they would rather blame their customers for their failures.
Rating Factors
Once I put the list of over 60 Indiana registered agents through the four-stage investigative process, I was left with 12. This is the rating system I used in order to determine a position on the list for the best registered agents for your Indiana LLC.
Factor 1: Offerings
Just because you must maintain a registered agent doesn’t mean that just any Indiana registered agent will be a good fit for your business entity.
There is a wide variety of Indiana registered agent services to choose from. Some simply provide your business with an address in the state and forward mail to you. Others will give you service of process and compliance alerts to keep you in good standing with the Business Services Division and the Indiana Secretary of State, scan your documents, and put them on an online portal for you to access. Some will offer you a cheap LLC service, while others will provide the best LLC services. Then there are premium services to consider, like identity theft protection and coverage of any filing fee the state charges you.
This is arguably the most important factor because it really doesn’t matter how low an agent’s price is or how easy their system is to use, if they don’t offer the services you need, it’s pretty much worthless to you.
Factor 2: Price
The next factor that I considered was price because the amount an Indiana registered agent charges for their services is also important. Unfortunately, prices for the same services vary widely from agent to agent, which makes it difficult for the average person to determine what a good price for agent services actually is. Some companies provide services like covering any state filing fee you’re charged, but they charge too much to make that service actually worthwhile.
During my pricing investigation, I found that there are three different price points for resident agents: budget, full-service, and premium.
Budget services usually cost between $39–$59 per year, while full-service offerings are between $99–$129 per year, and premium services start at $299 per year.
Budget services seem like a great value at first. But when you look closely you’ll find that they offer the bare minimum in terms of services, and in order to get some of the services you actually need, you’ll have to pay extra fees. These additional fees for things like compliance alerts can cost over $120 per year.
These deceptive pricing practices are unethical, so no agent who used these tactics earned a spot on my list.
Factor 3: Ease of Sign-up
It can really be a bummer to find an agent that provides the services you want, at a reasonable price, only to find out that not only is it complicated to get set up with their services, but it also takes weeks.
That’s why this was the third factor I used to rate each agent.
Was their sign-up process quick, simple and painless? Or did they require you to complete a mountain of paperwork, provide multiple forms of identification along with the blood of your firstborn child, and other documents be sent to some suspicious and inconvenient PO Box address?
I actually signed up for each service to determine which services had the easiest sign-up processes and which ones were too complicated.
Factor 4: Ease of Use
The next factor I rated each agent on was their online system. If their system isn’t easy to use, it’s going to cause a lot of problems for everyone in the office who has to use it.
Do they have a simple, intuitive, and easy-to-navigate system, or is it complicated, slow, and archaic?
I logged into each system and took note of how easy it was to perform simple tasks. The agents with the best systems earned higher positions on my list than those with slow, clunky systems.
Factor 5: Customer Service
It really doesn’t matter how good an agent’s online system is, you’ll eventually have a question about something. And given that your Indiana registered agent is in charge of so many legal aspects of your business entity, it’s important that they have good customer service when you have questions about their services.
An agent with a good customer support team can really help turn a problem and the negative emotions that result from it into a solution and a positive experience that you’re glad to have had. But if you’ve ever had a bad customer service experience, you know exactly the sort of feeling that it can leave you with.
I called each agent and paid attention to things like how quickly they answered the phone, how efficiently they solved each simple problem I presented them with, how polite and helpful they were, and how many people I had to talk to in order to get a resolution to my problem.
The Best Indiana Registered Agent Results Summary
I started with a list of over 60 different registered agents in Indiana, investigated them all, weeded out the low-service offerings and then rated the best of the bunch. Here are my top three choices for the best registered agent in Indiana.
Best Overall Registered Agent — Northwest Registered Agent (9.13/10)
Northwest Registered Agent is my #1 choice for the best registered agent in Indiana. They provide all the services your business entity needs including accepting service of process, along with a few unique ones that feel luxurious. Their online portal is easy to use and it makes it easy to sign up for services for multiple states and multiple years at once through the same portal.
But the best feature they offer is their customer service. Their US-based team is made up of former lawyers, entrepreneurs, and business owners who have the experience necessary to answer any question you have. Their customer service team is available all weekdays during normal business hours.
There’s no other Indiana registered agent on this list whose customer support team will answer questions about their registered agent service AND field any business questions you toss their way.
And more than 3,000 positive Northwest Registered Agent reviews show a proven track record of delivering on their promises.
If you need a registered agent or want to change registered agents, you can get the best registered agent services for your business entity today by clicking here: Northwest Registered Agent.
Best Budget Registered Agent — Harbor Compliance (7.92/10)
Harbor Compliance is a good choice if you’re looking to save money and want basic, full-service registered agent services.
As a full-service Indiana registered agent, they provide many of the services that Northwest does. They won’t scan ALL your mail, their customer service isn’t as comprehensive, and they won’t answer business questions. But their sign-up process is easy enough, their customer service is adequate, and they only charge $99 per year.
They are still a great option, and the hundreds of positive Harbor Compliance reviews online prove just that.
If you’re happy to trade great services and exquisite customer service in order to save a measly $26 per year, you can learn more about Harbor Compliance here.
Best Premium Registered Agent — LegalZoom (6.59/10)
If you’re looking for a premium registered agent, or if you’re already in business with LegalZoom for something else, they can be a convenient option with a big, reputable name.
They provide all the full-service options to meet your basic business needs, as well as providing up to $1 million in identity theft protection.
They charge $299 per year, which is a $176 price difference between their fee and Northwest’s $125. You could easily pay Northwest’s fee, buy identity theft protection from a third party, and then still not spend quite $176 per year on both services!
If you’re willing to pay their outrageous fee for services that don’t even include compliance alerts, you can check out LegalZoom here.
In Conclusion
It’s absolutely vital to your business’s success that you choose the best Indiana registered agent for your business. The right one will protect your business assets, keep your personal information safe, and ensure that your business meets its legal requirements and stays in good standing with the Business Services Division and the Indiana Secretary of State.
After investigating over 60 different registered agent services and then rating the best 12, I found that Northwest Registered Agent is the best registered agent service in Indiana.
As a full-service registered agent, they offer all the services your business needs. They also provide a few that feel extravagant. For instance, they scan ALL your mail (not just the legal documents and service of process), they allow you to sign up for registered agent service in multiple states or for multiple years on the same portal, and their customer service team will answer any business question you ask them.
$125 per year is a fair price to pay for their excellent services and their industry-leading customer service team.
If you want the best registered agent service possible for your business, sign up for Northwest Registered Agent here.
