12 Best North Dakota Registered Agent Services (2024 Review)

Finding the right registered agent for your North Dakota small business or LLC is an essential step. 

The right North Dakota registered agent will guarantee that your limited liability company (LLC) complies with all North Dakota state legislation and that your personal records, information, and assets are shielded from public record.

The wrong North Dakota registered agent will put you and your North Dakota LLC or company at risk, leaving your personal records and information accessible to hackers and scammers, and your personal assets accessible to litigators.

I've investigated over 60 different North Dakota registered agents, assessed the top 12, and written in-depth reviews of the three best. 

Here are my picks for the best registered agent in North Dakota:

1. Northwest Registered Agent — 9.13/10 (My Top Pick)

Northwest Registered Agent is my choice for the best registered agent in North Dakota because on top of providing everything you need to ensure you meet the legal requirements established by the North Dakota Secretary of State, they have exceptional customer service. 

Pros

There’s a long list of reasons to like Northwest Registered Agent.

First of all, they do everything that you need a registered agent in North Dakota to do for your business entity or LLC. They provide your company with a registered office address in North Dakota, accept mail, legal documents, and service of process from official government offices in the state of North Dakota on behalf of your LLC or business during normal business hours, protect your personal information from those who would use it for sinister purposes, and forward all your mail.

Unlike many North Dakota registered agents, they scan ALL your important legal documents (like service of process), upload them to an online document portal, accessible 24/7 with your online account, and provide a compliance alerts calendar to help your North Dakota LLC or business keep track of important filing dates, such as the due date for your annual report.

Their system is very easy to use and set up, even if you require registered agent services in multiple states. The system is also very easy to navigate once you’re inside (which will please everyone in your office) and their customer service team is prompt, courteous, and efficient.

They’re a national registered agent, which means they have a registered office in every state. Their online portal is unique in that it’s easy to sign up for their registered agent service in multiple states or for multiple years through the same portal, which is massively convenient. 

But the main reason they’re #1 on my list is their exceptional customer service.

Typically, when you sign up with a North Dakota registered agent service, their customer support team answers (with varying levels of speed, politeness, and usefulness) any questions you have about the registered agent service for your business entity or LLC. They reset your password if you get stuck, show you where to find uploaded mail for your business, and how to renew your account when the time comes.

But Northwest Registered Agent goes beyond that.

They have a US-based support team composed of former lawyers, accountants, small business owners, and entrepreneurs who will happily answer any questions you have about your registered agent service. However, the one thing that makes them unique is that they will also answer any questions you have about your LLC or business, as well as any questions you may have along your small business journey.

They will use their personal experience to advise small business owners—because they’ve actually owned and ran their own small business—to help you deal with the constant barrage of challenges you face when you open your business each day. They’re happy to share their experiences with HR, marketing, websites, logistics, and finance every other inevitable business or LLC issue you have to overcome.

With this kind of small business advice normally costing up to $5,000 a day, their rate of $125 per state, per year means that their services are available at an extremely good value for any business or LLC in the state of North Dakota.

Cons

There really aren’t many drawbacks to working with Northwest Registered Agent. The only negative remark I have is, oddly enough, with regard to their customer service, which is, as I have said, also their best feature.

Though I rate their customer service as excellent, there were rare occurrences where I was asked more questions than I had time to answer and really only needed a simple response. In these cases, I felt it would have been faster to use a search engine like Google to answer questions about my business or LLC.

Really though, that’s an incredibly high-quality problem to have in a market filled with very lackluster standards in customer service.

Overall

If you want a North Dakota registered agent that will provide every service that you need and several more you may not have even thought about, Northwest Registered Agent is your best choice.

When you factor in their top-ranked customer support, along with their price of only $125 per year, it’s easy to see why Northwest Registered Agent is at the top of my list of best North Dakota registered agents.

If you need a new registered agent, need a North Dakota registered agent that provides all the services your LLC could possibly need as well as spectacular customer service, or want to change your North Dakota registered agent, head over to Northwest Registered Agent today.

2. Harbor Compliance — 7.92/10 (Best Budget Registered Agent)

If you are looking for more cost-efficient options when it comes to a North Dakota registered agent for your LLC or business entity, then Harbor Compliance is my next recommendation. Though they don’t offer the same level of support as Northwest Registered Agent, Harbor Compliance offers reliable service for $26 less than Northwest, which makes them an affordable North Dakota registered agent option.

Pros

Harbor Compliance ensures you have all the basics when it comes to the legal requirements of the North Dakota Secretary of State.

They’ll make sure you have the necessary business street address in North Dakota, forward your mail, upload the important pieces to their online portal, receive any important mail or legal documents (such as service of process) and notifications for your business entity or LLC from official government offices in the state of North Dakota, and alert you of any upcoming compliance deadlines.

Their system is user-friendly and easy to navigate once you get it set up, which is something that anyone in your office who has to work with the system will appreciate. And much like Northwest Registered Agent, Harbor Compliance is a national registered agent with a registered office in every state (not just North Dakota), so you can sign up with a registered agent service in multiple states. 

Cons

While they perform their services to a reasonable standard, nothing they do really goes above and beyond compared with other registered agent services in the state of North Dakota.

They offer all the right services without any extra bells or whistles and their system is simple to use. Their customer support team, while adequate, is hardly the exceptional team offered by Northwest Registered Agent.

In other words, Harbor Compliance may be a Jack of all trades, but really it doesn’t master anything.

Overall

Harbor Compliance ensures that you meet all the legal requirements for your business or LLC in the state of North Dakota at the cheapest rate available on the market in the state. If you don’t care for the extra features, or are working on a precise budget, or are looking to change registered agent services in order to save money, then Harbor Compliance is a great North Dakota registered agent option for you.

If you’re comfortable with trading away Northwest’s excellent service options and fantastic customer service, check out Harbor Compliance here. 

3. LegalZoom — 6.59/10 (Best Premium Service)

Coming in at #3 on the list is LegalZoom. LegalZoom gets the gold medal for premium North Dakota registered agent service. 

Pros

The biggest benefit of choosing LegalZoom as your North Dakota commercial registered agent service is that they are an established and trusted market entity.

As a commercial registered agent, LegalZoom has a well-established reputation of delivering on their promised services, so you know your LLC or business entity in North Dakota is in good hands when you choose their services. They’ve also withstood the test of time, having more years under their belt than many other services.

The big advantage to using a premium North Dakota Registered Agent is that you get far more than just the basics. In addition to a registered office address in the state of North Dakota, identity protection, accepting mail, service of process and legal documents from government agencies on behalf of your LLC or business during normal business hours, and mail forwarding, LegalZoom also offers $1,000,000 worth of identity theft insurance.

In today’s technological world, this insurance can give you some serious peace of mind with regard to hackers, scammers, and other devious, online criminals who may want to harm your business in North Dakota.

Cons

Unfortunately, LegalZoom’s “premium” isn’t quite as “premium” as you might want to believe. They seem to use the fact that they’re one of the biggest players in the game to provide less value in their service offerings and rely on their strong reputation in the business industry to attract clients.

They charge $299 plus state filing fees per year for their registered agent services, which is over twice the price of Northwest Registered Agent. Their identity theft insurance also doesn’t provide as much value when you consider that comparable plans cost less than the $176 difference in pricing between LegalZoom and Northwest Registered Agent.

As a North Dakota commercial registered agent, LegalZoom is more specialized in providing templated legal documents, so they don’t put nearly as many resources or attention into their registered agent services. This means their system is less optimized and their customer support isn’t as knowledgeable or helpful with questions related to registered agents or registered agent services for your LLC or business in North Dakota. 

Overall

LegalZoom is a big, established, reputable company that offers a premium registered agent service. They also provide basic services like an address in the state and accepting mail and service of process on behalf of your LLC.

However, if you really want identity theft protection included in your registered agent service and you’re already using their other services and don’t want to change registered agent services because it’s convenient to get one bill for all the services they offer, then they’re a great option for you. However, if you’re looking to get the best value, knowledgeable support teams, and/or more optimized systems, there are better options available.

Check out LegalZoom.

Here’s a quick review of nine more registered agent services available in the state of North Dakota.

4. ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness is an LLC formation service and also a registered agent service in North Dakota that charges a hefty fee for basic registered agent services. The Pro Package, priced at $199 per year, is the standard package. You get options similar to what you receive from Northwest Registered Agent (receive service of process, registered street address for your company to use, etc.), including compliance alerts.

This price difference is likely because ZenBusiness is primarily an LLC formation service, not a dedicated registered agent, so their system isn’t fully optimized for registered agent services. Whatever the reason, ZenBusiness is still pricier when compared with other services and they don’t offer as much support.

For my full review of ZenBusiness, click here.

5. IncFile 

IncFile offers very little in the way of extra features or options for your business. Their package is the bare minimum of what you should expect from a registered agent service. They provide the standard registered office address in North Dakota that’s available during regular business hours and receiving important mail such as your service of process. They don’t offer any of the fancier options provided by other services, such as compliance alerts or assistance with your Articles of Organization.

IncFile’s services cost $119 per state, per year, but since they don’t offer the same level of support as many of their competitors, I can’t recommend them as your North Dakota Registered Agent.

Read more about IncFile's services and offers in my in-depth IncFile review.

6. Rocket Lawyer 

Rocket Lawyer is an off-brand version of LegalZoom that presents itself as a more cost-effective version of their services.

Unfortunately, it’s “cheaper” registered agent service is still $149 per state, per year, and while you’ll get a street address in the state of North Dakota for your business and their registered agent office is available during regular business hours to receive state mail and legal documents from the North Dakota Secretary of State (such as service of process) on behalf of your company, they don’t provide as many services as Northwest Registered Agent includes at their price of $125 per year.

If you want to know more about their online legal services, you can read my Rocket Lawyer review here.

7. SunDoc Filings 

SunDoc Filings is yet another generic registered agent service, packaging basic services (such as receiving your legal documents from the Secretary of State’s office and providing your LLC with a registered agent office address) at a rate of $159 per year. Without any of the quality services offered by their competitors, such as compliance alerts or annual filing reminders, you end up paying more money for an agent that provides your business with fewer features.

8. InCorp

InCorp is a bit of an outlier. They offer a similar level of service as Harbor Compliance at the same price of $99 per state, per year and are also a national registered agent with offices in every state. They offer similar service offerings, as well. They provide your North Dakota LLC with a street address or registered agent’s office address in the state, scan documents, give you an online account to access your mail with, and accept mail from government agencies on behalf of your business. 

But if you’re wondering why they rank so low on this list, it’s because their system is incredibly difficult to use and very user-unfriendly. It’s clunky, poorly designed, and often confusing to navigate. For this reason I can’t really recommend this registered agent for your North Dakota business.

9. Swyft Filings 

Swyft Filings is an LLC formation service in North Dakota that’s also captaining the SS Less for More, offering the bare minimum service for a price of $149 per year for the trip. Of course, they provide your business with an address in the state and accept legal documents and mail on behalf of your LLC. But at $149 per year, there are much better options for your North Dakota registered agent service.

For more on Swyft Filings and their services, check out my review here.

10. CSC Global 

CSC Global is another premium-level North Dakota registered agent service priced at $299 per state, per year. They provide all the basic registered agent services your LLC needs. CSC Global will provide your LLC with a registered agent’s name and address or physical address, accept legal documents and mail on behalf of your business during business hours, and forward your mail.

However, the only benefit to using CSC is that they cover the LLC filing fee you need to pay for changing your registered agent, as well as transferring the business address of your LLC from your current registered agent to theirs. However, they don’t offer any compliance alert systems for your business and their customer service is fairly unremarkable.

Given that it costs less than $176 in state fees to change your business address in North Dakota, it’s really not worth paying $299 for their “premium” services just so they’ll cover your state filing fee. 

So, you don’t really need to consider CSC Global for your North Dakota Registered Agent Service unless you’re already using them.

11. Registered Agents Inc. 

Registered Agents Inc. is the only company on this list that exclusively specializes in registered agent services. They provide your LLC with a physical address in North Dakota and accept mail, documents and service of process on behalf of your business during normal business hours, along with other basic registered agent services.

Given that they charge $200 for their services without any extra features that other companies offer, I cannot recommend them for your North Dakota registered agent.

12. Jumpstart Filings 

Jumpstart Filings is just another bare-minimum registered agent service, charging $129 per state, per year for their bare-bones, basic service.

You’ll get little more than your registered agent’s name and address and receiving mail during normal business hours for your LLC for this price. Given that you get more for less with Northwest Registered Agent, there’s no need to waste your time with Jumpstart Filings for your North Dakota registered agent needs.

Registered Agent Review Summary

Of the more than 60 registered agent services I investigated and the 12 I reviewed here, my #1 recommendation for a North Dakota registered agent service is Northwest Registered Agent.

They provide all the services you’ll need from a North Dakota registered agent and they’re backed by a well-rounded support staff of US-based experts. Northwest Registered Agent offers its service at a great value of $125 per state, per year. Included in that price is the aforementioned support team, as well as their compliance alerts system, which helps you keep up to date on your legal document filing dates and other important events.

While they don’t provide the premium service options like identity theft protection, their system is incredibly user-friendly and easy to join and the support team is available 24/7 to help you with any difficult questions you may have.

If you need to appoint a registered agent in North Dakota, you really can’t go wrong with Northwest Registered Agent.

Best Registered Agent Review Methodology 

This is my process for determining the best registered agent service.

Why You Should Trust Me

You should trust me when selecting your North Dakota Registered Agent Service because I have more experience with this topic than most people in this industry.

First, I had to find the best registered agent service for my two businesses.

I didn’t want to deal with any legal trouble from the North Dakota Secretary of State myself or have to worry about missing a service of process or important legal LLC filing date, so I had to invest hours of effort into researching the best registered agent options available to me.

This was made even more difficult by the fact that I had to sift through the fluff and promotional bluster many services put out just to get to the facts about each company. I devoted far more time than I really had available to reading online reviews, dealing with customer service reps, and talking to sales teams about promotional offers.

Guiding some of my close friends and associates from my local business community through the process of finding the right registered agent service really highlighted the fact that there was a need in the business world for the knowledge and experience that I have.

Second, I’ve helped thousands of people find the right registered agent for their businesses. Many people just like you have come to my website hoping to get information on the best registered agent service for their company.

Since launching my website, I’ve helped thousands of people save hundreds of hours researching the offers and support available from registered agent companies in the state, and I can help YOU too.

How I Selected the Best Registered Agent

My process for selecting the best North Dakota registered agent involves four stages of investigation.

Stage 1: Reviews

The first step in selecting the best registered agent in North Dakota is checking the online reviews. I spent hours reading through the reviews of over 60 different registered agent services available in North Dakota. I checked websites like TrustPilot, Google, the Better Business Bureau, and Facebook, as well as several other review sites where people have left public reviews. I used these reviews to determine which of these companies offered the best services, and which ones weren’t worth dealing with.

Doing this allowed me to weed out nearly 50 companies that used a very shady and unethical pricing structure (more on that below), companies you wouldn’t want to use for your LLC.

Stage 2: Website Analysis

Once the scams and bad deals had been eliminated, the next stage was to see what the 12 remaining candidates offered as a part of their subscription services.

Completing this part was fairly simple. I logged onto their websites to review their sales pages, their about sections, speak with their customer service teams about what options were available, and get any necessary clarifications. I did this to find out what sort of services and incentives they offered beyond providing an address in the state and accepting mail on behalf of my company. 

This left me with a simple spreadsheet with 13 columns, 24 rows, and a breakdown of every service offered.

Stage 3: Speaking with Real Customers

The next stage of this process was to speak with actual customers and clients of these companies to see how well their services matched up to their sales pitches.

Many sales teams will try to upsell or sometimes exaggerate the features available to you, so take what they say with a grain of salt. You really only get the full picture when you talk to someone who actually uses their services.

To do this, I reached out to people I’d previously helped find a registered agent, as well as new visitors to my site, to hear about their experiences with these companies.

This helped me gain a more complete understanding of what each company had to offer, and how well they compared to each other.

Stage 4: Speaking with Their Sales Teams

The final stage of this process was to reach out to each company’s sales team.

As we all know, sales teams often give out biased information, but it’s worthwhile to see how they respond to the feedback and criticisms expressed by other customers and experience how well they adapt and respond to this criticism. I did this to determine whether they address negative feedback or blame the clients for any negative experiences.

This process helped me see what each company’s office culture was like and whether the company in question valued improvement or shifted the blame onto others.

Rating Factors

I rated each of the remaining North Dakota registered agents for your North Dakota LLC based on five factors.

Factor 1: Offerings

There are a wide variety of services and products offered by North Dakota registered agents, so this was an obvious factor for determining how to rate them.

Some commercial registered agent services will provide you with only the physical address in North Dakota, keep your personal information off the public record, be your point of contact during regular business hours to accept mail and service of process for your North Dakota business, and forward your mail. Others will also include an LLC formation service in addition to basic registered agent services, and the coveted address in North Dakota. 

Others scan and upload all your important legal documents (such as service of process) for you to access the day they’re received through an online account, offer assistance with your Articles of Organization, and remind you when your annual report and other important documents are due to keep your business in good standing.

And others will provide you with identity theft protection in case someone tries to access your personal details or credit card information.

The first step in determining the best North Dakota registered agent service was to rate each service based on the range of products and services they offered.

Factor 2: Value for Money

Not only do the range of products and services factor into determining which North Dakota registered agent is the best, but the price and value afforded by each one are important as well. It’s not worth paying expensive prices for a company that provides you with little more than an address in the state and mail forwarding. 

Some services claim to be as cheap as $39 per year while premium, commercial registered agents cost as much as $300 per year.

The next step of this process was to determine which of these commercial registered agents offered you the most bang for your buck and rank them according to which ones had the best return on investment.

During this process, I closely examined a large group of North Dakota noncommercial registered agent services that were charging prices in the $39–$59/year range and I want to address this. Throughout this investigation, I discovered that while the advertised price might be true at the point of entry, to get the basic level of service offered by most commercial registered agent services, you can end up spending over an additional $120 per year.

This deceptive marketing practice is one that I find highly unethical and distasteful, so any commercial or noncommercial registered agent service that used this pricing method was immediately removed from consideration.

While many of these registered agent companies were located outside of North Dakota, they were also removed from my search for the best national registered agent.

Factor 3: Ease of Sign-up

An easy sign-up process is a huge plus when considering which North Dakota registered agent service to use. Clumsy, poorly designed, or confusing systems can make accessing the services you paid for difficult and needlessly time consuming. This is why I use ease of sign-up as another factor in ranking which registered agent services are the best.

To make sure you don’t waste any time during your registered agent’s onboarding process, I rated the North Dakota registered agents based on how easy it is to sign up for their services.

How long was the overall process? How many fields and forms did I have to fill out? Did they require a certified copy of my birth certificate delivered via Pony Express?

Factor 4: Ease of Use

Having an easy sign-up process is all well and good for a North Dakota registered agent service, but if you end up spending hours trying to navigate a clunky or confusing online portal, then was it really worth it? Which registered agent services have the most user-friendly systems and which ones will make you snap a keyboard over your knee was an obvious factor in ranking which North Dakota registered agent services are the best.

To make sure you didn’t waste precious time wading through an ocean of confusing and frustrating registered agent systems, I logged into each registered agent’s online system and tested how intuitive and easy to use they are.

I made notes of which ones are simple, which ones left me stuck in odd places, and which systems are glitchy or poorly optimized. This helped refine the list into its current state.

Factor 5: Customer Service

Regardless of how optimized or user-friendly the systems are, there are bound to be challenges and difficulties that you’ll experience and glitches you’ll encounter. It’s during those moments that excellent customer service really matters.

A registered agent company with excellent customer service can take the stress and hassle out of your workday. Without quality customer service, you’ll find yourself struggling to get even the simplest question answered.

To properly assess the quality of their customer service teams, I called each one and asked them some fairly standard and basic questions. I took note of their efficiency, response time, how many people I had to speak to until I received an answer, and how helpful and courteous the teams are.

Did they respond in a timely manner? Were they rude? Did they solve my problem?

The Best North Dakota Registered Agent Results Summary

I’ve investigated more than 60 different registered agents and reviewed the top 12. These are my top three picks.

Best Overall Registered Agent — Northwest Registered Agent (9.13/10)

Northwest Registered Agent is my #1 choice because they provide everything you need for $125 per year with excellent, lifelong customer support. 

They’ll cover everything you need, providing your business with a registered street address in North Dakota to receive service of process, legal notifications, and other official state mail from the North Dakota Secretary of State, keeping your personal details off the public records, acting as your legal point of contact, and keeping you in good standing with the North Dakota Secretary of State.

They also go above and beyond! They’ll scan and upload ALL your mail on the same day it’s received, give you an online account to access all your legal documents, alerts for important business compliance dates (like filing your annual report), and discounts for multiple state and multiple year registrations. 

But the real dealmaker is their customer support.

Their US-based team of former accountants, lawyers, and entrepreneurs have personally dealt with most common (and some uncommon) challenges faced when starting and running a business. They provide sound, reliable, and actionable advice to get your business moving in the right direction. 

And with more than 3,000 positive Northwest Registered Agent reviews available online, it’s easy to determine that what I experienced wasn’t a fluke.

If you need a North Dakota registered agent who will support you through the life of your company, head to Northwest Registered Agent now.

Best Budget Registered Agent — Harbor Compliance (7.92/10)

If you want to save $26 per year and are happy to forgo the patient and polite support provided by Northwest Registered Agent, then Harbor Compliance is a reliable second option. 

Just like Northwest Registered Agent, they provide everything you need to ensure your business remains in good standing with the North Dakota Secretary of State, like a registered business address, a legal point of contact, and mail scanning and forwarding. 

Their online system is fairly user-friendly, and their customer support, while not on the same level as Northwest Registered Agent, is still reliable enough to get you through most challenges.

There's a lot more to Harbor Compliance's service than I tell you about here. Read my full Harbor Compliance review for more details on their service and offerings.

If you’re on a limited budget and comfortable with settling for less support than Northwest Registered Agent provides, check out Harbor Compliance’s North Dakota registered agent service.

Best Premium Registered Agent — LegalZoom (6.59/10)

If you’re more interested in a premium registered agent service in North Dakota, then LegalZoom is worth checking out.

They provide all the basics—a registered address in North Dakota to receive your service of process, legal documents and other state mail from North Dakota government agencies, mail forwarding, and scaning of all your important documents. They also provide a service that neither Harbor Compliance nor Northwest Registered Agent offer: identity theft insurance.

When you use LegalZoom as your North Dakota registered agent, they’ll include $1,000,000 of identity theft insurance as part of your subscription.

While that feature is offered at more than DOUBLE the cost of Northwest Registered Agent, (and on its own would cost less than the $176 price difference between the two), if you already use LegalZoom’s other services, would like to keep your expenses on one account, and feel you can do without the compliance alerts for your annual report and other filing dates, then LegalZoom is a good choice for you.

Check out LegalZoom here. 

In Conclusion

Getting the right North Dakota registered agent is critical for not only ensuring you meet all necessary state requirements, but also so you keep your identity off the public record and also keep your personal assets safe. 

I investigated more than 60 North Dakota registered agent services and reviewed the top 12 using a four-stage process with five different factors. 

My investigations concluded that Northwest Registered Agent is the best registered agent service in North Dakota. 

They provide everything you need from a registered agent: 

• An official street address in the state of North Dakota to receive service of process and other legal notifications from the North Dakota Secretary of State
• Mail forwarding
• Mail scanning
• Online document access
• Assistance filing your Articles of Organization
• Alerts about important compliance dates (like your filing your annual reports)

They also provide this excellent North Dakota registered agent service at $125 per state, per year through their easy-to-navigate, online registration and management system, and support you with their US-based customer service team composed of former accountants, lawyers, and entrepreneurs.

If you’re looking for an excellent North Dakota registered agent that will go above and beyond to make sure that your LLC or business meets all its legal obligations, if you need to change your North Dakota registered agent, or if you have been looking for a new registered agent for your LLC, head to Northwest Registered Agent today.