Finding the best registered agent in Oregon is crucial to your business success.
The right registered agent in Oregon will help you to keep your identity and privacy protected, keep your information and documents secured, and help your company to meet its legal compliance obligations.
The wrong registered agent can put you at significant risk, with your personal details exposed to potential scammers, your assets at risk in lawsuits, and the possibility of your company not meeting state compliance requirements.
We’ve assessed 64 registered agent services, investigated the top 12, and conducted in depth reviews of the top 3. Here are our picks for the best registered agent service in Oregon:
1. Harbor Compliance – 9.13/10 (Top Registered Agent Service)
Our pick for the best registered agent in Oregon is Harbor Compliance because they offer the best selection of services for the price.
Pros
Harbor Compliance is the best full-service Oregon registered agent, as well as LLC formation service. Their offerings include:
- an office address,
- scanning of all of your documents and uploading them to an online portal for you to access from an online account,
- mail forwarding, and
- Service of process
- alerts for all your business compliance deadlines
The agent’s sign-up and set-up processes are easy to navigate, and their system makes it easy to purchase registered agent services in multiple states, which means that they’ll be there to help your LLC grow from the state of Oregon to across the country.
After you get through the easy setup process, you’ll find that their computer system is easy to navigate. It’s designed for those who aren’t used to working a lot with computers. It also has a unique feature- the ability to keep up with registrations in multiple states, all from the same system. So, you can eventually grow your business beyond the state of Oregon.
Their customer service is pretty good too, offering prompt response and accurate, easy-to-understand answers to your questions.
Cons
They’re a full-service option, not a premium option. This means that they don’t offer identity theft protection. However, that’s easily purchased elsewhere.
Overall
Harbor Compliance is our choice overall for the best registered agent in the state of Oregon because they offer the best services for the price, they have good customer service, and their system isn’t hard to use or learn.
2. Northwest Registered Agent – 7.81/10 (Best Customer Service Registered Agent)
Northwest Registered Agent is our second choice for overall best registered agent in Oregon, but our first pick in terms of customer service.
Pros
Northwest Registered Agent is a full-service option with LLC formation options, much like Harbor Compliance. Their services include:
- scanning all of your documents and putting them online for you to access using an online account,
- mail forwarding,
- notifications about upcoming compliance deadlines for your business, and
- an office address.
The setup process for this registered agent is pretty easy, and their computer system is easy enough to use, although it could use some work to make its navigation more user- friendly.
The feature that really stands out in Northwest Registered Agent’s services is their customer service. They’re prompt, friendly and answer questions accurately. The added bonus is that you get lifelong customer service support.
Cons
Northwest Registered Agent is a full-service option, not a premium option. That means that, like Harbor Compliance, they don’t offer identity theft protection. Again, this can be purchased elsewhere.
Their computer system isn’t as easy to use as Harbor Compliances.
Their fee is 25% higher than that of Harbor Compliance.
Overall
If you’re looking for a registered agent with stellar customer service, Northwest Registered Agent is the registered agent for your business in Oregon.
3. LegalZoom – 6.59/10 (Best Premium RA)
LegalZoom is the best registered agent on this list if you’re looking for premium services in Oregon.
Pros
As a premium registered agent, LegalZoom offers all the services of the full-service agents, like an office address, scanning of your documents and access to them online, mail forwarding, and compliance alerts for your business. They also offer up to $1 million in identity theft protection.
Cons
They charge a fee of $299 per year for their services, whereas Harbor Compliance only charges $99 per year. So, it’s around three times as much for LegalZoom. That’s really not worth it when you can pay less than that for identity theft protection from other places for less than $200/year.
Registered agent services is just one of the services that LegalZoom offers, not the sole service offering, so it’s not highly prioritized. Their system is hard to navigate, and their customer service isn’t adequate enough for such a clunky system.
Overall
LegalZoom actually is a reputable business in the state of Oregon and nationwide, so if you’re using them for other services, their registered agent service might be worth it to you. However, if you’re not, it’s better to go with Harbor Compliance or Northwest Registered Agent.
Here are the other eight registered agent service options we analyzed in Oregon, but in less detail:
4. ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness is a relatively new registered agent service in Oregon, which makes them new to the LLC formation business as well. They charge $99 per year for services that are similar to that of Harbor Compliance. However, in order to get notifications about compliance deadlines, you have to pay a fee of $149 per month.
One would assume that there would be other benefits to this notification system with a high fee like that, but their customer service still hasn’t responded to us as of this writing to tell us what those benefits are. (We waited six days.)
If you purchase their LLC formation services, you get a year of free registered agent services, but as they’re not going to notify you of legal compliance deadlines for your LLC, you’ll just be paying more than it’s worth in the long run.
If you want to know more about their services, read my full ZenBusiness Review.
5. IncFile
IncFile is a registered agent in Oregon that provides LLC services. They offer a bare-bones service package for full-service prices. They don’t offer compliance deadline notifications at all. Their fee is $119 per year.
Like ZenBusiness, they offer free registered agent services when you sign up for their LLC formation services, but it’s really not worth it because you’ll have to shell out more money to cover the services they don’t provide.
6. Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer is basically a cheap imitation of LegalZoom that still isn’t cheap. They, like LegalZoom, offer registered agent services in Oregon as an afterthought, not as their primary service. Their fee is $149 per year, and you really don’t get enough services for that price. You also don’t get the sort of customer support you’d expect for that price.
In saying that, they do provide a full range of online legal services, so if you want to know more about their complete offering, read my Rocket Lawyer review.
7. SunDoc Filings
Sundoc is an LLC formation and registered agent service in Oregon that provides minimal services. They charge $159 per year, which isn’t great for their meager service offerings, so obviously they’re not a great option.
8. InCorp
InCorp is an LLC formation and registered agent service in Oregon that seems like a great value on the surface because they only charge a fee of $99 per year, which is the same as Harbor Compliance.
The drawback here is that their computer system is really hard to use, and their customer service is only passable in terms of satisfaction. The customer service would be okay if their computer system wasn’t so difficult to navigate, so it’s not worth it even for the relatively low cost to you.
9. Swyft Filings
Swyft Filings is a registered agent service in the state of Oregon does actually offer notifications for compliance deadlines, but they charge a fee of $149/year. That’s a lot more than Harbor Compliance’s fees, and therefore not worth it.
If you want a detailed breakdown of their services, read my Swyft Filings review.
10. CSC Global
CSC Global is an Oregon registered agent service that offers premium services. They’ll cover any state fees from the state of Oregon that you incur for switching over to them. However, they charge a fee of $299 per year. It’s far cheaper to pay Harbor Compliance’s $99 per year and then just cover the state fees from Oregon yourself.
11. Registered Agents Inc.
Registered Agents Inc is another registered agent service in Oregon with services similar to Harbor Compliance’s, but with a hefty price tag. Their fee is $200 per year, so save your money and just don’t bother.
12. Jumpstart Filings
Jumpstart Filings is a registered agent service in Oregon that offers fewer services than Harbor Compliance, but they charge $129 per year. It’s also worth noting that they don’t offer free registered agent services when you sign up for their LLC formation services, so it’s probably not the best option for you.
Registered Agent Review Summary
Our number one choice for the overall best registered agent service in Oregon is Harbor Compliance. Their services will provide you with everything you need for $99 per year, which is around $100-$200 cheaper than some other registered agents.
They have an easy setup process, their system is really easy to use, and their customer service is good as well. They’re a great choice for keeping up to date with your compliance deadlines, organizing your documents, and keeping your information safe.
Best Oregon Registered Agent Reviews Methodology
Here’s all the information we used to make our decisions about the best registered agents in Oregon.
Why You Should Trust Us
I’ve spent more time investigating and learning about the registered agent industry in Oregon than many people experienced in this industry.
I was looking for a new project to start after I sold my health website and my cafe business when I noticed that my friends started asking me for information about registered agents. It became clear while talking to them that they didn’t have the time nor the energy to go through all of the information needed to find the best registered agent suitable for their businesses.
I started writing down the information and advice I was giving to them and that’s how I founded this business. Now, I’ve got an online business helping people find the right registered agent for their corporations. So, when I say these are the BEST registered agents in Oregon, you can believe me.
How We Selected The Best Registered Agent
The process for choosing the best registered agent actually involved four stages. This started with over 50 registered agent offerings in Oregon, which was eventually narrowed down to 12, and then to the top 3.
You can read my guide on the Best Oregon LLC Registered Agent Services here.
Here is how our phases worked.
Stage 1: Reviews
Our first investigation point started with reading online reviews about each registered agent company in Oregon. You’d be surprised how much you can learn about a company from reviews that people leave online. There was a lot of information to be found on sites like Better Business Bureau, Facebook, TrustPilot and others.
To be quite honest, we didn’t read all of the reviews. There was no possible way for us to, as it would have taken years. However, we did read those that provided more than a paragraph or two of information and really painted a picture of what it was like to deal with each registered agent company, and whether they were legitimate, scammers, or used misleading pricing tactics.
Stage 2: Website Analysis
In stage 1 we were able to eliminate the really low-grade registered agent offerings that Oregon had to offer. After that, we analyzed the websites of the registered agent companies that remained.
Some of the things we analyzed were the services they offer, how many different ways they had to contact their customer support, the company history, where the company was located, and if they had displayed any awards they’d won.
This gives you a better idea of what sort of services the registered agent offers, how the company got started, what they can offer an LLC or corporation, etc.
Stage 3: Speaking With Real Customers
Online reviews are great, but you’ll learn far more from actually talking to customers and asking questions than you will from a quick post they made online. This is how you get a good idea about how the registered agent company actually operates and treats someone’s corporation and how well it is received by the whole office.
We asked people who had used our recommendations, as well as people in Oregon who visited our site and were already using a registered agent service.
This gave us a more honest idea about what sort of services these Oregon registered agents actually provided, and not just what their website advertised.
Stage 4: Speak With Their Sales Teams
The next stage was to call and talk to each registered agent’s sales team.We actually asked them about all of the complaints people had about their registered agent services for their corporation.
This told us a lot about how the business was actually addressing complaints. Some of these places basically told us that the person complaining was just crazy and we shouldn’t pay attention to them, which isn’t a great way to do business. Others gave us more hope, however. They told us that they actually took the complaints as feedback and used it to fix the problems with their business.
This step really weeded out the competition and left us with a list that we were confident about.
Rating Factors
Each registered agent business that was on our top 12 list was rated based on these factors.
Factor 1: Offerings
The first factor we looked at, and arguably the most important one, was what each service offered. There are certain things that a registered agent must offer in order to be classified as a registered agent, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll cover everything that you need. And if they don’t do what you need them to, it’s not going to matter how inexpensive their fee is, or how stellar their customer service is.
We looked at a lot of factors, like whether they offered online programs for you to access your documents from, or if they simply forwarded your mail to you, whether they actually send notifications for llc legal compliance deadlines or just give you some sort of static calendar, and whether they actually offer identity theft protection services or simply say they’ll keep your information safe.
The registered agents with the best services were put closer to the top of the list, and those with the fewest found themselves at the bottom of our list.
Factor 2: Price
The next factor we used in order to determine the best registered agent business for your corporation is price. As it turns out, there are 3 different price ranges for registered agents: budget, full-service and premium.
The average budget business charged around $39 per year, while the full-service business charged $99-$129 per year and the average premium business charged $299 plus.
You won’t find a budget registered agent business on our top three list because they offer the bare minimum in terms of services that a registered agent must provide, (like mail forwarding and an office address for your corporation) and then charge you more for services that you’d think would come standard when you purchase services from a registered agent business. And often the extra fees cost more than simply paying for a full-service business to begin with.
Factor 3: Ease of Signup
After you’ve found a registered agent business with the services you need and the price is in your budget; the next thing to look at is how easy it is to sign up with the business. It really doesn’t matter if you’ve found a business with affordable fees and awesome services if it takes forever to get their system integrated, or if there’s a ton of paperwork to process.
So, you’ll find that the business with the easiest signup process is pushed to the top of our list, while the business with the most difficult signup is closer to the bottom.
Factor 4: Ease of Use
Even if a business has an easy signup process, it doesn’t matter if you can’t use their system. So, for that reason we’ve made ease of use our 4th factor.
The business with the easiest computer system is at the top of our list, while the business with the “nightmare” system is closer to the bottom of the list.
Factor 5: Customer Service
It doesn’t matter how good the system is, you’re going to have a question about something at some time, but if the business doesn’t provide the customer service you need for your corporation, it’s enough to turn you off registered agents entirely. Therefore, customer service is our 5th factor.
The business with the fastest, most friendly and accurate answers from customer service team made the top of our list, while the business who took the longest to answer the phone or make requested contact, or who simply didn’t answer questions and fix the problems we had satisfactorily, went to the bottom of the list.
The Best Registered Agent in Oregon Results Summary
After our thorough analysis and rating process, we found that the best overall registered agent business in Oregon is Harbor Compliance.
Best Overall Registered Agent in Oregon – Harbor Compliance
Harbor Compliance made the top of our list because they provide all of the services you need for your business, and are the most cost-effective.
In Summary:
- you’ll get a registered agent address in Oregon,
- they’ll scan all of your documents and then let you access the documents online,
- they provide mail forwarding, and notifications about compliance for your office.
- they also have registered agent services in every state, so you’ll only need one registered agent service, no matter how much your business grows beyond the state of Oregon.
- they only charge $99 per year, and as a full-service agent, that makes them the cheapest on our list, providing the best value.
So, if you’re looking for a new registered agent, check out Harbor Compliance. They provide all of the services that a registered agent must provide, and then some.
Best Customer Support Registered Agent – Northwest Registered Agent
If you’re looking for a registered agent that will handle the documents and mail for your business in Oregon, but want a stronger focus on customer service than Harbor Compliance, then check out Northwest Registered Agent.
If you choose them as your new registered agent, you’ll get the same range of services that Harbor Compliance offers, including the all-important address in Oregon. But you’ll also get really great customer service for life.
They cost more than Harbor Compliance (25%), but if you really want good customer service, it’s worth the added expense to get what you need for your office.
Best Premium Registered Agent – Legal Zoom
Legal Zoom is the best premium-level service in Oregon. They provide all of the full-service options that Northwest Registered Agent and Harbor Compliance offer, such as the registered agent address in Oregon. But they also offer identity theft protection to keep your office and your information safe.
They charge fees that are $200 per year more than Harbor Compliance, but it might be worth that much to you to keep your office and your information safe.
In Conclusion
Assuring that you’ve picked the right registered agent is very important because it can mean the difference between making sure that all of the needs for your office are met, that your information is safe, and that you’ve met all of your compliance requirements, or complete ruin.
We assessed 64 different registered agents based on price, offerings, service, and ease-of-use. Our investigations have concluded that Harbor Compliance is the best registered agent for your Oregon small business.
They provide a complete range of products and services in a system designed to be easy to use and backed with excellent customer support for only $99 — which is up to $200 cheaper than their competitors.
While they don’t offer identity theft insurance, you can purchase it for less than the cost difference between them and the registered agents that do.
If you need a registered agent for your Oregon business, the best choice is Harbor Compliance.
