Getting the best limited liability company (LLC) formation service for your business in Georgia is crucial.
The right LLC service will offer affordable services in Georgia with great customer support, enhance your business formation process by submitting your articles of organization to the Georgia Secretary of State, and remind you to file your annual reports.
The wrong LLC service will swindle you while providing substandard services, botching your paperwork, and putting your data at risk.
I’ve investigated the 17 major LLC formation services in Georgia through a four-stage, five-factor process to identify the 10 best and find out which one stands above them all.
1. Northwest Registered Agent: 9.45/10 (Best Overall LLC Service)
Northwest Registered Agent provides the most affordable formation plan and the best customer support service.
Pros
Northwest Registered Agent’s highly discounted $39 formation package provides all the essential services you need to establish your business, including standard services such as filing your articles of organization on your behalf with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and helping you draft your operating agreement. But it also includes a business tax consultation with its in-house accountants.
You’ll also get a 90-day trial of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service and a free year of registered agent service, which includes a business address in Georgia and compliance alerts so you don’t forget to file an annual report.
Northwest also provides other services (at an extra cost), such as certified copies of your formation documents, access to an employer identification number (EIN), and a Certificate of Good Standing.
Its formation package has a standard cost of $225, but Boostsuite readers can follow my dedicated link to Northwest’s sign-up page where they can access an 82% discount on all the services in the formation package. This discount reduces the standard $225 charge to an affordable $39.
Even with its comprehensive introductory package and great deal, you’ll love Northwest’s customer service the best.
Unlike companies that offshore their customer support services to foreign call centers, Northwest Registered Agent has a team of US-based Corporate Guides made up of former businessmen, lawyers, and accountants who are well versed on the dos and don’ts of how to run an LLC in the state of Georgia.
Not only do they provide assistance during your business formation process but they also provide credible business advice that will assist you when you encounter challenges during your business journey.
Cons
The only problem I came across while reviewing Northwest’s services is that it doesn't provide online tools to assist your business in establishing an online presence, such as a customized business website, an email or direct messaging service, or a domain name registration service.
However, you can acquire these services for a small fee from a number of websites, such as Wix and Squarespace, so this should not be a major problem.
Overall
Northwest Registered Agent is by far the best LLC service in Georgia due to its affordable LLC formation package that provides an array of services and customer support personnel who are always ready to assist you when you come across business challenges.
Its discounted $39 formation package provides all the essential business services you need to establish your LLC in Georgia while its experienced Corporate Guides offer great business advice that will surely come in handy.
If you need an LLC formation service that provides great customer support and affordable services, follow my dedicated link to Northwest Registered Agent’s sign-up page and get an 82% discount.
2. ZenBusiness: 8.25/10 (Best Essentials LLC Service)
ZenBusiness has an incredible price of $0 (plus filing fee). But because that plan lacks some vital services, it’s not as cheap as it seems at first glance.
Pros
ZenBusiness will do everything you need to form your LLC for $0. It will make sure your business name is available, assist you in completing your formation paperwork, and file it with the proper agencies.
You can choose its $199 Pro plan to get expedited filing (which takes around four to six days) and help with your operating agreement.
Its $299 Premium plan includes rush filing (which is as fast as one to two days), a domain name, an email address, and a tool to build your own website.
Cons
Sure, for $0, ZenBusiness will essentially file your formation documents and run a business name search for you. But if you want anything beyond rudimentary filing services, it will be expensive.
ZenBusiness doesn’t include a year of free registered agent service with any of its packages. If you want registered agent services from ZenBusiness, you’ll have to pay $199 per year.
ZenBusiness’ customer service can accurately be described as “standard.” They’re helpful enough and can assist you with normal problems (like password resets or updates to your information) quickly enough, but they don’t really go above and beyond. They certainly don’t offer small business advice, so you’re out of luck if you have questions about back-end operations.
Overall
If all you need is someone to file your documents for you, ZenBusiness is your best option because of its general competence and $0 price. It will not only file your documents but help you fill them out and run a business name search for you.
If you prioritize price over service when it comes to your LLC service, then you can read more about ZenBusiness on its website.
3. Harbor Compliance: 7.15/10 (Best Premium LLC Service)
Harbor Compliance is the best premium LLC service on this list and the second overall because, much like Northwest Registered Agent, it provides top-notch customer support.
Pros
The main difference between Harbor Compliance and Northwest Registered Agent is how it conducts its customer service. While you can call and talk to one of Northwest’s Corporate Guides, Harbor Compliance provides you with a personal support assistant who understands your specific business challenges and provides assistance tailored to your personal situation.
Its formation package includes basic services, such as an operating agreement template, assistance with filing your articles of organization, an employer identification number, and a full year of registered agent services (valued at $99).
Cons
Being a premium LLC service, Harbor Compliance charges $399 for its Starter package and $799 for its Compliance package. This is almost 10 times the amount Northwest Registered Agent charges for the same services.
Overall
Harbor Compliance is the best premium LLC formation service in the state of Georgia.
Its $399 starter package provides all the services you need to establish a Georgia LLC and also provides a personal support assistant who’ll guide you through the business registration process.
If you're willing to pay $399 for a personal representative who will help you set up your Georgia LLC and advise you when business challenges arise, visit the Harbor Compliance website today.
4. Swyft Filings
Swyft Filings’ $49 LLC formation service package gives you all of the basic services you need to form a Georgia LLC. This includes an online portal to access your important documents, assistance with filing your articles of organization, a 30-minute tax consultation with its in-house accountants, and a registered domain name for your business website.
The only problem with Swyft Filings is that if you need its registered agent services for a full year, you have to part with $149, which makes it more than three times the price of Northwest Registered Agent.
Therefore, unless you want to pay more for the same services you’d get from Northwest Registered Agent, it’s not smart to go with Swyft Filings.
5. MyCompanyWorks
For $79 (inclusive of state filing fee), MyCompanyWorks assists you with filing your articles of organization and drafting your operating agreement, gives you access to your important documents on its online portal, and provides you with compliance alerts.
It offers a free year of registered agent service in its premium package, but for a hefty $279. Since Northwest Registered Agent costs $39 and includes a free year of registered agent service, MyCompanyWorks doesn’t offer great value for your money.
6. Inc Authority
Inc Authority is another expensive LLC incorporation service that tries to be a budget option. It offers free assistance with submitting your articles of organization, but that is where the free stuff ends.
Its extended package includes a draft operating agreement template, access to an EIN, a company seal, and costs $399. A free year of registered agent service is only available in the $799 premium package.
Even if you’ve run out of money and just need to file your articles of organization, ZenBusiness is a much better option than Inc Authority.
7. Incorporate Fast
Incorporate Fast stands out from the other LLC formation services on this list because they claim that if you sign up for its $99 package, it will process your articles of organization the same day it receives the documents.
The reason it’s eighth on my list is that it doesn't provide a free tax consultation or an online portal to store your documents. But if you buy its premium plan for $199, it'll apply for an EIN for you, which saves you time. But you can easily do this step yourself on the IRS website.
8. BizFilings
BizFilings offers a basic package for $99. For this, you receive assistance with submitting your articles of organization, one free year of registered agent services, and compliance alerts so you don't lose out on key filing deadlines.
Unlike Northwest Registered Agent, BizFilings does not offer you any additional services such as an online portal for storing your documents, operating agreement templates, or a business tax assessment.
9. LegalZoom
LegalZoom is another online legal service provider that also offers very basic LLC services.
Its $99 package only provides your business with a banking solution, assistance with filing your articles of organization, and that's it. If you need more comprehensive services, it’s better to hire a comprehensive LLC service that provides more services with less financial outlay.
11. Incorporate.com
Incorporate.com offers the same type of services as Rocket Lawyer. For $99, the only services it offers are an online document archiving portal and assistance with submitting your articles of organization.
Other Georgia LLC Services
As part of my investigative process, I included the following seven LLC services. Their services don't offer much to write about, but in order to be thorough, I've decided to include them below. Here they are in no particular order:
11. CorpNet
CorpNet’s $79 basic formation plan includes compliance alerts and assistance with submitting your articles of organization. It doesn't offer anything else.
12. MyCorporation
MyCorporation charges $133 to file your LLC setup documents with the Georgia Secretary of State and also assists with drafting your operating agreement.
13. Direct Incorporation
Direct Incorporation offers the same services as MyCorporationWorks. But it extends its services to offer an EIN and a banking resolution in its formation service. The issue is that it charges $147 for these minimal services.
14. InCorp
For $117, InCorp assists you with submitting your articles of organization and drafting your operating agreement. For any other comprehensive service, you will incur additional costs.
15. Nationwide Incorporations
Nationwide Incorporations offers the same substandard services as InCorp but charges $200.
16. SunDoc Filings
SunDoc Filings has three packages. Its $79 Starter package offers filing of your business documents with the Georgia Secretary of State. Its $99 Key package offers assistance with your operating agreement, while its $279 Premier package gets you an EIN.
The Best LLC Service Review Summary
My review of the 11 best LLC incorporation services led me to conclude that Northwest Registered Agent is your top pick for the best LLC formation service in Georgia.
Its $39 formation package provides all of the services you'd expect from a Georgia LLC service, including assistance with filing your articles of organization, a draft operating agreement template, a 90-day free trial of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, a business tax consultation, and a full year of registered agent service, which comes with an online document storage portal and compliance alerts.
If you want to include some comprehensive extras, such as an EIN, a Certificate of Good Standing, or state-certified copies of your formation documents, you can get these at an additional cost.
Northwest’s experienced team of Corporate Guides offers assistance during your business registration process and will always be available to provide business advice whenever you encounter challenges during your business journey. If you need an affordable and reliable LLC formation service that will help you get started in the business world while providing industry-leading small business advice, head to Northwest Registered Agent today.
Best LLC Service Review Methodology
I used the following procedure to determine the best LLC formation service in Georgia.
Why You Should Trust Me
You should trust me with your LLC service recommendations because I have spent a lot of time and resources investigating the LLC services industry, more than any sensible person would bother to.
My journey began when I created my first limited liability company. I didn't have the essential knowledge about how to go about filing my articles of organization, so I decided to hire an LLC service provider to help me. However, the service I hired was overpriced and provided services of such a low standard that the whole process was a nightmare in the end.
My second attempt at getting my business up and running was a lot easier. This time I hired Northwest Registered Agent because it offered a very affordable basic package and its team of Corporate Guides assisted me throughout my business formation process.
After a while, I sold my second business and looked for a new business opportunity. This time, I decided to upgrade to a premium LLC service provider and my obvious choice was Harbor Compliance. It provided me with a personal support representative who assisted me during my business setup process who was always available to offer good business advice during my business journey.
However, my experience is not limited to using these services. While looking for my third business opportunity, I talked to a couple of friends about their business start-up process and a persistent pattern emerged. There is a lot of business advice being tossed around and for most people, it is either technical jargon or it’s too contradictory to even understand.
So, I created BoostSuite to help entrepreneurs choose the right LLC formation service to help them start their businesses and I've since helped over 1,000 small business owners achieve just that.
How I Selected the Best LLC Service
I reviewed these LLC formation services through the following four-stage investigative procedure.
Stage 1: Reviews
The first phase was to analyze the online reviews of all LLC services in Georgia, which meant spending days searching review sites like TrustPilot, Google Business, Facebook, and the Better Business Bureau, as most LLC services in Georgia encourage their customers to post their positive or negative experiences on these pages.
This approach allowed me to separate the LLC services that offered substandard services from those that were legitimate and offered high-quality services.
Stage 2: Website Analysis
After weeding out these second-rate services, I logged on to the remaining Georgia LLC service providers and analyzed their offerings, claims, and disclosures, which enabled me to understand the services that each company offered and how they differed from each other or rather how they positioned themselves in the market.
Stage 3: Speaking With Real Customers
For this next step, I decided to get in touch with actual customers and find out whether these companies were living up to their claims. Of course, I could have relied on online reviews to answer my questions, but those reviews tend to be skewed towards very negative or very positive experiences.
I spoke to friends who had dealt with an LLC formation service, people who used my website, people to whom I had previously referred an LLC servicer so that I could find out what their experiences with these companies were.
This gave me a good idea of what it was like to use each Georgia LLC service.
Stage 4: Speaking With Sales Teams
For this final stage, I contacted the sales and customer service teams of each LLC service and pushed them for answers on some of the negative feedback they had received from their customers on online review sites.
This enabled me to see how their support teams performed under pressure and how well they handled criticism.
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Rating Factors
While working through the four-stage review process, I used the following five factors to rate these LLC formation services.
Factor 1: Offerings
Some LLC formation services have a wide range of services in their basic packages. These often include assistance with filing your articles of organization, an operating agreement template, a company name and address in the state, an employer identification number, online access to your important documents, and a full year of their registered service.
Other LLC services will simply help you with the basic services involved in setting up your business and choose to either omit other offerings from their base plan or resolve this issue with their more expensive plans. I pushed these companies to the bottom of the list to make room for those that offer more comprehensive services.
Factor 2: Price
The next factor I used in my analysis process was price. There is no point in spending your entire start-up capital on a Georgia LLC service and then running out of money to run your business.
Some LLC services will charge you $0 for their basic services, while others will charge you around $400 for them. This analysis allowed me to isolate those that offered the best value for money from those that didn't.
Factor 3: Ease of Sign-Up
The third factor I used to evaluate these services was ease of registration.
Some services have outdated legacy systems that seem like they were made in the late 1990s, while others have sleek, user-friendly systems that eliminate the hard work when starting a business entity in Georgia.
I signed up for each of these business formation services in order to go through their registration process and ensure that they had removed any bugs and glitches with the data collection process.
Factor 4: Ease of Use
I extended the review of the sign-up process to other sections of each of the websites to experience how easy (or not) they were to navigate through. This involved registering a fictitious business and submitting my formation documents to the Georgia Secretary of State.
This review process allowed me to separate those LLC formation services that had intuitive and easy-to-navigate back-end systems from those that were redundant and required more time and effort to use.
Factor 5: Customer Service
The quality of customer service was the fifth and final factor that I used in my review process. This is where I came across the huge disparity in how most LLC services handled their customers.
Some services outsourced their customer service to call centers in foreign countries that are staffed by personnel who are not familiar with the American business start-up process. You’ll therefore end up wasting a lot of precious time trying to explain the challenges you are facing.
Other LLC service providers, such as Northwest Registered Agent, have a US-based customer service department staffed by former accountants, lawyers, and small business owners who have gone through the same challenges you are facing and are always available to offer credible advice during your business adventure.
I contacted every customer support department using every means available (online chats, emails, and phone conversations) and pushed them for answers about some of the services they offer.
In Conclusion
After investigating 17 formation services on this list through my four-stage, five-factor process and narrowing them down to the leading 10, I concluded that Northwest Registered Agent is the best LLC service provider in Georgia.
Its highly discounted $39 basic package includes all the essential services you’ll need to establish your LLC in Georgia, such as assistance with filing your articles of organization, a draft operating agreement template, and a free business tax consultation with their accounting department.
You also get a 90-day free trial of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service and a full year of their registered agent service, which comes with an online document storage portal, compliance alerts, and a business name and address in the state.
In case you need access to state-certified copies of your formation documents, an EIN, or a Certificate of Good Standing, they are available for purchase as needed.
Northwest’s Corporate Guides are the icing on the cake. They will provide assistance during your business formation process and be on hand to provide you with first-class small business advice throughout your business journey. If you’re interested in the services of an LLC service provider in Georgia that provides affordable services and best-in-class customer support, visit Northwest Registered Agent today and get an 82% discount on its LLC formation package.