The 10 Best LLC Services in Kentucky: Reviewed and Ranked

Before forming a limited liability company (LLC) in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, you should seek the assistance of a competent LLC formation service to help you with the registration process.

The right LLC service will help you file your articles of organization with the Kentucky Secretary of State within a reasonable amount of time, and ensure that your Kentucky LLC remains in conformity with state regulations by providing annual report compliance notifications.

The wrong LLC service will overcharge you for mediocre services, delay launching your firm for weeks, if not months, and lead to lost business hours due to a lack of essential documents.

I conducted a four-stage, five-factor analysis of the LLC formation service industry in Kentucky and came up with a list of 18 best LLC services in the state. Here are the results of my analysis:

1. Northwest Registered Agent: 9.45/10 (Best LLC Service)

Northwest Registered Agent is my choice for the best LLC service in Kentucky because it offers the most affordable formation package as well as the best customer service in the market.

Pros

It has a $39 (plus filing fee) formation package that includes everything you need to get started in business, including filing your articles of organization with the Kentucky Secretary of State on your behalf, assistance with drawing up your operating agreement, a physical address in Kentucky, and a business tax consultation with its in-house accountants.

This package also includes a free 90-day trial of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, which allows you to make cheap calls over the internet, compliance notices that remind you to file your annual reports in due time, and a year of free registered agent service.

It also provides other services (for a fee), such as certified copies of your formation paperwork, assistance with acquiring an employer identification number (EIN), and a Certificate of Good Standing.

Northwest Registered Agent is also concerned about data security. It has an in-house IT staff that provides layers of data security, from passwords and encryption to monitoring apps for aberrant use and cyber threats. It maintains its own servers, as well as backup servers.

When Northwest Registered Agent files on your behalf, the state sees its bank information and IP address rather than yours. It reduces access to your most sensitive personal data, making it more difficult for data breaches to impact your Kentucky LLC and for spammers, advertisers, and others to track you.

However, its most valuable service has to be its customer support.

Unlike firms that outsource customer service to foreign call centers, Northwest has a staff of US-based Corporate Guides composed of previous business owners, attorneys, and accountants who are well versed in the potential pitfalls of running an LLC in Kentucky.

They not only aid you with the LLC formation process, but they also give solid business advice that can help you when you face problems while managing your Kentucky business.

Its formation package normally costs $225, but Boostsuite readers may enjoy an 82% discount on all the services in its formation package by following my special link to Northwest's sign-up page. The regular $225 fee is reduced to an inexpensive $39 with this discount.

Cons

The one issue I discovered when analyzing Northwest's services is that it does not offer online tools to help your business entity build an online presence, such as a customized business website, email or direct messaging service, or domain name registration service.

However, you can get these services for a low cost from a variety of websites, like Wix and Squarespace, so this shouldn't be a huge issue.

Overall 

Northwest is by far the best Kentucky LLC formation service since its inexpensive LLC formation package includes a variety of necessary services and its Corporate Guides are always there to help you when you run into business problems.

If you require a Kentucky LLC formation service with outstanding customer service and reasonable prices, use my special link to Northwest Registered Agent's sign-up page and receive an 82% discount.

2. ZenBusiness: 8.25/10 (Best Essentials LLC Service)

ZenBusiness offers an attractive starting price of $0 (plus state fees). But its lack of free registered agent service and small business support mean it will be expensive in the long run. 

Pros

ZenBusiness provides all of the expert services you need to get your LLC up and running. For $0, it ensures that your business name is available, that all of your information is correct, and that your articles of organization are filed with the Secretary of State. 

If you upgrade to its Pro Plan ($199), you get expedited filing (four to six days) and a guided setup of your Operating Agreement. 

The Premium Plan ($299) gets you rush filing (one to two days), a domain name and email address, and more. 

Moreover, its customer service team is highly responsive. They have extended hours throughout the week, as well as on Sunday, which provides additional value to the customer. 

Cons

ZenBusiness provides an unbeatable price for the basics, but if you need anything beyond the basics it’ll cost you more. 

It doesn’t offer registered agent service the first year, and the only plan that provides registered agent service costs $199 per year. That means that you’re paying full price for registered agent service from the first year. 

Furthermore, even though its customer support is typically able to help you with simple things like password changes or updates to billing information in a quick and efficient manner, they’re unable to help you with things like HR and logistics solutions or answering tax questions. 

Overall

ZenBusiness is a great choice to cover the basics and establish your LLC. Its US-based customer support team has extended hours of operation, which means they’re available nearly any time to answer your questions, make sure your information is correctly filled in on the forms and that the forms are filed properly with the Secretary of State. 

Though it will cost you more in the long run if you need registered agent service, you can rest easy with its 100% accuracy guarantee and worry-free compliance. 

If you want a company that covers the basics and want to learn more about ZenBusiness, you can learn more about its services on the 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 best overall because it offers customized customer support and myriad LLC services.

Pros

The primary distinction between Harbor Compliance and Northwest is how they handle customer service. While you can contact one of Northwest's Corporate Guides, Harbor Compliance assigns you a dedicated account manager who knows the distinct business struggles you're facing and delivers service-related assistance.

Its basic formation service package includes an operating agreement template, assistance with submitting your formation documents, assistance with applying for an employee identification number, and a full year of registered agent services (worth $99).

Cons

Harbor Compliance, being a premium LLC service, charges $399 (plus filing fee) for its Starter package and $799 (plus filing fee) for its Compliance package. This is about 10 times what Northwest charges for its services.

Overall

Visit the Harbor Compliance website today if you're ready to pay $399 for a personal representative who will assist you set up your Kentucky LLC and provide service-related advice when business issues emerge.

4. Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer is an online law firm that offers a wide range of legal services, as well as Kentucky LLC formation services, legal documents and contracts, and more.

Rocket Lawyer provides quick and easy online LLC formation and incorporation services. Its $99.99 nonmember formation package will help you file your Kentucky articles of organization, include a draft operating agreement template, a Kentucky business address, a seven-day free trial of its legal services membership, and online document storage.

Customers may access a variety of legal documents as part of its seven-day legal services membership trial, all of which come with Document Defense. When necessary, you may then sign, share, download, or print these documents. You will also receive a 30-minute consultation on any legal matter, have your legal documents examined by a lawyer before they are forwarded, enjoy attorney protection whenever your legal papers are challenged, and get discounts on additional attorney and registered agent services.

In case you get stuck during the formation process, its in-house staff of highly experienced lawyers provide outstanding customer support and are available during normal business hours to help you sort out your problems.

Rocket Lawyer is not without its drawbacks. For example, it does not provide any of the additional benefits provided by Northwest Registered Agent. It does not offer a year of registered agent service (which costs $149.99), compliance alerts, accounting consultations, or a VoIP service.

It is also one of the more expensive Kentucky LLC formation services because its primary focus is on people who require continuous legal services.

If you need a Kentucky LLC service that provides a variety of LLC formation services coupled with top-notch legal support, Rocket Lawyer is your best choice.

Visit the website today to learn more about its LLC services.

5. Swyft Filings

Swyft Filings assists you with filing your LLC formation forms and provides you with a 30-minute tax consultation with its in-house advisors, online access to crucial documents, a domain name for your LLC in Kentucky, and an office address in the state. All for $49 per year (plus state filing fees).

But it doesn't offer a free year of registered agent service, which instead costs $149. This makes them three times the price of Northwest, and while it is a respectable Kentucky LLC service, you are paying more for less. 

Read my entire Swyft Filings review for additional details.

6. MyCompanyWorks

MyCompanyWorks charges $79 for its basic service, which includes assistance with filing your LLC formation paperwork, assistance with drafting your operating agreement, access to an online portal to store your important files, and compliance alerts to ensure you don't forget to file your annual reports.

It has a 4.5/5 average rating based on 3,500 online reviews and it provides good customer service.

Its $279 premium package includes a full year of registered agent services, but given Northwest Registered Agent charges just $39 for its Kentucky registered agent service, MyCompanyWorks does not appear to be a good deal.

7. Inc Authority

Inc Authority is a ZenBusiness clone that claims to be a low-cost Kentucky LLC service. Closer examination reveals that this is far from the truth.

It will draft and file your Kentucky articles of organization for free, but if you want additional LLC services, such as an operating agreement or an employer identification number, you will have to pay $399. If you want to use its free registered agent service for a full year, you must purchase its $799 premium package.

Even if your only objective is to submit your LLC formation paperwork for free, ZenBusiness is a preferable alternative for a low-cost LLC formation service.

8. Incorporate Fast

Incorporate Fast is a Kentucky LLC formation service that charges $99 for its basic package (plus state fees). You receive a free year of registered agent service, a few document templates to help your Kentucky LLC get started, and assistance with preparing your LLC operating agreement and formation paperwork for that fee.

You must purchase its $199 bundle if you require an EIN, and it does not provide an online storage portal or a business tax assessment.

The best aspect of Incorporate Fast is that new business registrations are processed the same day they are received. No other Kentucky LLC formation service on this list provides such a rapid response time.

9. BizFilings

BizFilings is another Kentucky LLC formation service that offers limited LLC services. All you get for $99 is assistance with submitting your articles of organization and compliance notifications so you don't forget to file your annual reports or tax returns.

It does not help you with your operating agreement, business tax assessments, or online document storage. In comparison, Northwest Registered Agent includes all of these features and more in its $39 formation package.

10. LegalZoom

LegalZoom is yet another online legal services provider that offers basic LLC formation services.

Its $99 package includes a banking resolution and assistance with submitting your articles of organization, and that's all. If you want more extensive services, you should choose a comprehensive LLC formation service that offers more for less.

If you're looking for online legal services, LegalZoom has you covered. Aside from that, consider hiring Northwest Registered Agent—its services are much cheaper.

Other LLC Services

I included the following seven Kentucky LLC formation services as part of my study. Their services aren't particularly noteworthy, but for the purpose of universality, I've included a brief mention of the services they offer.

11. Incorporate.com

Incorporate.com provides comparable services to Rocket Lawyer. The only services it provides for $99 are an online document storage portal and assistance with submitting your articles of organization.

12. CorpNet

CorpNet's basic LLC package is $79 and includes compliance alerts and assistance with completing your LLC formation paperwork. It doesn't have anything else to offer.

13. MyCorporation

MyCorporation charges $133 to file your Kentucky articles of organization and it also helps you draft your operating agreement. It doesn’t provide a free year of Kentucky registered agent services like the best LLC services on this list.

14. Direct Incorporation

Direct Incorporation offers the same services as MyCorporationWorks. However, it goes further to include a business bank account and an EIN. The only issue is that it charges $147 for its LLC services.

15. InCorp

InCorp will submit your LLC formation paperwork and assist you with drafting your operating agreement for $117. Any other supplemental service entails an extra cost.

16. Nationwide Incorporations

Nationwide Incorporations charges $200 for the same basic services that InCorp provides.

17. SunDoc Filings

SunDoc Filings provides three LLC formation packages. Your articles of organization will be submitted as part of its $79 basic package. Its $99 Key package includes assistance with your LLC operating agreement, while its $279 Premier package includes an EIN.

The Best LLC Service Review Summary

After reviewing the 17 major Kentucky LLC formation services, I concluded that Northwest Registered Agent is my top option for best LLC services in the Bluegrass State.

Its $39 package includes all the best registered agent and LLC formation services you'd expect from a Kentucky LLC service, such as help with your articles of organization, help with drafting your LLC operating agreement, a three-month free trial of VoIP service, compliance alerts, a business tax consultation with its in-house accountants, an online document portal, and a full year of Kentucky registered agent service.

Its Corporate Guides not only help you with your Kentucky business creation, but they also offer the greatest small business guidance in the market.

Northwest Registered Agent is an economical Kentucky LLC formation service that can help you get properly started in the business world while also providing excellent customer care.

Best LLC Service Review Methodology 

This section describes the process I followed to find the best Kentucky LLC services.

Why You Should Trust Me

You should trust my suggestions for Kentucky LLC formation services because I have more expertise dealing with LLC services than anybody I know.

My tale begins with the formation of my first limited liability company (LLC). Because I lacked the necessary information to submit my formation papers, I opted to engage an LLC service to assist me. The service I hired (whose name I won't reveal here because its services have significantly improved over time) was too pricey and delivered such mediocre services that the entire process became too onerous in the end.

My second project in the Kentucky business world went much more smoothly. This time, I hired Northwest, who expertly guided me through the full setup procedure.

After a while, I sold my second business and started looking for a new one. This time, I chose to upgrade to a premium business service, and Harbor Compliance was the obvious choice. Its dedicated account manager guided me through the formation process and was always available to provide sound service-related advice along the way.

My experience goes beyond the use of these services. I had a conversation with a couple of my entrepreneur pals while hunting for my third business endeavor, and a consistent pattern surfaced. There is a lot of business advice out there, and the majority of it is either technical gibberish or is too conflicting to understand.

That is why I founded BoostSuite, to assist LLC owners in selecting the best business service to help them set up their business entity, and I've since helped over 1,000 small business owners do just that.

How I Selected the Best LLC Service

To choose the best LLC formation services in Kentucky, I went through a four-stage procedure.

Stage 1: Reviews

The first stage was to examine online reviews of all Kentucky LLC formation services. This involved days of scouring through TrustPilot, Google Business, Facebook, and the Better Business Bureau, which there were plenty of because most LLC providers encourage their customers to share their experiences on these sites.

This method enabled me to distinguish between providers of low-quality service packages—or outright scams—and providers of real, high-quality services.

Stage 2: Website Analysis

After discarding the unreliable services, I went to the websites of the remaining service providers and examined their offers, claims, and assertions. This enabled me to comprehend the fundamental services provided by each firm and how they stood apart from the competitors.

Stage 3: Speaking With Real Customers

For the following stage, I decided to contact actual customers to see if these firms lived up to their claims. To be honest, I could have depended on online reviews to address my concerns, but these evaluations tend to be biased toward either really bad or very positive experiences. I needed to strike a balance.

I spoke to friends who had used a Kentucky business services provider, folks who had used my website, and others I'd previously referred to find out what their experiences were with these companies.

This provided me with a decent idea of how each formation service worked.

Stage 4: Speaking With Sales Teams

For the final part of the research, I contacted their sales and customer service teams and pressed them for answers about the bad comments they received online from their customers.

This allowed me to watch how their support teams functioned under duress and how effectively they handled criticism.

Rating Factors

As I progressed through the four-stage evaluation process, I rated the Kentucky LLC formation services using the five factors listed below.

Factor 1: Offerings

The first consideration was the sort of services provided by these Kentucky LLC formation services.

Some LLC formation services incorporate a variety of features in their basic packages. These services include assistance in filing your articles of organization, assistance in drafting your Kentucky LLC operating agreement, a Kentucky office address, an EIN, online access to your important documents, and a full year of Kentucky registered agent service.

Other Kentucky LLC and registered agent services merely assist you with your formation documents for free and compensate for this with their more costly packages. I moved these businesses to the bottom of the list to create room for those that provide more extensive services.

Factor 2: Price

The cost of services was the next factor I considered in my investigation. It's pointless to spend your start-up capital on a registered agent in Kentucky only to be left with no funds to manage your LLC in Kentucky.

Some Kentucky business services providers may charge you nothing for their basic services, while others will charge you close to $400. The main aspect here was to separate those who provided better value for money from those who did not.

Factor 3: Ease of Sign-Up

The third factor I used to rank the Kentucky LLC formation services was how simple it was to sign up for them.

Some businesses have clumsy, archaic systems that appear to be from the 1990s, but others have incredibly intuitive and easy systems that save you a lot of time and brainpower. I signed up for each formation service to see how simple or difficult the procedure was.

Factor 4: Ease of Use

If a company has a tough sign-up procedure, you can expect that the majority of their website's features will take a similar approach.

Some services provide blank forms that take a long time to fill out (despite containing all the essential information), while others provide filled-out document templates that not only save you time but also don't stress your brain.

This is why the fourth rating factor was how user friendly the websites of each service provider were to navigate.

Factor 5: Customer Service

The quality of their customer support services was the final factor I used to evaluate these firms.

Some businesses outsource customer service to contact centers in foreign countries, where poorly trained people with little or no knowledge of how to run a business in the United States are expected to handle a client's concerns.

Then there's Northwest, whose US-based Corporate Guides, a team of former attorneys, accountants, and business owners with years of expertise, can answer all of your questions about the establishment procedure and are ready to guide you throughout your Kentucky business adventure.

In Conclusion

After researching the top 10 Kentucky LLC formation services using my four-stage, five-factor approach, I found that Northwest Registered Agent is the best LLC service in Kentucky.

For $39 per year, it provides all the necessary LLC formation services while also representing the best value for your money. 

These services include assistance with filing your articles of organization, assistance with drafting your LLC operating agreement, an address in Kentucky, a three-month free trial of VoIP service, an online storage portal, compliance alerts that remind you to file your annual report in due time, and a full year of registered agent service.

Northwest’s Corporate Guides offer excellent small business advice anytime your Kentucky business faces difficulties.

If you are ready to register an LLC in Kentucky, contact Northwest Registered Agent today and take advantage of an incredible 82% discount.