The 10 Best LLC Services in North Dakota: Reviewed and Ranked

When forming a limited liability company (LLC) in North Dakota, you must hire an LLC formation service to help you with the business registration procedure.

The right LLC formation service will assist you in submitting your articles of organization with the North Dakota Secretary of State and will send you compliance notifications to remind you of upcoming filing deadlines.

The wrong LLC formation service will delay your business registration, wasting valuable time that might have been spent on more critical business tasks.

I conducted a four-stage, five-factor review of the 17 major LLC formation services in North Dakota to distinguish the top 10 that provide high-quality and dependable services from those that provide inadequate or subpar services. Here are the results of my research.

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

Northwest Registered Agent is my first pick for the best LLC service in North Dakota. Its low-cost formation package includes a wide range of services, and its customer support is the best in the market.

Pros

Northwest's $39 formation package includes services such as assistance with filing your articles of organization, help with drafting your operating agreement, a business name and physical address in North Dakota, an online document storage portal, a free business tax consultation with in-house accountants, and a free year of registered agent service.

This package also includes a three-month free trial of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, as well as compliance alerts that notify you of important filing deadlines.

Northwest’s services are built on privacy. Its registered agent address replaces yours on all public records, allowing you to dodge data scrapers, curious rivals, and other online weirdos. Your mail is scanned and uploaded to secure servers (owned by Northwest) for mail forwarding and virtual office services.

Northwest's formation package costs $225, but as a BoostSuite reader, you can save 82% by using my special link to Northwest's sign-up page.

Despite all that, its most valuable feature has to be its customer service. The Northwest support staff are known internally as Corporate Guides, and they are a highly experienced team of former attorneys, accountants, and small business owners with extensive knowledge on how to start and manage a North Dakota LLC.

The Corporate Guides will assist you with your North Dakota LLC formation process and are accessible during normal business hours to answer any inquiries regarding how to run your LLC in North Dakota.

This sort of business advice is typically expensive, especially when provided by third-party financial or business experts, so it's a relief to find a North Dakota LLC provider that includes it in its basic package.

Cons

The one downside of Northwest is that it doesn't provide any services that help your North Dakota LLC gain an online presence, such as a customized business website, email hosting, social media tools, or domain-name registration.

However, you need not be concerned because you can obtain the same services from a variety of websites, such as Squarespace, for as little as $15.

Overall

Northwest Registered Agent is the best LLC service in North Dakota. If you're ready to form an LLC, its $39 formation package includes all the services you'll need to set up your North Dakota LLC, and its Corporate Guides provide excellent customer service and the best small business guidance in the market.

Visit Northwest Registered Agent today if you are looking for a dependable and economical LLC formation service in North Dakota that also provides great business advice.

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

ZenBusiness has a crowd-pleasing price of $0. Yes, you read that right. But because of some unfortunate omissions from its service list, it will ultimately be more expensive than that. 

Pros

For just the cost of the state filing fee, ZenBusiness will help you establish your LLC by providing services such as running a business name availability search, checking the accuracy of the information on your formation paperwork, and filing your formation documents for you. 

It also offers a Pro plan for $199 that includes expedited filing (around four to six days) and assistance with your operating agreement, and a Premium plan for $299 that includes rush filing (one to two days), a domain name, email address, and custom web-design tool. 

To top it all off, its customer service team has extended business hours on both weekdays and Sundays. 

Cons

While $0 is a great price, that just covers the absolute essentials. If you need anything else, you’ll have to pay additional fees. 

There’s one really big feature missing from ZenBusiness’ service list: a year of free registered agent service. That means you’re paying full price for your first year, and it costs $199, so that’s not ideal. 

On top of that, it doesn’t offer small business advice. So even though its customer service team is quick and courteous, it isn’t made up of professionals that can assist you with logistics issues or give you tax advice. 

Overall

ZenBusiness supplies all the essential services necessary to legally establish your LLC in North Dakota. It will make sure that the information on your formation documents is accurate, and then file your co mpany’s articles of organization.

Registered agent service will cost you extra, but its additional features like its 100% accuracy guarantee and worry-free compliance will provide you with less stress. 

If you want the basics and would like to learn more about ZenBusiness’ services, read more on the website. 

3. Harbor Compliance: 7.15/10 (Best Premium LLC Service)

Harbor Compliance is the best premium limited liability company formation service on this list because it provides good quality but pricey formation packages coupled with personalized customer support.

Pros

Harbor Compliance’s formation package provides basic services such as an operating agreement template, submission of your formation forms with the Secretary of State, a business address in the state, assistance with obtaining an employee identification number, and a free year of registered agent services (worth $99).

The primary distinction between Harbor Compliance and Northwest is how they approach customer support. Harbor Compliance provides you with a dedicated account manager who knows your business challenges and provides service-related solutions.

Cons

However, the level of customer service provided by Harbor Compliance comes at a cost. The Harbor Compliance Starter package costs $399 as a premium LLC formation service, while its Compliance package costs roughly $799.

This is more than 10 times the price of Northwest and is out of most people's grasp, especially those who are just starting out in business and don't have a lot of money to invest in a premium LLC service.

Overall

Harbor Compliance is a premium LLC formation service provider that offers good services for your North Dakota LLC, and its personalized customer support is among the best in the market.

Its packages are expensive, but given the individualized nature of its services, it offers great value for money.

Visit the Harbor Compliance website today if you're ready to pay $399 for a dedicated account manager who will help you set up your North Dakota LLC and also provide personalized advice.

4. Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer is an online legal services company that also offers LLC formation services to its premium clientele.

When you purchase Rocket Lawyer’s $99.99 LLC formation service your articles of organization will be filed and submitted to the Secretary of State's office, as expected. 

But that’s not all. You’ll automatically receive a seven-day free trial of Rocket Lawyer’s legal services membership and your legal documents will be reviewed by a lawyer. You will have access to legal representation in court if necessary, and you’ll receive a 30-minute consultation with a lawyer on any topic.

Thanks to its focus on online legal services, Rocket Lawyer doesn’t offer a free year of registered agent service, EIN access, or phone service. They are also more costly compared with Northwest Registered Agent, which provides a wide array of services in its formation package.

If you need continuous legal support and services after forming a North Dakota LLC, Rocket Lawyer is a good option. This platform is especially useful for first-time business owners who are inexperienced with the state's business regulations. However, if you want more extensive services, Northwest Registered Agent is the most preferable alternative.

5. Swyft Filings

Swyft Filings is an LLC formation service whose basic package of $49 includes all the services you'd expect from a North Dakota LLC formation service. This includes an online portal to store important business documents, assistance with submitting your formation paperwork, 30-minutes of free tax guidance with its in-house accountants, and a registered domain name for your North Dakota LLC.

Swyft Filings' main drawback is that if you require its registered agent services for a year, you must pay $149, which is more than three times the price of Northwest.

Unless you are ready to pay extra for the same services that Northwest provides, you should not consider its services.

6. MyCompanyWorks

MyCompanyWorks charges $79 for help with your articles of organization, a registered agent office address, compliance notifications, and online access to your most important documents.

It’s pretty popular, with a 4.9/5 average rating out of 3,500 online reviews.

Its main disadvantage is that its basic package does not include a free year of North Dakota registered agent service. You'll need to upgrade to the $279 premium package for that. Considering that Northwest includes a free year of registered agent services in its $39 package, MyCompanyWorks doesn't appear to be a valid alternative.

7. Inc Authority

Inc Authority is another pricey LLC formation service that portrays itself as a low-cost option. It will assist you with filing your formation documents for free, but that is the extent of its service.

Its basic package is $399 and includes an operating agreement template and assistance with applying for an EIN. In its $799 premium package, it only includes a free year of North Dakota registered agent service.

Even if your capital is running low and you simply need to file your articles of organization, ZenBusiness is a far better alternative than IncAuthority.

8. Incorporate Fast

Incorporate Fast distinguishes itself from other business formation services in North Dakota by living true to its name. It promises that if you sign up for the $99 package, it will process your articles of organization the same day they’re received.

But it doesn't offer free business tax advice or an online document storage platform. Incorporate Fast does, however, offer a $199 premium plan that will assist you with obtaining an EIN.

9. BizFilings

BizFilings charges $99 for its basic package. You'll get help completing your articles of organization, a free year of registered agent services, and compliance notifications so you don't miss important filing dates.

BizFilings, unlike Northwest Registered Agent, does not provide you with any additional services like an online portal for document storage, operating agreement templates, or a business tax assessment.

10. LegalZoom

Another online legal service company that provides very basic LLC services is LegalZoom.

Its $99 package provides your North Dakota LLC with a banking solution and assistance with submitting your articles of organization. If you want more extensive services, it is preferable to choose a comprehensive LLC service that offers more services for a lower cost such as Northwest.

Other North Dakota LLC Services

I included the following seven LLC services as part of my investigation. Their services don't provide anything to write about, but I've chosen to include them here just to be thorough. Here they are in no particular order.

11. Incorporate.com

Incorporate.com provides similar services as Rocket Lawyer. It only provides an online document archiving portal and assistance with filing your articles of organization for $99 per year.

12. CorpNet

The $79 basic formation plan from CorpNet includes compliance notifications and assistance with filing your Articles of Association. It doesn't have anything else to offer.

13. MyCorporation

MyCorporation charges $133 to file your LLC formation forms with the North Dakota Secretary of State and also assists with the drafting of your operating agreement.

14. Direct Incorporation

Direct Incorporation provides the same services as MyCorporationWorks. However, as part of its formation service, they provide an EIN and banking resolution. The issue is that it charges $147 for these insignificant services.

15. InCorp

InCorp will help you submit your Articles of Incorporation and prepare your operating agreement for $117. You will be charged extra for any other comprehensive service.

16. Nationwide Incorporations

Nationwide Incorporations charges $200 for the same substandard services as InCorp.

17. SunDoc Filings

SunDoc Filings offers three options. Its $79 starter package includes submitting your formation paperwork with the North Dakota Secretary of State. Its $99 Key package offers assistance with your operating agreement, while its $279 Premier package provides an EIN.

The Best LLC Service Review Summary

After reviewing the 17 best LLC formation services, I concluded that Northwest Registered Agent is your top choice for the best business formation service in North Dakota.

Its $39 formation package includes everything you'd expect from a North Dakota LLC service, such as assistance with filing your articles of organization, a draft operating agreement template, a 90-day free trial of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, an online document storage portal, compliance alerts, a business tax consultation, and a full year of registered agent service for free.

If you wish to include some comprehensive extras, such as an EIN, a Certificate of Good Standing, or access to state-certified copies of your formation paperwork, you can do so for a fee.

Its expert team of Corporate Guides will assist you with the LLC formation process and are always available to provide business advice if you run into difficulties along the way.

Northwest Registered Agent is the best choice if you need an economical and dependable business formation service that can help you get started in business while delivering industry-leading small business advice.

Best LLC Service Review Methodology 

In this section, I outline the procedure I followed to arrive at my conclusion.

Why You Should Trust Me

You should trust my LLC service suggestions because I have spent more time and money researching the LLC services sector than any reasonable person would.

My adventure began when I established my first limited liability company. I didn't have the necessary expertise to file my articles of organization, so I opted to engage an LLC service provider to assist me. However, the agency I chose was pricey and delivered services of such low quality that the entire ordeal ended up being a catastrophe.

My second effort at starting a North Dakota LLC went much more smoothly. This time, I chose Northwest Registered Agent since it provided a very reasonable basic package and its staff of Corporate Guides guided me throughout the North Dakota LLC formation process.

After a while, I sold my second firm and began looking for a new opportunity. This time, I chose to upgrade to a premium LLC service provider, and Harbor Compliance was an obvious choice. I got a dedicated account manager who aided me with my North Dakota LLC establishment and was always accessible to provide service related advice throughout my business journey.

My experience, however, is not restricted to using these services. While looking for my third business opportunity, I spoke with a couple of colleagues about their business start-up process and saw a recurring trend. There is a lot of business advice floating around, and much of it is either technical jargon or too confusing to grasp.

It’s the reason I founded BoostSuite. To assist entrepreneurs in selecting the best North Dakota LLC formation provider to help them establish their firms, and I've since assisted over 1,000 small business owners in doing so.

How I Selected the Best LLC Service

I investigated these LLC formation services using the four-stage approach outlined below.

Stage 1: Reviews

The first phase was to analyze the online reviews of all LLC services in North Dakota, which required days of searching review sites such as TrustPilot, Google Business, Facebook, and the Better Business Bureau, as most business services in North Dakota encourage their customers to post their positive or negative experiences on these websites.

This method enabled me to distinguish between businesses that provided subpar services and those that provided authentic, high-quality services.

Stage 2: Website Analysis

After eliminating these subpar services, I logged into the remaining North Dakota LLC services and examined their offerings, claims, and public statements, which allowed me to understand the services that each company provided and how they differed from one another, or rather how they positioned themselves in the market.

Stage 3: Speaking With Real Customers

For the following phase, I decided to contact actual customers to see if these businesses lived up to their claims. Of course, I could have depended on online reviews to get answers to my questions, but these reviews are slanted toward either really negative or extremely positive experiences.

I spoke with friends who had used an LLC formation service, people who had used my website, and others to whom I had previously suggested a business service to learn about their experiences with these companies.

This provided me with a solid sense of how each company worked.

Stage 4: Speaking With Their Sales Teams

For this final stage, I called each LLC service's sales and customer service teams and pressed them for responses to some of the bad criticism they had received from their customers on online review sites.

This allowed me to see how their support teams worked under duress and how they dealt with criticism.

Rating Factors

I rated these North Dakota LLC formation services using the five factors listed below after going through the four-stage review process.

Factor 1: Offerings

The basic packages of certain LLC formation services include a wide range of offerings. These services include assistance with filing your articles of organization, an operating agreement template, a state-registered business name and address, an employer identification number, online access to your important documents, and a full year of registered agent services.

Other LLC services will merely assist you with the vital services necessary in establishing your firm and will either opt to exclude other items from their base plan or resolve this issue with their more expensive plans. These businesses were relegated to the bottom of the list to create a place for those that provide more extensive services.

Factor 2: Price

Price was the second criterion I considered in my investigation. It makes no sense to invest your whole start-up cash on a North Dakota business formation service just to run out of funds to manage your business.

Some LLC providers charge nothing for their basic services, while others charge over $300. This study enabled me to separate those who provided the best value for money from those who did not.

Factor 3: Ease of Sign-Up

The third criterion I used to rate these services was the ease of registration.

Some firms have outdated systems while others have modern, user-friendly platforms that reduce the tedious work involved in establishing a business entity in North Dakota.

I signed up for each of these business formation services in order to go through their registration procedure and confirm that any problems or glitches in the data collecting process had been eliminated.

Factor 4: Ease of Use

I expanded my analysis of the sign-up procedure to other portions of each website to see how easy (or difficult) it was to navigate. This entailed creating a bogus company and submitting my formation forms to the Secretary of State.

This evaluation method enabled me to distinguish between LLC creation services with intuitive and simple back-end systems and those that were redundant and took more time and effort to use.

Factor 5: Customer Service

The fifth and last factor in my rating process was the quality of customer service. This is where I saw a significant difference in how most LLC providers treated their consumers.

Some services outsourced customer care to call centers in other countries staffed by employees unfamiliar with the American business start-up process. As a result, you'll wind up wasting a lot of valuable time attempting to explain your problems.

Other service providers, such as Northwest Registered Agent, have a customer service department in the United States staffed by former accountants, lawyers, and small business owners who have faced the same challenges you are facing and are available during normal business hours to offer credible advice during your business journey

I contacted every customer support department using any means possible (online chats, emails, and phone calls) and pressed them for answers on some of the services they provide.

In Conclusion

Following my four-stage, five-factor analysis of all 17 formation services on this list, I found that Northwest Registered Agent is the best LLC service provider in North Dakota.

Its $39 basic package includes all the services you'll need to establish your LLC in North Dakota, including assistance with filing your articles of organization, a draft operating agreement template, and a free business tax consultation with its accounting department.

Northwest will also help you with a business name and address in the state, and throw in a 90-day free trial of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, an online document storage portal, compliance alerts, and a full year of the best-registered agent service you’ll find.

Its Corporate Guides will assist you with the formation of your firm and are available during normal business hours to give you first-rate small business advice throughout your journey.

If you’re looking for a business service provider in North Dakota that offers affordable services as well as world-class customer support, contact Northwest Registered Agent today and enjoy an 82% discount on LLC formation.