Find the right registered agent for your state
Independent guides and honest reviews to help you choose a registered agent and form your LLC the right way — without the hidden fees and upsells.
Which registered agent is right for the state where your business is formed? We compare the real options — including doing it yourself — state by state.
Your home address can become a public record
In most states, whatever address you list when you form an LLC goes on a free, searchable government database — permanently. Acting as your own registered agent usually means publishing where you live. Some states are far more private than others, and a commercial agent's address can stand in for yours.
How our top pick handles privacy →·The states built for anonymity →
How we rate registered agent services
We evaluate every provider the same way, so each recommendation is based on real value and protection — never on commercial relationships.
Transparency
We show the real first-year and renewal price — service fee plus state fee — and call out the upsells.
Reliability
We check requirements against official Secretary of State sources, and date every page so you can verify.
Price Value
We weigh what's actually included against what it costs — and say when filing yourself is the smarter move.
Support
We factor in whether you reach real US-based help or a script when something actually goes wrong.
Expert Guides
Everything you need to know about registered agents and LLC formation.
Best Registered Agent Service (2026)
The best registered agent services in 2026 compared on renewal price, privacy, upsells, and support — with the best pick for each situation, including DIY.
Read Guide →Best state to form an LLC
The best state to form an LLC is almost always the one you operate in. Here is why, with five-year costs for all 51 jurisdictions, the 11 states with no recurring fee, and what Wyoming, Delaware, New Mexico and Nevada actually cost.
Read Guide →Colorado business entity search
How to search the Colorado Secretary of State business database by name, ID or registered agent — why there are two different search tools, what 'Delinquent' means, and how to lock your own record.
Read Guide →Illinois business entity search
How to search the Illinois Secretary of State business database, check whether an LLC name is actually available under 805 ILCS 180/1-10, and read what the record tells you about a company.
Read Guide →New Mexico business entity search
How to search the New Mexico Secretary of State business registry — and the honest explanation of why a New Mexico record shows less than any other state's, what its status line does not prove, and what to do when you need the owner.
Read Guide →North Carolina business entity search
How to search the NC Secretary of State business registry by name, SOSID or registered agent — what each field on the record means, and what to do when the agent shown is wrong.
Read Guide →Texas business entity search
How to search Texas business entities on SOSDirect, why each search costs $1, the free Comptroller lookup most guides miss, the name rules in Texas Admin Code §79 that actually decide availability, and what a record tells you.
Read Guide →Business insurance requirements by state
The one insurance states actually require — workers' comp — and exactly when: every state threshold verified against the official agency, from Texas's opt-out to the states where hiring employee #3 triggers the law.
Read Guide →Can I Be My Own Registered Agent?
Yes, you can be your own registered agent if you meet the rules — but here's what it really costs you in privacy and risk, and when a service is smarter.
Read Guide →How to Change Your Registered Agent
How to change your registered agent in any state: the steps, your state's exact filing fee, the 30-60 day deadline, and the cheapest, most private agent to switch to.
Read Guide →Cheapest Registered Agent (2026)
There is no national cheapest registered agent. Local specialists start around $35-$49 a year, national services renew at $125-$249. Every price read off the provider's own page and dated.
Read Guide →The Cheapest Way to Start an LLC in 2026
The genuinely cheapest way to form an LLC in 2026 — what's actually unavoidable, what's free if you DIY, and the upsells to skip. Honest numbers, no fluff.
Read Guide →Dissolve a California LLC
California charges nothing to dissolve an LLC but $800 for every year it exists. Which forms (LLC-3, LLC-4/7, LLC-4/8), the FTB's four conditions to stop the $800, the 12-month short-form escape, and the July 2026 online-only rule.
Read Guide →Dissolve a Delaware LLC
Cancelling a Delaware LLC costs $220 plus the $400 annual tax, which §18-1107 makes due on cancellation. What the Certificate of Cancellation must say, why the tax is never prorated, the $200 penalty for a missed June, and why waiting is the most expensive option.
Read Guide →Dissolve a Florida LLC
Florida LLC dissolution is one $25 form on Sunbiz with no tax clearance. Articles of Dissolution under §605.0707, the optional notice that bars unknown claims after four years, why dissolving beats missing the May 1 report, and the IRS steps after.
Read Guide →Dissolve a New Jersey LLC
New Jersey LLC dissolution is a $100 online filing with no tax clearance — the months-long clearance warning is for corporations. N.J.S.A. 42:2C-49 and 42:2C-93, the three credentials the online service needs, the $75 reports that must be filed first, and what a revoked LLC has to do.
Read Guide →Dissolve a Texas LLC
Texas will not file a Certificate of Termination ($40, Form 651) without a Comptroller Certificate of Account Status. The six-step Comptroller sequence, the final franchise report, the certificate's 31 December expiry, and why forfeiture is not a free exit.
Read Guide →Do You Really Need a Registered Agent?
Do you need a registered agent? Every US LLC does. Whether you can be your own, the states that forbid it, the privacy risk, and what a service really costs.
Read Guide →How to dissolve an LLC
The three closings every LLC needs — state, state tax agency, IRS — with verified 2026 fees for California ($0), Florida ($25), Texas ($40), New Jersey ($100) and Delaware ($220), which states demand tax clearance first, and why not dissolving costs more.
Read Guide →How to Start a US LLC as a Non-US Resident
Form a US LLC from abroad with no SSN or visa. Step-by-step: state choice, registered agent, EIN timelines, remote banking, and the Form 5472 filing most miss.
Read Guide →We fact-checked 5 popular LLC fee guides
We compared the LLC fee tables published by five widely-read sites against official state sources. 40+ figures were wrong — including two of ours. Every error listed, with the official source for each.
Read Guide →An LLC for your Airbnb
Should your short-term rental be in an LLC? What the liability shield actually covers, why the property's state beats Wyoming hype, the mortgage clause to check first, and what an LLC won't do about permits.
Read Guide →An LLC for your rental property
The landlord's LLC questions answered without the forum myths: what the shield covers, one LLC per property vs one for all, where series LLCs actually help, the due-on-sale trap, and why the property's state wins.
Read Guide →Northwest vs Bizee: Which Cheap LLC Service Wins?
Northwest ($39) vs Bizee ($0) LLC formation compared: real pricing, privacy, upsells, TrustPilot scores, and 5-year costs — plus which one is right for you.
Read Guide →Northwest vs LegalZoom: Which Should You Choose?
Northwest vs LegalZoom compared on price, registered-agent cost, privacy, speed, and attorney access — plus who should choose each (and when DIY wins).
Read Guide →Northwest vs ZenBusiness: Which Is Better?
Northwest vs ZenBusiness on price, registered-agent renewal, 5-year cost of ownership, privacy, compliance upsells, speed, and support — and who each fits best.
Read Guide →Registered Agent Cost (2026)
How much a registered agent costs in 2026: $0 DIY, $35–$60 local specialists, $99–$300 national services. Verified prices, renewal traps, and hidden add-ons.
Read Guide →Sales tax economic nexus, state by state
When online sellers must register for another state's sales tax: the $100k default, the $500k exception states, New York's two-part test, Alaska's no-state-tax twist — each verified against the state tax authority.
Read Guide →The Top Contenders
Two services we recommend most often. See the full breakdown in our reviews and comparisons below.
How we make money: we earn a commission if you sign up through a provider link in our reviews or state guides — at no extra cost to you, and it never changes what we recommend. There are no affiliate links on this page. See how we make money.
Northwest Registered Agent
$39 + state fee · registered agent free for year one, then ~$125/yr.
- donePrivacy by Default — their address, not yours
- doneUS-based support, no upsell funnel
- doneFree first year of registered agent
Bizee
$0 + state fee · the lowest upfront cost, with a free first registered-agent year.
- done$0 formation service fee
- doneUser-friendly compliance dashboard
- doneLifetime deadline alerts
Pricing shown reflects each provider's advertised rates as of September 2026 and can change — confirm current pricing on the provider's site.
In-Depth Reviews
Independent, methodology-based reviews of the services founders ask about most.
Northwest Registered Agent LLC
An independent look at Northwest Registered Agent's LLC formation service — pricing, privacy protection, what's included, and who it's right for.
Read Review →Bizee.com
An independent Bizee review: what's really free, the registered-agent year, checkout upsells, a side-by-side comparison vs Northwest, LegalZoom & ZenBusiness.
Read Review →Registered agent by state
Requirements, costs, and filing rules are tied to the state where your business is formed — start with yours. Want exact numbers first? Try the LLC cost calculator — every state's filing and annual fees, verified.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly does a registered agent do?expand_more
Can I be my own registered agent?expand_more
Is it worth paying for a registered agent service?expand_more
Why trust RegisteredAgentHub
Our recommendations are written to be useful first. Here's the standard we hold ourselves to — read how we review and how we make money.
Independent & reader-funded
We're not owned by any registered-agent or formation company, and commercial relationships never change our rankings.
Sourced from official records
State requirements and fees come from Secretary of State and Division of Corporations sources, and every page is dated so you can verify.
We'll tell you to skip it
When filing yourself or claiming a free EIN from the IRS is the smarter move, we say so — even when it earns us nothing.