Ask for the cheapest registered agent and you will get a number. The number is usually wrong, because it answers a national question that does not exist. A registered agent has to have a physical address in the state your company is formed in, which means there is no national market for this service. There are fifty one of them, and the cheapest option in New Mexico is not sold in Ohio.
You can see this in the search results themselves. For the query cheapest registered agent, with no state in it, most of page one is single-state pages: a Delaware provider, a Florida provider, a Texas provider, two California roundups. Four of the six questions Google attaches to that page name a state. The search engine has already worked out that this is a state question.
An earlier version of this page said Bizee renews at about $119 and called it the cheapest paid service. Bizee's own page now lists $149 a year. That is more than Northwest at $125, so the recommendation inverted. Every price on this page has since been read off the provider's own page and carries that date. We publish our corrections because we audit other people's fee tables and it would be absurd not to.
The genuinely cheapest option is still $0
Every state lets you act as your own registered agent if you have a physical address there and are available during business hours. That is free, and for a lot of one-person businesses operating from a commercial address it is the right answer. We say so even though we earn nothing when you take it.
Two things stop it being free in practice. The first is privacy: the address you list becomes a public record, searchable by anyone, permanently. The second is eligibility, and it is stricter than most people expect. Virginia requires an individual agent to be a state resident and either a member or manager of the LLC or a member of the Virginia State Bar, so a willing friend cannot serve. Maryland forbids the LLC from being its own agent, while Kansas expressly allows it. Minnesota does not require an agent at all. Check your state before assuming the free route is open.
National services, sorted by what you actually pay
Sort by renewal, never by the first year. Two of the five below discount year one and then charge three to four times a local specialist's flat rate. Prices read off each provider's own page on 21 September 2026.
| Service | First year | Renewal / year | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest | Free with $39 formation | $125 | Cheapest national renewal. $100/yr per state at five or more states. Address privacy by default. |
| Bizee | Free with $0 formation | $149 | Was widely reported at ~$119. Its own page says $149. Free first year is genuine. |
| Harbor Compliance | $99 | $159 | Aggregators still republish $149. Its own page says $159. |
| ZenBusiness | $99 + state fees | $199 | The $99 is year one only. Renewal is four times a $49 local. |
| LegalZoom | $249 | $249 | No first-year discount. Five times a local specialist for the same statutory duty. |
The spread from $125 to $249 is for an identical legal obligation: accept service of process at an address in your state. Nothing in the statute distinguishes a $249 agent from a $125 one. What you are buying above the floor is mail handling, scanning volume, a business address, compliance reminders and support quality, and those are real things. They are just not the legal service.
The tier the national tables leave out
Almost every comparison article lists the same five national brands. The cheapest option in most states is not on that list, because it operates in one state and has no reason to buy its way onto a national roundup. These single-state specialists typically charge a flat $35 to $49, with no first-year discount because they do not need one.
We have read provider pages state by state rather than assuming, and we publish only what we have checked. Two states are done so far, with their read dates:
| State | Cheapest verified local | Price | Read on | The state-specific catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | New Mexico Registered Agent | $35/yr | 18 Sep 2026 | Three near-identically named sites charge $35, $99 and $99. Check the address bar before paying. |
| Arizona | Arizona Statutory Agent (Phoenix) | $49/yr | 21 Sep 2026 | A Maricopa or Pima County agent removes the publication requirement, worth $80 to $120. |
We add a state to this table only once we have opened each provider's pricing page and read the figure. We are not going to publish a fifty-state table we have not checked. If your state is missing, the state guides carry that state's own filing and annual fees, which are verified and dated.
Where the cheapest agent quietly costs you money
Arizona is the clearest example of a price that is not the price. Form an LLC anywhere in the state and you must publish a notice three times within 60 days, unless your statutory agent's address sits in Maricopa or Pima County, where the Corporation Commission posts it for you. So a $49 agent in Flagstaff costs $129 to $169 in year one once the newspaper is paid, while a $99 Phoenix agent costs $99. The cheaper agent is the more expensive decision, in year one.
This is why the state page matters more than the price table. The agent fee is one line; what the agent's address does to your other obligations is the rest of the bill.
How to actually keep the total down
- Compare on the renewal figure. Harbor and ZenBusiness both open at $99 and then bill $159 and $199.
- Check whether a single-state specialist serves your state before defaulting to a national brand. The gap is often three to five times.
- Read what your state does to the agent's address. Arizona's publication exemption is worth more than the whole agent fee.
- If you are eligible to be your own agent and the address is commercial rather than residential, take the $0 option.
- Get your EIN free from the IRS. Nobody should charge you for it.
- Treat switching as normal. A change of agent costs $0 in Virginia, $5 in Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and $60 in Nevada.
How we check these prices
Every figure on this page was read off the provider's own pricing page, and the date is printed next to it. We do this because we checked five widely read LLC fee guides against official state sources and found more than forty wrong figures, two of them our own. Prices move. A number without a date is a number you cannot rely on, including ours.
Provider prices and state fees change without notice. Confirm the current figure on the provider's own site before you buy, and check your state's fees on its state guide.