Is BizFilings Legit?
The limited liability company is an increasingly popular business structure in America, with thousands of new LLCs being formed every day. The LLC is effectually a hybrid business type, occupying the space between the rigid formalities of a corporation, and the casual nature of a general partnership or sole proprietorship.
While you can create your own LLC, the process for doing so varies from state to state, so there’s no uniform process for forming one. This can make it complicated and time-consuming. Some entrepreneurs choose to hire a business attorney to form their limited liability companies, but this route can be expensive, costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees.
The other option is to hire an LLC service to form your company. There are many companies that offer limited liability company formation services online, and it’s sometimes difficult to determine which one has your best interests in mind. If you’re looking to form your own LLC, but you’re not quite sure where to turn, we hope that our comprehensive reviews can help you decide.
In this review, we’ll take a close look at BizFilings, one of the top service providers in the industry. Are they the right service to form your new LLC?
About BizFilings
BizFilings has been around since 1996, and they’ve formed over half a million businesses in that time. The company is a subsidiary of the massive global information services company Wolters Kluwer.
On their website, BizFilings shares their mission statement as follows: “Our single focus is to help entrepreneurs and business owners start, run, and grow their companies. We work with companies of all sizes, and offer products, services, and tools that provide companies the support they need throughout the life of their business.”
A fun fact about BizFilings is their “BizFilings Guarantee” that covers all purchases made on their platform. In their own words, “BizFilings is confident in its ability to deliver a service that exceeds customer expectations. Our business filing services are both accurate and timely, and we pride ourselves on providing the highest level of service in the industry. Each order received is reviewed to identify potential errors. In the unlikely event that a filing error is made, we respond promptly to remedy the error.”
30-Second Summary Of Our Review
BizFilings has plenty of experience, with over 500,000 business filings since they were founded in 1996. Their entry-level price is reasonable, and all of their LLC formation packages include six months of registered agent service. However, their top two packages vary in price considerably depending on which state you’re forming in. BizFilings isn’t our first choice for LLC formation service, but they do enough things right that they’re worth your consideration.
BizFilings Strengths
- Solid track record and customer volume – With 20+ years of experience and over 500,000 clients served, BizFilings really impresses in this area.
- 6 months registered agent included with each package – BizFilings includes six months of registered agent service with every one of their business formation packages.
- Good customer service with long availability hours – You can reach BizFilings’ customer support representatives from 9am until 8pm ET every weekday. This is a longer window of availability than many competitors provide.
BizFilings Weaknesses
- Almost zero customer reviews available – For a company with as much experience as BizFilings has, it’s odd that there’s so little customer feedback available.
- Prices aren’t great – While their prices are reasonable, there are quite a few competing service providers that undercut BizFilings’ pricing considerably, without sacrificing anything when it comes to included features.
- Unimpressive turnaround times – BizFilings bases their turnaround times on how much money you spend on their platform, rather than on state requirements. We don’t like it when companies speed up or slow down your formation based on the size of your purchase.
Pricing & Additional Features
- Basic ($99) – BizFilings’ Basic package includes a business name availability check, the preparation and filing of your articles of organization, and six months of registered agent service.
- Standard ($229 in most states, varies from $159-244) – The Standard package includes all features of the Basic package, then adds a binder and decorative seal customized with your company info, some sample documents, and BizFilings’ in-house expediting service (which does not affect your state filing time at all).
- Complete ($359 in most states, varies from $199-434) – The Complete package includes all features of the Standard package, then adds a federal tax ID number (EIN), a certified copy of your formation documents, an educational DVD, and overnight shipping for your completed documents.
BizFilings vs Other LLC Services
BizFilings does have some attributes that we appreciate, like their experience level and their inclusion of six months of registered agent service. On the other hand, there are some competitors like ZenBusiness that include a full year of registered agent, while also significantly undercutting BizFilings’ prices. For more information, take a look at our Zen Business vs LegalZoom comparison guide between two of the most popular options, or check out our list of the top three LLC services available online.
Online Customer Reviews
While BizFilings has been around for decades, and they’ve served hundreds of thousands of customers, we were only able to find four customer reviews online. With such a tiny quantity of reviews to work with, it’s impossible to analyze that feedback in any way.
Customer Service Quality
BizFilings provides customer support via phone and email. With either option, you’ll receive prompt service from knowledgeable professionals, and their hours of operation are longer than the vast majority of their competitors. You can reach BizFilings support reps from 7am-8pm ET Monday through Friday.
Main Reasons to Use BizFilings
If experience matters to you, they’re certainly worth a look. In addition, their inclusion of six months of registered agent with every LLC formation package is always welcome.
Main Reasons Not to Use BizFilings
You can find lower price points elsewhere, while also getting a full year of registered agent instead of six months. Also, some of their competitors have thousands of positive reviews available online, while BizFilings barely has any customer feedback at all.
Our Recommendation – BizFilings Scores 4.1/5
Compared to some of their competitors (like Zen Business and Incfile), BizFilings just doesn’t fare too well in the value-per-dollar ratio ― instead, BizFilings is merely “pretty good” in most metrics. There’s nothing wrong with their services, and we do appreciate some aspects of what they have to offer. However, it’s hard to recommend them too highly when there are other companies that offer more features for less money. We still strongly prefer Zen Business and their $39 formation package that includes a full year of registered agent.