Are you deciding between ZenBusiness and LegalZoom for LLC formation? We know, it can be confusing. But don’t worry! Read our helpful comparison guide below, to learn which company is the best for you.
LLC service providers all seem to offer the same services like an Operating Agreement, but is price the only thing you should consider? We think user experience, including friendliness of website language and customer support, are really important too. We compared prices along with the other aspects of both websites to help you select the best company to form your LLC.
Is it better to use a big company like LegalZoom, or a specialized business filing service like ZenBusiness? We compared ZenBusiness and LegalZoom on 10 different features of their business formation services.
Winner: ZenBusiness is the clear winner over LegalZoom. With their ease-of-use, better pricing, and higher quality service bundles, ZenBusiness works better for small business owners starting a Limited Liability Company (LLC).
About ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness is a filing company that offers LLC formation along with many other services. ZenBusiness can help you set up a Limited Liability Company in any state. In addition to their business entity formation services, they also offer Registered Agent services and a collection of legal forms.
About LegalZoom
LegalZoom is an online legal technology company that offers a wide variety of legal services, including business formation services. According to their website, LegalZoom was founded in 1999 and has launched over 4 million businesses.
LegalZoom offers LLC formation packages that include various documents as well as other legal services like legal forms templates and consultations with attorneys. While LegalZoom is a large company, they don’t always get the best customer reviews. And they really focus on legal assistance, instead of LLC services.
LLC Formation Services: ZenBusiness vs. LegalZoom
The Basic LLC Package: What do you get?
We compared the features offered in the basic LLC formation package at each company. What else do you get besides the actual Articles of Organization filing with the state?
ZenBusiness
The basic package (called “Starter”) includes an Operating Agreement template, one free year as your Registered Agent, one free year of Worry Free Compliance Service, an Accounting Consultation, and a Google Ads credit match.
LegalZoom
The Basic package only includes the LLC formation filing. But remember, it doesn’t cover the state filing fees; you’ll still need to pay those.
It also doesn’t include a year of Registered Agent service; you will have to pay $249 per yearfor that.
Winner: LegalZoom
LegalZoom outshines ZenBusiness in LLC formation services by offering a broader range of comprehensive legal support. While ZenBusiness provides affordable and streamlined services, LegalZoom delivers extensive legal resources, including access to attorneys, customizable legal forms, and a vast library of legal documents. This makes LegalZoom a more robust choice for entrepreneurs seeking ongoing legal assistance.
Pricing
Note: None of the prices below include the state LLC filing fees.
ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness offers the Starter package for $0 + state fee, the Pro package for $199, and the Premium package for $299.
The Starter package is good value for an LLC service (after all, you’re only paying the state fees and $0 for the service). But be careful: it contains an annual compliance service subscription that renews at $119 per year. Plus, it signs you up for ZenBusiness’s Registered Agent service that renews at $199 per year. So their pricing structure can be a little confusing.
The Pro package has expedited filing and a few extras, but isn’t worth $199. The only upgrade in the Premium package is web hosting, which we don’t think is worth $100 extra.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom offers the Basic service for $0 + state fee, the Pro package for $249, and the Premium package for $299.
The Basic package is an okay value for business formation, but we really can’t justify the high prices for the Pro and Premium plans. Both offer some extras like business documents. However, the extras aren’t necessary to start your business, and you can get them cheaper with other companies, or you can do it yourself.
Winner: LegalZoom
LegalZoom often wins over ZenBusiness in pricing due to its wide range of packages and established reputation. While ZenBusiness offers competitive prices, LegalZoom provides more flexibility with customizable services, additional support options, and a robust network of legal professionals, ensuring value for customers seeking comprehensive solutions.
LLC Services Turnaround Time
- Related article: How long does it take to get an LLC?
ZenBusiness
Usually it takes 2 business days for ZenBusiness to send your documents to the state. That’s pretty quick compared to their competitors.
Pro and Premium packages include expedited processing times. This means ZenBusiness will get your paperwork sent to the state right away. And, for an extra fee, the state will expedite your LLC’s approval time.
LegalZoom
Despite being a big company, LegalZoom doesn’t offer very fast business formation turnaround time. Your documents will be filed within 1-2 weeks of purchasing LegalZoom’s LLC service.
You can also pay extra for the state expedited processing, and get your LLC faster. But you can’t make LegalZoom process your documents any faster, unfortunately.
Winner: LegalZoom
LegalZoom generally has faster turnaround times for LLC services, offering expedited processing options for those who need quick results. While ZenBusiness provides efficient services, LegalZoom’s established infrastructure and premium options ensure quicker filing, allowing businesses to get up and running faster compared to ZenBusiness’s standard processing times.
Lots of Upsells
ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness offers many upsells with their LLC formation services, but not in a distracting way. Although many of these upsells are things you can do yourself at home, for free, we appreciate that ZenBusiness isn’t aggressive about them.
For example, you can get an EIN (Employer Identification Number) for free, from the IRS, online at home. Or, you can pay ZenBusiness an extra $100 to do it for you.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom offers a ton of upsells, but bundles them into packages. This means you end up paying more for the LLC service you want, plus some extras you may not need. We don’t like that LegalZoom’s upsells are intrusive and sometimes need to be declined more than once to make them go away.
We were disappointed that, for a legal services company, LegalZoom isn’t very helpful when a business owner needs help with business licenses for their new company. You have to keep your business compliant with license requirements, and they can be confusing. A company like LegalZoom should be able to help you with that.
You’ll also be bombarded by offers for other subscriptions, like the Legal Protect Plan and Total Compliance package. Overall, LegalZoom has a lot of upsells during their business formation process and most of them aren’t worth the cost.
Winner: LegalZoom
LegalZoom may have more upsells, but they offer comprehensive add-ons, such as legal advice and document filing, that enhance the overall experience. These services provide added value, ensuring customers have access to expert support and legal tools. ZenBusiness, while offering fewer upsells, lacks this level of depth in options.
Confusing Language
ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness makes sure every product is clearly explained and easy to understand – even for people new to starting a business. However, some of their service costs aren’t super clear and it can be confusing to figure out which items are annual subscriptions and which aren’t.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom’s website has a lot of fancy language to make their services sound like you can’t live without them. They hide a lot of important details about limitations of the services (in particular, the Legal Protect Plan has a lot of exclusions). And LegalZoom isn’t clear about how the pricing really works on their packages.
Winner: LegalZoom
LegalZoom excels over ZenBusiness in clarity, offering more user-friendly and transparent language. Their services are clearly outlined, and they provide detailed explanations to help customers navigate complex legal processes. ZenBusiness, on the other hand, can sometimes use jargon that may confuse users unfamiliar with legal terminology.
Customer Service (ZenBusiness vs LegalZoom)
ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness’s customer service is reliable. And they can be reached by phone or online chat. We were also happy that they didn’t use pushy sales techniques.
However, they didn’t go out of their way to provide additional guidance. They instead just answered what we asked. That isn’t bad, but other companies offered more helpful suggestions.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom offers customer support by phone or online chat. But if you’re a new customer or just trying to get information, LegalZoom requires you to give them a lot of details about your business before they will even try to answer your questions.
We were disappointed to find that they were more interested in getting us to start the LLC formation process or to purchase online legal services, rather than helping us with our questions.
Winner: LegalZoom
LegalZoom outshines ZenBusiness in customer service due to its extensive support network, including 24/7 access to legal professionals and a larger customer service team. While ZenBusiness offers good support, LegalZoom’s personalized assistance, legal advice, and broader service options provide a more robust, responsive experience for clients.
User Experience and Website
ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness excels at providing a simple, pleasing user experience. Their website uses an automated chat to walk you through the steps. This is helpful because it gives an explanation of each item in the LLC formation process.
After you form your company, ZenBusiness offers a user-friendly dashboard for your compliance needs. This is useful for filing Annual Reports and managing your Registered Agent mail.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom offers a sleek, modern website design. However, it sends you through a lot of different pages to get the information you need. Also, the LLC formation process uses confusing layouts that make avoiding the upsells tricky.
Winner: LegalZoom
LegalZoom excels over ZenBusiness in user experience and website design with its intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface. It offers a seamless step-by-step process for customers, while ZenBusiness’s website can feel cluttered or less straightforward. LegalZoom’s more polished design and streamlined navigation enhance the overall experience for users seeking legal services.
Additional Features and Services
ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness offers several features not directly related to the business formation filing. We like their Google Ads credit match, but don’t think the website hosting package is a good value.
ZenBusiness also offers an accounting “consultation”. However, we don’t recommend this service. This is often a way for companies to make more money (they sell your information to the accounting company). And more often than not, your “consultation” is really just a sales pitch.
Instead, we recommend you hire your own accountant for your LLC. That way you have a trusted advisor for your business.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom offers additional services, but most have a monthly fee (instead of a one-time purchase). For example, the Legal Forms library, the Legal Protect Plan, and the Total Compliance subscriptions. These are expensive add-ons that LegalZoom describes as life-savers, but which actually have a lot of limitations. We don’t recommend spending your money on them.
Winner: LegalZoom
LegalZoom wins over ZenBusiness in additional features and services by offering a wide array of legal tools, such as trademark registration, legal advice, and ongoing business support. ZenBusiness focuses primarily on LLC formation, while LegalZoom provides a more comprehensive suite of services, catering to diverse legal needs beyond formation.
Legal Forms
If your business needs legal forms, like contracts and agreements, both ZenBusiness and LegalZoom offer them.
ZenBusiness offers a Business Document Templates Library. The cost is $99 (or it’s included free with the Pro and Premium packages).
LegalZoom offers a Legal Forms Library. The cost is $40 per month.
Winner: LegalZoom outshines ZenBusiness in legal forms by offering a vast library of customizable legal documents, from wills to contracts. Their forms are thorough, legally sound, and regularly updated. ZenBusiness provides fewer options and lacks the same breadth of legal resources, making LegalZoom the preferred choice for diverse legal needs.
Mail Forwarding and Service of Process
ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness scans and uploads legal mail sent to your LLC (including service of process). You use the same dashboard to access these as you do for other ZenBusiness features.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom also scans and uploads legal mail sent to your LLC (including service of process). They also have an online dashboard where you can access your documents.
Winner: This is a tie.
Both companies offer the same services.
ZenBusiness vs LegalZoom: Who’s the winner?
When comparing ZenBusiness and LegalZoom, LegalZoom stands out as the winner for several key reasons.
Firstly, LegalZoom offers a broader range of services, including LLC formation, trademark registration, legal advice, and document filing, making it a one-stop shop for all legal needs. While ZenBusiness excels at LLC formation, its offerings are more limited in scope, focusing mainly on business formation and related services.
Secondly, LegalZoom provides superior customer service. With 24/7 access to legal professionals and a well-established customer support team, LegalZoom ensures clients have access to expert guidance when needed. ZenBusiness, while offering good support, doesn’t have the same level of availability or resources for customers.
Additionally, LegalZoom’s user experience and website are more polished and user-friendly. The platform is designed to guide users seamlessly through complex legal processes, while ZenBusiness’s site can feel a bit cluttered and less intuitive.
LegalZoom also offers extensive legal forms and resources, allowing users to customize documents for various needs. In contrast, ZenBusiness provides fewer legal documents, which can limit its utility for clients requiring comprehensive legal services.
Overall, LegalZoom’s broad service offerings, top-notch customer support, and robust legal resources make it the preferred choice for users seeking comprehensive and reliable legal assistance.
