Formation costs · Data
Registered Agent Cost Comparison (2026)
Real first-year and renewal prices for five registered agent services, sourced directly from each provider's own pricing page — including the year-2 price jumps most comparison sites don't mention.
Quick Answer: Registered agent cost comparison shopping by first-year price alone is misleading. Of the five providers checked here, Northwest Registered Agent is the only one with a flat $125/year rate that does not increase at renewal — Harbor Compliance jumps 51% and ZenBusiness roughly doubles (101%) in year two. Over a 3-year horizon, Northwest is often cheaper than services that look cheaper up front. You can also be your own registered agent for free in every state, as long as you have a physical address and can be there during business hours — see the trade-offs below.
The year-2 price jump most reviews don’t mention
Most registered agent reviews compare first-year price, star ratings, or included features. Almost none quantify what happens at renewal — which is the price you’ll actually pay every year after the first. We checked each provider’s own current pricing page directly and calculated the renewal jump as a percentage.
Northwest Registered Agent is the one outlier: a flat $125/year with no renewal increase, a claim it makes directly on its own site (“we haven’t raised our price in 20 years”). Every other provider checked here either jumps significantly at renewal (ZenBusiness, Harbor Compliance) or advertises a flat price with fine print reserving the right to change it (LegalZoom).
| Provider | Year 1 | Renewal | Year-2 jump | 3-yr total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Registered Agent | $125 | $125/yr | None | $375 |
| Harbor Compliance | $99 | $149/yr | +51% | $397 |
| ZenBusiness | $99 | $199/yr | +101% | $497 |
| LegalZoom | $249 | $249/yr | None | $747 |
| Bizee | Free | $119–149 (unconfirmed) | — | — |
Northwest Registered Agent: Flat $125/year every year. Northwest states on its own site it has "not raised this price in 20 years." Drops to $100/year per state if you need 5+ states. Source
Harbor Compliance: Jumps 51% at renewal. Can lock in the $99/year rate by prepaying 2, 3, 5, or 10 years upfront instead of renewing annually. Source
ZenBusiness: Jumps 101% at renewal — the price roughly doubles after year one. Source
Bizee: Renewal price is not clearly published on Bizee's own current pricing pages. Third-party reviews report figures ranging $119–$149/year, but we could not independently confirm a single number directly from Bizee — confirm the exact renewal price at checkout before signing up. Source
LegalZoom: Advertised as a flat $249/year, but LegalZoom's own fine print says this purchase price is "only available for first-time registered agent customers" and that "the renewal rate is subject to change" — meaning the flat-price claim is not actually guaranteed long-term. Source
Should you be your own registered agent instead?
Every state allows it. The requirements are the same everywhere: a physical street address (a P.O. box does not qualify) in the state where your LLC is formed, and availability at that address during normal business hours, every business day the state and courts might need to reach you.
Self-file makes sense if: you already have a stable business address in your formation state, you don’t mind that address becoming public record, and you can realistically commit to being there during business hours (or have someone who reliably can).
A paid service makes sense if: you work from home and don’t want that address searchable by anyone who looks up your LLC, your schedule makes daily business-hours availability unrealistic, or you operate in multiple states and need coverage in each one without hiring separately.
The real risk of self-filing isn’t the paperwork — it’s missing a time-sensitive legal notice (like a lawsuit summons) because you weren’t physically present when it arrived. A missed service of process can result in a default judgment against your business before you know you’ve been sued.
Open data: free to reuse with attribution
This dataset — registered agent first-year price, renewal price, and year-2 percentage increase for five providers — is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
You may copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the data for any purpose, including commercial use, provided you attribute BeginPulse with a link back to https://beginpulse.com/registered-agent-cost-comparison and indicate any changes you made. See /methodology for sourcing details.
Last updated: 2026-08-10 (verified directly against each provider’s own pricing/order page — not third-party aggregation, except where noted for Bizee’s renewal price). Prices change; confirm at checkout before purchasing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest registered agent service?
On first-year price, Bizee (free when bundled with formation) and Harbor Compliance/ZenBusiness (both $99) are cheapest. But first-year price is misleading — Harbor Compliance jumps 51% and ZenBusiness roughly doubles (101%) at renewal. Northwest Registered Agent, at a flat $125/year with no renewal increase, is often cheaper over a 3+ year horizon than services that look cheaper up front.
Why do registered agent renewal prices jump so much?
It is a common industry pricing pattern: a low first-year price (sometimes free, bundled with LLC formation) functions as an acquisition offer, with the real price appearing at renewal. Of the five providers compared here, Northwest is the only one with a flat rate that does not increase at renewal, verified directly against its own site.
Can I be my own registered agent instead of paying for a service?
Yes, in every state, as long as you have a physical street address (not a P.O. box) in the state of formation and can be present there during normal business hours every business day. There is no additional cost. The trade-offs: your address becomes public record, and if you are ever unavailable when a legal document arrives, your business can face a default judgment for missing it.
Is it worth paying for a registered agent service?
It depends on two things: whether you want your home or office address kept off public filings, and whether you can guarantee availability at one physical address during all business hours, every business day. If either is a problem, a paid service solves it for $99–$250/year. If neither is a problem and privacy is not a concern, self-filing costs nothing.
Does a cheaper first-year price mean a cheaper service overall?
Not necessarily. Compare 3-year total cost, not just year one. Example: ZenBusiness at $99 + $199 + $199 = $497 over 3 years versus Northwest at $125 × 3 = $375 over the same period — despite ZenBusiness looking cheaper in year one.
How current is this pricing data?
Verified directly against each provider's own pricing or order page on 2026-08-10. Bizee's exact renewal price is not clearly published on its own site — see the note in the table. Registered agent prices change; confirm at checkout before purchasing.