How we collect the data and pick services

All state figures come from official fee schedules, forms and statutes. Each one is cited where it appears with the month it was last confirmed; every guide repeats its sources at the end.

For LLCs we add the formation fee, reports due in years two and three and any minimum yearly tax. For agents, the yearly state charge. For foreign LLCs, registration plus two years of reports. Variable costs such as publication are described, not summed. Ties share a rank.

1. Service fees over three years (35%). What a service charges on top of the state's own fees in years one, two and three, from its published first-year and renewal prices. The state fees themselves are identical whichever service files, so we print them in every guide but do not score them.
2. State filings covered (30%). How many of the recurring state requirements the price takes off your hands: the registered agent, the yearly or two-yearly report filed for you, and the EIN application.
3. Renewal price (15%). The yearly price from year two onward and whether it matches the first-year price.
4. Fit with the state's rules (10%). How the plan lines up with that state's report cadence, late fees and agent address rules.
5. Fee transparency (10%). Whether the state's fee is listed separately and passed through at cost, so the number you see matches the official schedule.

When two services land within a few points, the guide names the criterion that separated them and what the runner-up does better.

Every state list holds Mainstay Filing (all fifty states) and the registered agent services built for that state, each only for services it sells at a published price read on the build date.

We print no customer ratings or quotes and give no legal or tax advice.