Starting a new business means managing 10,000 moving parts, 19 different deadlines, and finding time to sleep. While all these things are important, we can’t forget about the most exciting topic: the legalities of forming and running a small business.

All joking aside, being compliant with local, state, and federal law is essential. Starting your business on the right foot sets a strong foundation you can build upon in the future.

Although nearly everything to do with starting a new business can be unclear and complicated, forming your Limited Liability Company (LLC) doesn’t have to be. While you can file the entity formation paperwork through your state’s Secretary of State’s website (or similarly named state agency that is responsible for entity formations), business formation service providers like ZenBusiness, can make forming your corporation or LLC quick, easy, and painless.

But with so many options in the industry, it’s hard to decide which business formation service is the right choice for you and your new business. To help guide you in the right direction, I’ll do an in-depth review of ZenBusiness to uncover the things I liked, the things I didn’t like, their pricing plans, real-life user reviews, and more. 

By the end, I think you’ll see that ZenBusiness will help you cross entity formation off your to-do list without pulling your hair out and while keeping (most of) your hard-earned money in your wallet. 

Let’s get started with this ZenBusines review!

About ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness Inc. is an online provider of business registration and other services needed to launch a business. Founded in 2015 by Ross Buhrdorf, ZenBusiness is based in Austin, Texas and aims to support entrepreneurs and small businesses by offering a range of services, including business formation (LLCs or corporations), name availability search, registered agent services, and DBA (doing business as) registration. They also provide assistance with obtaining a Federal Employer ID number (EIN), ongoing state compliance requirements, annual business reports, filing amendments, and certificates of good standing.

Something unique about ZenBusiness is the people behind the company. Ross Buhrdorf was the Chief Technology Officer of HomeAway and has over 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and technology leader, and the technology behind the company is evident. There is also a pretty impressive team behind ZenBusiness, and unlike the competition, they are the only ones who really talk about who’s running the show.

ZenBusiness Pros & Cons

My Overall Rating: 3.92/5

Pros

• Free entity formation plan
• Their guided online process walks you through the LLC formation service, which I think is helpful for someone who is afraid of doing something wrong when forming their first business.
• Central dashboard where documents and business tools are held.
• Free business name availability check.
• Live customer support is available via live chat, phone, and email Monday through Friday and Sunday.
• 60-day money-back guarantee (with the exception of state fees).
• EIN registration is included in the Pro & Premium plan

Cons

• Many of the add-on services are more expensive than the competition.
• There are several upsells throughout the registration process (though all free services do this, ZenBusiness isn’t the worst offender).
• I question the filing speeds. By filing an LLC directly in some states, the paperwork is filed immediately, but it can take a couple of weeks with ZenBusiness (unless you pay for expedited filing). ZenBusiness offers three different entity formation filing speeds when most states offer at most two.
• The registered agent isn’t free in the first year like Bizee or Northwest.
• No customer support on Saturdays. This is a minor gripe, especially since their customer service is really good and is available Sunday through Friday, but a lot of people go to their day job during the week, and Saturday is open for them to work on their business.
• While I think the guided wizard is great for someone new to starting a business as it is very thorough and some questions are obviously going to trigger an upsell, I think someone with entity formation experience would find it a little tedious.

Featured LLC Formation Services

ZenBusiness Pricing

Using ZenBusiness to form an LLC is an affordable and easy choice for new and seasoned business owners alike. They use a tiered pricing model, which means you can bundle services to save money. 

Or you can build your own package if their standard packages don’t fit your needs. 

ZenBusiness has three plans to choose from, and they now have a free plan (plus state fees) to form your corporation or LLC. The three plans are:

• The Starter Plan ($0 + state fees)
• The Pro Plan ($199/year + state fees)
• The Premium Plan ($349/year + state fees)

Starter Plan: Free plus state fees

The Starter Plan is the most basic service from ZenBusiness, but most people are going to be more than happy with it. For $0 plus the state formation fee, you get the entity formation paperwork filed with the state, a free registered agent, along with a free subscription to the limited ZenBusiness Money accounting program to track expenses in your business. For an additional $30, you can upgrade to the Money Pro program, which is a viable alternative to the Quickbooks accounting software. I’ll talk about Money Pro later.

This is the slowest of the three packages to give the state paperwork processed. For most people, the average 2-3 weeks (some states will take longer because of how long it takes the state to process the paperwork) isn’t going to be an issue, but if it is, you can pay extra or bump to the other two packages to speed things up.

It is important to know that unless you cancel, the ZenBusiness Starter Plan comes with the Worry-Free Compliance service, which will start at the end of the first year for $199 and an additional $199 to cover the registered agent service (remember, the first year is free on the registered agent).

What is included with the Worry-Free Compliance? Well, for $199, ZenBusiness will file the entity’s annual report to the state for you, up to two yearly amendments, and if you miss a deadline, they will help get you into compliance. Most states have an annual report, though some have you file less frequently, and that report simply updates the state with the contact information of the owners of the business and registered agent. It’s a pretty simple form to fill out and usually takes just a few minutes to do, but I know that some people have anxiety attacks when thinking about sending wrong information to the state. If this filing is overlooked, your LLC will no longer be in good standing with the state and will eventually be dissolved. For some, the $199 per year will be worth it to have one less thing to worry about, and for others, not so much.

Regarding the two yearly amendments, I personally have two LLCs and have never filed an amendment. I’m not saying that you won’t, but it’s not that common of a filing.

Also, regarding the registered agent. Every state requires a registered agent. Provided you, as the owner, live in the state and will generally be at an address in that state during normal business hours, you can legally be the registered agent and pay nothing. That said, the name of the registered agent is listed as an official contact for the business, and some people don’t want the loss of privacy.

Don’t forget that after the first year, you will be billed $199 to cover the Worry-Free Guarantee and an additional $199 for the registered agent unless you cancel those services. This is in addition to the renewal cost paid to the state to renew the LLC.

While free sounds good, if you don’t intend to keep the ZenBusiness registered agent service after the first year, I wouldn’t recommend signing up for the service to start with, as you will have to file a form and pay a state fee in most states to change the registered agent to someone else.

Pro Plan: $199 plus state fees

The ZenBusiness Pro Plan is similar to the Starter Plan, but it adds the Worry-Free Compliance up front, reduces the filing time to 1-5 days, and a guided operating agreement for an additional $199.

We have covered the first two items but haven’t touched the operating agreement yet. An LLC operating agreement is basically a framework for how the entity will operate. This isn’t required in most states, with the exception of Delaware, Maine, and Missouri, but some states even allow a verbal agreement (I’m not an attorney, but it’s safe to say this is never a good idea). The operating agreement is never filed with the state but should be kept with the other company documents.

Even if an operating agreement isn’t required, it’s often a very good idea, especially for multi-member LLCs. Without an operating agreement, if the LLC is sued, it may be subject to generic state rules that may be detrimental to the business or the members.  Additionally, the operating agreement is used to formalize the roles and responsibilities of the members, which should help avoid disagreements later down the road. Some banks will require single-member LLCs to have an operating agreement too.

Purchased separately, the guided operating agreement is $99. I highly recommend getting one, especially if there are multiple members in the LLC. Depending on the size and complexity of your business, I would consider having an attorney draft your operating agreement, as you might be looking at a little most in a cost of around $500-$600, but it would be completely customized to your business. We also have operating agreement templates for free to download, or you can find others online. While these are better than nothing, it would be beneficial to have an attorney review. The ZenBusiness guided operating agreement is a nice option between doing it yourself and hiring an attorney, as it asks questions along the way to get a majority of the important and state-related requirements in the document.

One of the big improvements to the Pro and Premium plan that started in July 2023 is that the EIN registration is included. Entity formation companies typically charge between $50 and $99 for this service.

Don’t forget that after the first year, you will be billed $199 for the registered agent unless you cancel those services.

Premium Plan: $349 plus state fees

The ZenBusiness Premium Plan is the highest-priced plan at $349. It offers the same features as the Pro Plan but also adds business documents, domain name, email address, and a website.

What does the Premium plan add that the Pro plan doesn’t? Let’s take a look.

For starters, you are going to get a domain name. This is the address someone would type in to get to your website. For example, the website could be www.yourbusinesswebsite.com. To buy this separately, you are looking at around $15 a year.

The email address is another service in this package and something I recommend many people use. Instead of using bobsbusiness@gmail.com, the domain would be bob@yourbusinesswebsite.com, which looks way more professional. Some companies that bundle the domain and website also offer custom email addresses. The challenge with this is that it can be a little challenging to set up, depending on how technical you are.

Another feature is a business website. This is an interesting offering and something worth considering if you need a website. ZenBusiness offers a website builder that will be a good solution for someone who isn’t a web designer to quickly get a website up without a lot of hassle. There isn’t a lot of real-world feedback on the quality of the website builder, so I would probably use a company that focuses on services like Shopify if you are doing e-commerce.

I would have liked to see some more templates included in this website builder so there were more options on how the website would look, but overall it’s a good option for someone that wants a basic website that doesn’t look like it was made in 2010.

A provider like GoDaddy (which I’m not recommending, but they are popular) charges at a minimum of $10 a month for their website builder, plus the cost of the domain. So for $135 a year, with the ZenBusiness Premium Plan only being $150 more than the Pro Plan, may make this a great value for you.

After the first year, you would be billed the state fee for the annual renewal with the state, plus $349. The state fee you won’t be able to get around, but many people are surprised by the $349 renewal fee.

Which ZenBusiness LLC package should I choose?

Picking the right package is going to be different for everyone, but I think for most, the Starter Package is going to be the favorite, especially if you aren’t in a hurry. I know for me, the Worry-Free Compliance service is a bit expensive, in my opinion, to file a simple annual report each year. I’ve had clients that really like services like this, though, because they already had a lot on their plate and just don’t like dealing with state paperwork – and I get it.

The Pro plan basically adds the ZenBusiness Worry-Free compliance from the start, in addition to faster filing, EIN filing, and the guided operating agreement. They have greatly improved the Pro Plan, and I think there is better value than in the past, as they included faster processing and EIN filing. I don’t know that I would personally renew each year, as filing annual reports is pretty easy, but for others it takes the worries off of their shoulders.

I used to think the Premium Plan was a better bargain, but all it really added was the EIN filing. If you really want to bundle services under one account, I would say it’s worth it, but otherwise, I think the Basic of Pro plans are the best value.

How easy is it to form an LLC with ZenBusiness?

The LLC formation process with ZenBusiness is possibly the easiest and most intuitive out of all that have been tested, especially for someone completely new to business. ZenBusiness uses a guided online process that asks various questions to make sure everything is covered. Their wizard even works well on mobile too.

To form an LLC, visit ZenBusiness.com and select the LLC option and enter your state on ZenBusiness’s home page. Then, click the “Start Now” button. 

Then, ZenBusiness will walk you through the formation process by asking a series of questions and providing “recommendations.” Some of these services you need, and others you may not, and I know it’s easy to want to err on the side of caution to avoid a mistake, but the downside of maybe spending more than you need. I’ll go through each of these and explain what your options are so you can make an educated decision.

If you come up with a question during your formation, ZenBusiness actually has helpful customer service chat that is just a click away. Just click on the ? bubble, and during my testing, someone (not a bot) was there to answer my question in less than two minutes. If you would rather talk to someone over the phone, they have that option too.

Steps to Form an LLC with ZenBusiness

After entering a business name as I did above with StartUp 101, this next screen confirms that we are ready to get started, which we do, and I’ll click “Let’s do it!”.

First we are asked to confirm the business details. Here, I keep StartUp 101 and enter a formation state. I’ll choose Florida in this example.

Next, ZenBusiness asks how much experience do you have running a business. This answer will influence a few of the questions that are asked, but for the sake of this example, I’ll choose none.

The next prompt asks about the number of expected employees. You aren’t tied to this number by any means, but if you plan to have any employees in the first year, you would be guided to additional paperwork you need to file as an employer.

In this example, I’ll select No, as the owner will be the only one working in the business for this example. If you will have employees, this answer is important because there are registration requirements that ZenBusiness can help with.

Next, we are asked if the LLC will have a physical location other than the home. If you will have a storefront, warehouse, etc., where business activities will take place, choose Yes; otherwise, choose No.

In this example, I’ll choose No for a home-based business.

ZenBusiness then asks what stage your business is at. In this ZenBusiness review, I’ll choose Launching Soon.

Next, we are asked what the goals for our business are. We can choose Side Business, Primary Income, or Next Big Thing. There isn’t a wrong answer, as I’m not sure yet if they affect any remaining questions, but in this example, I’m choosing Side Business.

Then we are asked what industry our business is in, and this can be tricky for a lot of people since their business does a lot of things. You can’t have a wrong answer here, but I would recommend choosing the activity where you plan to spend the most time or where the most income will be made.

When you begin typing, there will be industries that come up. It may take a few different keywords to get something relevant to show up, but if there isn’t anything that is close to your business, the field will take anything you enter.

In this example, I’ll choose Graphic Design Service.

After entering our selection, we have the option to save and continue or skip and continue. ZenBusiness then uses the previous information to come up with a list of recommended services, and then we can begin filing the LLC.

Let’s go over these to see which ones you really need.

First off, the registered agent is the first recommended service.

A registered agent is an appointed person or company that accepts important legal documents, summons, notices of lawsuits, etc., on behalf of a business and every state requires corporations and LLCs to have and maintain one.

A registered agent must either be an individual 18 years old or older or a company registered in the state of formation that is generally available at an address in the state during normal business hours. A PO Box or virtual address isn’t an acceptable address for the registered agent.

Many people choose to be their own registered agent, which keeps them from having to pay for this service, while others don’t want their name listed as the registered agent or just don’t want the hassle. ZenBusiness provides a registered agent at no cost in the first year and then $199 each year after that. The price of the ZenBusiness registered agent is pretty high, and there are other providers like Northwest Registered Agent which charges only $125.

I’m going to choose to appoint my own registered agent.

If you choose to appoint your own registered agent, on the next screen, ZenBusiness asks you to confirm that choice. Yes, it’s a legal requirement and ZenBusiness can be your registered agent, but you can be the registered agent of the LLC and save $199 per year.

Now, ZenBusiness asks what package we want to choose. I went over the choices earlier, and I hope that helps in your decision. In this example, I’ll choose the Starter package, where the cost is free plus the state fee. In the box, you can see what ZenBusiness is going to charge, and below, what the state charges.

I think the Starter Plan will cover most people, but if you decide later that you want additional services, ZenBusiness offers many options to help you run and grow your business that you can access at any time in your dashboard.

On the next screen, ZenBusiness offers the annual Worry-Free Compliance service. This upsell automatically files your annual state filings, though some states are once every other year or, in the case of Pennsylvania, once every 10 years. While it’s nice that there is a second set of eyes on making sure this filing is done on time, the state will send a reminder as well.

Regardless of whether you pay for this service or skip it, I would look up when your annual report is due and put a recurring reminder on your calendar as an additional way to stay on top of the renewal.

The next recommended service is for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) and business documents. The bundle price is $149, the EIN by itself is $99, and the business documents by themselves are $99.

The Employer Identification Number is a nine-digit number that is assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that uniquely identifies a business, much like what a Social Security Number does for an individual.

You only need an EIN if there is more than one member in your LLC, you have employees, or you elect to be taxed as a corporation. Otherwise, the individual owner would use their Social Security Number for the business identification number.

While $99 isn’t the highest price that I’ve seen from a company filing this document, many don’t realize that it only takes about 5 minutes and is free when filing directly with the IRS. If you want to do this yourself, here are detailed instructions on how to apply for an EIN. If you don’t want to file yourself, but want a less expensive option, Northwest does the same EIN filing for $50. If you are filing with the Pro or Premium plan, the EIN filing is free!

The ZenBusiness business documents may or may not be a good deal for you. It just depends on whether you actually need them or not. There are 25 documents, from a liability waiver, freelancer agreement, non-compete, confidentiality, employment, and more, and these documents will be conveniently stored in your ZenBusiness dashboard. See the full list of documents that are included in the package to make sure there are any that you would need. If you opt not to get the documents but want them later, you can log into your dashboard and purchase them at any time. I wouldn’t recommend buying them just in case, as if you don’t see one that you will need, it is likely that you won’t need them ever.

The next upsell is for a customized operating agreement. We covered this earlier, and while it’s optional in most states, it is strongly encouraged to have an operating agreement of some sort for multi-member LLCs. If you need one because of investors or members, an attorney is going to be the best option.

The next upsell is really confusing to me. I’ve seen a few other entity formation companies offering this, but here, ZenBusiness will open a business bank account for you – and charge $5 a month. I guess it’s interesting to put many business services under one umbrella, but this is a hard pass for me. For one, I prefer to have a dedicated bank, and two, I’m not paying for a business bank account.

The next service that is recommended is the ZenBusiness Money Pro accounting software. At the end of the day, your business will likely need some system to track income and expenses. From the testing that I’ve done so far, Money Pro looks like it should be a solid choice, especially for freelancers, as there is a function where you can track your time on a job, and then when you are ready, you can click a button to invoice the customer and request payment. It won’t replace the advanced functions of Quickbooks, but for a lot of businesses, many of the Quickbooks features are going to go unused anyway.

Next, ZenBusiness offers a website builder. It’s free to try for the first month.

Then, ZenBusiness offers a faster document filing. This one bothers me, because they are artifically holding up the paperwork. For $79 you can file faster in the Starter package, but the Pro will file in 1-5 days. If you need it filed faster, I would go with the Pro becuase they also take care of the EIN filing in addition to a few other things.

And that’s it. You’ll enter your contact information and ZenBusiness will check that the name is available and make sure you entered the information correctly.

ZenBusiness’s Reputation

BBB

ZenBusiness has an exceptional reputation online and is considered a trustworthy, affordable, and quick LLC entity formation solution. Although they’re relatively new to the game (since 2015), they’ve built a strong foundation on transparency, protection, and paying it forward.

Furthermore, they have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. 

Despite their BBB rating, it’s important to note they have 50 complaints in the last 12 months. Most of these complaints mention not meeting the estimated delivery date and not understanding why they were charged for certain services.

With that being said, instead of ignoring them, ZenBusiness has responded to each complaint in a professional manner offering full refunds and explanations as to what happened and how they worked together to solve each issue.

The ZenBusiness customers on the BBB website show an average of 3.87 stars out of 5. You can see the complete list of official reviews. Take a look at what some of their customers have to say:

Trustpilot

Trustpilot has several ZenBusiness reviews to look at. Of the over 13,000+ ZenBusiness reviews, 92% rate them above 4 stars. After reading through the first several pages, I noticed a recurring theme.

Most reviews mention quick turnaround times, amazing customer service, and ease of use. You can check them out for yourself. Or keep reading to see what some of their customers have to say.

ZenBusiness User Reviews Conclusion

ZenBusiness is a legitimate business offering business formation services and other compliance products to help entrepreneurs start and run their businesses. They have thousands of happy customers.

It’s safe to say they’re a trusted and reliable source of friendly customer service, quick turnaround times, and responsiveness. They’re quick to address their mistakes and work to make things right for their customers.

In the reviews, it appeared that customer service attempted to contact clients, both good and bad, meaning they are taking the time to monitor their reputation and help their customers.

What I Like About ZenBusiness

During the process of setting up an LLC with ZenBusiness, I took note of everything I enjoyed about the experience. Furthermore, I want to cover each one and talk about the added value it provides to business owners and entrepreneurs looking for a simple LLC solution.

1. Free Business Name Availability Check

There are thousands of businesses licensed in each state. So, ZenBusiness does a name availability check to make sure yours is unique and not currently in use by someone else in the same state.

This step makes sure you don’t waste time and money filing for a name that’s already taken. Some states are more forgiving, but imagine paying hundreds of dollars in state fees to find out there’s another business with the same name!

With ZenBusiness, you don’t have to worry about it.

They run the check for you and let you know if there are any issues before filing your paperwork with the state, so you don’t waste your time or money.

2. Live Chat Customer Support

Although their LLC service is pretty easy to navigate, you may have questions along the way. If so, you can start a live chat in your browser window to talk with their support team right away. They’re available to help:

• 8 am – 8 pm CT Monday through Friday
• 10 am – 7 pm CT on Sundays

Additionally, you can give them a call during the same time or shoot them an email to get a response within one business day.

Your mileage may vary, but an actual human answered the chat and phone when I contacted them, and I was talking with someone within 2 minutes the two times that I contacted them. With the answers provided, I believe this was someone who actually understood what an LLC is and was able to answer basic questions.

3. You Get a Personalized Dashboard

Keeping documents and correspondence organized is essential for the seamless operation of your business. But, it’s not always easy to do if everything is stored in different locations rather than in one centralized place. 

ZenBusiness conquers this by giving you access to a personalized dashboard. Inside, they store the documents they prepare for you and any correspondence you receive from the government (if they’re your registered agent). 

Additionally, you can track the status of your orders and get alerts if something needs your attention along the way. 

4. Worry-Free Compliance Guarantee

The Worry-Free Compliance Guarantee (an additional $199 annual fee) takes care of your annual reports and filings. While these are pretty easy to do, if you forget to file on time, there is the potential for losing the entity’s status of good standing with the state, fees, and the state eventually dissolving the entity. This service gives you one less thing to worry about.

What I Don’t Like About ZenBusiness

Although few and far between, I came across a few potential issues I came across when doing this review. None of these are deal-breakers (in my opinion), but I do want to walk through each one, discuss why I didn’t enjoy it, and what it means for you. 

1. Long Process

Like most LLC formation packages, especially the free ones, ZenBusiness makes its money by offering add-ons and upgrades. Every formation service I’ve used does this, so this isn’t a unique downside to ZenBusiness. And while this isn’t inherently a bad thing, many new business owners may not know which services they need when first forming their LLC.

ZenBusiness has a ton of services that many others don’t offer like banking, accounting, website builder, etc., which makes the registration process lengthy. Overall, there are a minimum of 20 screens to click through, which is longer than most.

As a result, they might end up spending more money than they planned on things they aren’t going to use.

With that being said, ZenBusiness provides ample explanation throughout the process. I also go over each of the upsells in my walkthrough so that you can learn more about each one.

2. Add-on Services are Expensive

The additional services from ZenBusiness are largely more expensive than many competitors. For example, the registered agent is $199, Worry-Free Compliance is $199, and EIN is $99. While it’s nice to have everything under one account, I like to save money too!

3. No Customer Support on Saturdays

Some services don’t provide support on weekends at all. Others have reduced hours on the weekends. ZenBusiness does provide support on Sundays… but not Saturdays.

It’s hard to complain when the customer service people I talked with during the review actually seem to be knowledgeable and were quick to answer, but I know a lot of people who work through the week and use the weekend to work on their business.

This is kind of an odd quirk, but it’s not the end of the world or a big deal. At least you won’t have to wait all weekend for answers or clarification as you go through the process of forming your LLC!

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re a new business owner or have set up countless LLCs, ZenBusiness is a quick, affordable, and trustworthy LLC formation, service provider. They offer more value for your dollar than other companies out there, such as LegalZoom and Northwest Registered Agent, and their customer service is top-notch. For those that may not need as many add-on services, IncFile and Inc Authority both offer free business entity formation services.

Their process is easy to use, and their transparency is second to none. Plus, with thousands of happy customers, you can rest assured they know what they’re doing and get the job done.

Get started forming your LLC with Zenbusiness, today!

Common Questions About ZenBusiness