ZenBusiness vs Inc Authority Comparison

Business entity formation is a crucial element of launching a business, and because it’s often complex and tedious many entrepreneurs hire a professional to do the job right. 

Two of the leading online services to consider are ZenBusiness and Inc Authority. And to help you determine which is best, and which might be best for you and your business, we have thoroughly reviewed their services by putting ourselves in the shoes of an entrepreneur. Read on to make the choice that will put your business on the highway to success. 

We recommend ZenBusiness over Inc Authority, mainly due to the better value plans and great customer service. Both offer a robust lineup of services with many features, but we find Inc Authority significantly overpriced compared to similar competitors.

Features and Services Overview

ZenBusiness has three business formation plans to choose from, with annual fees ranging from $49 to $299. They have a great track record with BBB, competitive pricing, and a seamless formation process. ZenBusiness offers a great value for your money compared to competitors and more services are offered.

Inc Authority offers four different service bundles, ranging in price from free to $799, which is much more expensive than most premium plans from competitors. The free business formation service with Inc Authority includes a free year of registered agent service for one year, which is a great deal and hard to beat. The add-on services are fairly well priced as well overall, though other services like ZenBusiness offer an operating agreement for less. 

Plans Pricing

The ZenBusiness Starter Plan costs $49 per year plus state fees and provides you with a business name availability search in your state’s database and the business formation service, with full customer support. It also offers a few extras, including an accounting consultation to help you get started with your finances. You’ll also have access to your formation documents online at any time.

The Pro Plan costs $199 annually plus state fees and offers all the services above plus an operating agreement template and annual compliance service, which means ZenBusiness will remind you of reporting due dates based on your state requirements. The plan also includes expedited filing so that your LLC is approved and ready to go faster.

The Premium Plan costs $299 annually plus state fees and contains everything within the Pro Plan with the added advantage of rush filing, as well as a business domain name, website, and email. Note that none of these plans include registered agent services. They are available for an additional $99 fee. ZenBusiness also has a document library that customers can access for $99. 

The entry-level plan from Inc Authority is free except for state fees and includes a business name availability search through your state and the business formation service, with full customer support. It also offers a few extras, including an S Election form and a tax consultation. You’ll also have access to your formation documents online and get free registered agent services for a year.

The $399 Starter Business Bundle offers much the same services as top-tier plans from other LLC formation providers, but is a bit more expensive. The Starter Business Bundle includes everything in the entry package with the addition of features like an operating agreement, ownership certificate, annual compliance notifications, and a one-hour tax consultation.

The $499 Business Executive Bundle includes all the services listed above with the additional advantages of business credit and a credit evaluation, a business license report, and INC successor advisor. 

At a whopping $799, the Tycoon Business Bundle offers all the services in the other plans, with the addition of express filing and Business Credit Express. The Business Credit Express feature will help you to establish business credit faster so that you’ll have a better chance of getting funding from a bank or a business credit card.

Starter Business Bundle vs Starter Plan

Inc Authority offers three paid bundle plans, in addition to their free Entry package. The entry-level plan is free except for state fees and includes a business name availability search through your state and the business formation service, with full customer support. 

It also offers a few extras, including an S Election form and a tax consultation. You’ll also have access to your formation documents online and get free registered agent services for a year.

The Inc Authority Starter Business Bundle and the ZenBusiness Starter Plan are similar in terms of offerings. 

Business Executive Bundle vs Pro Plan

Both Inc Authority and ZenBusiness middle-tier plans offer similar services, however Inc Authority is significantly more expensive. The Inc Authority Business Executive Bundle includes business credit evaluation services as well as a business license report.

Tycoon Business Bundle vs Premium Plan

The main differentiator in the Inc Authority Tycoon Business Bundle is the BizCredit Express feature, which helps expedite your business credit so you can secure funding. Otherwise, the features are similar to the ZenBusiness Premium Plan, but significantly more expensive.

Customer Service

We tested the customer experience of both services from every angle. Here’s what we found. 

ZenBusiness

User Experience – What to Expect 

When you first go to the ZenBusiness site, you’re prompted to begin entering information, starting with your proposed company name. There is a menu at the top that you can explore to find some free tools, products and pricing, and more about the company.

However, you can only find a la carte product prices. You cannot immediately see the packages of services and their pricing.

When you enter your company name, you’re then asked a series of automated questions, and the chatbot then makes product and package recommendations, allowing the user to see the service packages and prices.

How is the formation process?

The questions were simple and quick, but most visitors might prefer to see packages and prices right away before starting the process.

Once the product recommendations are made — and they are not described in great detail — you can choose which you prefer and the site takes you immediately to payment. Keep in mind that if you do not pay right away, but instead want to come back to it later, you will have to go through all the questions again.

When we went through this process the first time, we received an email within an hour with an offer to assist. We then went a step further and actually formed an LLC. We chose the starter plan and added registered agent services, the EIN service, and the rush filing service.

The entire process took about 15 minutes and was very simple. Throughout the process, the chatbot recommended other products, and with a simple click, we could purchase or reject. Even though we were clearly being sold to, it did not feel intrusive.

What happens after payment?

Once the signup process and payment were complete, we had immediate access to our dashboard. The dashboard shows everything you have to do, and what ZenBusiness is working on for you. It’s also where you can access your formation documents once the formation process is complete.

The dashboard also shows all the products that are still available to purchase. Shortly after forming the LLC, we received a welcome email about what would happen next.

In Summary

Overall, the site is easy to use if you’re ready to go and just want to complete the process. Otherwise, information can be difficult to find. You have the option to sign up for a free account on the site, though we had difficulty finding that option. However, signing up for the account doesn’t seem to give you access to anything you can’t access without an account.

Customer Support

We tested all three forms of ZenBusiness’ customer support.

Chat support

When we tested the customer service response time through the online chat option, we received a response within five minutes.

The question we asked was about the annual compliance a la carte service, which costs $199, compared to the registered agent service with annual compliance included, which is $149.

We asked if those two annual compliance services are different, considering the price discrepancy. The customer service agent was polite but could not explain the discrepancy.

**The registered agent + annual compliance service for $149 has since been removed from their a la carte products page.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Very quick

Phone support

We called ZenBusiness to ask a question about registered agent services. Our call was answered almost immediately, and the question was answered promptly. 

The question was whether registered agent services are included in any of the plans, and the answer was no. The customer service representative was professional and polite and made no sales pitches.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Immediate

Email support

We asked the same question via email about registered agent services and received the same response in 45 minutes. Our question was answered thoroughly and politely. The person who responded did not make a sales pitch.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Very quick

Inc Authority

User Experience – What to Expect 

The Inc Authority site offers very little product information. On their homepage, they emphasize that their business formation service is free, and tell you what’s included with their free entry-level option. No other product information can be found.

You’re prompted to go ahead and get started by entering your business name. 

How Is the formation process?

Once you enter your business name, you’re prompted to enter all your business information. 

The questions were simple and quick, but most people might find it preferable to be able to see the service packages and products before going through the process. 

After you enter your business information, you’re offered all of the a la carte products as add-ons to your free business formation. You can choose or reject any of the products. 

Then you’re taken to the page with your total cost including state fees and are prompted to complete the payment process.

Note that the bundles of services that we’ve described are NEVER offered, which seemed odd. We only found their package information in other reviews of Inc Authority. We could not even get the information through their customer support channels. 

Overall, the site is easy to use if you’re ready to go and just want to complete the process. Otherwise, information is terribly hard to find on the website. It seems that they really want you to call them with questions so they can upsell you additional products.

Customer Support

We tested all three forms of Inc Authority customer support, and here’s what we found.  

Chat support

The chat option seems to be available only sporadically. When we tested the customer service response time through the online chat option, we received a response immediately.

We asked for information about their various service packages and were told that our best bet was to call for information so they could help us choose the right option for us.

It seemed odd that we were not given the requested information.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Immediate

Phone support

We called the customer support line to ask what the registered agent services fee is after the first year. The customer support person would not answer the question and said they had to transfer us to a sales representative. Very disappointing response. 

Support Rating:

Response time:

Very quick

Email support

There are two different email options on the Inc Authority site. There is a direct email address and an information request form. Through the direct email, we asked about the annual cost of registered agent services after the free first year. Through the form, we asked for detailed information about their service packages.

After five days, we received no response to either request. We were, however, bombarded with sales emails. 

Support Rating:

Response time:

Reasonable

Customer Reviews

We wanted to know how real customers feel about both services, so we thoroughly explored customer reviews at the Better Business Bureau and Trust Pilot. Below we’ve summarized our findings. 

ZenBusiness

Better Business Bureau

ZenBusiness has an A- rating on BBB.

• Many positive reviews
• Friendly customer support
• Low number of complaints

ZenBusiness has an A- rating from the BBB with 4.35/5 stars based on 166 customer reviews. They have been an accredited BBB business since 2019. They have received 56 complaints in three years, all of which have a closed status.

Many positive reviews at BBB revolve around exceptional customer service. Customers mentioned phone support being very helpful and cordial, as well as proactive in identifying potential problems. Customers also discussed the chat support being excellent at resolving issues.

Another person said they received their formation paperwork in “record time”, and one said they were “blown away” by how easy it was to set up their LLC and get questions answered. They also said that customer service agents went “above and beyond” to provide helpful details.

Some of the negative reviews concern errors made in processing and issues canceling accounts. One person said they waited 6 weeks and their LLC still had not been formed; another said they waited over a year for their EIN. But it should be noted that EIN is an add-on service that is not included in the packages, so it may have been a misunderstanding on the customer’s part.

Some reviewers pointed out that ZenBusiness would not cancel their account unless they first dissolved their LLC with the state or filed a change of agent form.

You can read reviews on the BBB website.

Trustpilot

ZenBusiness has a high trust score rating on Trustpilot.

• Many positive reviews
• Friendly customer support
• Low number of complaints

The Trustpilot score for ZenBusiness is 4.7/5 stars based on 10,079 customer reviews.

The ZenBusiness reviews from Trustpilot have the following range:

• Excellent 86%
• Great 8%
• Average 2%
• Poor 1%
• Bad 3%

Many positive Trustpilot reviews, again, revolve around great customer service. One person said they were “shocked” at how easy it was to form their LLC, and that it was finalized within days. Another person liked the ease of answering the questions asked by the chatbot that guided them through the process of formation. Others mentioned the quick and friendly responses from customer service.

Some of the less favorable reviews revolve around fee disclosures and the fees themselves. One person complained that all fees for the products they ordered were not charged immediately so they received surprise charges on their credit card.

Others complained that the site consistently uses “upselling strategies” to get users to buy more products and that $49 for an operating agreement template is “disgustingly absurd”. Another customer complained that there seem to be hidden fees and that they ended up paying double what they expected.

You can read reviews on the Trustpilot website.

Inc Authority

Better Business Bureau

We were not able to locate Inc Authority on the BBB website. 

Trustpilot 

IncAuthority has a very high trust score rating on Trustpilot.

• Positive customer reviews
• Efficient chat support
• High trust score rating

The Trustpilot score for Inc Authority is 4.8/5 stars based on 14,036 reviews.

Inc Authority reviews at Trustpilot break down as follows:

• Excellent 92%
• Great 4%
• Average ˃ 1%
• Poor ˃1%
• Bad 3%

Many positive Trustpilot reviews revolve around great customer service and mention their INC Authority representative by name. 

“Super happy with the smooth service I am receiving from INC Authority, my account manager Mia gave me all the advice I needed and I am looking forward to learn more about the full service advice I’ll get for the next year.”

Some of the less favorable reviews revolve around their aggressive sales tactics, both by email and phone. 

“My experience online was quick and easy. What dropped the rating was how they tried to sell me on additional optional items. First by sending me an email and leaving a voicemail that there were ‘red flags’ and need to discuss ASAP. I set a phone call for 315 and TJ promptly called. I have to say, no one has bombed a sales call like TJ did.”

Many of the reviews mentioned that Inc Authority made the “red flag” comment as well and wanted to have a phone call to discuss. Then on the call the representative tried to sell them additional services. 

Other customers complained of being double charged. 

You can read reviews on the TrustPilot website.

Pros and Cons

ZenBusiness 

Inc Authority

Verdict

After a thorough assessment, we have determined that ZenBusiness offers the better value. With ZenBusiness you’ll save money and likely receive higher quality customer service and equally fast turnaround times. Although Inc Authority’s platform of LLC formation packages offer a variety of services, they are significantly more expensive. 

If you’re an entrepreneur with an eye on your budget, ZenBusiness is the better choice.

Our approach

As an entrepreneurial advisory site, we take our responsibilities seriously. We understand that countless entrepreneurs, and potential entrepreneurs, rely on our judgments and insights, particularly when it comes to creating their business.

As a result, our writers do their utmost to gain a comprehensive understanding of the services offered and the actual customer experience. In this case, we:

• Examined every single page of both the ZenBusiness and IncAuthority websites
• Reviewed all of their offerings, from a la carte products to packages
• Put ourselves in the customer’s shoes, creating accounts
• Communicated with customer service via chat, email and phone
• Gained a full understanding of the customer experience and service value

Thanks to this full immersion in the actual customer experience, our reviewer and team are able to provide the most complete and insightful comparison of ZenBusiness and Inc Authority LLC formation services.