ZenBusiness vs Northwest Registered Agent 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 Northwest Registered Agent. To help you determine which is best, and which might best fit 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. 

ZenBusiness is our recommendation as they offer more of a variety of service options for entrepreneurs, making their products a better value than Northwest Registered Agent.

Features and Services Overview

ZenBusiness has three business formation plans to choose from, with annual fees ranging from $0 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.

Northwest Registered Agent offers several a la carte services and one business formation package, the Corporate Guide Service plan, which includes a year of registered agent services and allows you to pay your total LLC formation fees over the course of a year. All customers will have online access to their documents and full customer support. 

Plans Pricing

The ZenBusiness Starter Plan costs $0 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. 

Northwest Registered Agent’s Corporate Guide Service spreads your filing and service fees over your first year of business. This package includes the preparation and filing of both your LLC formation documents and an EIN application. Customers receive same-day processing, an operating agreement, registered agent services for one year, a business address and a limited mail forwarding address, in addition to a prepared banking resolution. 

It also provides online access to your documents, customer service support, and a virtual business guide, making it a great value at a reasonable monthly price. Additional services will need to be purchased separately at a later time. 

Northwest Registered Agent’s a la carte services must be paid for in full at the time of purchase. This option allows customers to add more business services or tools to your LLC formation order, such as a certified copy or a second phone number.  Paying upfront for business formation services will cost $225 plus state filing fees. You also have the option to pay in monthly instalments.

ZenBusiness Plans vs Northwest Registered Agent Plan

ZenBusiness offers three tiers of LLC formation plans at different annual rates plus state fees. Northwest Registered Agent has one signature plan for which you can either pay an upfront cost or spread the payments out monthly.

Customer Service

We tested the customer service 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

Northwest Registered Agent

User Experience – What to Expect 

When you first go to the Northwest Registered Agent site, you’ll see tabs at the top that you can click on to explore free guides, products and pricing, and more about the company. 

Six quick links dominate the main page’s visual hierarchy.

We clicked on the Hire Us link and proceeded to form a new LLC using Northwest Registered Agent’s service. You can also choose the Start an LLC button.

You’ll then be prompted to enter the state you’re filing in, and your preferred payment method. This is when you have the option to choose the Corporate Guide Service package to pay a monthly fee or pay upfront in full. Remember, you’ll only be able to customize services and tools within your order if you pay in full. When you pay in full, you can also choose your filing time if the state offers more than one option. 

After you create an account with Northwest Registered Agent and provide your contact information, you can add more services or tools to your order. View the prices for these options by selecting and deselecting the items and watching your Order Summary box on the right side of the webpage. Some fees will vary depending on the state in which you’re forming your business, like a certificate of good standing. 

How Is the Formation Process?

Whether you opt for the Corporate Guide Service or pay in total upfront, the questions are simple and quick without a lot of confusing text. We found using Northwest Registered Agent to be an extremely smooth and pain-free process, and we especially like that the website’s order form allows you to jump back and forth between the filing sections quickly.

If you need to take a break, your progress will be saved– even if you don’t return until the next day. Again, whether you select the Corporate Guide Service plan or pay upfront, Northwest Registered Agent makes forming your LLC quick and easy.  

In Summary

Overall, the site is straightforward to use no matter what stage of filing preparation you’re in. If you’re ready to go and just want to complete the process, the Hire Us tab is always displayed at the top of the webpage, just like the How To and Our Services tabs, which offer more information. 

Even if you don’t purchase any services, you do have the option to sign up for a free account with Northwest Registered Agent. However, this isn’t posted on their website as much as their quick links to begin filing are. 

The filing/order page is where you’ll find the opportunity to sign up for a free account. But signing up for an account doesn’t seem to give you access to anything you’ll need unless you actually go ahead and form your LLC. 

Customer Support

We tested all three forms of Northwest Registered Agent customer support. 

Chat support

When we tested the customer service response time through the online chat option, we received a personal response within one minute. 

However, the online chat option doesn’t seem to be available consistently during Northwest Registered Agent’s posted business hours. We found that sometimes the chat was open, and other times it only displayed their “away” message.

The question we asked was about service packages– specifically, we wanted to double-check if there were any other packages besides the Corporate Guide Service. The customer service agent was polite and quickly explained that Northwest Registered Agent only offers the Corporate Guide Service; all other services can be purchased a la carte.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Very quick

Phone support

We called Northwest Registered Agent to ask a question about that mysterious discount floating around the internet – the markdown to form your LLC for only $39. We encountered just one automated phone menu with three options to listen through. Our call was then almost immediately answered by a friendly and professional customer service representative. 

He knew exactly what discount we were referring to and promptly emailed us access to the deal.

Support Rating:

Response time:

Immediate

Email support

In an email, we asked Northwest Registered Agent the same question about service packages we asked in the online chat. Within two hours, we received an email back with our question similarly answered. The person who responded was concise and made no sales pitches. 

Support Rating:

Response time:

Very quick

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. 

Zen Business

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.

Northwest Registered Agent

Better Business Bureau

Northwest Registered Agent has an A- rating on BBB.

• Quick response times
• Knowledgeable customer service
• Many positive reviews

Northwest Registered Agent has an A- rating from the BBB with 4.39/5 stars based on 99 customer reviews, but Northwest Registered Agent is not accredited with BBB. They have received 22 complaints in the last three years, all of which have a resolved status.

Many positive reviews at BBB revolve around exceptional customer service. You’ll find numerous reviews that praise Northwest Registered Agent’s prompt and efficient customer support, no matter which communication method you use. Customer service representatives have been commonly reported as polite, professional, and knowledgeable.  

One review boasted fast customer assistance, saying a mistake was “fixed in less than 30 minutes.” Another said they received “the BEST” customer service in “MANY years,” and one passionate customer left a review that read they “can’t even begin to describe how much easier they have made my life.”

Some negative reviews concern billing errors and cancellation issues. One person said they waited five months for a service they ordered, and another said they experienced “bait and switch pricing.” 

This latter review received a response from Northwest Registered Agent claiming the company had no record of that username’s account, so it may have been a fake – which is a serious issue in this competitive market. 

A 2021 review said that Northwest Registered Agent was still refusing to execute an account cancellation request from 2014.

You can read reviews on the BBB website. 

Trustpilot 

Northwest Registered Agent has an average trust score rating on Trustpilot.

• Quick response times
• Knowledgeable customer service
• Many positive reviews

The Trustpilot score for Northwest Registered Agent is 3.5/5 stars based on 10 customer reviews.

Northwest Registered Agent reviews at Trustpilot break down as follows:

• Excellent 50%
• Great 10%
• Average 0%
• Poor 0%
• Bad 40%

Many positive Trustpilot reviews, again, revolve around excellent customer service and quick services. One person said, “the process was easy and fast,” and multiple customers highlighted how Northwest Registered Agent service representatives helped them start their businesses “without any problems.”

Another person reflected on the “awesome, friendly, and patient” assistance they received over the phone. Others mentioned the general accessibility of Northwest Registered Agent’s customer service.

Some less favorable reviews involve unexpected account charges or changes and difficulty reaching customer service. One person complained that they only received notice of an address change when they randomly checked their online account and saw a pop-up on their screen. Another complained of being unable to get a hold of anyone on the phone. 

Others complained that the company finds a way to blame users who experience difficulties or have complaints. Another review bemoaned how the online chat representatives didn’t seem to know what services Northwest Registered Agent even offered.

You can read reviews on the TrustPilot website. 

Pros and Cons

ZenBusiness 

Northwest Registered Agent

Verdict

After a thorough assessment, we have determined that ZenBusiness offers the better value and broader service offerings. With ZenBusiness you’ll save some money and have access to a more robust lineup of offerings. Northwest Registered Agent does have faster turnaround times, but you’re more limited in your choices. 

ZenBusiness has more positive customer service reviews, giving them an edge over Northwest Registered Agent in terms of reliability.

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 Northwest Registered Agent 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 Northwest Registered Agent LLC formation services.