Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: ZenBusiness sells LLC formation in three tiers, read from its own pricing pages today: Starter is $0 plus state fees and never renews; Pro is $199 plus state fees, renewing at $199 a year; Premium is $399 plus state fees, renewing at $399 a year and the only tier that includes a registered agent. The number to watch is not the formation price. Once you look past Starter, registered agent service, EIN help, and its “Worry-Free Compliance” add-on each bill at $199 a year on their own, and an annual report filing runs $100 per report. BBB.org’s own listing rates ZenBusiness an A, not the A+ its marketing page displays.
ZenBusiness at a glance
| Fact | What the company’s own pages say |
|---|---|
| Starter tier | $0 + state fees, does not renew: name check, articles of organization filing, e-document access |
| Pro tier | $199 + state fees, renews at $199/year: adds 1-day rush processing, EIN, an operating agreement template |
| Premium tier | $399 + state fees, renews at $399/year: adds registered agent service and a business advisor consultation |
| Registered agent (standalone) | $199/year |
| Common add-ons | EIN $99 one-time; operating agreement $99 one-time; expedited filing $79 one-time; annual report filing $100 per report |
| BBB rating (BBB.org, verified September 5, 2026) | A, accredited since December 12, 2019 |
How the three tiers actually differ
Starter is a genuine $0-plus-state-fee filing: ZenBusiness submits your articles of organization and gives you a dashboard, nothing more. Pro adds the two things most new owners actually need next, an EIN and an operating agreement template, for a $199 charge that repeats every year whether or not you asked it to. Premium folds in a year of registered agent service on top of that, at $399 a year. None of the three tiers states, on the pricing page itself, whether the registered-agent term inside Premium is a separate clock from the $399 renewal or bundled into it.
The recurring costs the headline price doesn’t show
Once you own an LLC, the ongoing bills are registered agent service ($199/year if bought alone), ZenBusiness’s Worry-Free Compliance filing service ($199/year), and any state’s own annual report if ZenBusiness files it for you ($100 per report, on top of whatever the state itself charges). Add those up before comparing the $0 Starter price against a competitor’s one-time fee: the formation cost is rarely where the money goes after year one.
The formation service we are actually paid to recommend
You just read our independent read on ZenBusiness. Bizee is our partner, not ZenBusiness, and we earn a commission if you buy through the link below. Comparing both before you choose is reasonable.
Bizee’s BBB rating, verified directly against BBB’s own listing on August 10, 2026: a C, not accredited, with 84 complaints on file. Check BBB’s current listing yourself before you buy; a rating we did not just verify is worse than none.
We earn a commission if you purchase through this link, between $20 and $175 depending on which service you buy. This does not change the price you pay. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
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Before you sign up, five minutes of your own verification
- Read the figures above against the company’s own current pricing page; prices in this category change without much notice.
- If it’s an investment adviser, look it up free on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site and read its Form ADV Part 2A fee section and any disclosure events.
- Ask directly how the person or advisor you’d actually work with is compensated, not just the headline company fee.
- Run any percentage fee through the Financial Advisor Fee Calculator and the Fee Drag Calculator to see the dollar cost over time, not just the rate.
- Bring our questions to ask a financial advisor to the first call.
Bottom line
For a first LLC where you only want the state filing done, Starter is the cheapest genuine option on the board. The moment you add registered agent service, the real annual cost becomes $199 to $399 a year going forward, not the one-time number in the headline.
Sources
- ZenBusiness formation plan pricing: https://www.zenbusiness.com/pricing-formation-plans/
- ZenBusiness standalone product pricing: https://www.zenbusiness.com/pricing-products/
- BBB.org listing for ZenBusiness Inc.: https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/austin/profile/incorporation/zenbusiness-inc-0825-1000146024
Methodology. This page was materially reviewed on September 5, 2026. Figures came directly from the company’s own current pricing pages, Form CRS, or Form ADV brochures where noted, with sources linked inline; any figure we could not independently confirm this session is named as such above rather than presented as verified.
Independent analysis based on the reviewed company’s own published pages, pricing, and SEC filings where applicable, cited inline with the date we read them. We have not used any of these services as a client. Nothing here is personalized financial, tax, or legal advice. Companies did not pay for, review, or influence this content. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.