Quick answer

For most small businesses forming a company now, ZenBusiness is the strongest all-around choice. Its registered agent service renews at $199 a year and sits alongside formation, EIN and compliance help from the same provider, so there is one renewal to track instead of two vendors.

Rocket Lawyer's pricing page lists its memberships, from $149 a year, but no registered agent price. That makes it a candidate mainly for owners who already want its legal documents and attorney access. The comparison below shows every provider's ongoing price side by side.

What does Rocket Lawyer's registered agent service include?

Rocket Lawyer is mainly a legal membership company. Members get document templates, e-signatures, an AI legal assistant and access to attorneys. Registered agent service is one of several "premium legal add-ons" layered on top.

Rocket Lawyer's pricing page does not list a registered agent price, so the add-on's cost should be confirmed before buying. A Standard membership is $149 a year or $34.99 a month.

What does it actually cost each year?

The membership is priced on its own, and any add-on comes on top. On annual billing, as of October 6, 2026:

  • Plus membership is $249 a year, before any registered agent fee.
  • Pro membership is $349 a year, before any registered agent fee.

Monthly billing costs more over a year: Plus is $49.99 a month and Pro is $64.99 a month. Rocket Lawyer offers a 7-day free trial on its memberships. State filing fees are always separate and are set by the state, not by Rocket Lawyer.

What does the membership add?

The membership is the actual product, and it does carry value for some owners. Members get their first business registration free, then $99 plus state fees for each one after that.

Attorney access scales with the plan. On every plan, a privileged Legal Advice Session costs $149 for 30 minutes or $249 for 60 minutes.

Who Rocket Lawyer's registered agent suits

Best for: owners who already pay for Plus or Pro, or who plan to, because they want contracts, e-signatures and regular attorney questions. For them, adding an agent is a small step.

Not suited for: anyone shopping on a site like this one for an inexpensive agent. If the agent is the only thing needed, a membership is an extra cost, and the agent's own price is not listed on Rocket Lawyer's pricing page. Rocket Lawyer's public page also does not describe its mail scanning or document handling in detail, so owners who care about those specifics should ask before buying.

How does Rocket Lawyer compare with other registered agent services?

The providers below are listed alphabetically, and the order is not a ranking. Prices come from each provider's own site and are as of October 6, 2026. Ongoing prices appear first, and promotional terms are labeled as such.

  • Bizee: a free first year comes with any formation package. The renewal rate after the free year is not stated separately on its agent page.
  • Harbor Compliance: $159 a year. Promotional pricing is $99 for the first year. It charges one national price, and its 2 and 3 year terms hold $99 a year before renewing at $159.
  • LegalZoom: registered agent price not published on its LLC pricing page.
  • Northwest Registered Agent: $125 a year, with no promotional terms published. The price includes a domain, website, business address, phone line and mail scanning.
  • Rocket Lawyer: registered agent price not listed on its pricing page. Memberships are $149, $249 or $349 a year.
  • ZenBusiness: $199 a year. Any first-year offer should be checked on its page at purchase.

The alternatives

Rocket Lawyer is covered above. The other five providers follow in alphabetical order, which is not a ranking.

Bizee

Bizee leads on upfront cost. Its formation packages are Basic at $0 plus state fees, Standard at $199 and Premium at $299, and every package includes a free first year of registered agent service. Its agent page does not separately state the renewal price after the free year, so it is worth confirming at checkout.

Bizee says it sends service of process by FedEx with tracking.

Best for: a new formation where the lowest first-year bill matters most.

Harbor Compliance

Harbor Compliance charges an ongoing $159 a year, with one national price rather than per-state pricing. The first year is promotional at $99. Its 2 and 3 year terms hold $99 a year for the full term, then renew at $159. Harbor is built for multi-state and regulated filings at a scale most single-state small businesses do not need.

Best for: businesses registered in several states, or in regulated industries.

LegalZoom

LegalZoom does not publish its registered agent price on its LLC pricing page.

Its LLC formation packages are Basic at $0 plus state fees, Managed Service at $249 and Expert Service at $999.

Best for: owners already using LegalZoom for other legal work who would rather keep everything with one company.

Northwest Registered Agent

Northwest Registered Agent deserves a serious hearing on a budget site. At $125 a year, it is the lowest published ongoing price here. That price includes a domain, a website, a business address, a phone line and mail scanning.

Privacy is Northwest's core proposition, and it matters because the agent's address becomes public record, as the state rules below explain. For a home-based owner whose main goal is keeping a home address out of state records at the lowest annual price, Northwest is hard to beat.

Best for: home-based businesses focused on privacy and the lowest standalone renewal.

ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness charges $199 a year for registered agent service. Promotional terms change and carry conditions, so check the ZenBusiness page for any current first-year offer before relying on it.

ZenBusiness's registered agent service includes compliance monitoring.

Its formation plans are Starter at $0 plus state fees, Pro at $199 and Premium at $299. The EIN and operating agreement are included from Pro up and cost $99 each on Starter.

Best for: owners forming a business now who want formation, the EIN, the operating agreement and the registered agent under one account, with one renewal to manage.

What do state rules say about registered agents?

Registered agent law is state law, and the details differ from state to state. California and Texas show how it works in practice.

California. The California Secretary of State is direct about the requirement: "Corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships are required by statute to designate an agent for service of process." A California entity cannot act as its own agent.

California's public Business Search also shows the current filings for each entity, including the agent's name and address. That is the whole basis of the privacy argument: whatever address is listed for the agent is visible to anyone who looks.

Texas. The Texas Secretary of State says a Texas entity may not serve as its own registered agent. An officer, owner or employee may serve, but only as an individual. Failing to keep a registered agent can lead to involuntary termination of a domestic entity, or revocation of a foreign entity's registration.

Changing the registered agent or registered office in Texas costs $15 and uses Form 401. That fee is a reminder that switching providers later has a state cost on top of the new provider's price.

Everywhere else. The rules vary. Owners outside California and Texas should check with their own state's business filing office before choosing a provider. The U.S. Small Business Administration's guide to registering a business is a useful starting point.

What should a business that is just starting out sort out first?

A business being formed now generally needs four things, roughly in this order: the legal entity, an EIN, a separate business bank account and a way to keep books. The registered agent is part of the first step, because the agent must be named when the entity is formed.

This is where a single provider makes sense. ZenBusiness handles formation and the EIN, and supplies the registered agent. Owners who form an LLC or corporation through ZenBusiness also receive a free accounting consultation with recommendations on accounting, bookkeeping and tax for their first year.

For ongoing bookkeeping, ZenBusiness's Money Pro is $30 a month. Opening the business bank account remains the owner's own step.

Rocket Lawyer can also handle formation and the EIN for its members, and it adds attorney access that ZenBusiness does not offer. An owner who will actually use that attorney access may find Rocket Lawyer worth the membership, while an owner who just needs the business set up and an agent named can do both with ZenBusiness.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal, tax or accounting advice, and registered agent requirements vary by state and change over time.