Best Free LLC Formation Services (2026)

“Free LLC formation” is one of those phrases that sounds too good to be true, and honestly, it partially is. Every service on this list charges $0 for their base formation package, but you’ll always pay state filing fees (which range from $50 to $500+ depending on your state), and the free tiers vary dramatically in what’s actually included.

We tested the four most popular free LLC formation services to see what you genuinely get at the $0 price point, where the upsells start, and which service delivers the best overall value when you’re watching every dollar.

ZenBusiness — Best Free Plan Overall

ZenBusiness offers the strongest free tier of any LLC formation service we tested. Their $0 Starter plan includes articles of organization filing, a registered agent for the first year, an operating agreement template, and access to their compliance dashboard. That combination of included features at no cost is hard to beat.

The registered agent inclusion is the key differentiator. Most competitors either charge separately for registered agent service or don’t offer it at all in their free tier. ZenBusiness gives you a full year at no additional cost, which saves you $100-$250 compared to purchasing it separately. After year one, the registered agent renews at $199/year, which is competitive but not the cheapest option available.

The formation process itself is smooth. ZenBusiness walks you through each step clearly, and the dashboard you get after formation is genuinely useful for tracking deadlines and managing documents. The upsell screens during checkout are the main annoyance; you’ll need to click through several “recommended” add-ons before completing your order. Just decline them and move on.

Best for: Anyone who wants the most complete free formation package, especially the included registered agent service.

Bizee — Best Budget Alternative

Bizee (the company formerly known as Incfile) has been offering free LLC formation longer than most of its current competitors. Their $0 Silver plan includes articles of organization, a registered agent for the first year, and a few extras like banking resolution documents and lifetime company alerts. It’s a solid package that directly competes with ZenBusiness.

The lifetime company alerts are a genuinely useful feature that most services charge for. Bizee will notify you before compliance deadlines, which helps you avoid late fees and penalties. Combined with the included registered agent, the free tier provides a workable foundation for a new LLC.

Where Bizee falls behind ZenBusiness is in the platform experience. The dashboard feels a generation older, navigation isn’t always intuitive, and customer support quality varies depending on who you reach. Formation processing times also tend to run slightly longer than ZenBusiness for standard (non-expedited) orders. None of these are dealbreakers at a $0 price point, but they’re worth knowing about.

Best for: Budget-focused entrepreneurs who want free formation with a registered agent and don’t mind a less polished platform.

Swyft Filings — Best for Speed

Swyft Filings offers a $0 formation package that covers the basics: articles of organization and a few standard documents. The pitch here is speed. Swyft consistently processes formations faster than the competition at every tier, and their paid rush options are among the quickest available.

The catch is that Swyft’s free tier is noticeably thinner than ZenBusiness or Bizee. Registered agent service is not included and costs extra from day one. The operating agreement template is locked behind a paid tier. What you get for free is essentially the formation filing itself and not much else.

That said, if your primary concern is getting your LLC filed as quickly as possible without paying for premium rush processing, Swyft’s standard turnaround times are competitive. Their checkout process is also one of the fastest; you can complete the entire order in about 10 minutes with minimal friction. The upselling is present but less aggressive than some competitors.

Best for: Entrepreneurs who prioritize fast filing and are comfortable paying separately for registered agent service.

LegalZoom — Most Name Recognition

LegalZoom technically offers a $0 LLC formation package, but calling it “free” requires some asterisks. The base plan covers articles of organization filing and that’s essentially it. No registered agent (that’s $249/year extra), no operating agreement in the basic tier, and standard processing times that lag behind every other service on this list.

What LegalZoom brings to the table is brand recognition and a broader legal services ecosystem. If you already use LegalZoom for other legal needs or anticipate needing services like trademark filing, attorney consultations, or contract review, having everything under one roof has value. But purely as a free LLC formation service, LegalZoom is the weakest option here.

The formation process itself is fine, just slower and more expensive once you add the services that competitors include for free. A “free” LegalZoom LLC with registered agent service ends up costing $249 in the first year, while the same setup at ZenBusiness or Bizee costs $0. That’s a meaningful difference for a bootstrapped business.

Best for: People who already use LegalZoom’s legal services and want to keep everything on one platform. Not recommended as a standalone free formation service.

Free Plan Comparison at a Glance

Here’s what each service actually includes at the $0 price point:

ZenBusiness ($0 Starter): Formation filing, registered agent (year one), operating agreement template, compliance dashboard, CPA assessment.

Bizee ($0 Silver): Formation filing, registered agent (year one), banking resolution, lifetime company alerts, tax consultation.

Swyft Filings ($0 Basic): Formation filing, basic document drafting. No registered agent or operating agreement included.

LegalZoom ($0 Basic): Formation filing. No registered agent, limited included documents.

The Real Cost of “Free”

No free LLC formation service is truly free. State filing fees are unavoidable and range from around $50 (Kentucky, Mississippi) to $500+ (Massachusetts, Tennessee). Beyond state fees, most people will eventually need a registered agent ($100-$250/year), an EIN (free from the IRS, but many services charge $50-$100 to file it for you), and potentially an operating agreement.

The smartest approach is to take advantage of the free formation, use the included registered agent for the first year, and file your own EIN directly with the IRS (it takes about 15 minutes online). That gets you a fully operational LLC for nothing more than your state filing fee.

After the first year, compare registered agent renewal prices before automatically renewing. You can always switch registered agents if your formation service’s renewal price is too high. The formation and the registered agent are separate services; you’re not locked in.

Our Recommendation

ZenBusiness is the clear winner for free LLC formation in 2026. The combination of formation filing, included registered agent, operating agreement, and a genuinely useful compliance dashboard makes it the most complete package at the $0 price point. Bizee is a close second with a similar feature set in a less polished package.

Skip Swyft Filings and LegalZoom if you’re optimizing purely for free value. Both are fine services with strengths in other areas, but their free tiers don’t compete with what ZenBusiness and Bizee offer at the same $0 price.