Cheapest Registered Agents: Great Services for $25-$49

Updated on February 2, 2024

Here’s a little secret: The best, cheapest registered agents for most small businesses are small, state-specific sites that charge $25-$49 per year for dependable registered agent services.

We’ll show you how to find them in your state.

Cheapest Registered Agent

Table of Contents

Jump to step…
  1. The Cheapest Registered Agents are Local
  2. What You Should Expect From Any Registered Agent
  3. How Local Agents Get Lost in the Shuffle
  4. When a Local Agent Isn't Enough
  5. Wait, What's a Registered Agent Again?
  6. Frequently Asked Questions

Deeply Discounted, Overlooked Local Registered Agents

$49/yr CA Reg Agent Services

$35/yr CO Reg Agent LLC

$29/yr DE Reg Agent

$35/yr Sunshine Corp Filings

$40/yr MO Reg Agent

$35/yr NV Reg Agent

$35/yr TX Reg Agent LLC

$25/yr WY Reg Agent Service LLC

The Cheapest Registered Agents are Local

Looking for the cheapest registered agent for your small business? The agents we recommend on this page are local to your state, making them an affordable option when looking for a quality registered agent service — but aren’t as well-known as sites like LegalZoom or ZenBusiness (both of which can charge up to $300 per year).

In our experience, these state-specific companies provide reliable registered agent services and provide excellent service. Check out some of these low prices below.

If you’re doing business in just one or two states and don’t require any other services, then you should seriously consider one of these hidden gems.

What You Should Expect From Any Registered Agent

We won’t recommend a cheap registered agent that doesn’t meet the basic requirements. All of these agents offer (at a minimum):

A Long Track Record of Solid Service

We recommend services that have been in business for at least 10 years and have track records of excellent service.

Same-Day Mail Scans

It’s 2024. Your registered agent should be securely scanning your mail and providing an online portal where you can view it. Do not hire an agent that just collects and forwards your mail.

Address Privacy Protection

One of the hidden benefits of hiring a registered agent to form your company is that they can use their address instead of yours on your formation documents. It helps you keep your personal data private. The savings in junk mail alone are worth it.

Data Security

A good registered agent will never sell your data. It doesn’t matter if a company is the cheapest registered agent if they just turn around and sell your data to marketing companies. We make sure that all the agents we recommend forbid this practice in writing.

Local Agents That Measure Up

Texan Registered Agent LLC ($35/yr), for example, is a great small company in Austin that we’ve been using for years. Their prices don’t change, they offer other services like virtual office and business formation, and their small staff always impresses us with their expertise and willingness to go the extra mile.

Delaware Registered Agent ($29/yr) is another one you won’t find advertised much, even though they are very good and might be the cheapest registered agent out there. Delaware Registered Agent offers:

  • Same-day electronic mail scans.

  • A client portal where you can view important mail and state communications.

  • Use of their address on public documents.

  • A policy against selling your data.

Sunshine Corporate Filings ($35/yr) in Florida is another great example. This company fits the bill for all our requirements and they offer domain and phone services.

The point is we’ve found registered agents like this in just about every state. Not seeing one where you live? Send us a message and we’ll help you find one.

How Local Agents Get Lost in the Shuffle

The cheapest registered agents are often overlooked by consumer advocate sites. Here’s why.

The Cheapest Registered Agents Don’t Get Reviewed

Consumer advocate sites like Forbes and Top10 rarely look at these sites. Instead, they recommend the same big-brand services in every state. There’s two main reasons for this.

The first is that it’s a lot easier to review one site than fifty or so.

The second is that national sites have marketing departments and affiliate programs to promote their sites to reviewers, which local services do not. There’s nothing wrong with that (we have affiliate relationships too) but we refuse to let it guide our recommendations.

For example, Forbes top picks for a Wyoming registered agent are Bizee ($119/yr) and LegalZoom ($249/yr). But they don’t mention:

Even though both of these smaller Wyoming sites offer excellent service, are trusted by business owners, and are less than half the cost!

The Truth About “Free” Services

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. We know this. But in the hunt for the cheapest registered agent, free sounds pretty good. Many good national services make this offer.

The truth is these services are only free for a year. After that, you’ll pay a lot more. ZenBusiness, for example, offers a free first year of registered agent services but then charges $199 per year after that.

When a Local Agent Isn’t Enough

A small, cheap registered agent isn’t best for everyone. Don’t use one of these sites if:

  • Your business operates in multiple states
  • You require a lot of support setting up your business

Here’s why.

If You Operate in Multiple States

If your business does operate in multiple states, finding the cheapest registered agent may not be your goal. You may be more interested in finding someone to help you manage it all in one place. Our favorite by far for meeting this need is Northwest Registered Agent.

Northwest is the only online registered agent on our radar that allows you to manage multiple states from one account. With one login you can view mail, file annual reports, and register in a new state. It’s a huge benefit that does not get discussed much, and we’ve never been sure why.

Northwest also offers multi-state discounts. Businesses with registered agent service in 5 or more states get a 20% discount.

When You Need a Little More Support

Sites like Northwest Registered Agent don’t just charge more for nothing.

They aspire to be comprehensive business management solutions. They offer highly competent customer service, extensive free legal templates, domains, website hosting, phone services, virtual offices, trademarking… need more?

These are great services. Especially for an inexperienced business owner, they can be a life saver. Read more about some of these services in our registered agent reviews.

Wait, What Is a Registered Agent Again?

Have we gotten the cart before the horse? Did you get caught up looking for the cheapest registered agent and realize you’re not sure what a registered agent is in the first place? If so, you can read our guide What Is a Registered Agent? From there, you can read about the specific requirements for registered agents in your state.

But its not super complicated either. Registered agents are a state requirement for most businesses. A registered agent guarantees that a business operating in a given state will maintain a physical address in that state so that the Secretary of State can reach that business.

A business owner can generally serve as their own registered agent or hire a service. It’s easy to register to serve as your own registered agent, but there are two main downsides:

  • You must agree to staff your registered agent address during all business hours.
  • The name and contact information you provide becomes a matter of public record.

The main benefits of hiring a registered agents are:

  • The security of having a buffer between your personal life and your business.
  • A LOT less junk mail and spam calls.
  • Compliance services and annual report management.
  • Not getting served at your place of business.
  • Freedom of not having to staff one location all the time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, registered agents are worth it. You can serve as your own registered agent, but considering the benefits that you get from hiring one, like freedom from staffing an office, reduced junk mail and spam calls, private LLC ownership, and access to expert compliance services, hiring one is usually worth the moderate costs.

One of our associates was paying $600 per year for registered agent services without really knowing it. We were shocked. In our experience, there’s no reason to pay more than $200/yr for premium services. But we also know a lot of good discount services with basic features for less than $50/yr.

Yes, it absolutely matters who your registered agent is. Because so much of what makes them valuable is privacy and dependability, you should know that they aren’t selling your data, and you need to be able to depend on them to forward legal and state communications to you. Make sure the registered agent you hire has automated digital services, and isn’t going to lose your service of process in a stack of papers.