IncFile vs. Northwest Registered Agent (2022 Best Choice)

Incorporating a new brand and company on your own would take a significant amount of time. The paperwork, as well as putting it up and making sure it complies with state requirements, can consume all of your energy and, in some circumstances,  your interest and passion for business.

Working with an incorporation service to avoid such an experience would be the ideal workaround, as they provide all of the necessary services to ensure that you have your desired company. Some providers also give legal services, which you may use to keep your business running smoothly and in compliance with state regulations for a long time.

However, because there are so many organizations that offer these services, deciding which one is appropriate for you and your company can be difficult. So, in this article, you will learn more about two of the top ten best performing LLC formation services in the United States, IncFile and Northwest Registered Agent.

To help you and relieve your burden, we’ve put together an in-depth comparison guide that will go over the key features of both formation services that you should be aware of, including their similarities, differences,  and customer feedback. We will also reveal the answers to the most frequently asked questions from customers, as well as recommend the best service between the two.

Which service provider is the best choice? Will it be Incfile or Northwest Registered Agent? Find out in the following sections.

Overal value
90
Pricing
95
Ease of use
84

$0 + state fees

Overall value
90
Pricing
82
Ease of use
95

$35/mo + state fees

IncFile and Northwest Registered Agent Comparison Overview

Before we connect you to a full comparison of IncFile and Northwest Registered Agent, we have below the criteria we considered to compare the two companies and reach our ultimate decision.

Main Comparison Criteria:

  • Cost Efficiency
  • Track Record and Reliability
  • Customer Service Quality
  • Ease of Process
  • Service Speed

As we reviewed and compared Incfile and Northwest Registered Agent, we discovered how both organizations ensure that their customers receive essential formation services and found out what they offer that sets them apart and what they don’t that consumers frequently complain about.

In the end, we came to the conclusion that IncFile is a deserving winner of this match, as they topped the majority of our categories, proving their experience and consistency in the industry. With positive client feedback and over 500,000 entrepreneurs and small businesses supported, IncFile is one of the most popular services available today.

They can provide you with everything you need to start a business for free, with the exception of state taxes. With a year of free registered agent service, free basic business formation, email compliance reminders, and even safe online storage for your business formation records, their low-cost packages and inclusions ensure that your company gets off to a strong start. These are undeniably hard-to-refuse offers and difficult-to-match bundles.

 

 

Packages and Service Pricing

Similarities Between IncFile and Northwest

  • Budget-friendly

Instead of hiring a company lawyer who may charge you $1000 or more, IncFile and Northwest Registered Agent can handle the formation documents and support you during the whole registration process for a reasonable fee. This will save you a significant amount of money in the long run.

 

  • Pro Customer Support

Both IncFile and Northwest Registered Agent have excellent customer support systems with knowledgeable and skilled customer service representatives that can answer tough questions and address complex concerns whenever they arise. Also, both of their customer service is well regarded and rated on several review platforms.

 

  • FREE Registered Agent Service

Another advantage of both organizations is that any LLC formation purchase includes a full year of registered agent service. Given that every LLC is required to appoint a registered agent, this is an extremely useful feature.

 

  • Extensive Track Record

IncFile and Northwest Registered Agent have a track record of success. Both companies serve thousands of customers each year and as one of the most popular business formation service providers, they continue to invite more entrepreneurs to join them. Regardless of the type of business you wish to put up, both are well-equipped to handle your company’s needs.

 

  • Speed and Efficacy

Both services are capable if you need to form an LLC urgently. You can even start a business with them in three to five weeks. However, if you need it faster than that, you can avail their expedited option that can cut the processing period from a few weeks to a matter of days.

 

  • Highly Used and Recommended by Others

As companies with both a proven track record, they have garnered thousands of reviews online, both positive and negative. In general, they actually have excellent reviews and stunning ratings, proving their excellence in the industry and their customers’ satisfaction with the kind of service they provide.

 

Side-by-Side Comparison of Their LLC Services

IncFile Cost Efficiency

Incfile, like most business formation service providers, has a three-tiered price model: Silver is $0, Gold is $149, and Platinum is $299.

With the Silver plan, IncFile guarantees that they can assist you forming your business and provide registered agent service for an entire year for $0 plus state taxes. After the first year, the registered agent service will renew for $119 per year, which is still a fantastic price as it follows the standard of the industry.

Their Gold package, on the other hand, is only $149 which comes with a number of additional perks that make it more appealing to purchase. It contains an Operating Agreement, an EIN application, annual report notifications, and a variety of offers, such as the establishment of a company bank account and a business tax consultation.

Meanwhile, Incfile’s Platinum plan is $100 more expensive than the Gold plan. It may be useful, though, because it includes a slew of extra services, such as faster filing for your formation documents, an online library of business contract templates, and a web domain name and email address for your company.

All in all, Incfile offers a comprehensive set of services to consumers at a reasonable price. Furthermore, none of the tiers appears to be overwhelmed with unnecessary features. These are unquestionably high-quality bundles at an affordable price.

IncFile clearly wins in this category because spending nothing is more appealing and more preferable to paying $255 for equivalent services. What makes IncFile a better deal is that they include more valuable features in their LLC formation packages than Northwest Registered Agent without charging any additional fees. IncFile’s higher-tier plans even exceed Northwest’s one and only package, particularly with IncFile’s inclusion of annual report service, Operating Agreement preparation, and compliance monitoring service.

Winner: IncFile

Northwest Cost Efficiency

Northwest, unlike most other business formation services, does not offer a variety of packages. If you want to employ their LLC and incorporation services, all you have to do is pay $225 plus a one-year state fee (or $35/mo). This includes all of the necessary services, such as an operating agreement, registered agent service, and expedited filing.

It is so easy to process your order as they offer only the basics that will undoubtedly help your business. The huge expense, on the other hand, is certainly a worry. Although the package does not appear to be overwhelmed with nonsense upsells, their entire formation fee is significantly greater than the industry standard.

We believe that their expertise and track record enable them to provide a level of excellence to their customers that most competitors cannot match. However, their pricing appears to reflect this far too strongly.

Winner: IncFile

IncFile Track Record and Reliability

Incfile was started in Houston, Texas, in 2004 with the purpose of providing a high-quality client experience at an affordable price. Since then, they have helped over 500,000 entrepreneurs launch their own businesses.

They have excellent customer feedback, with thousands of good ratings greatly outnumbering a few bad reviews. Customers were lured to Incfile because of its low cost and efficiency. They have recently made a record after a more than 200 percent year-over-year gain.

Winner: Northwest!

Northwest Track Record and Reliability

Northwest was established in 1998 in Spokane, Washington. Their main goal is to keep things as simple as possible for their consumers when it comes to business formation and registered agent services.

They have helped the growth of over two million enterprises since their establishment, and according to their website, they can currently generate 200 new LLCs and corporations every day. Although there are few online reviews for Northwest, the ones that are available are mostly good and coincide with the company’s vision and beliefs.

Despite the fact that IncFile has received thousands of positive reviews and has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs in a shorter period of time, Northwest comes out on top when it comes to the most experienced business formation and legal services provider.

Winner: Northwest!

 

IncFile Customer Service Quality

Incfile offers phone and email customer service, and we used both to get firsthand knowledge of what their customers are most likely to complain about.

Their customer service is available via phone during business hours, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. CST. The one expectation that has not been met thus far is the time and effort required to speak with a professional customer service representative. When we used their phone support, it took many phone calls for someone to respond.

When we sent them an email with a similar question, we received a response the next day. To be honest, we received more detailed responses via email than we did over the phone.

It is worth noting that a significant portion of their customers were unhappy with their customer service. Long wait periods and unresolved issues are among the common complaints.

Winner: Northwest!

Northwest Customer Service Quality

Northwest’s most valuable asset is its excellent customer service. When you sign up, you will be assigned a local Corporate Guide who will lead you through the process and assist you with any issues that arise. Northwest’s one-on-one support is a crucial selling factor since it allows you to form a bond with a trusted partner.

While many organizations in this field outsource customer service in large numbers and work with unknown call centers that serve a variety of significant clients, Northwest stands out as they avoid outsourcing and prefer training their employees in-house from the beginning to ensure their mastery of the business.

During regular business hours, their agents can be reached by phone, online, or email if you are interested in any of their services.

IncFile’s customer support is excellent, but it pales in contrast to Northwest’s high level of personalization. Only Northwest Registered Agent, out of all the business formation services today, connects a customer to a specific customer care representative to ensure that they provide everything that a customer needs. Customers are unanimous in their praise for this one-of-a-kind, personalized support system, and we share their enthusiasm.

Winner: Northwest!

IncFile’s Ease of Ordering Process

The IncFile website is simple and easy to navigate, guiding clients through the process of forming an online business organization step by step. You need not to worry if you do not have time to finish the order right away because Incfile will save your work and allow you to do it later.

As you progress through the signup process, your steps are customised based on the state you live in and the type of business you wish to start. There are small question marks or links throughout the application to learn more about a specific topic or form item.

Their website includes a sales tax calculator as well as a tool for determining compliance report due dates. Incfile’s price is also clearly mentioned during the signup process, and those expenses include state processing fees, so you know how much it will cost you in total.

You can also add services to your formation plan that are not yet included, but if you do not think they are necessary for your company, you can just focus on your order and ignore them.

Winner: IncFile

Northwest’s Ease of Ordering Process

Northwest’s website, while not as user-friendly as some of its competitors, is completely functional. Their price is simple and unambiguous, with little room for misunderstanding. The company focuses on its main service line with no upsells, making the application process easy and uncomplicated.

Furthermore, the order forms and checkout pages are designed to clearly display the pricing of each item. Their web dashboard is easy to use, and it properly organizes all of your LLC documents.

On the other hand, the website should be better organized – in a more modern but still basic design. While the site has a lot of free designs and important information, the structure is not entirely user-friendly, and locating what you are searching for might be difficult.

The order process for Incfile took no longer than 10-15 minutes. Despite the few upsells, the process with IncFile still seemed easier because of how simple and user-friendly their website was structured. Also, the ability to save your progress is another advantage, most especially to those who are fresh entrepreneurs who might find themselves undecided or indoubt while in the middle of the process.

Winner: IncFile

IncFile Service Speed & TAT

The speed with which each state executes a business formation determines IncFile’s turnaround times, which can range from a few days to several weeks in some states. On Incfile’s website, there is a dedicated turnaround time page where you can see these expected processing times.

The majority of states expect formations to take two to three weeks when using conventional filing. In most circumstances, expedited filing cuts this period to 1-5 days.

Because expediting is not available with Incfile’s bottom two tiers, customers must upgrade to the $299 Platinum plan to receive the best possible formation times at no extra cost. However, if you select a lower tier, you can purchase expedited service as an add-on for an extra $50.

Indeed, both turnaround times are highly dependent on the formation state. However, in most states, Incfile’s expedited filing predictions are slightly faster than Northwest’s. Northwest, for example, has a regular turnaround time of 16 days and an expedited turnaround time of six days in Georgia, whereas Incfile only has a regular turnaround time of 15 days and an expedited turnaround time of just two days.

Winner: IncFile

 

Northwest Service Speed & TAT

Similarly, the time it takes for Northwest Registered Agent to process your order is influenced by the state in which you want to form an LLC. Because the company only has one package, it could take anything from a few days to a few weeks.

When you choose your state from the dropdown menu on their website, a projected turnaround time will appear on the screen. The order form will list two turnaround time frames – standard and expedited – because most jurisdictions charge a fee for expedited processing.

Winner: IncFile

IncFile Customer Feedback

Given IncFile’s extensive business knowledge, it’s simple to get consumer comments online that can help you get a sense of what to expect as a client.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has not yet accredited IncFile, however, it does have a 4.5 star rating on this site. On Incfile’s Trustpilot, the image is radically different, with 54 percent of reviews being absolutely negative, resulting in a score rating of 2.2.

Nonetheless, buyers praised the low cost, ease of use, and reasonable bundles as some of the most appealing qualities.

On the other hand, some customers commonly complain about Incfile’s poor service. We have learned about a lot of severe issues and delays, with Incfile’s customer service taking days to respond to concerns, even when they urgently require a resolution or response.

incfile vs northwest trustpilot

Now, to give you a more complete picture of how verified IncFile customers thought about their entire experience with them, we gathered a few screenshots of good and negative customer reviews from various platforms and compiled them here for your reference:

IncFile Reviews from Trustpilot:

incfile trustpilot average testimonial 1 incfile trustpilot positive testimonial 1 incfile trustpilot positive testimonial 2

IncFile reviews from BBB:

BBB negative testimonial incfile 1 BBB positive testimonial incfile 1 BBB positive testimonial incfile 2

Winner: Northwest!

Northwest Customer Feedback

Despite the fact that Northwest is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau (see their BBB profile here), the majority of customer feedback is positive. In reality, the organization has a four-star average rating, with the majority of customers complimenting the quality of service and the speed with which it is provided.

Northwest, like IncFile, has gotten complaints or unfavorable reviews. In fact, the majority of the complaints have already been handled, based on Northwest’s responses and the status of the complaints.

Despite a few criticisms, the majority of customer reviews laud the company for its exceptional customer service, quick turnaround times, and other capabilities.

incfile vs northwest bbb

Now, to give you a more complete picture of how verified Northwest customers thought about their entire experience with them, we gathered a few screenshots of good and negative customer reviews from various platforms and compiled them here for your reference:

Northwest Registered Agent reviews from Trustpilot:

northwest-trustpilot-positive-testimonial-2 northwest-trustpilot-positive-testimonial-1

Northwest reviews from BBB:

northwest bbb reviews

 

Winner: Northwest!

Which One of These 2 Services is Best For You?

While we are confident that your LLC formation will go smoothly regardless of whether you choose IncFile or Northwest Registered Agent because they are two of the best performing LLC formation service providers available, we believe that considering the following will help you decide which one is truly best for you.

Choose IncFile if… (visit www.incfile.com)

  • You’re looking for the cheapest LLC service that includes a suite of essential business formation services.
  • You prefer a business with a large number of satisfied customers and a long track record of success.
  • You don’t want a company that has bothersome hidden expenses, a lot of upsells, and a shady checkout process.
  • You do not anticipate needing legal counsel on a regular basis.

Choose Northwest Registered Agent if… (visit www.northwestregisteredagent.com)

  • You want a straightforward service with few upsells.
  • You want a service that has been in operation for a long time.
  • You’re looking for a more personalized customer service experience.
  • You want to keep your data safe. Northwest does not sell your information, and unlike Incfile, they do not have “partner offers”.

Overall Winner of the Comparison – IncFile!

Incfile is without a doubt one of the best companies in the online incorporation industry. Although Northwest is a solid firm, it falls far short of what Incfile offers. IncFile’s prices and value are amazing, as are their ease of use and short turnaround times.

Their pricing is almost impossible to match. You can register an LLC for free by using their basic service and have a year of free registered agent service, as well as a slew of other valuable services.

They also have years of experience assisting businesses in getting started, and the entire process can be completed with a few mouse clicks.

Finally, they are one of the top ten best business formation services in the United States, so we highly suggest them and are convinced that you will be satisfied with their service.

Still, we believe that whether you choose Incfile or Northwest Registered Agent for your company, you have already made substantial progress, and this is only one of many milestones you will have to complete to build and operate your company.

$0 + State Fees

Go toincfile.com

IncFile is one of the best LLC formation services. It ranks #3 in our top LLC services list. Their free initial package is probably one of the most attractive offers in the market!

FAQs

When it comes to IncFile, we consider their $0 Silver bundle to be their most valuable asset. We believe it is a fantastic deal if all you need is the basics of LLC formation and a year of registered agent service.

Northwest does have several advantages of their own, the most notable of which is their customer assistance system. Northwest provides a level of customization in client service that is uncommon in this business.

Nothing rivals IncFIle when it comes to the best bundle. Their Silver plan includes Articles of Incorporation preparation and filing, as well as 12 months of registered agent service. This is a wonderful deal that includes everything you need. This is also one of the most affordable business creation solutions on the market.

Northwest does not provide many upsells or third-party partnership offers to their clients. Instead, Northwest will focus on providing the finest service possible to its clients.

Both services provide excellent options to keep your LLC running smoothly in the years ahead. Both provide a complimentary year of registered agent service. However, if you want to keep using the registered agent service, IncFile charges $119 per year and Northwest charges $125 per year. Both companies also provide yearly report services.

IncFile’s refund policy states…

“An order is generally refundable until payment is forwarded to any government entity, such as a state or the U.S. federal government (typically within twenty-four hours after an order is placed), less a $30.00 cancellation fee and less any other expenses which have been paid or incurred in furtherance of an order, including payments to any entities, including state agencies or the Federal government or third party vendors. Once payment has been forwarded to any government entity or third party, Incfile cannot accept any cancellations or any other changes to an order.”

Meanwhile, if you cancel your filing order for an LLC or business before the necessary documents have been submitted to the state, you will receive a full refund from Northwest Registered Agent. You will be paid for a portion of Northwest’s service charge if they have previously submitted paperwork to the state. However, state fees that have already been paid on your behalf will never be reimbursed. In addition, if you wish to cancel your agent services, simply call them 90 days after signing up and get a refund. Most likely, you will not receive a full refund, but rather a percentage of the money.