Inc Authority LLC formation review (2026)

How does Inc Authority score on our rating?

Inc Authority rates 7.1 out of ten, with a high satisfaction part (9.8), a low services and dashboard part (3.2) and plan value in between (6.3).

Trustpilot: 4.9/5 49,233 reviews

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The satisfaction figure rests on a Trustpilot score of 4.9 / 5 from 49,233 reviews, the highest score among the providers we compare. Services and dashboard pulls the total down. Inc Authority sells 4 of the 10 business service types we track, and our record has no published online dashboard for it.³

Plan value looks at Free LLC. It includes 1 of the services our method counts for good, states 24 hours, and costs $0 across the first and second year before state fees, the lowest of the plans our rating compares. The registered agent and the website are left out of the count because both are time-limited. That mix puts Inc Authority just under doola (7.2) and just over InCorp (7.0). Weights and the tie rule are on the rating method page.

Who does Inc Authority's free plan fit?

Free LLC fits a founder who wants the formation paperwork filed for no plan fee, with an agent covered for the first year, and who is ready to decide before that year ends whether to keep paying for the agent.

Three kinds of reader match its published facts.

• An owner on a tight budget who will pay only the state's fee now and can get the EIN (the federal tax ID) from the IRS, where the IRS never charges a fee for an EIN, or buy it from Inc Authority for $49.^{4, 5}
• Someone in a hurry to get the order moving, since the plan lists FREE 24-Hr Processing.¹
• A founder who prefers to talk to a person. The plan includes INC CARE support via email or phone, and live support runs M-F 7:30am-5:00pm Pacific.^{6, 7}

Other readers fit less well. Inc Authority doesn't publish an annual report filing service in our record; the closest it comes is a line about "EIN support and compliance reminders" in a page description, with no detail on scope. It doesn't publish an online dashboard or an AI assistant either. Business coaching exists only as the paid Inc Success Advisor add-on at $299/year. By our count it includes none of the three supports for first-time founders in a plan and offers 1 at any price.^{6, 8}

Founders living abroad get one general statement: an LLC has "no limitations as to how many members can be involved or where they're located." That is a statement about LLCs in general, not about whether Inc Authority takes orders from outside the U.S. The list of services for non-U.S. founders covers providers that say so directly.⁶

What does the Free LLC plan include?

Free LLC includes preparation and filing of the formation documents, a name check, FREE 24-Hr Processing, a funding review, a tax planning consultation, document storage and phone or email support, plus a registered agent and a website design for a limited time.¹

Full Inc Authority pricing, plan by plan · Inc Authority alternatives

Inc Authority says it will prepare your entity formation documents and submit them to the state and check your business name within your state. A business credit and funding expert will review your business credit and financing needs, and the plan adds a tax planning consultation. "A digital copy of your start-up documents delivered and stored" covers the paperwork after filing. Of these, our method counts only the funding review as a service included for good, which is why the plan scores 1 on contents.⁶

What runs out after a while

The plan includes 1-year of FREE Registered Agent Service. After that the agent costs $249/year, charged automatically. The website is listed as a FREE Custom Website, but the free part covers the design; Inc Authority's service page says "Your monthly website fee is contract-free" without stating the monthly amount. The figure has to come from Inc Authority itself.^{2, 9, 10}

What the free plan leaves out

Inc Authority's registration page advertises a "FREE Business Tax ID" with the LLC, yet the EIN is not among the plan items in our verified record, and the stand-alone EIN service is $49. A custom operating agreement is $89. The two bundles above Free LLC are sold without published prices, so this page can't say what they add for the money. The Inc Authority pricing page sets out every published price.^{5, 11}

What renews, and how do you cancel?

The registered agent is the only renewal with a published price. Inc Authority states, "Your card will be charged ($249) approximately 1-year from date of incorporation." Its terms add that "The cost of your subscription is subject to change", so the renewal figure isn't locked.⁹

Its order page also says "Cancel within the first 12-months to avoid charges." Cancelling is done by calling 877-684-2836 or emailing renewals@incauthority.com. The terms say a cancellation may require proof of new agent or dissolution, meaning proof that another agent has been named with the state or that the LLC has been dissolved. A missed renewal payment can bring a $50 late penalty under the same terms.¹²

Refunds follow a money-back guarantee on the first online purchase, requested within the first 60 days of that purchase. Any refund is less state/third-party filing fees, and the terms also note that cancellations are not retroactive, so a renewal already charged stays charged. For a $0 plan, that guarantee mostly touches any add-ons bought with it.^{1, 12}

In the second year, a Free LLC customer who kept nothing pays Inc Authority nothing. One who kept the agent pays $249/year, plus the monthly website fee if the site stayed live. State report fees or taxes, where a state charges them, sit on top. Our LLC cost guide and the cost calculator show how those add up.²

Support and company record

Phone support is at (877) 462-6366, and the company page also lists an email address and LiveChat. Inc Authority describes itself as having 33 years in business and gives its address in Reno, NV. The BBB grades it A+ and states that Inc Authority is "NOT a BBB Accredited Business."^{7, 12, 13}

How fast does Inc Authority file an LLC?

Inc Authority states 24 hours for Free LLC, and lists FREE 24-Hr Processing among the plan's included items. Its FAQ describes a Premium Rush Service in matching terms: "your order is submitted within 24 hours during business hours." The FAQ doesn't say whether the free processing and that service are the same thing.^{1, 14}

• FREE 24-Hr Processing: $0 (included), 24 hours (not defined further)
• Premium Rush Service: not stated, order submitted within 24 hours during business hours
• Expedite Filing: not stated, not stated

On that description, the window covers submission, not approval. Inc Authority's FAQ puts state turnaround from one week to six months, depending on the state. Its packages page also lists Expedite Filing as an add-on for the STARTER bundle, without a price. Tailor Brands and ZenBusiness state 1 business day on their compared plans, so Inc Authority shares the shortest stated time rather than holding it alone. The LLC timeline guide, the fastest filing list and state pages such as forming an LLC in Texas show the state side.^{1, 15}

How much is the Inc Authority registered agent?

The first year of Inc Authority's registered agent service comes with Free LLC, and after that it costs $249/year, renewing automatically each year until cancelled.²

Inc Authority lists its registered agent service at $249/year, renewing at $249/year (charged ~1 year after incorporation). Every LLC needs a registered agent in its state; plans that include one say so above.

A registered agent is the person or company named on the state record to receive lawsuits and official notices for the LLC. Its pitch reads "Keep your home address private". That holds for any hired agent, since every agent service puts its own address in the agent field. The state decides what else goes public, such as the principal office or the organizer's name, and no choice of agent service changes that part of the record. Our record also has 'Compliance monitoring' listed among registered agent duties on its renewals page, without a description of what that covers. Providers that include an agent in a plan are on the registered agent included list.^{2, 16}

How does Inc Authority compare with other services?

Head-to-head pages set Inc Authority beside one provider at a time. The Inc Authority vs ZenBusiness and Inc Authority vs Tailor Brands pages compare it with plans that bill yearly; Inc Authority vs Northwest compares two agent-included offers.

• Inc Authority vs ZenBusiness
• Inc Authority vs LegalZoom
• Inc Authority vs Tailor Brands
• Inc Authority vs Northwest Registered Agent
• Bizee (formerly Incfile) vs Inc Authority
• Inc Authority vs Swyft Filings
• Tailor Brands review
• LegalZoom review
• Bizee (formerly Incfile) review
• ZenBusiness review

For lists by need, the cheapest LLC services and lowest cost over the first and second year pages order every plan by price, and the every-plan table shows all tiers from all 12 providers.