How Much Does It Cost to Start an LLC in 2025?
The cheapest legit way to form your LLC in 2025 — $39 + state fees: https://smallbiz.to/HUMOif
We spent $1,787 forming LLCs with every major service to figure out how much it actually costs to start an LLC — and which one wastes your money.
TL;DR: Pay your state filing fee, get a registered agent that doesn't upsell you, and skip the bells and whistles.
Here's the honest breakdown:
State filing fees range from $35 (Montana) to $300+ (California, Texas, Massachusetts). California's the trap everyone misses — $70 to file, but an $800 Franchise Tax kicks in within 4 months of incorporating. Most states land between $100–$200.
Then there's the stuff you might need:
• Name reservation: $10–$100
• DBA (only if your legal name is taken): $5–$150
• Operating agreement: free to $750 (only 5 states require one — CA, DE, ME, MO, NY)
• Newspaper publication: $30–$500 (only NY, AZ, NE)
• Registered agent: $0–$250/year
Realistic range: $150 on the low end, $3,000+ if you let a service upsell you on everything.
Here's where most channels lose the plot. They'll push you toward $199–$399/year packages stuffed with "compliance monitoring" and "business contract templates" you'll never open. Ben's thesis stands: no one should be using an LLC formation service for anything other than... forming an LLC.
🥇 Northwest Registered Agent — $39 + state fees. Year-two registered agent renewal is $125/year vs $199–$399 at competitors. Ethan timed the signup at 4 minutes 44 seconds. Ben's own Wyoming LLC came back filed in 6 days. 5-year total cost projection: $548. That's roughly $1,000+ in savings vs LegalZoom, ZenBusiness, and Tailor Brands over the same window. Bonus that matters for solo founders: Northwest uses its own business address on your public state filing instead of your home address.
Honest tradeoff: the dashboard isn't going to win any design awards. It's utilitarian. If you want polish, you're paying for polish elsewhere.
🥈 Bizee — fine for most people if you want a first-year-free registered agent and don't mind the upsells. We measured a ~15-minute Wyoming signup on the Standard plan with add-ons. 5-year projection: $796 (~32% more than Northwest on like-for-like math). Free year one is real; the renewal pricing is where it adds up.
✓ Northwest: $39 base, no upsells, transparent flat-rate pricing
✓ Uses their business address — your home address stays off the public filing
✓ Year-two renewal capped at $125/yr (competitors charge $199–$399)
👉 If you're forming your first LLC and want the cheapest path that actually works: https://smallbiz.to/HUMOif
🔗 Products mentioned:
• Northwest Registered Agent — privacy-focused $39 LLC formation: https://smallbiz.to/HUMOif
• Bizee — solid alternative with free year-one registered agent (mentioned by name; check our Bizee review for the affiliate link)
• Gusto — once you're past formation and need payroll, this is what we use: https://gusto.pxf.io/c/5638352/122628...
👇 Drop your state in the comments — we'll tell you the exact filing fee and whether your state has any of the weird gotchas (newspaper publication, franchise tax, biennial reports).
Some links above are affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we've actually paid for and tested.
The world needs more entrepreneurs, more creatives, like you. See you in the next one.