MyCorporation publishes four LLC packages between $109 and $334, and if you compare it to the rest of the category on those numbers you will reach the wrong conclusion.
The number that decides what this costs you is not on the package table. It is the registered agent renewal, which is $249 a year. That is two and a half times the cheapest credible alternative in the category, and over three years it matters more than any package choice you make on day one.
Here is every published figure, the three-year cost of each path, and the one substitution that saves the most money. I run Ecommerce Paradise and the LLC is the first real purchase almost everyone I teach has to make, so I have watched a lot of people optimise the $25 decision and miss the $250 one.
Every Package at Its Published Price
| Package | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $109 plus state fees | Articles of Incorporation, name availability search |
| Standard | $134 plus state fees | Adds bylaws, minutes and waivers, plus annual report service |
| Deluxe | $234 plus state fees | Adds registered agent service |
| Premium | $334 plus state fees | Adds MaintainMyBiz, a bundled annual filings plan |
| Registered agent, standalone | $120 initial term, renews at $249 per year | Sold separately from any package |
Every figure above excludes state filing fees, which are mandatory, paid to the state rather than to MyCorporation, and vary from under $50 to several hundred depending on where you file.
One thing the package page does not say, and you should establish before you buy: whether the registered agent service included in Deluxe and Premium covers a full first year and what it renews at afterwards. The pricing implies it, and the arithmetic below assumes it, but the page does not state it in those words. Get the answer in writing.
Four packages, published prices, no quote required
Formation from $109 plus state fees, with the operating documents and annual report service available a tier up.
The Registered Agent Renewal Is the Real Number
MyCorporation’s registered agent page states $120 for the initial term and says the service renews at $249 per year. Read those two figures together, because the gap between them is the largest single price movement in this whole purchase.
Your formation fee happens once. Your registered agent fee happens every year for as long as the entity exists, and an entity without a registered agent falls out of good standing in most states, so it is not a line item you can quietly drop when money is tight.
At $249 a year, MyCorporation’s agent is the most expensive one I have priced in this category, and it is two and a half times the cheapest. For context, here are the figures I was able to verify directly on each vendor’s own page.
| Service | Registered agent, per year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Harbor Compliance | $99 first year, renews at $149; $297 prepaid for three years holds $99 | Same rate in all 50 states, includes entity manager software and document storage |
| Northwest Registered Agent | $125 single state, $100 per state at five or more | Lists a business address and mail scanning as included |
| BusinessAnywhere | From $147 | Published as “as low as”, so confirm your state’s rate |
| MyCorporation | $249, after $120 for the initial term | Included in Deluxe and Premium packages |
I earn a commission on all four of those links, so let me be plain about what the table says. If a registered agent is a registered agent to you, and for a lot of single-state LLCs it genuinely is, you are paying $124 a year more than Northwest charges, or $150 a year more than Harbor Compliance charges on a three-year prepay, to have MyCorporation do it. Over three years that is $372 or $450 respectively, either of which is more than the most expensive formation package on the list.
What Three Years Actually Costs
Formation is a one-time event and the agent fee runs forever, so three years is the shortest honest planning window. State filing fees are excluded from every figure because they vary too much to average sensibly.
| Path | Year 1 | Years 2 and 3 | Three-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic plus MyCorporation agent bought separately | $229 | $249 each | $727 |
| Standard plus MyCorporation agent bought separately | $254 | $249 each | $752 |
| Deluxe, agent included in year one | $234 | $249 each | $732 |
| Premium, agent included in year one | $334 | $249 each | $832 |
| Basic plus Northwest as agent | $234 | $125 each | $484 |
Three things worth pulling out of that table.
The Deluxe bundle is honestly priced. Deluxe costs $125 more than Basic, and the agent it includes costs $120 standalone in its initial term. That is a $5 difference, which means MyCorporation is not marking up the bundle. That is worth saying because plenty of companies in this category do, and I went in expecting to find one here.
The package choice barely matters. The spread between the cheapest and most expensive MyCorporation path is $105 over three years. People spend real time agonising over Basic versus Deluxe, and it is close to a rounding error next to the recurring fee underneath all four.
The agent substitution is where the money is. Forming with MyCorporation Basic and using Northwest as your registered agent costs $484 over three years against $732 for the Deluxe path. That is $248 saved on an identical legal outcome, and the saving compounds every year after the third.
The recurring fee is where the money goes
$125 a year for a single state, with a business address and mail scanning listed as included. Price it before you commit to an annual agent fee.
What Each Tier Adds, and Whether You Need It
Basic at $109 files your Articles and checks the name is available. That is the legal minimum and it is genuinely all some people need. If you are a single-member LLC in a straightforward state and you are comfortable drafting an operating agreement from a template, this tier does the job.
Standard at $134 adds bylaws, minutes and waivers, plus annual report service. Two of those three deserve comment. Bylaws and minutes are corporate documents rather than LLC documents, so on an LLC filing the useful artefact is the operating agreement, which the company lists as included with every LLC package. Annual report service is the part with real value, because missing a state annual report is one of the more common ways a new entity quietly falls out of good standing.
Deluxe at $234 adds the registered agent. Priced fairly as a bundle, as shown above, but it commits you to a $249 renewal unless you switch agents later, which you can do.
Premium at $334 adds MaintainMyBiz, described as bundling multiple business filings into one annual plan. The company does not publish what that plan costs annually or exactly which filings it covers, so I cannot tell you whether it is good value. Ask for the annual price and the filing list before buying the tier that includes it, because an add-on you cannot price is an add-on you cannot compare.
The honest summary is that Standard is the sensible default if you want the annual report handled, Basic is right if you do not, and the two higher tiers are decisions about your registered agent and your ongoing filings rather than about formation at all.
Where MyCorporation Still Makes Sense
Everything above is an argument for buying the cheap tier and putting your agent elsewhere. Here is the case for the opposite, because it is real for some people.
One vendor, one dashboard, one renewal date has genuine operational value. Splitting formation and agent across two companies means two logins, two renewal dates, and two support relationships. If you have ever missed a renewal because it was on a card you cancelled, you will recognise that the $124 a year is partly buying you one fewer thing to track.
MyCorporation also publishes every price, which is less common in this category than it should be. You can model your cost before you speak to anybody, and after writing about vendors who have moved to quote-only pricing I do not take that for granted.
And the company has been doing this a long time with a support operation attached. If your situation is unusual, a foreign qualification, a conversion from a sole proprietorship, a multi-state footprint, then talking to someone who does this daily is worth more than $124 a year. I have covered the mechanics of the sign-up in how to set up an LLC with MyCorporation. The fuller assessment of the product sits in my MyCorporation review.
The State You File In Moves the Number More Than the Package Does
Every figure in this article excludes state fees, and that exclusion is doing more work than the packages are.
The formation fee is the small, one-time part. What matters over three years is the recurring state obligation, and it varies enormously in both size and shape. Some states charge a low filing fee and then bill an annual report fee that is trivial. Others charge a low filing fee and then levy a franchise tax that is not. A few charge a high filing fee and almost nothing afterwards, which is the better deal for anyone planning to keep the entity.
The mistake I watch people make is choosing a state on the number they see at checkout. That number is the least important one in the sequence. Work out the annual obligation first, then the filing fee, then the service, in that order, because the annual obligation is the only one you pay more than once.
There is a second trap for anyone reading this from outside their home state. Forming in a state you do not operate in frequently means registering as a foreign entity in the state you actually work from, which is a second filing, a second annual obligation, and often a second registered agent fee. The advertised saving on a cheap formation state disappears quickly once that happens. If you genuinely operate from one state, the default answer is usually to form there.
What the Price Does Not Cover
State filing fees. Excluded from every number here and mandatory everywhere. More importantly, the ongoing state obligation matters more than the one-time fee. A state with a cheap filing fee and an expensive annual franchise tax is a worse deal than the reverse, and that comparison is the one to run before you pick a state.
Your EIN, if you have a Social Security number. Formation services sell EIN filing as an add-on and it is a real convenience for people who cannot get one themselves. If you are a US person, you can apply directly through the IRS at no cost. Decline that add-on unless you have a reason not to.
Tax treatment. How your LLC is classified federally is a decision with consequences and no formation service makes it for you. The IRS guidance on LLCs is the right place to start, and if the numbers are material the conversation is with an accountant.
Whether an LLC is the right structure at all. The Small Business Administration guidance on business structures is a reasonable free primer. Formation services sell you the filing, not the judgement about whether to file.
Legal advice. None of these companies are law firms. For anything with real money attached, that conversation costs more and is worth it.
Which Package to Pick
Basic, plus a cheaper agent elsewhere, if cost over three years is what you care about. This is the lowest total on the table by a clear margin and the legal outcome is identical. You accept two vendors and two renewal dates in exchange.
Standard if you want the annual report handled and nothing more. Twenty five dollars for a service that stops a common and genuinely damaging administrative failure is a reasonable trade.
Deluxe if you want one vendor and one renewal. Fairly priced as a bundle, and the simplicity is worth something real. Just go in knowing you have signed up to $249 a year rather than $125, and knowing you can switch agents later if you change your mind.
Premium only after you have priced MaintainMyBiz separately. An add-on whose annual cost is not published is not something to buy blind at the top of a package ladder.
Not MyCorporation at all if you are a non-US resident. The services built for founders with no US address and no Social Security number handle a sequence this one does not lead with. I have priced one of them in my BusinessAnywhere pricing breakdown. For the wider comparison, see the best LLC formation services for non-residents.
Common Questions
Can I switch registered agents later? Yes. It is a state filing, usually with a modest fee, and it is the standard remedy if you take the bundled agent now and decide the renewal is too high later. Do not treat the agent choice as permanent, because it is not.
Is the $120 registered agent price a first-year rate? It is described as the initial term, with renewal at $249. Treat $249 as your real annual cost and the $120 as an introductory figure, because that is how it will show up on your card in year two.
Do I need bylaws for an LLC? Bylaws are a corporation document. The LLC equivalent is an operating agreement, which the company lists as included with every LLC package. If a package is selling you bylaws for an LLC, check what you are actually receiving.
What happens if I skip the annual report? Most states will eventually move your entity out of good standing, and some will administratively dissolve it. The practical damage usually arrives when a supplier or a bank runs a check on you and finds it, which is the worst possible timing.
Are state fees really extra on every package? Yes, on all four, and on every competitor in this category too. Any comparison that shows one service as cheaper because it quotes ex-fees against another quoting inclusive is comparing nothing.
Is the cheapest formation package a false economy? Usually not. The filing is the same filing regardless of which tier you buy, and the tiers sell documents and services around it rather than a better filing. Where cheap genuinely costs you is in a service that files slowly or handles a problem badly, which is a support question rather than a package question.
Related Reading
For the hands-on assessment of the product rather than the pricing, see my MyCorporation review.
For the step-by-step of the actual sign-up, how to set up an LLC with MyCorporation walks the form and flags which add-ons to decline on the way through.
If you are still choosing a service, the segment-specific comparisons are more useful than a general ranking. For total cost, the cheapest LLC formation service that does not cut corners is the closest match to the argument in this article.
For speed, see the fastest LLC formation services, which explains why your state matters more than your vendor.
For the high-ticket use case specifically, the best overall LLC formation service for high-ticket dropshippers weighs what suppliers actually check when they run your dealer application.
Two more pricing breakdowns in the same format sit alongside this one. CorpNet pricing covers the only major service with no free tier. BusinessAnywhere pricing covers the nomad and non-resident end of the market.
For the entity itself, how to form an LLC walks the sequence in order. Once it exists, business formation for high-ticket dropshipping covers what a supplier will ask you to produce.
One vendor, one renewal date, every price published
If you would rather not run formation and registered agent across two companies, the Deluxe bundle is fairly priced and the simplicity is worth something.
Checked against MyCorporation’s own pages in September 2026. The four package prices of $109, $134, $234 and $334 plus state fees, and their listed inclusions, are from the business formations page. The registered agent figures of $120 for the initial term renewing at $249 per year are from MyCorporation’s registered agent services page. Northwest’s $125 per year single-state rate, its $100 per state rate at five or more states, and its listed inclusion of a business address and mail scanning are from Northwest’s own registered agent page. Harbor Compliance’s $99 first year renewing at $149, its $297 three-year prepay holding $99 a year, and its stated single rate across all fifty states are from Harbor Compliance’s own registered agent page. BusinessAnywhere’s “as low as $147 per year” is from its registered agent page. State filing fees are excluded from every figure and vary by state. Whether the agent service bundled into Deluxe and Premium covers a full first year is not stated on the package page and is assumed in the three-year table; confirm it before you buy. Disclosure: the MyCorporation, Northwest and BusinessAnywhere links on this page are all affiliate links, so this page earns a commission whichever you choose. Confirm all current pricing directly before you buy.
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
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