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It’s bet to let the pros handle the incorporation process, and LegalZoom is the most popular outfit around. But is MyCorporation better, either in performance or cost-effectiveness? Find out now!
If you’re running a business, you need to understand the risks along with the chances of profit. Sure, you can earn more money than you spend, as that’s the point of doing business in the first place. But you’re also risking your own personal assets if your business assets cannot cover your losses. 
Creditors can come in to get their loans paid, but your business assets may not be enough. Or you may have customers and even employees filing for damages that your business can’t cover. These scenarios put your own personal assets at risk. You can literally end up losing your shirt, along with your house, car, and bank account.
That’s why incorporating is so important, as this will help shield your personal assets. It’s important enough that you need to have professionals do the job, so it’s done right. It’s not really hard for you to do, since you just need to visit the right website to place your incorporation order.
For many would-be corporation owners, that professional service is LegalZoom, which is far and away the most popular brand in the online incorporation services industry. But they do charge premium prices, which is why other brands are challenging the LegalZoom brand for a larger share of the pie.
One of these brands are MyCorporation, so let’s see if they have what it takes to supplant LegalZoom in the industry.
Incorporation Packages
Each package comes with a set price and a set of features and services, though you can tack on some add-ons for extra cost. Check out and see which package will best suit your incorporation needs. Just keep in mind that the fees stated here do not yet include the state filing fees, which will depend on the state.
| LegalZoom | MyCorporation |
Economy: $99
|
Basic: $99
|
| Standard: $329
This includes all the Economy services, plus:
|
Standard: $124
All the Basic features are included, plus:
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| Express Gold: $349
You get all the Standard services, plus:
|
Deluxe: $224
All the Standard features are here, plus:
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| Premium: $324
All the Deluxe features, plus:
|
As you can see, the basic packages for each brand remains somewhat similar and they cost the same. LegalZoom offers an extra guide for what to do after incorporating, but you can find such guides online (use Google). The free EIN from MyCorporation is more convenient.
The next package from LegalZoom costs a whopping $329, and that extra $230 is just for a kit you don’t really need at all. But from MyCorporation, you get the annual report service for just an extra $25. That’s fair, especially when you consider that it costs $99 if you get it as an add-on for the Basic package.
With the MyCorporation Deluxe, you even get the registered agent services for the total cost of $224. This service costs $120 per year as an add-on, but you get here for just an extra $100. 
With LegalZoom, you don’t get the registered agent services for any of the packages. That’s always an optional add-on that will cost you an extra $299 per year.
It’s obvious here that MyCorporation offers a better set of services for a lot less money. Get the Deluxe from MyCorporation and you get everything you need for $224, including the registered agent services. With LegalZoom opting for even the cheapest package with registered agent services will still cost you $398. That means you end up saving $164.
Brand Track Record and History
Regardless of which brand you get among the 2 options here (or any brand, for that matter), it’s important that you stick with the reputable online incorporation services. What you don’t want to do is to gamble on a newcomer that may very well botch up the work, or may even run away with your money without doing any work for you.
LegalZoom is certainly not a fly-by-night operation, as it’s one of the oldest names in the incorporation business. They’ve been around since 1999, which is one of the reasons why they’re so popular in the first place.
They’ve received thousands of online customer reviews, though the assessments are mixed. While a large number of these customer offer positive feedback, an equal number have expressed disappointment. This is mainly because while LegalZoom offers completely professional services, they charge exorbitant rates that tend to raise expectations.
Still, LegalZoom is undoubtedly the most popular brand in the incorporation industry. They’ve served more than 4 million customers already, while many others haven’t even served their 1-millionth customer. They’ve helped establish more than 2 million corporations. All these facts are evidence that they really know how to do their job.
What about MyCorporation? It’s actually even older than LegalZoom, which is a rarity in the industry. They’ve also helped more than a million customers already, which isn’t surprising after all this time. They do only have a few hundred online customer reviews instead of thousands. Still, most of these reviews are quite positive about their experience with MyCorporation. It seems that with MyCorporation, you’ll stand a better chance of meeting your expectations.
How Easy Is It to Use the Website?
With lots of people working at home these days, it’s crucial that the service website is easy for would-be customers to use. Both websites are rather easy to use on the whole. They offer clear instructions on what you need to do throughout the process, while also offering clear explanations for each service offered.
It’s just that with LegalZoom, the process tends to be a bit convoluted, and frankly, annoying. You’re actually required to furnish your business info first, before you get started on picking your package. That takes time that may end up being wasted when you decide not to go with LegalZoom after all.
In fact, after this first step of furnishing business info, you’re then faced with expensive upsells first. You have to decide on whether to get any of these optional add-ons before you get to pick your package.
It seems like everything here is designed to milk you for your money, to tell the truth. You only get to see the total cost at the end of the process.
With MyCorporation, everything’s laid out more sensibly. Pick the state and the type of corporation you wish to establish. Then pick from the packages, with the optional add-ons (and their costs) appended. You get a running tally of the costs, including the filing fees charged by the particular state. You’re then offered the optional add-ons in the end, and then you put in your business details.
MyCorporation offers a more no-nonsense approach, and there’s more transparency in the process. You won’t be blindsided by the final total costs.
Customer Support
Even the easiest to use websites won’t be enough for everyone to refrain from having questions. So, if you have a question, what can you do?
With LegalZoom, their customer support can help you a lot. But that’s only if you contact them through the phone. They don’t offer any chat service, and their email service, frankly speaking, really sucks.
Send them an email, and you’ll most likely wait an entire week before you get any reply. This reply will also be rather meaningless, as it won’t really answer your questions at all. In fact, it will seem like some sort of automated message. It will also include their phone support number for you to call, and that’s really what you should have done in the first place.
Call them, and you get a much better experience. They get to your call more quickly, and you get a very knowledgeable agent to help. This agent will be based in the US, so there won’t be any hassles regarding incomprehensible accents.
The agent will provide you with very thorough answers to your questions. They can even help you with any decisions you’re thinking about regarding the incorporation process. They’ll ask for details regarding your particular situation, and then lay out your various options. They’re really helpful.
After the call ends, the agent will even send you an email with their direct number, so you can talk to that same agent if you have more questions along the way.
The MyCorporation customer support is also available only though email and phone, with no chat. The email service was better, with a response coming in just 24 hours or so. They’ll answer your questions, though they don’t really offer too many details.
With the phone calls, MyCorporation does well enough with more details too. It’s just that it doesn’t match the LegalZoom helpfulness.
All in all, LegalZoom offers the better customer support if you call them. But if you prefer emails, you’re better off with MyCorporation.
MyCorporation’s Official Website
Completion Speed
Of course, it would be better if you can get the incorporation done as quickly as possible. Who wants to wait when they don’t have to?
Unfortunately, with LegalZoom you do have to wait quite a bit. LegalZoom has a lot of customers to help, and when you place an order with them you get placed at the end of a long line. You don’t even get a clear idea of how long it will take based on the state. You’ll probably end up waiting for 6 weeks to get everything done.
However, you do get placed at the end of the line if you opt for the more expensive packages. That shortens the wait to just 7 to 10 business days instead of 30 business days.
MyCorporation is also rather unclear on how long things can take. It may also take as long as 6 weeks, or it may be done in a week or so. You do get the option to expedite matters by paying an extra hundred bucks, and you can cut the waiting time almost by half (by 85%, according to MyCorporation).
It’s as if the 2 brands are rather similar when it come to formation speed. It will take as long as it will take.
Additional Questions
Do These Brands Offer Refunds?
They both do. Both brands will refund your money within 60 days of the purchase date. However, MyCorporation will still charge you a $25 reprocessing fee if you had them make changes to your formation documents, or if you received any physical items from them.
Do They Offer Publication Services?
If you incorporate in Nebraska or Arizona, you’ll also need to arrange to publish the formation of your company in a regional newspaper. This will be required for both corporations and LLCs. Georgia and Pennsylvania have this requirement for just the corporations, while New York only requires this service for LLCs.
Unfortunately, neither LegalZoom nor MyCorporation offers this service. You’ll have to go to a 3rd-party service to get this done.
Conclusion
It’s clear that LegalZoom remains a trustworthy option, as it remains popular while it has a long track history to lean on. MyCorporation is still a viable alternative, as it’s just as experienced as LegalZoom while it also offers more cost-effective options. The Deluxe package from MyCorporation is probably better than any package from LegalZoom, as it already includes the registered agent services.
Whichever brand you go with, at least you’re secure in the knowledge that the job will be done right!
