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Forming an LLC can be incredibly taxing and time-consuming, especially if you have no idea where to start. Fortunately, incorporation services exist that can help business owners like you with this task, making the process easier and hassle-free for you.
Among the top incorporation services in the industry is Incfile and Direct Incorporation. Each one offers many features that take away the stress and burden of incorporating your business from you. However, it can be challenging to determine which provider offers the best services that can meet your business’s unique needs.
With that said, this article will show you all what you need to know about these two incorporation services, such as their features, pricing, and more. The information gathered here can help you have a better grasp on which service provider to avail of for your incorporation needs.
Incfile vs. Direct Corporation: Summary of Comparison
Listed below in the table is a brief breakdown of the key aspects of both Incfile and Direct Incorporation. These can help give you an idea of what you’ll see in this review.
| Service Provider | Score | Price
(Starts at) |
Selling Points |
| Incfile | 4.6/5 | $0 |
|
| Direct Incorporation | 4.1/5 | $139 |
|
In this review, you find details and further information about the five key points necessary when determining which online incorporation service serves you the best. This will help you find which one best matches your criteria and meets your needs as a business owner.
- The Overall Pricing, features, and inclusive packages of both services.
- The Company track record, experience, and reputation of each service.
- The Quality of Customer Service.
- The Ease of Usage for each service.
- The Speed of Formation for both service
Overall Pricing and Additional Features
-
Incfile
: Incfile originally offers three options for their clients. The basic package is the Silver plan, which costs $0 plus state filing fees. This package includes LLC formation and registered agent service, which is good for a full year.
After the year is up, you will be charged $119 annually for the registered agent services. The second option is Gold, which costs $149 plus state filing fees. It has the same features as Silver and additional services like express shipping, operating agreement, banking resolution, and many more.
The last and probably the best package that you can avail of in Incfile is the Platinum, which costs about $299 plus the state filing fee. Everything that is within the Silver and Gold packages will be included in the Platinum package.
An inclusion of domain name, upgraded LLC kit version and seal, filing service, and a business contract template’s library is added up. If you availed of the Gold package, you could add a total of $150 to upgrade it into the platinum package.
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Direct Incorporation
: The starting price of Direct Incorporation is $147 plus the state filing fee. The package includes LLC formation and registered agent service. However, this service is only good for six months.
This means if you want to avail of a year-round package, you will have to pay twice the initial price.
On the other hand, Direct Incorporation also has several packages that one can find appealing, like their more expensive plans. These are full of advanced features that you might not find with other services. Examples of these advanced features are customed logos, trademark protections, full-service web designs, and many more.
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Recommended
: Direct Incorporation does have several features that may be hard to find in other services, but this point will have to go to Incfile. They offer more affordable packages for their customers compared to Direct Incorporation.
Company Track Record, Reputation, and Experience
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Incfile
: Incfile was founded back in 2004. Since then, they have been serving and helping over 250,000 business clients.
Aside from the huge client volume, they also have amazing customer feedback. The thousands of reviews that are posted and available online contain a vast majority of positive responses. The reviews also contain comments of how satisfied they are with the packages and features that they have availed.
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Direct Incorporation
: On the other hand, Direct Incorporation was founded in 2003, a year earlier than Incfile. However, within this given time, they have only been able to provide support and service to more than 80,000 businesses overall.
Aside from the 80,000 businesses, they have also been able to host around 5,000 websites. Their feedback and reviews are mostly positive, which is a good sign.
Most of their clients have also expressed satisfaction with the fact that you will get what you paid for. Some of them have also added that the advanced features do compensate for the high rate that they have paid.
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Recommended
: Both services have good reputations and track records, which may be two of the factors why they’re both at the top.
However, when it comes to the experience, we have to give it to Incfile. The higher volume of positive feedbacks and the number of supported businesses gives them the edge over Direct Incorporation.
Customer Service Quality
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Incfile
: Incfile’s customer support team is available by phone or email. You can expect quick responses through both methods, and their responses are satisfactory. They are available on weekdays, between 10 AM and 7 PM ET.
They respond to any questions in a fast and reliable way. Customers can consult with them for any business issue, free of charge.
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Direct Incorporation
: With Direct Incorporation, one of their advantages is that they provide a detailed list of the contact details of it and employees on their website.
This makes it easy for clients to get in touch with the appropriate people who can best deal with their concerns.
However, they can still contact their usual customer support team for general concerns via their hotline. They have similar working hours with Incfile, with their customer support available from 9 AM to 6 PM ET, from Mondays to Fridays.
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Recommended
: Both service providers do well when it comes to providing customer support to their clients, which is why this category can be considered a tie. Incfile provides detailed answers, while Direct Incorporation allows their customers to get in touch with specific members of their team.
Direct Incorporation’s Official Website
Ease of Use
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Incfile
: Incfile offers an optimized system that makes ordering their services a breeze for their customers. They can easily select which option is best for their needs, and they can see what features are included in each package.
Moreover, Incfile makes it easy for users to add more features to their availed package on the order form. However, they also work with third-party companies, which means they tend to upsell features clients may not need.
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Direct Incorporation
: One of Direct Incorporation’s selling points is how fast you can place an order. The entire process takes only less than 15 minutes of your time, from start to finish. They have also updated their system, so it’s much easier to place an order now than before.
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Recommended
: In this category, the point will have to go to Incfile. They provide a comprehensive and streamlined system that makes the ordering process easy for their customers. While they do offer some upsells, they don’t go overboard with it, so you won’t have to try too hard to skip it.
Speed of Formation
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Incfile
: Incfile provides their clients a more realistic turnaround time as they base their estimates on the state of formation’s average processing time. Because of this, customers can manage their expectations and decide whether to avail of expedited processing or not.
What’s standard with their service, though, is that they file the necessary paperwork with the state of formation within a day of placing your order.
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Direct Incorporation
: Similar to Incfile, Direct Incorporation bases their turnaround times on each individual state’s average processing time. This makes it easy for their clients to estimate just how long their LLC formation will take and manage their expectations accordingly.
Aside from this, Direct Incorporation also files your paperwork within one business day of placing your order, ensuring that your Incorporation can be processed as soon as possible.
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Recommended
: This category can be considered a tie since both services have similar systems for providing estimated turnaround times to their clients. Both base their speed of formation on the individual states’ average processing time, which allows their clients to manage their expectations when it comes to their business’s Incorporation.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Both companies have their fair share of advantages and disadvantages, which can be beneficial for clients. As mentioned earlier, it is best to see which company offers the service and features that align best with your specific needs as a business owner.
With that said, here are some recommendations that might help you pick which service is the perfect match for you.
We recommend you choose Incfile if:
- You have a tight budget, and you want to manage your expenses effectively. Since Incfile is the more affordable choice, you can reduce your future expenses.
- You prefer to have a service that is more widely known and experienced with giving legal consultations and LLC formation services.
- You prefer to have multiple package options to pick from.
We recommend you choose Direct Incorporation if:
- You want to avail of advanced features that no other service offers. These features include custom web and logo designs, trademark protections, and legal assistance.
- You want a professional agent to help you file for your paperwork in the state.
- You are under a limited time only, and you want to avail of the service that provides an easier way to register or use.
Both Direct Incorporation and Incfile have great customer service, which other services have trouble competing against. Because of this, you can rest assured that any concerns you may have can be addressed swiftly and appropriately.
Common Questions
Q: What are the advantages of each service?
A: The key benefit of Direct Incorporation includes a wide range of functions, such as its unique emblem development, including intellectual property security facilities, that Incfile does not provide. However, not everybody desires these features, so it would be good to see this for certain of you who do.
Although Incfile has many major advantages over Direct Incorporation, you can assume that its general price and value are the most important. However, overall, Incfile promises more than Direct Incorporation, and they come at more affordable rates.
Q: What are the packages that you can avail yourself of from these
services?
A: Other services charge more than double for business training services, yet you can avail of it from Incfile at more affordable prices, including the full year of licensed agents. This package provides what you need to get your new LLC or business going.
The Silver bundle in Incfile costs $0 (plus state fees), making it an excellent option for business owners on a tight budget.
Q: Which service offers help and consultations in
regards to the ongoing compliance requirement?
A: Incfile charges $119 a year for registered agent services $88 for annual reports. Direct Incorporation offers its registered agent services for six months. However, if their clients would like a price renewal quote, you would need to email them after the six months are up.
Q: Which service helps with the publication services?
A: Some states require newly formed LLCs to announce their formation in local publications. For instance, Arizona and Nebraska require this for Limited partnerships and companies, while New York only requires this for LLCs.
Unfortunately, clients need to find other providers for this service as neither of these two service providers offers publication services at this time.
Q: Which company offers little to no upsells and third-
party partnerships?
A: Unfortunately, both these companies offer upsells and have third-party partnerships, but neither go overboard with selling them to customers. Because of this, you can easily skip them if you don’t need them.