It makes perfect sense to incorporate your business to ensure your personal assets aren’t vulnerable to your business debts and liabilities. Today, you don’t even have to leave home to get an expert to help you out and do much of the incorporation filing work. You have plenty of online incorporation services to choose from.
This leads us to MyCorporation and Incfile. You may be wondering which of these incorporation services are more suitable for your needs. But in this guide, we will compare them directly to each other, in light of crucial factors that you should prioritize.
Brand History and Reputation
We put this factor in first since you must stick with brands that have lasted a few years and have earned a solid reputation. You really don’t want to go with a newbie brand in the industry (or any industry, for that matter). You’ll want to be at least fairly sure that the incorporation service knows what it’s doing, because you may end up with a lot of trouble for your business otherwise.
MyCorporation
Many of the online incorporation services in the industry started post-2000. That makes MyCorporation one of the older brands in the industry, as it was established way back in 1998. Very few incorporation services date back to this time.
That means MyCorporation has a lot of experience in providing incorporation services over the years, and they remain extremely popular. They’ve actually helped out more than a million customers already, which may be some kind of record. A few of the other popular brands have reached the half a million mark, and they tend to be older. The newer brands haven’t even reached 100,000 customers.
It is surprising that even though they already have helped more than a million customers, there aren’t all that many customer reviews on MyCorporation online. It seems like MyCorporation isn’t really active in soliciting reviews from their customers. You’ll find only a few hundred customer reviews on MyCorporation, which is quite a few compared to the thousands (or even tens of thousands) of customer reviews for other brands.
Still, these reviews are mostly positive. It seems like MyCorporation satisfied the needs of most of their 1 million customers since most people are more apt to post negative reviews in general. That they didn’t post such reviews for MyCorporation says a lot.
MyCorporation’s Official Website
Incfile
Incfile is a bit younger, but not by much. They started back in 2004, and they also have served a lot of customers. Over the years, they’ve held more than half a million customers already. They do have a lot more customer reviews online, numbering in the thousands. Most of these reviews are positive, adding to the solid reputation of the Incfile brand.
Winner: Tied
These two brands both have solid reputations, so you can be fairly certain that any one of them will do the job properly. MyCorporation is a bit older, but not by much.
It’s also true that MyCorporation has already served a million customers, and there probably isn’t any other brand that can top that. Still, Incfile has also served half a million customers, and that’s more what most of the other brands have served.
Incfile does lead in the number of positive reviews they’ve received from satisfied customers. You can find thousands of glowing customer reviews on Incfile, while you only have a few hundred reviews on MyCorporation altogether.
Incorporation Costs and Value for Money
Here’s a quick overview of what these brands offer in terms of incorporation packages and the prices and services listed. Keep in mind that the state fee will vary depending on the state you’re filing in.
MyCorporation
Package | Cost | Features and Services |
Basic | $99 + state fee |
|
Standard | $124 + state fee | All the Basic features, plus:
|
Deluxe | $224 + state fee | All the Standard features, plus:
|
Premium | $324 + state fee | All the Deluxe features, plus:
|
You do have free registered agent services, but that’s only when you go with the Deluxe and Premium packages. At least you only have to pay an extra $100 for the service when you upgrade from the Standard package. You can opt for the registered agent services as an add-on even when you go with the Basic package, but that will cost you $120 per year.
Incfile
Incfile has become one of the top brands in the incorporation services industry, and their incorporation service packages help explain their popularity and topnotch reputation.
Package Option | Cost | Features and Services |
Silver | Only the state fee
(free incorporation service) |
|
Gold | $149 + state fee | Silver Package features, plus:
|
Platinum | $299 + state fee | Gold Package features, plus:
|
Yes, you get free registered agent services with any incorporation package you choose. After the first year, the registered agent services will only cost $119 a year,
Winner: Incfile
It’s not even a close contest, even though MyCorporation offers their registered agent services as a standard feature in their Deluxe and Premium packages.
Incfile offers free registered agent services even with their most affordable package. This is fast becoming one of the more standard features with the top brands in the incorporation service industry. Afterward, you also pay less for these registered agent services (though admittedly not that much less).
Incfile also offers a free Basic package, and that’s unheard of in the business. You’ll have a hard time finding another outfit with the same free filing offer (especially not with Incfile’s topnotch reputation).
Ease of Process
How easy is it to use the incorporation service website? Let’s check out these websites to find the answer.
MyCorporation
MyCorporation offers a clear and easy-to-use website, and their approach towards the application process is remarkably transparent and non-nonsense.
You start by picking the state you’re filing in from the dropdown menu, and the type of corporation you’re starting. That leads to your available incorporation packages, with the costs and features listed. You even have a list of the optional add-ons available, along with the prices of these options. You then offered a few more add-ons.
What’s really convenient is that you have a running total cost of your picked package and additional options. You even have the state fees added to the running costs. That way, you won’t be blindsided by the final costs.
In addition, you know what you’re paying in the end before you put in your business info in the application form. It’s annoying to have to enter your business info into the application form first, only to find out that you can’t afford the prices.
Incfile
The Incfile website is also easy to use and understand. You just pick the package you want, as they’re listed side by side so you can compare the prices and features. These include the state fee as well.
Then you begin the application process, and you follow each step as you proceed. The various features of the package have convenient links to help you understand the services you’re getting with each package. That way, you know just what services you’re getting.
Winner: MyCorporation (but it’s close)
Both incorporation services offer websites that are very easy to use. But the MyCorporation website is just a bit better, since you get the available add-ons for each package, a running tally of the costs, and even the state fee is factored in. It’s refreshingly transparent so you know exactly how much you’re paying.
With Incfile, you still get a great website with nice explanations for features along the way. But you only know the final cost when you’re done with the application process. That’s after you enter your business info, which is a bit annoying when you realize you’re not quite enamored of the final cost.
Formation Speed
You first have to keep in mind that it will take a while to finish the incorporation process, because of the state government you’re dealing with. Some state governments are awash with numerous applications to handle, and it doesn’t help that the pandemic has caused significant layoffs in many places.
Still, you’re best served by an incorporation service that acts on your application as quickly as possible.
MyCorporation
It takes a while for the incorporation process to finish, and you won’t even be sure as to how long it will take. If you’re lucky, you’re done in a week. If you’re not, then you have to wait 6 weeks. These times are actually normal, depending on the state.
But MyCorporation does offer an expedited filing service, which can cut down on your waiting time by 85%. That service will cost you an extra $100.
Incfile
Incfile is a lot more informative when it comes to bracing you with the waiting time. They even have a webpage detailing the normal waiting time for each state. You’ll find that in most cases, it will take about 3 to 6 weeks. This is to account for the fact that you’re not the only customer that Incfile is helping.
Incfile does offer an expedited service too, though the improvement depends on which state you’re filing in. If you’re filing in California, then the normal waiting time of 6 weeks gets cut down to just 14 business days. In Alaska, the normal waiting time of 3 weeks gets cut down to a single business day.
In most states, the cost of the expedited service is just $50 (and these include Alaska as well). But we counted 7 states that will cost more for the service, with the most expensive at $152.
Winner: Incfile
With Incfile, you know how long you’ll normally wait. With just $50 extra (for the most part), you can speed up the process significantly. You’re even able to finish things up to just a single day, for states like Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Customer Support
You may end up with questions, even with the most uncomplicated websites with clear explanations. So, you’ll need to check out the quality of customer support.
MyCorporation
You can reach the MyCorporation customer support through phone and email, but not by chat. The email response is quick enough as it arrives within 24 hours, and the response you get will be straightforward. There aren’t any details, though.
It’s probably much better to contact them through the phone since you can get details with additional questions.
Incfile
Incfile customer support is available Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM CST. They answer their phones promptly, their answers and explanations are quite helpful and to the point.
Incfile customer support can also be reached through email. You normally get your email response within a single business day. At least this time, the response is more detailed.
Winner: Incfile
The MyCorporation customer is good, but you don’t really get more details with the responses through email. With Incfile, the email response is even more detailed than the answers you get over the phone.
Conclusion: Incfile Wins
Sure, the running tally of the costs on the MyCorporation website is very convenient. And all in all, MyCorporation is a good choice.
But Incfile is simply better. You get superior customer support, and you pay less for a much faster formation service.
What’s more, you get the registered agent services with even the most affordable incorporation package—and that package is free? There’s simply no topping that.