There are many reasons why a business owner such as yourself should choose to incorporate your business – protecting your assets, limiting your liability, growing your company further, etc. However, the process can be arduous if done on your own which is why there are plenty of companies nowadays that offer their incorporation services online. 
These incorporation services often handle the difficult processes involved in incorporating a business. Because of this, they make the lives of business owners everywhere easier and more convenient.
One of these service providers is Rocket Lawyer, an online incorporation service provider that has helped millions of clients establish their own business entities. However, how are they faring against their competition in the field?
With that said, check out this detailed 2021 review of these incorporation services, covering the most important aspects – from pricing and value to their turnaround time.
A Closer Look at Rocket Lawyer’s Incorporation Service
Although they were only established in 2008, Rocket Lawyer has managed to help out more than 20 million clients form their own LLCs, making them one of the most popular online incorporation services out there despite the fierce competition.
However, what is it about them that makes them popular? In this section, you’ll gain a better understanding of their services with this in-depth look at some of the most important aspects of their services.
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General Pricing and Overall Value for Money
In terms of their pricing for their services, they’re not exactly the lowest in the business. While they’re certainly not the highest, the pricing is still considered more expensive than most of their competitors, especially if you’re only looking to avail of basic features.
Nevertheless, they can be great for clients whose legal needs will be significant and long-term due to their option for a monthly legal membership. This entitles you to free templates for legal documents that can be valuable for your business as well as discounts and promos that can help save on costs.
With this membership, you can save on the costs of hiring a traditional legal service for your business. However, the price may not be worthwhile if you’re just looking for basic services.
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Company Track Record
As mentioned, they were only established back in 2008 and have served more than 20 million clients since then. They were primarily established to provide interested clients with online legal services.
While many of their customers are satisfied with their overall service, there were some issues before regarding the clarity of the services they offered. Many felt that they weren’t clear enough about the free trial they offer potential clients.
Because of this, many of their clients were confused and frustrated, especially since they didn’t realize that Rocket Lawyer offered a subscription service. Therefore, they were surprised to be charged even after the initial service was finished.
Rocket Lawyer has since amended these issues, providing clear terms about their services. As a result, they no longer garner many negative feedbacks like they used to. Apart from these, they receive mostly positive reviews regarding the quality of their services, giving them a good track record.
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Customer Service Support
Similar to many incorporation services online, they offer both phone and email support and supplements this with a chat feature. They tend to answer quickly through both their phone and email customer support, answering within a minute and 24 hours, respectively.
However, in terms of their chat support, it’s not quite what most expect. Rather than connecting you immediately to a live agent that can handle any concerns, it serves as more like a FAQ section where you can search for answers to related questions.
Nevertheless, if after searching, you still fail to find the answer to your specific concern, they give you an option to connect to a live agent for further assistance. Overall, their customer service is satisfactory, and they are quick to answer any concerns their clients may have.
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Ordering Process
In terms of the ease of their ordering process, it depends on your idea of easy. Rather than offering tiered packages like many of their competition, they offer a membership plan to which you can add various features before checking out.
While this makes it easier for their clients and significantly reduces any potential misunderstandings, it can be difficult to compare prices until you get to the checkout page. Regardless, the whole process will take you only about 10 minutes or less to complete your order.
Moreover, as mentioned, they always offer a 7-day trial to new clients, allowing them to try out the service before committing to their services.
If you find their services unsuitable to your needs during the trial, you’re free to cancel via their website or by calling them at their hotline. If you fail to do so, you’ll be automatically billed for the first month of your membership.
Overall, the ordering process is simple and straightforward for most clients and it ensures that they only avail of the features they need.
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Turnaround Time
The turnaround time will depend on your state of formation and if you would like to receive an estimate, you’ll have to click through the order form and reach the page where you get to decide whether to expedite your order or not.
While it would have been more convenient if they placed the estimates in one convenient location for easy reference, it’s still a nice feature that they provide you with estimated timeframes for each state.
Rocket Lawyer’s Pricing and Included Features
For Rocket Lawyer’s incorporation services, you can opt to either sign up as a member or avail of their services as add-ons. If you opt to sign up as a premium member, you get access to most of their services without any additional costs as these are already included in your monthly subscription.
For the other services, you get large discounts, some up to 40% off. This membership comes at a monthly rate of $39.99. When forming an LLC using their services, you’ll only have to pay your state filing fees on top of the monthly membership. Moreover, registered agents are discounted by 25%.
On the other hand, if you choose to avail their services without a membership, the base fee is $99.99 which is separate from the state fees as well as the registered agent services which will cost $149.99. Other features come at additional fees as well when you’re a non-member.
If you opt for the non-membership route, these are the features you get as part of the base fee:
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Basic Preparation and Filing of Your Business’s Articles of Organization
When availing of their LLC formation services as a non-member, they will handle the basic process of preparing and filing your articles of organization. These are the documents required that will officially create your company and so, they need to be submitted to your state of formation.
They will handle the drafting and submission of these documents to the state. The processing time varies from state to state. They offer expedited processing for an additional fee, but this also varies depending on your state of formation.
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Availability Search of Your Chosen Business Name
The base fee also includes an availability search of your chosen business name. they will search the state’s database to see if your preferred business name is available or already in use by another company.
This feature allows you to choose a unique name for your LLC, especially since it’s not allowed for two different companies to share the same name.
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Online Storage for Documents
Rocket Lawyer’s incorporation service fee also allows clients to access their documents’ electronic copies online through their well-designed platform. With this, you can access your formation documents at any time and place.
This can be helpful as you can gain copies of your formation documents at any time should you lose the hard copies. Their platform is well-designed as well, so navigation is easy and hassle-free.
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Provision of Hard Copies
Aside from electronic copies, Rocket Lawyer also provides its clients with hard copies of their completed formation documents such as the articles of organization. This can be great if you want hard copies as proof of your company’s formation.
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Customer Support
Should you encounter any problems or have any questions or concerns about their services, you can contact them at any time using their customer support methods. They are generally quick to answer any questions and concerns regarding their services, especially through their phone and email support.
If you want to avail more features, you’ll have to add them to your base fee but at an additional cost. Some of the other features you can avail of during the sign-up process are:
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Employer Identification Number Business Tax ID
Rocket Lawyer offers its clients an option to obtain their federal tax ID number for them at an additional charge of $59.99. While clients can obtain their EINs on their own, this can save them the trouble and hassle of doing so.
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Corporate Kit and/or Seal
They also offer the feature of a corporate kit and/or seal during the process. This costs another $99.99 and entitles you to receive a binder with your new company’s name embossed on it as well as a personalized seal. You can adjust the seal to fit your preferences for an additional fee of $59.99.
This is completely optional as both are simply symbolic and neither serve an actual purpose to your company’s formation. Nevertheless, if you appreciate their symbolic nature, then you can opt for these as add-ons.
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Registered Agent Services
They also offer their new clients the option to serve as their company’s registered agent. As a non-member, you’ll have to pay full price for their registered agent services for an annual fee of $149.99. Premium members enjoy a 25% discount on these services.
Most states require LLCs to have a registered agent as they serve as the official point of contact for your business. Officials can reach your company by reaching out to your registered agent. They are also beneficial in that they can limit the information accessed by third parties.
If you opt to sign up as a member, you get the aforementioned services in the base fee as well as the following for only $39.99 monthly:
- Access to their database of legal documents
- Attorney services like Document Defense®, asking their lawyers for legal advice, 30-minute consultation for new legal matters
- Up to 40% off on their on-call attorneys
- 25% off their Registered Agent Services
- 25% off any future incorporation filing
As mentioned, you can sign up for a 7-day trial first to see if a membership is a right fit for your needs. However, the discount on their on-call attorney and 30-minute consultations are unavailable during the free trial.
If you only need to use their services as a one-time deal, then going the non-member route may be the better option. However, if you require continuous legal services beyond the formation of your LLC, then signing up as a member can help save you on costs of hiring traditional legal services.
Common Questions About Rocket Lawyer
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What’s Rocket Lawyer’s biggest advantage?
One of their biggest advantages would have to be their level of experience in the industry. While they were only established in 2008, they have managed to serve millions of clients since then, with most of them finding their services excellent.
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What’s their biggest disadvantage?
Perhaps their biggest disadvantage is the features you get for their non-member incorporation services. At $99.99, they offer only the basic services that many of their competitors offer for less price.
Therefore, if you want to enjoy more features at less cost, then you’ll have to sign up as a premium member. However, this can be more costly if you’re not going to maximize their services.
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If I opt to go the non-member route, what add-ons should I get?
As an LLC, it’s recommended that you avail of a registered agent service. With one, you can focus more on building your business and they can remind you of important filing dates that will help you comply with state regulations.
However, since Rocket Lawyer doesn’t offer this for free as part of their services, you’ll have to pay an additional $149.99 for one. You can get a 25% discount if you sign up as a member though. Aside from this, their LLC formation service has everything you need to incorporate your business.
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Will they help with ongoing requirements for compliance?
During the initial process, they will, but for future compliance issues, you will need to pay additional fees as a non-member. You can opt to add their registered agent service for an annual fee of $149.99, but this doesn’t include an annual report service which can be less than impressive for some.
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Do they have publication services?
For some states like New York, Nebraska, and Arizona, business owners will have to publish their company’s formation in a regional newspaper. Fortunately, unlike many of their competitors in the industry, Rocket Lawyer offers this service to their clients.
However, it costs $299 to do so and this excludes the fees associated with the actual publishing in the newspaper and any county fees.
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Should I sign up as a member?
The answer to this ultimately depends on your needs as a business owner. As mentioned, Rocket Lawyer’s service structure caters mostly to companies who require continuous legal services as this can prove to be more cost-efficient than hiring traditional legal services.
So, if you only need their services for that one time, then you might not be able to maximize everything their membership has to offer.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Rocket Layer’s experience in the industry and services are excellent enough that they remain among the most popular incorporation services online.
Moreover, they offer a simplified ordering process that allows their clients to fully understand the services they’re getting without spending too much time thinking about it.
Moreover, they garner mostly positive reviews and although they did encounter issues before with clarity, they have managed to address this and no longer receive negative feedback due to this.
While their services cater mostly to companies who require legal services beyond their formation, they’re still a good service provider to consider.
Additionally, if you’re unsure regarding their services, they offer a 7-day trial so you can check it out for yourself. Just don’t forget to cancel before the trial is over or they will automatically charge you the monthly membership fee.
