Best Delaware LLC Service: Compared by Who It's Actually For

Why “best” is the wrong question

Formation services are not ranked on a single axis, because they are not solving the same problem. A venture-backed startup and a freelance designer in Manila need different entities, different support, and different amounts of hand-holding. A page that names one winner is usually just ranking its own affiliate payouts.

We sell one of the services below, which you should factor in. What we have tried to do instead of claiming to be best is state plainly which customer each option suits — including several where the answer is not us.

How the major services compare

Year-one figures include the Delaware $110 state fee where a provider charges it separately, so these are comparable to each other rather than to the numbers each company advertises. Pricing moves often — verify before deciding.

Best for a US founder who just needs an agent

Northwest. If you have a US SSN, you can get an EIN from the IRS online in minutes for free, which removes the main reason to pay for formation support. What remains is the registered agent, and Northwest does that job better than most: own offices, same-day scanning, and a genuine policy against selling customer data at $125 a year. See the Northwest review for detail.

Best for a startup raising venture capital

Stripe Atlas. This is an entity decision before it is a provider decision. Investors expect a Delaware C-Corp with founder stock, vesting, a clean cap table, and 83(b) elections filed on time. Atlas handles all of that inside its $500, which is less than a startup lawyer charges to paper the same documents.

The corollary matters as much: if you are not raising, a C-Corp adds entity-level tax, a March 1 annual report, and governance you will not use. The Stripe Atlas review and Delaware C-Corp guide cover when the structure earns its cost.

Best for breadth of legal services

LegalZoom, with a caveat about the agent. If you will genuinely use trademark filing, attorney consultations, and estate documents from the same account, that range is real and few competitors match it. But the registered agent at $299 a year is roughly triple the low end of the market for an identical statutory duty — over five years that is about a $1,000 premium. The LegalZoom review works through the arithmetic.

Best for non-US residents

Whichever service will actually do the two hard things. Forming the entity is easy and every provider on this page manages it. Getting an EIN without a US SSN takes Form SS-4 and a 2 to 4 week IRS wait, and getting a US bank to approve a non-resident-owned LLC is where applications quietly die.

That is the gap we built around — the flat $397 includes the state fee, the EIN application, and working the bank application with you until one approves. We are not the cheapest option on this page and do not claim to be. The non-resident guide explains why those two steps dominate the timeline.

When you should skip services entirely

If you are a US resident with an SSN, you can file the Certificate of Formation yourself for $110, get an EIN free online in minutes, appoint a budget registered agent for around $50, and be done for under $170. That is a legitimately good outcome and no formation service will tell you so.

What you take on is the compliance calendar: the flat $300 franchise tax every June 1, and Form 5472 if the LLC is foreign-owned. If you will track those reliably, DIY is the cheapest correct answer.

What none of these services do for you

Worth knowing before you pay anyone, because the gaps are the same across the market and they are where founders get hurt.

• Nobody can guarantee a bank account. US banks run their own compliance checks on beneficial owners and that cannot be delegated. A service can prepare and submit; it cannot decide.
• Nobody can speed up the IRS. An EIN without a US SSN takes 2 to 4 weeks through Form SS-4 no matter what you pay. Guaranteed EIN dates for non-SSN applicants are not real.
• Nobody files your taxes as part of formation. Foreign-owned single-member LLCs owe Form 5472 annually, with a $25,000 penalty for missing it. That is a separate engagement everywhere.
• Nobody pays your franchise tax by default. The flat $300 is due every June 1 and remains your obligation. Some services remind you; the liability stays yours.

Red flags when choosing a formation service

A handful of signals reliably separate services worth paying from ones that will disappoint you at the point of need.

None of these mean a company is dishonest. They mean the product is built around acquiring customers rather than finishing the job, which is a distinction you only notice at the point something goes wrong.

The four questions that actually decide it

• What is the two-year total, including the state fee? Not the entry price.
• Do you file Form SS-4 for applicants without an SSN? The step most non-residents get stuck on.
• Do you work the bank application with me? Referral links are not support.
• What does the registered agent renew at? The difference compounds every year you exist.

Ask those four of any provider, including us. For the full field see our service comparisons, or the cheapest options compared if price is the binding constraint. Our own numbers are on the pricing page.