Pros
ConsThe details
ZenBusiness owes its creation to one Ross Buhrdoff, a former HomeAway Chief Technology Officer, who founded it back in 2015.
It’s a fairly small filing company, but one that has big dreams. It’s primary goal is to enable other entrepreneurs to realize their dreams. How? By offering super affordable LLC business formation packages and giving continuous support through other services essential in launching a business.
One of the company’s core values is paying it forward. They believe in helping small businesses owned by women and minority groups get off the ground through financial lending and loaning. In 2020 alone, they awarded over $100,000 in grants to small business owners.
With this amazing backstory in mind, let’s now take an in-depth look at what this LLC formation service offers.
Ease of use
The ZenBusiness website is streamlined and easy to navigate, and checkout is fast and efficient.
But to give it an edge over its competitors, the company has a customized online dashboard that acts as a storage for all formation documents. You can access this any time using your account login credentials.
You also get to receive your filing alerts through the dashboard, and you can use it to manage your website too.
Support
ZenBusiness boasts of excellent customer support service. For starters, they offer extended customer support hours. You can call them or chat online on weekdays from 8 a.m to 8 p.m central time, and on Sundays from 10 a.m to 7 p.m central time.
Few LLC services offer such extended hours, which helps ZenBusiness stand out among its competitors.
Better yet, you can get in touch with them via email, and their agents will contact you within one business day.
Features
ZenBusiness features three different business formation plans that come with great pricing. The Starter plan goes for $39, the Pro plan goes for $149, and the Premium plan goes for $249. These prices do not include the state fee, which varies depending on your state.
ZenBusiness offers a quick turnaround time. If the online customer reviews are anything to go by, you can have your business filed within a few business days. However, this depends on your state and the business plan you choose.
The user-friendly dashboard allows you to store all your documents in one place for easy access. As a bonus, after buying your package, ZenBusiness also gives you access to an invoicing app for free. With this, you can easily send invoices to your customers. You won’t need to purchase another software for that.
And the icing on the cake? This LLC service offers extended customer service hours, ensuring that your needs are always taken care of.
The only disadvantage with ZenBusiness is that their business website usability is limited. For instance, they have very few website templates, which doesn’t allow much customization.
So even though they offer a website, domain, and business email at a very competitive price, specialized website builders have better tools and services. So if you already have a website or don’t need one at the moment, ZenBusiness deal is perfect.
These three plans have the services you need when registering your small business. These include business formation services, registered agent services, and an operating agreement.
But low prices aren’t the only deal you get once you purchase a ZenBusiness formation plan. You also get $240 in bonus freebies. The first one is Google Ads credit and a $150 coupon to spend on Google Ads.
Then there is a free CPA assessment valued at $40. Most CPA assessments are never free. But with this freebie, you get advice on how to navigate the business world as you start. The CPAs also help you ascertain your accounting and bookkeeping needs.
The last freebie is a Virtual Business Guide with a value of $50. It is a basic guide on how to run your business online.
Other incredible features include:
EIN filing
This stands for Employer Identification Number. It is a federal tax ID for your business, filed after registering an LLC.
An EIN is necessary if you have to open a bank account, have employees, or anticipate having to file business tax returns. ZenBusiness offers this service for free in the Pro and Premium plans, otherwise, you will fork out $70 for it.
Annual report service
Like many other business formation services, ZenBusiness Starter plan offers this service annually by sending alerts of filing deadlines.
But, if you’d like them to do the filing as well and not just send you the alerts, you would have to upgrade to the Pro or Premium plans.
With these, you get worry-free compliance, whereby they send you alerts and do the filing for you. Additionally, you get two filing amendments if you need any changes to your documents done.
Quick filing
Expedited filing is another amazing feature included in the Pro plan. It allows for faster processing of your documents than if you just bought the Starter plan.
With the Premium plan, you get the Rush Filing Service, whose turnaround time is significantly faster than that of the other plans.
Website and domain setup
Business website and domain name setup is another perk you get when you buy a Premium plan. Here, the company creates simple and personalized websites for you. And, they offer you a domain name. You also get a business email that gives you access to 5GB of storage for your emails.
Value
ZenBusiness does not offer any free plan, but they have packages that work for any budget. Each of their plans has everything you need to create an LLC, and they also have multiple add-ons. This then allows you to customize your package depending on your needs.
Now factor in the free cancellation policy and 60-day money-back guarantee (minus the state fees), and you’ll have one of the best LLC filing services.
Final verdict
ZenBusiness is recommended for most entrepreneurs, especially small business owners working with a tight budget. The fact that they also offer website creation with their Premium plan is a bonus.
However, if a website will be a central part of your business, it would be wiser to have one created by specialized website builders instead.
