The honest cost of forming an LLC — ours included.
“$0 LLC” offers make their money on what renews later. Corpus itemizes the state filing fee and Corpus service fee after you choose a state. The service includes registered-agent service for year 1; EIN filing is optional and separate. Registered agent renews at $99/yr flat after the included first year.
State filing fee + Corpus service fee. Choose your state to see the current state filing fee and Corpus service fee before purchase. Registered-agent service for year 1 is included in your total. EIN filing is optional and separate.
What a “$0 LLC” actually costs
Five-year formation-service + registered-agent costs, excluding state filing fees and optional add-ons. Competitors show their advertised totals; Corpus remains a state-selected formula because its service fee varies by jurisdiction.
| Provider | Advertised | Registered agent, yr 2+ | 5-yr cost / formula | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LegalZoom | “$0” + state fees | $249/yr registered agent | ~$996+ | Form-filler + upsells; RA renews at $249/yr after year 1 as of 2026-07-05 |
| ZenBusiness | “$0” Starter + state fees | $199/yr RA (+ “Worry-Free” auto-renews $199/yr) | ~$796–$1,592+ | Template SEO pages; two separate $199/yr auto-renewals as of 2026-07-05 |
| Corpus | State filing fee + Corpus service fee, shown after state selection | $99/yr flat — stated at checkout on day one | Current Corpus service fee + 4 × $99 registered-agent renewals (state filing fee excluded; optional EIN excluded) | State-specific formation intake; registered-agent service for year 1; human approval bound to the exact filing payload; optional $75 EIN filing |
And no — we're not always the absolute cheapest either. Depending on your state, an old-school flat-fee service may cost less over five years, and we'd rather tell you that than hide it. The Corpus service buys a guided formation intake, a cryptographically hash-locked human approval on your exact filing, and cited local-law answers wherever our corpus covers.
Five-year figures exclude state filing fees. Competitor figures are their published prices, checked on the dates shown. Corpus uses the current Corpus service fee shown after state selection plus four $99 registered-agent renewals; optional $75 EIN filing is excluded.
What the Corpus service covers
Choose your state to see the current state filing fee and Corpus service fee before purchase. Registered-agent service for year 1 is included in your total. EIN filing is optional and separate.
The amount charged by the selected state is shown as its own line before purchase.
Formation preparation, the human filing gate, and registered-agent service for year 1. Registered agent renews at a flat $99/yr after your included first year — cancel anytime.
The IRS issues EINs free at irs.gov if you apply yourself; Corpus charges $75 only when you choose to have it prepare the application.
Built for people who build with AI
Corpus was itself built at an AI hackathon by a founder orchestrating an agent swarm — “built by and for the AI generation” is the literal origin story, not positioning. It started as a civic-transparency fight: a 240-day public-records battle with Philadelphia, MS ended with us photographing the city's code book and publishing it ourselves.
If you shipped a product with Claude, Cursor, or v0 and it's turning into a real business, this is the formation service that works the way you do: a conversational intake, state-specific pricing shown before payment, and receipts for every claim below.
Asked by people who read the fine print.
What does it cost after year 1?
Your registered agent renews at a flat $99/yr — stated here before you ever pay, and you can cancel anytime. There are no other recurring Corpus fees. (Your state may charge its own annual-report fee — ask in the chat what your state requires.)
Why isn't Corpus $0 too?
Because nothing is $0. A “$0 formation” still costs the state fee at checkout, and the provider earns it back on what renews later — registered agent commonly runs $199–$249/yr at the big brands. Corpus itemizes the state filing fee and its service fee after state selection, then charges a flat $99/yr registered-agent renewal after the included first year.
What does “hash-locked human approval” mean?
Before anything is filed or any money moves, your exact filing payload is snapshot-hashed and a human approves that hash — so what was approved is provably what gets filed. The agent's activity also runs on a public console anyone can audit.
What if I'm not ready to form anything?
Then don't — the law library behind this service is free with no account, and the field guide below covers the procedural facts first-time founders usually learn the hard way. Form the LLC when the business is real.
Not ready to file yet?
Take the pre-launch legal checklist — the procedural facts first-time founders usually learn the hard way, in one page. Leave your email and we'll also send you launch updates, or just read it now.
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