Both panes open

The same questions, answered from both sides

Every comparison of doing it yourself against paying for it comes down to the same short list of questions. What changes between people is the answers, not the questions — so both sides stay open here until you close one.

Read both sides What This Site Is

The divider

Five questions, two answers each

Nothing is published yet. This is the frame every write-up uses: the question on the left, and what each route actually does about it.

Question Filing it yourself Using a service

What does it cost?Year one, and then every year after

The state fee, and nothing else. The recurring cost is whatever your state charges for its annual or biennial report.

The state fee plus a service fee, and then a renewal that is usually larger than the introductory price suggests.

Whose address is public?The registered agent question

Yours, unless you appoint an agent separately — which you can do without buying a formation package.

The provider's, for as long as you keep paying for the agent service. Stopping puts your own address back on the record.

How long does it take?Your time, not the state's

An afternoon in most states, reading the requirements and completing one form. Longer if the name needs rethinking.

Under an hour of your time. The state's own processing time is identical either way.

Who remembers the deadline?Where the real money is lost

You do. A calendar entry costs nothing and does the same job as a reminder service.

The provider, typically. What that is worth depends entirely on how likely you were to forget.

What happens when it goes wrong?Rejections, amendments, changes

You correct it and pay whatever the state charges to amend. The process is public and documented.

Support handles it, within whatever the package covers. Amendments are often billed separately.

How this is written

What holds on both sides of the divider

Neither pane closes first

The layout gives both routes equal width deliberately. This site does not have a house answer, and the write-ups argue particular cases rather than a general one.

Nothing is scored

No ratings, no stars, no tier boards. There is no number that decides a trade-off between money and time.

Prices are dated

State fees and service prices both move. Anything specific carries the date it was read and the source it came from.

Affiliate links are disclosed

Some links earn a commission. It never decides which side a page recommends, and it is stated wherever it applies.