Northwest Registered Agent and Bizee (formerly Incfile) are two of the most popular budget LLC formation services, and they're often shortlisted together. Both will get you a legitimate LLC. But they're built on different philosophies — and the right pick depends on whether you care more about saving $39 today or about privacy and a clean, upsell-free experience.
We've reviewed both in depth (Northwest · Bizee). Here's the head-to-head.
What you're actually deciding
Over five years these two cost about the same. The real choice isn't the sticker price — it's privacy and the checkout experience.
Pricing, side by side
| Northwest | Bizee (Silver) | |
|---|---|---|
| Formation service fee | $39 | $0 |
| State filing fee | At cost (varies $50–$500) | At cost (varies $40–$500) |
| Registered agent — year 1 | Included free | Included free |
| Registered agent — year 2+ | ~$125 / year | ~$119 / year |
| Checkout upsells | Minimal | Many |
| Address privacy | Strong (their address on filings) | Limited |
| Support | US-based, no scripts | Standard |
Notice the year-two registered agent fees are within $6 of each other (~$125 vs ~$119). So Bizee's $0-vs-$39 advantage is really a one-time $39 difference — not an ongoing saving. Confirm current numbers on each provider's own pricing page (Northwest · Bizee) before you buy, since both adjust prices over time.
What you actually get in the base package
Sticker price is only half the story — the other half is what's bundled in for that price. This is where the $39 starts to look different. Northwest includes more formation paperwork in its single flat package, while Bizee's $0 tier is a leaner starting point that nudges you toward paid add-ons for the same documents.
| In the base package | Northwest ($39) | Bizee ($0 / Silver) |
|---|---|---|
| LLC filing prep + submission | Included | Included |
| Registered agent, year 1 | Included | Included |
| Operating agreement template | Included | Add-on / higher tier |
| Membership (member) certificates | Included | Add-on / not included |
| Annual-report / compliance alerts | Included | Included (lifetime alerts) |
| EIN / Tax ID service | Add-on | Add-on |
| Phone service / VoIP | Free trial included | Not included |
The practical takeaway: with Northwest the operating agreement and member certificates are in the box, so the $39 buys a more complete starter kit. With Bizee the $0 gets your LLC filed, but the documents many founders end up wanting are sold separately — which is the bridge to the next section. Always read the current inclusions on each provider's site, as tier contents change.
Where Bizee wins
- Lowest upfront cost — $0 service fee means you only pay the state on day one.
- A long track record: over 1,000,000 businesses formed since 2004 (as Incfile).
- Lifetime compliance alerts on every plan, so you don't miss annual-report deadlines.
If cash flow is tight this month and you just need a compliant LLC filed for the lowest number possible, Bizee is the logical choice.
Where Northwest wins
- Privacy by Default — Northwest lists their own address on public filings wherever the state allows, keeping your home address out of searchable databases (and off junk-mail lists).
- A checkout with no aggressive upsell funnel — you're far less likely to overspend.
- US-based support staff who answer real questions instead of reading a script.
- A flat, predictable bill: $39 today, ~$125/year for the registered agent after.
For freelancers, e-commerce sellers, and non-US founders — anyone who'd rather not have their home address on the public record — that privacy difference is worth far more than the $39 over the life of the business.
Watch out for the upsells (especially on Bizee)
Both services offer add-ons, but Bizee's checkout pushes harder. None of it is a scam — these are real services — but a first-time founder clicking "yes" to everything is how a $0 LLC quietly becomes a few hundred dollars before you've even filed. Here are common Bizee add-ons and their typical prices so you can see exactly where the cost creeps in (confirm current pricing at checkout — these change):
| Bizee add-on | Typical price | Do you actually need it? |
|---|---|---|
| EIN / Tax ID service | ~$70 add-on | No — free from the IRS (see below) |
| Business licensing report | ~$99 | Sometimes — depends on your industry/city |
| DBA / trade name registration | ~$99 + state fee | Only if you trade under a different name |
| Virtual business address | ~$29 / month | Optional — for keeping your address private |
| Trademark search + application | Varies (service fee + USPTO fee) | Only if you're protecting a brand name |
Say yes to a few of these and the "free" LLC can land north of $300. That's the real meaning of our earlier point about Bizee's checkout pushing harder: the $0 is genuine, but the funnel around it is busy. Northwest's checkout simply doesn't have this density of prompts. Two tips that apply to either service:
- You can get your EIN free directly from the IRS — you don't have to pay for it (apply online at IRS.gov; it takes a few minutes for US-based applicants). Paying for an EIN service only buys convenience, not anything you can't do yourself for $0.
- A basic operating agreement template covers most simple single-member LLCs — and Northwest already includes one in its base package, so you may not need to buy it at all.
Whether you need a business license, DBA, or trademark depends on your industry, state, and how you operate. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice — check your state's requirements or a professional for your specific situation before paying for an add-on you may not need.
What the privacy difference actually buys you
We said Northwest's privacy is "worth far more than the $39" — here's the mechanism, so you can judge for yourself. When you form an LLC, the address you give for your registered agent (and often the organizer/owner) goes onto the state's public business filing. That record is searchable by anyone on the Secretary of State's website, and it gets scraped and resold by data brokers. If you used your home address, the consequences are concrete:
- Anyone can find where you live — clients, competitors, disgruntled customers, or strangers — by searching a free public database.
- You get more junk mail and spam — formation databases are a favorite source for solicitation lists, so expect "official-looking" compliance mailers and cold pitches.
- It can compromise personal safety for solopreneurs working from home, who have no office address to hide behind.
Northwest's Privacy by Default lists their address on the public filing wherever the state allows, so your home address stays off the searchable record. That's the primary reason to pay $39 over $0: once your address is on the public record it's effectively permanent ink — you can change it going forward, but copies are already out in broker databases. Bizee's base tier doesn't include this address masking (you'd pay extra for a virtual address add-on to approximate it).
Is one of them faster?
Short answer: no, filing speed is not a real differentiator here. Both services prepare and submit your formation documents quickly — Northwest advertises same-business-day filing and Bizee typically files within one business day — and after that the clock is the state's, not the service's. Approval can take anywhere from a day to a few weeks depending on the state's backlog, and both companies sell the same expedited-filing add-on if you want to pay the state's rush fee. Verify the current turnaround claims on each provider's own site, but don't pick one over the other on speed alone.
What about the TrustPilot scores?
If you've compared these two elsewhere, you've seen the headline: Bizee carries a noticeably higher TrustPilot star rating than Northwest. Taken at face value that looks decisive. It isn't — for a reason most comparisons skip.
The two samples aren't comparable. Bizee actively funnels customers to leave reviews at scale, so it has collected far more of them; Northwest gathers a much smaller pool and doesn't push for reviews the same way. A large, aggressively-collected sample can't be averaged against a small one and called the same metric — a higher star count here reflects review-collection strategy as much as service quality. The honest move is to read what reviewers actually say: scan the recent one- and five-star reviews on each profile and see whether the complaints (or praise) are about things you care about — billing surprises, support responsiveness, filing accuracy. Treat the raw star number as a starting point, not a verdict. Check the current scores yourself: Bizee on TrustPilot and Northwest on TrustPilot.
The 5-year cost math (why $39 is noise)
Because the year-two registered-agent fees are nearly identical (~$119 Bizee vs ~$125 Northwest), the only real price gap is that one-time $39. Spread it across the years you'll keep the LLC and it disappears. Using the figures above:
| Cost breakdown | Bizee | Northwest | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (formation + RA) | $0 | $39 | $39 |
| Years 2–5 (RA renewal) | ~$476 ($119 × 4) | ~$500 ($125 × 4) | $24 |
| 5-year total | ~$476 | ~$539 | ~$63 |
| Per year, averaged | ~$95 | ~$108 | ~$13 / yr |
Even at five years the gap is on the order of a dollar a month — and that's before you weigh in the privacy masking and upsell-free checkout you get on the Northwest side. Spread the one-time $39 across five years and it's about $7.80 a year. The point our verdict keeps coming back to: at this price level the sticker difference is noise. Decide on privacy, checkout experience, and what's in the base package — not on $39. (These are list prices for the registered-agent service only; state filing fees are charged at cost by both and vary by state.)
Which should you choose?
Pick Bizee if: you want the cheapest possible start, you're confident declining add-ons, and address privacy isn't a priority. Pick Northwest if: you want your address kept private, a smooth no-pressure checkout, and support that actually helps — and you see the extra $39 as cheap insurance. Most readers forming a business they intend to keep end up happier with Northwest; the most budget-driven readers go Bizee.
Either way, if you're forming from outside the US, read our non-resident LLC guide first — there are extra steps (EIN by fax, Form 5472) that apply no matter which service you use.
Our verdict is independent of any commercial relationship — Bizee genuinely wins on lowest upfront cost, and we say so above. See how we make money.