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LegalZoom offers PLLC formations at a reasonable rate, but its PC formations can get expensive. While ZenBusiness doesn’t currently offer PLLC or PC formations, we can form a traditional LLC or corporation for $0 (+ state fee).
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Professional limited liability companies (PLLCs) and professional corporations (PCs) vary considerably from state to state, and the PLLC isn’t even available in all 50 states. However, depending on your state and profession, you may be required to form a professional entity rather than a standard LLC or corporation.
The list of professions that can form PLLCs and PCs varies by state. In most states, it includes careers like doctors, lawyers, engineers, chiropractors, accountants, and other licensed professions.
Is LegalZoom the right company to handle your professional business entity formation? Or can one of its competitors better serve your needs?
PLLC and PC formation services aren’t nearly as common as those for traditional entities, and many of the companies that offer some of the top LLC formation services and alternatives to LegalZoom like ZenBusiness (see customer reviews), Northwest Registered Agent, and Incfile don’t currently offer PLLC/PC formations.
That said, there are still quite a few reputable companies offering PLLC and PC formation services. While some of these companies use the same pricing model they use for traditional entities, some others add PLLC- and PC-specific surcharges that significantly increase their price points.
Let’s quickly review its pros and cons before we dig into the details.
For $129, LegalZoom will form your new professional LLC, but it charges $199 to incorporate your PC (add your state’s fee to either of these price points). While these packages don’t include any other valuable features to speak of, they’re still a solid value for this service due to the reasonable price point, especially for PLLCs.
While LegalZoom offers higher-priced business formation service packages with more included features for standard LLCs and corporations, it only has one package each for PLLC/PC formations.
We only know of two companies that form PLLCs and PCs for less money than LegalZoom. However, those companies — Swyft Filings for $49 and Rocket Lawyer for $99.99 — both undercut LegalZoom’s pricing, especially for PCs. When you compare incorporation services to most competitors though, this company offers pretty good value for this service.
LegalZoom has more experience than the majority of its competitors. Since it formed in 2001, LegalZoom has served around 6 million customers, which includes the formation of more than 2 million businesses.
We were able to find more than 6,000 reviews for LegalZoom’s services. The majority of these reviews are positive, as LegalZoom maintains an average rating score of roughly 4.3 out of 5 across the three sites.
In their positive reviews, LegalZoom clients often comment on the helpful support they received from LegalZoom representatives, frequently thanking them by name. However, in their negative reviews, clients often complain about the poor quality of customer support, so it seems this aspect of their business is a bit inconsistent.
In our experience, their phone support is good, as we’ve received thorough and accurate responses from their service reps whenever we’ve called them with questions or concerns. On the other hand, we’ve also tested their email support, which is a different story. We’ve actually waited over a full week to get a response to emails in the past, and when LegalZoom does respond to email inquiries, it’s often just a form email that doesn’t actually answer our questions.
In short, we can see why they have a mixed reputation in this regard because our own experiences with them have been hit-or-miss as well. That said, we always appreciate their long hours of availability, as LegalZoom’s support team is available on evenings and weekends when some competitors are out of the office.
Do you prioritize using a tech-savvy company with an intuitive user interface and a simple ordering process? LegalZoom is typically a good option. This company offers an easy-to-use website and plenty of advanced tech to help your business.
That said, LegalZoom’s user-friendly web design won’t help you much with your PLLC or PC formation because these services aren’t available online. While you can order a standard LLC or corporation online, you’ll need to contact customer support to purchase a professional entity formation package.
As we mentioned earlier, we found about 6,500 mostly positive reviews for LegalZoom. We’ll note that this is a smaller volume of reviews than some competitors (like Incfile, ZenBusiness, Rocket Lawyer, etc.) have available, and the quality of LegalZoom’s reviews lags slightly behind these companies as well.
We found plenty of customers who seem pleased with the service they receive from LegalZoom. These people often discuss how helpful LegalZoom’s support network is and how easy it is to use its services.
On the other hand, we also found a decent chunk of reviews from people who were not as satisfied. These customers talk about things like high price points and inconsistent customer support. Overall, LegalZoom’s customer satisfaction reputation is definitely more good than bad, but it’s not all sunshine and roses either.
LegalZoom is a popular choice for professional LLC and corporation formations. We always appreciate this company’s extensive experience and 100% satisfaction guarantee (it’s nearly identical to our refund policy). If you would like to examine your other options for PLLC/PC formation service, our guide to the best professional business entity formation services has the information you seek.
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Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
Written by Team ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness has helped people start, run, and grow over 700,000 dream companies. The editorial team at ZenBusiness has over 20 years of collective small business publishing experience and is composed of business formation experts who are dedicated to empowering and educating entrepreneurs about owning a company.
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