BizFilings review: Wolters Kluwer enterprise LLC formation at a premium
Data last updated: Apr 21, 2026Overview
BizFilings launched in 1996 and was acquired by Wolters Kluwer in 2002. It now sits inside the Wolters Kluwer solutions portfolio alongside CT Corporation, which means the canonical URL is wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings rather than a standalone bizfilings.com marketing site. The product has processed more than 500,000 business formations and the support team operates out of Madison, Wisconsin with the 608-827-5300 number.
The feel is older and more corporate than the consumer-facing brands. Three tiers, no free tier, no live chat, and a support window of 8am to 6pm Central Time Monday to Friday. BizComply, the online compliance dashboard, is bundled with registered agent service. What Wolters Kluwer gives BizFilings is the compliance infrastructure and institutional credibility its parent built for Fortune 500 clients; what it costs the consumer buyer is the pricing discipline those enterprise clients never had to care about.
Where BizFilings fits, and where it doesn't
Good fit for BizFilings
You are forming multiple entities or plan to scale into multi-state registrations and want a vendor whose parent company already handles enterprise compliance. You value a bundled annual-report and franchise-tax reminder system (BizComply) that is built into registered agent service. You are comfortable paying a premium for the Wolters Kluwer brand because your attorney or accountant will recognize it immediately. You want phone support from a team with 30 years of filing experience and do not need live chat to feel covered.
Look elsewhere if
You are a solo founder forming one LLC and want the cheapest real cost over five years (better match: Bizee Basic or Northwest). You need live chat for back-and-forth questions during checkout. You expect a full year of free registered agent service like most competitors offer (BizFilings gives 3 months). You want an EIN included without paying for the top tier. You are a non-US founder; BizFilings does not market an international product (better match: Doola or Firstbase).
Pricing tiers
All prices exclude state filing fees. State fees range from $35 in Montana to $500 in Massachusetts depending on where you form.
| Tier | Price | RA year 1 | RA renewal | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $99 | Not included | $220/yr | Entry tier at $99 plus state fees. Includes LLC formation filing, business name availability check, and three months of free registered agent service. After the 3-month trial, registered agent renews at $220/yr. Excludes EIN, operating agreement template, and expedited processing. |
| Standard | $229 | Not included | $220/yr | $229 plus state fees in most states. Adds operating agreement template, LLC kit and seal, and expedited processing on top of Basic. Still only includes 3 months of free registered agent; renews at $220/yr. |
| Complete | $359 | Not included | $220/yr | $359 plus state fees. Adds EIN obtainment, certified copy of state-filed documents, and overnight shipping on top of Standard. Registered agent still only 3 months free; renews at $220/yr. Price varies by state; Delaware is lower and states with annual report filing included (e.g., California) are higher. |
Pricing honesty
The sticker prices look competitive. Basic at $99 matches BizFilings competitors, Standard at $229 is middle of the pack, Complete at $359 is on the high end but includes EIN and certified copies. The math changes once you zoom out to three years. Every tier includes only 3 months of free registered agent service, compared to the full year most competitors bundle. After that 3-month window, RA renews at $220 per year, which is higher than Bizee at $119 and Northwest at $125, and in the same neighborhood as LegalZoom at $249.
Run the numbers over three years on the Basic tier. BizFilings is $99 formation plus 2.75 years of RA at $220, which lands around $705. Bizee Basic is $0 formation plus 2 years of RA at $119 after year one free, which lands around $238. Northwest is $100 regular plus 2 years of $125, which lands around $350. The registered agent cadence is the dominant line item, and BizFilings makes it more expensive than almost anyone else.
EIN is a paid line item except at Complete. Operating agreement template starts at Standard, not Basic, so the cheapest tier is missing the two things most filers actually need. Multi-year RA discounts (2 years for $370 or 3 years for $489) bring the effective annual rate down to about $163, which narrows but does not close the gap with flat-fee competitors.
What you'll actually pay
Sticker prices on formation services rarely reflect what a real filer ends up paying. This is the honest math for BizFilings across three common buying patterns. All figures exclude state fees, which are identical regardless of service.
| Scenario | Year 1 total | Year 2+ annual | 5-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just the basics Cheapest tier, skip the EIN and OA add-ons. Get your EIN from the IRS yourself. | $99 | $220/yr RA | $979 |
| Common buyer: EIN and operating agreement included Most new LLCs end up here. Adds $70 EIN and $99 OA where the service sells them as add-ons. | $268 | $220/yr RA | $1,148 |
| Standalone registered agent only You formed the LLC elsewhere and just want BizFilings as your RA. | $220 | $220/yr | $1,100 |
Feature summary
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
Wolters Kluwer is a real parent company with CT Corporation expertise sitting behind the product, which matters if you care about the legal-services pedigree. Trustpilot at 4.5 stars, though only 170 reviews, signals consistent service quality from a small but opinionated customer base. BizComply online compliance monitoring is a genuinely useful tool bundled with registered agent that tracks annual report deadlines and service-of-process delivery electronically. Mail and online filing are both supported, which is rare in a category that has mostly gone online-only. Phone support from Madison with real corporate-services experience is stronger than the gig-economy support pools some competitors use. The 500,000-business track record is real volume over 30 years.
Weaknesses
Registered agent free for 3 months rather than a year is the single biggest gotcha in the category, and it is easy to miss at checkout. RA renewal at $220 per year is near the top of what any formation service charges. No live chat, which is unusual for a vendor at this price point and a friction point during the buying decision. EIN only bundled at the $359 Complete tier makes the middle tier feel incomplete. No free or $0 formation option. No mail scanning, no banking partner, no international founder support. Trustpilot at 170 reviews is a thin sample even if the rating is solid. The Wolters Kluwer canonical URL routes buyers through an enterprise-feeling site that is less polished than dedicated consumer flows.
Support quality
If you're paying for a formation service, support quality is half of what you're buying. The other half is convenience. A service that can't answer a Tuesday-afternoon filing question is harder to justify than one that picks up the phone.
Phone
Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Central Time
Available
Live chat
Not offered
BizFilings covers the basics but doesn't offer the full range. Good enough for most filers, but if you anticipate a lot of back-and-forth during filing, a service with live chat is worth considering.
Ratings and review volume
A 4.8 from 50 reviews is noise. A 4.7 from 25,000 is signal. Review volume matters as much as the star rating because formation services that actively solicit reviews push their rating up and the sample size way up, while services that don't solicit tend to have smaller samples skewed by motivated complaints.
Small review sample (170 reviews). Some services deliberately don't solicit reviews, which keeps the sample low and skewed toward motivated complaints. Read the actual review content rather than leaning on the star rating in these cases.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How much does BizFilings cost to form an LLC?
Three tiers. Basic at $99 plus state fees, Standard at $229, Complete at $359. Every tier includes only 3 months of free registered agent service; after that, RA renews at $220 per year. EIN filing is only bundled at the Complete tier, and operating agreement templates start at Standard. Prices can shift modestly by state, with Delaware running lower and states that bundle annual-report filing running higher.
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How long is registered agent free at BizFilings?
Three months. That is the part of BizFilings pricing most buyers miss, because nearly every competitor ($0 Bizee, Northwest, LegalZoom, ZenBusiness, Inc Authority) includes a full year of RA in formation packages. After the 3-month window, BizFilings auto-renews at $220 per year. Multi-year plans knock the effective rate down ($370 for 2 years or $489 for 3 years), but the floor is still higher than Northwest at $125 flat.
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Does BizFilings include an EIN?
Only at the Complete tier ($359 plus state fees). Basic and Standard do not include EIN filing. You can get an EIN directly from the IRS for free in about five minutes at irs.gov, which is often the cleaner path if you are skipping Complete. Compare with Bizee, which bundles the EIN at Standard for $199.
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Is BizFilings the same as Wolters Kluwer or CT Corporation?
BizFilings is the consumer formation brand under Wolters Kluwer, which also owns CT Corporation. CT Corporation is the enterprise side large companies use for multi-state registered agent work at scale and under tight compliance requirements. BizFilings draws on the same compliance backbone but is priced for small-business buyers. Canonical URL: wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings.
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Does BizFilings support live chat?
No. Support is phone (608-827-5300) and email only, during 8am to 6pm Central Time Monday through Friday. For a vendor charging enterprise-adjacent pricing, the lack of live chat is a visible gap. Competitors at similar price points (LegalZoom, ZenBusiness) all ship live chat. If real-time support matters to your decision, factor that in.
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How long does BizFilings take to form an LLC?
BizFilings submits to the state once you complete the questionnaire and payment. Actual approval time is set by the state, not BizFilings. Expedited processing is included starting at the Standard tier and overnight shipping of documents ships with Complete. In states with same-day filing (Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada), expect the LLC in a few business days; in backlogged states, two to four weeks is typical.
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Is BizFilings better than Bizee or LegalZoom?
On five-year total cost, no. Bizee Basic ends up several hundred dollars cheaper because year-one RA is free and renews at $119. BizFilings wins on corporate-parent pedigree, which matters if your accountant or attorney cares about the Wolters Kluwer brand, or if you plan to scale to multiple entities and want enterprise-grade compliance infrastructure. For a one-LLC buyer optimizing on price, BizFilings is the wrong pick; for a founder who values the CT Corporation lineage, it is defensible.
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Does BizFilings work for non-US founders?
Not as a marketed product. The BizFilings flow assumes US-based founders with US addresses. Non-US founders are better served by Doola, Firstbase, or Stripe Atlas, which bundle banking and EIN support for non-residents. If you only need standalone registered agent service from outside the US, Northwest handles that at $125 flat with a written price lock.
Compare BizFilings to another formation service
Side-by-side pricing, features, support, and ratings against every other service we cover.
Sources
- Pricing: www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings · verified April 21, 2026
BizFilings markets LLC formation starting at $99 plus state fees on the Wolters Kluwer solutions landing page. Package tiers (Basic $99, Standard $229, Complete $359) are shown on the PackageSelect ordering screen at secure.bizfilings.com/PackageSelect.aspx. Prices vary by state. - Registered agent renewal usd: www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings/registered-agent-service… · verified April 21, 2026
Registered Agent Services page quotes $220 for 1 year, $370 for 2 years, and $489 for 3 years. All formation packages include 3 months free registered agent, then auto-renew at standard rates. - Registered agent only: www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings/registered-agent-service… · verified April 21, 2026
Registered agent available as a standalone product independent of formation package. - Features: www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings · verified April 21, 2026
BizComply online compliance monitoring tool bundled with registered agent. EIN only included at Complete tier. Operating agreement template included at Standard and up. No mail scanning, no international founder product, no named banking partner. - Support: www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings/contact · verified April 21, 2026
Contact page lists phone 608-827-5300 with office hours 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Central Time Monday to Friday. Email via web form. No live chat advertised on the contact page. - Headquarters: www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings/contact · verified April 21, 2026
Contact page lists 525 Junction Road Suite 5000, Madison, WI 53717. Area code 608 matches Madison, WI. - Founded: www.wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings · verified April 21, 2026
BizFilings was founded in 1996 and acquired by Wolters Kluwer (CT Corporation) in 2002. Now operated under the Wolters Kluwer solutions portfolio. - Ratings: www.trustpilot.com/review/wolterskluwer.com/en/solutions/bizfilings · verified April 21, 2026
Trustpilot profile for BizFilings (Wolters Kluwer) shows approximately 4.5/5 across roughly 170 reviews as of April 2026. Review volume is modest relative to consumer-facing competitors.